WOYWW 447

Good morning every one. Time for another WOYWW desk hop, courtesy of the lovely Julia.  I hope your Christmas was merry and bright. We travelled to Leeds this year to spend Christmas at my elder daughter's house.  Before we set off Mr M insisted on dismantling my "downstairs desk" and re-assembling it in my craft room.  I thought he had gone daft but ... back home now, and my present has been unwrapped!  And I needed extra desk space for it!

My regular desk is just too small ... but there is hope!  Plans have been drawn up for my new crafty space (on the back of a cracker box), and trips to Ikea and B&Q are planned for the new year!

Nothing much to show on my desk this week. The Happy Birthday was just a quick play with the Scan n Cut. On the left is a basket full of dies that I have used for my Christmas cards - mission this week to put them all away properly.  On the left is a tub full of A4 card - I am sure my card stash has been breeding.  I couldn't possibly have bought all this card!!

I was inspired by Zsuzsa's clock the other week, and I wanted to do something special for my wedding album.  I had bought an MDF piece, so ... I bought some gesso (never heard of if before but Zsuzsa makes it look good!) And maybe next week I will have a finished album cover to show you!

You may as well see the other side of my crafty space - random socket cover for when the little 'uns sleep over.  A new tool for getting the fiddly bits out of intricate dies, tape measure to double check the measurements for the new layout, and my new inks that I still have not tried.

That's all from me, apart from to say ... my desk hopping has been great fun for the last 6 months.  Concentrating on card making helped me occupy my mind, rather than pondering all the "what ifs" after my cardiac arrest in February.  Meeting you all has been an added bonus, and thank you for making me welcome.  Wishing you all a wonderful new year and will see you in 2018.  I'll be visiting desks this afternoon. Take care, Heather xx

WOYWW 446

Hello ladies
Ok own up ... who pinched the last 7 days!  I can't believe another week has flown by!  Time to show and tell for WOYWW .  My last day at work was Monday, so yesterday was a crafty day, but something a little different for me.  My daughter asked for advice on a present for my grandson to give his teacher.  I volunteered to make something.  And my desk has the finished item, and the remnants of what was used.

On the left is a new stencil I bought last week.  In the middle is some Hessian on a roll that I bought from Michaels when I went to Canada. Another purchase from Michaels is the Escape to Nature box.  I had heard of Michaels in many blogs, and wanted to pay a visit, and luckily there was one in my sister's town.  I didn't buy much, but these two were items that drew my attention.

A pen pot is the finished item.  Formerly a coffee jar!  Cheap and cheerful, might make myself one too!  

Ok, I shall wish you all a wonderful and merry Christmas, and start my tour of your desks.  I'll get round as many as I can!  Please leave a comment - I do love reading them.  Have a lovely week, Heather xx

WOYWW 445

Goodness me, another week has flown by.  Time to visit Julia and the rest of the WOYWW ladies!  If you want to know what it's all about, head on over to The Stamping Ground.

My desk is feeling Christmassy.  I have 6 cards for My daughter, I left them to dry overnight, as I had added glitter pen to the penguin's jumper, glossy accents to the snowman's nose, and googly eyes to the owl.

The pink cards on either side are also for my daughter.  My grandson started school in September and is enjoying being invited to lots of parties from boys and girls.

Couple of close up shots:

I also used some of my Chinese dies for the first time.  The cards are on some shelves by the side of my desk, so one more photo ...

Ok, off to work for me, and I'll do my visiting tonight.  Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by. Happy WOYWW, Heather xx

WOYWW 444

Good morning all.  Time for a weekly jaunt round the desks of Julia and other crafters in WOYWW.  I have a day off work today, for a 10 minute hospital checkup! So the plan is to spend some time designing my ideal craft space.

Not much crafting has been happening at my desk this week as we had visitors at weekend, and my craft room doubles up as the guest room! However I did leave Mr M to his new XBOX game last night and make a start on a card.  The polar bear was a free stamp with a magazine.  The magazine had a shadow added under the bear.  I tried that and it looked weird.  Months ago I would have just binned the attempt.  But, as is the case since I started snooping around your desks, I thought just play around and see what happens ... and I outlined the bear (covering the shadow) with some blue glitter glue.  My youngest  grandson will love it, and he won't mind or notice that it's not perfect.

A close up of the polar bear

The rest of my desk is the tools and materials used to make the card.  I used the brayer again, but ended up using the ink duster to finish it off and even out the blue. Thanks for all the tips last week, I have added some stamping card and gloss card to my shopping list, so will further experiment with the brayer when I get those.

It's like having a dozen crafting sisters teaching the young 'un, although I'm not that young anymore.  I really do appreciate the tips and advice.

The only other new item on my desk, in the bottom right corner, is two boxes of Artistry Inks, free gift with a magazine subscription.  I have not used them yet but the names of the inks are lovely! 

Ok, craft space design beckons!! I have tape measure, pencil, paper pad, and an instruction from Mr M not to go too crazy as he has to build it, with help from my brother and my son in law if needed.  Now ... where do I begin??  Thanks for stopping by, I'll be snooping around later today. Heather xx

WOYWW 443

Hello fellow deskers.  Time to take part, albeit late in the day, in WOYWW.   If you want to know what this is all about, use this WOYWW link and head over to the Stamping Ground and all will be revealed.

On my desk this week ... to the left are a few dies from China.  Not used yet, but they look ok.  In the centre at the front is my Black Friday goodies from Inspirations.  Behind these are the first two brayer experiments.  More on these later.  To the right of the desk is my TH stamping platform.  I finally got around to using it ... and the brayer, in the same week.  Quite pleased with myself for taking the plunge.  Finally, to the front right of the desk, mainly obscured by the Stamping platform, are some Christmas bits that I assembled ready to make more Christmas cards.

So, on to the brayer attempts.  I watched a you tube video.  The lady stamped, then embossed in white, some snowflakes, and then brayered over the top.  I tried this with the right hand exhibit below.  On you tube, it looked lovely.... on my card it was a mess!  I ended up using ink Dusters to even out the ink, but the white did not stay white.  It ended up being a pale shade of the ink colour I used.  However, I used holographic embossing powder as I didn't have white!  Not sure if this would have affected it or not.  The lilac one again didn't brayer very well,  but may be it's the ink or the card I am using.  Further practice needed.  However it was fun experimenting, and I did pick up on highlighting the tree branches with a white gel pen (Mr M was quite impressed with that).

On to my last photo .... Not sure if you can make it out but Mr M has decided I need a proper crafting space with lots of worktop room and storage - especially before my Christmas present arrives! So ... this was one solution.  Unfortunately I used the grand design as scrap paper in my excitement at using the brayer!  But it involves wall to wall desk surface.  So I'm quite excited at getting a new crafty space! 

Now I'll be off for a peep at everyone's desks.  Please leave a comment when you stop by, so I know you visited and I can visit you.  Have a lovely week Heather xx 

WOYWW 440

Good morning fellow WOYWW deskers.  Time to show off my desk and my very productive weekend ... but first, an explanation on my northern lights picture of last week.  I did like my end result (it was better than I anticipated it would be) but ... it was produced from a kit I bought from Inkylicious, and there was a picture on the box as an example.  My disappointment was that my picture (exhibit A below) looked nothing like the picture on the box (exhibit B below).
Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Clearly more practice is needed with the ink Dusters!  My new brayer was not used, and still hasn't been used.

Now on to my desk this week.  Christmas cards ideas were top of the agenda this weekend.  My plan was to play around and create a few cards, and then make a batch of each one during the next couple of weeks.  I managed 4 before my inspiration was all used up.  But .... I have jotted down a couple of ideas, so all is good.  My desk has the various bits and pieces I used, and a few things that were cast aside but not yet put away.  I also received some stencils I had ordered from China. Not tried them out yet but at 99p each I can't grumble.  They are on the left of the desk.

And a close up of the cards

I'm looking forward to my tour of your desks.  Please leave a comment so j know you stopped by.  I love reading them. Take care, Heather xx

WOYWW 439

The year is flying by!  Another week gone and time to show off my desk to the world... ok maybe not the world, but to Julia and all the other lovely ladies at WOYWW.

My crafting week has involved a leisurely trip to my local craft shop to spend some birthday money.  Amongst other things I bought a brayer ... not sure if I need one, but what the heck, live dangerously.

My desk is a tad messier than usual. On the left I had a go at creating the northern lights to make a card for my daughter who is off to Iceland in a couple of weeks.  Maybe I'll wait and see what the second attempt turns out like.  I also made a few Christmas cards.  Had to leave them on my desk to dry.  Not sure I like them but they may grow on me.  I used the die cutters I bought from China - worked a treat!

I managed another few pages of my wedding album too, so that should be complete by the time we next meet.

Have a lovely week, and please say hello and leave a comment so j know you stopped by! Heather x

WOYWW 437

Hello everyone,

Hope you have all had a lovely week.  Time for the weekly WOYWW tour of your desks, to see what you have all been up to.

On the left of my desk is one of the two early birthday presents I received last week - a tool caddy (thanks to Shaz for pointing my in the direction of Amazon).  It is large, but holds so much I got rid of all my little cups.  It's far easier to move out of the way if I need to.  In the middle of the picture is the latest from my wedding scrapbook album.  I had initially thought this would take me quite a while to complete, but I'm enjoying it so much that I only have another 9 photos to add!  Whatever will I do then??  I updated the separate post with the latest pages - available here for those who are interested.  The layout for the next page is on the green cutting mat.

On the small shelf are two cards quickly made for birthdays this weekend - both male - which is where I struggle for ideas, so Hunkydory kit pieces have been used.  My box of stick on gems are to the right of the desk, and my UFO box under the shelf is temporary home to some lengths of lace until my album is finished.  To the right, maybe just out of the picture, are some dies I bought from Ebay China, I haven't used them yet but I think they were just over a pound each - so I thought I would give them a try (another thanks to Shaz).

I hope you all have a marvellous week, and I would love for you to leave a comment.  Then I know you have been, and can make sure I pop by and visit you.  Bye for now, Heather x

WOYWW 436

Hi everyone, time for a rather late WOYWW.  I'm back at work fulltime, so my desk snooping will now be in the evening.  I enjoyed my holiday in Canada visiting my sister, and did manage to snoop around a lot of your desks.  The blog posts and photos from the Crop looked like a cake-filled, fun-filled time was had by all.

My desk this week has my wedding album taking centre stage.  It's definitely a long project, but rather than bore you with the photos here, they are on a separate blog post here for any one who is interested in my first amateur scrap booking attempt! I will update that as and when I finish pages.

It's my birthday later this month and Mr M has treated me to a couple of crafty goodies.  Wonder if you can guess what they are?

I love to read your comments, and will visit as many of you as I can today or tomorrow.  Have a lovely week, Heather xx

WOYWW 433

Another week has flown by!  Time for my weekly WOYWW snoop around your desks and a glimpse (from a different angle) of mine.

On the left are some children's birthday cards ready for my daughter to collect.

The purple bit in the centre is my first attempt at jazzing up my wedding album.  I initially started by mounting my photos on to patterned card ready to stick in the album with a few strategically placed lovey dovey quotes ... but my tour round some of your desks put that idea to shame.  So I used a sponge and distress ink (then realised a really need a brayer/roller to colour the pages).  Then I stencilled in two of the corners and voila 1 page looks artistic ... about 35 more to go!  I might not, in fact I definitely will not, do them all the same way, but it's a start.  No way will it be finished to take to Canada in 2 days.  The photos and jewels on the page were just an idea... but the jewel idea has since been discarded, I just haven't clearned them up yet.

On the right of the picture are two cards I made from hunkydory kits. I need to post them tomorrow! 

Thanks for the comments last week ... and the DST debate!  I too find the tape rollers expensive so tend to use DST.   

I won't be here next week, so have a fantastic time at the crop for all of you that are going, and I shall catch up in 2 weeks.  Thanks for stopping by, and please do leave a comment, I love to read them. Heather x

WOYWW 432

Hello all,
Happy WOYWW.  Sorry I couldn't post last week. Hectic week at work! I did still enjoy my weekly fix tour of your desks.  This week I decided it was time I put together my wedding scrapbook album, so I can take it to Canada with me next week to show my sister.  So my desk is mainly full of items connected to that.  It really was a very emotional day for me.  I had chosen to get married on my mum's birthday.  She passed away 28 years ago.  That would have been enough for a few tears on its own.  Eight weeks before our wedding I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and 'died' in my sleep ... but my fiance as he was then, did CPR until the paramedics arrived, and after a few weeks in hospital I had an ICD implanted and was given the ok to go to Jamaica and get married.  No time to get a proper wedding dress, and struggling with a few cracked ribs, I ordered a loose lace maxi dress.  At the "as long as you both shall live" part of the vows, the waterworks opened!  The photographer was fantastic, kept up a constant supply of tissues and managed to get a few snaps where I almost looked ok. Anyway, back to my desk ... my eldest grandson started school last week and was invited to 3 parties, so a request from my daughter for a stash of birthday cards.  Two are made, and more are work in progress!  The large black and white bag contains A4 card, decoupage sheets, etc that i haven't yet sorted a home for!  I never knew this card making would take up so much room!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave a comment ... I really do love to hear from everyone.  A quick question if I may (to my fellow cardmakers) - do you prefer to use double sided tape, or the adhesive rollers? Thank you.

Under the Sea

For this card I used a free set from Cardmaking & Papercraft.  I added one of the backing papers to a plain white card.  I used one of my embossing folders and inked the inside with Memento Ink, before embossing plain white card. I mounted this on to silver card and attached to the main card.  I coloured the mermaid and shells and mounted on to the card, and added some starfish and a sentiment to finish.

I would liked to enter this into the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers #194 Under the Sea
Crazy for Challenges C4C401

WOYWW 430

Good afternoon all,

I am enjoying my WOYWW touring all your lovely desks and seeing how creative you all are.  I feel like the nursery school kid tagging along with the big kids!  Everyone has to start somewhere though 😏.  My desk has had a busy bank holiday weekend!

Last week I had die cut and stamped a lot of baby clothes ready to make into cards.  Sad to say, I binned all the girl clothes, as they didn't look right.  I did put together the bones of one card.  You can see it in the centre of the pic balancing on the keyboard.  It's not finished, as again, it doesn't look quite right.  It may be confined to the UFO box for a while!  I did manage to finish one baby boy card but nothing to do with the clothes line!

To the left of my desk is my little drawer that holds all my sticky pads, and glue dots.  Under that is a pink photo album, where I have images of all my stamps (well not quite all, it is a work-in-progress).  There are 3 white cones with some green foil, which at some point is a little project for me and my grandsons for Christmas.  To the right is the embossing folder and flower stamp I used on the retirement card, and the packet of baby clothes dies/stamps.  Next to the green mat is a new die that I bought last week when Mr M took me to Inspirations after my hospital appointment.  They have a little coffee lounge where he reads the news, while I browse to my hearts content.  I used the die cut on the pink card (close up below) which is for a lovely lady at work who is retiring tomorrow.  I haven't finished putting it all together, but you get the idea of what it should look like.  It's on pink pearlescent card, I added the black leaf scroll from the new die, and pink pearlescent flowers that I have added black glitter to the middle.  I hope she will like it.

I'll be back soon for my tour of your workspaces.  Please leave a comment when you stop by, I do love to read them.  Have a lovely afternoon. Heather x

WOYWW 429

Up bright and early today as I have to go into work! I will do my WOYWW tour this evening or on my day off tomorrow.

I bought a baby clothes line stamp and die set this week.  I am planning on making several cards ready for all the pregnant ladies at work.  So I've been practising stamping the little die cuts.  Perfect way to use up scraps. They are on top of a white scrapbooking album that I plan to use as a wedding album, when I get round to printing out our wedding photos!  I was also inspired by Shaz and a few others to clear out most of my UFO box. 3 cards finished, which can just about be seen in the top LH corner of my desk.  2 cards left in my UFO box, which are both decoupage.  All cut out ready to layer together. And I gave in and started preparing for my first few Christmas cards.  I have a few die cut toppers that are gorgeous, and some stamps i have coloured in with watercolours, but not finished yet. Last year, I left it till November time and then a mad rush, but fellow deskers, you have convinced me to start early.  I also bought a few items on eBay and they arrived this week, on the RH side of my desk, but not had time to put them away.  The tattered lace shoe looks lovely! Not sure what I will do with it!  Have a wonderful week and thanks for visiting.   Please leave a comment and I will be sure to know you stopped by. Take care, Heather xx

In my Garden "Blooms and Bees" by Heather Marshall

I love my garden, so this card was easy for me to make.  A row of plant pots, yep, I have those (in abundance), and some beautiful flowers.  Now if only it would stop raining ...

The plant pot image is digital and was on a Crafters Companion CD.  I coloured the pots in with various watercolours, and then added different flower stamps from my collections.  A cute bee and a cheery sentiment finished the card off.  I then mounted the card on to black card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Moving Along with the Times - things beginning with letter B
Try it on Tuesday - In my Garden
The Flower Challenge #11

Blues and Greens by Heather Marshall

I had a lovely sheet of map paper, and wanted to create a masculine card.  I printed out a classic old ship picture on white card, and distress inked the edges in blue.  I then mounted this on to a dark blue metallic paper.  I mounted the square of map paper onto the same dark blue, and cut a tag out of it too.  I used a Good Luck sentiment and stuck this on to the tag, and used two green brads to attach the mounted sentiment to a contrasting strip of card.  I then attached the ship and the sentiment to the map.  A simple, but effective card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Country View Challenges August 2017 - Blues and Greens

Catch - Heather Marshall

This month's challenge from Lavinia Stamps is a Blues and Orange Hues.  My entry is a card made on white linen, 3 inked orange squares, surrounded by faded blue which has been spritzed with water to lift some of the colour.  The fairies are all playing catch, with balls which are orange stick ons.  I stamped bluebells in the bottom corner in grey, and maple leafs in the top corner.  To jazz the card up a little I added some silver link chain edging around all the squares, and distress inked the edge of the card, before mounting on black card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lavinia Stamps Monthly Creative Challenge - Blues and Orange Hues

WOYWW 428

Hello all

Wednesday again?  I enjoyed my first WOYWW last week.  On my desk today I have the start of four cards that are pretty much the same - apart from the colour of the backing paper and the sentiment.  I need 4 male cards over the next couple of weeks - two birthday, one retirement and one good luck card.  As the men don't know each other, I thought might as well batch make some!  I had a nice sheet of French map paper that I wanted to use, so sat about waiting for inspiration!  I tried circular cut outs for the ship (can see them top above the cards), but although I had a nice circle die to cut the ship, the backing circle was hand cut and looked a bit rough.  I have amassed quite a few dies in the past 21 months - but nesting dies are very few and far between!  Square shapes I don't need dies for 😊  The stamps on the shelf are from my grandsons visiting at weekend.  They wanted to make cards for mummy and daddy.

I do have quite a bit of storage space - it's desk space I am short of - hence the propped up keyboard!  On my journeys around your desks, I see most people have a separate desk/table for crafting, away from the PC.  I have the perfect table in another room - it tilts up for when I am doing a jigsaw, or in a colouring/painting mood ... only problem is I'm not sure I could fit it in this room.  So my craft supplies are in one room and my perfect table in another.  Hmm - thinking cap on - I need to come up with a solution!

How many attempts did it take you lovely crafters to get your ideal craft room?  Or are you still working on it like me?

I'll start my tour after lunch.  Thanks for stopping by.
Heather x

WOYWW 427

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday 427

Good morning all,

Please be gentle - I am new to blogging as well as WOYWW.  I have been sneaking peaks at your workdesks since I stumbled across Julia's blog.  I don't know anyone who makes cards, so look to the internet for inspiration and kindred spirits.  I started making cards whilst I was recuperating after an operation in Nov 2015.  Now I am kind of recuperating again.  I am on a phased return to work after a long absence, and am therefore home alone every Wednesday ... and can craft and browse the internet to my heart's content.  Well not quite heart's content - my bank account doesn't appreciate crafting as much as I do :) 

My workdesk has two cards I finished making this morning - a fairy one, for my daughter (which does have a rather odd row of flowers on the bottom - but I stuck the DS tape on the wrong side of the die cut, and didn't quite know how else to fix it!).  As I said, I haven't been crafting long!  The other card with a butterfly was me trying out ink dusters to see what they looked like, and it evolved into a birthday card.

To the left is my ribbon storage box (formerly a champagne box), and behind the cards under the shelf are my butterfly box (current projects), and green studded box (rubber stamps - I don't have many).  My distress inks are on the shelf - out of reach of my young grandsons who use my craft room as their bedroom when they come for sleepovers.

I look forward to visiting all your workdesks after my lunch!

Best wishes, Heather x

PS:  I hope I got the linky thing right!  If not, I will try harder next week!

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  I will get round all the workdesks, but comments may take a day or two!

Flutterbys by Heather Marshall

I cut three equal panels from some shiny buttefly paper in my stash, matted them on to black card, then added all three to a co-ordinating paper, and matted on to the same black card, before mounting on to a white card.  I added a matching birthday tag, and some pearlescent silver dots, and a small metallic butterfly to finish off.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Country View Challenges - July Things With Wings

Sailing Away by Heather Marshall

A card suitable for a male who loves sailing.  I cut three equal panels from Nautical Rose paper, matted them on to blue shiny card, then added all three to a co-ordinating paper, and matted on to the same blue card, before mounting on to a white card.  I added a matching birthday tag, and some pearlescent blue dots.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 193 Lots of Layers
Crafting from the Heart Challenge 169 Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination Challenge No 132

Chasing Bubbles by Heather Marshall

I fell in love with Lavinia's Stamps on one of my frequent browsing sessions - and below is a card I made using three Lavinia stamps: Freyas House; Fairy Pods and Dancing Fairies.  For the background I used Inkylicious Ink Dusters and Memento Inks: Dandelion, Rose Bud and Danube Blue.  The bubbles are by Papermania.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lavinia Stamps Monthly Creative Challenge - Summer Landscapes -
Lemon Shortbread Challenge - No 46 Anything Goes
Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - 1 Layer Only
Country View Challenges - July Things With Wings