Swatches Folder

Not much creativity has been going on since last week but I have been doing a little organizing and trying to stuff new stash into an already very overcrowded studio!  This also involves adding samples of my new purchases to my swatches folder, which is currently open on my desk right now as I was too lazy to put it away last night!  

 In the folder I have swatches of everything from

ink pads and glitter pastes.....

...to coloured card and washi tapes

This makes it so much easier to colour match and remind myself what stash I have (which probably means I have far too much if I need visual aids to remember it all).  I must give a shout out to Shaz (Silverwolf) who many moons ago pointed me in the direction of the pocket folders from Westgate-supplies - I use them for almost everything - they really are bloomin' marvellous!
  
I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week so why not pop over and have a nose at what other people have on their desks.

Boxes and Fun and WOYWW

I've been absent from blogging for a while as things have been crazy over here.  My step son and his family have been visiting England for the first time since they moved to the US over 20 years ago, and of course it was the first time the children had ever been over - we had such a lovely time with them.

To give the girls a memento of their holiday I made two little envelope boxes that held a silver pendant for each of them.

These are the front of the boxes...

 ...and the back of the boxes

Just when things were feeling a bit dull and the family had returned home to the US I received some lovely happy mail - an ATC and pretty card from Shaz in Oz arrived.  I love the green background, such lovely subtle blended colours that really make the black flowers pop, and the card is made from an original card and photo by Margaret - what a gorgeous image of the bluebell.  Thank you so much Shaz.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Art, ATC's and Organisation!

 I've been busy sewing this week, working my way through a big basket of mending that has been accumulating for about a year!  What this has to do with WOYWW is that earlier in the week I spent ages trying to thread a very fine needle only to discover despite glasses, that I was trying to thread the wrong end of it -  so as if by magic the Hubs found an old magnifying glass in his shed for me.  I really shouldn't moan about him never throwing anything out should I!

 Also on my desk is a small ATC storage holder that is waiting to be decorated - perhaps I'll get round to it soon - or perhaps not!

 I have had some wonderful mail this week, firstly this beautiful

piece of artwork from the super talentedTerri over at Art Life Rust.  I have been a fan of Terri's amazing work for such a long time and am thrilled to own one of her beautiful botanical pieces.  Thank you so much Terri, it will be greatly treasured.

 I also received some gorgeous ATC's.

This little bundle on the left is from Neet and I just love the painted cockerel card so much, I shall be framing it shortly.  The other ATC's (clockwise from top left) are from Lunch Lady Jan with a beautiful card she sent made by Debbie (Tattered Rocks), Sylvia (Little Treasures) who sent the prettiest ATC along with some gorgeous collage pieces and Shaz Silverwolf whose sparkly and celebratory ATC was gorgeous, and so appropriate for the anniversary! 

Thank you so much ladies. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.  

ATC's for WOYWW

 Here are a couple of the ATC's I made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of WOYWW...

...and here are some of the beautiful pieces of art work I received back...

I was overwhelmed at the gorgeousness of the needle felted creation made by Jo (aka Twiglet) who was my pif - she had even chosen my favourite colours and popped it in a sweet little frame.  Needless to say it's taking pride of place on my little shelf of 'treasures from others' (an idea inspired by Jan last week).  Thank you so much Jo.

And these two lovelies are from Heather (at Heather's Crafty Retreat) and Zsuzsa (Inky Dinky Doodle).  Heather included a lovely card and some inspirational die-cut words, and Zsuzsa printed her own envelope and note card to match the ATC and added a lovely sheet of collage images. 
 Thank you so much ladies.

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW, so why not have a nosey over there and see what other people have on their desks this week.

Silver Clay Pendants and WOYWW 10th Anniversary

I haven't done much arty crafty stuff lately as I've been making the most of the lovely weather we've been having and working in the garden.  But I have taken a break to mess about with some silver clay.  After doing a wonderful workshop  recentlty I just had to have a go at home, so after a small investment in colours and a larger investment in a UV light box this is my first attempt.  

I had some left over bits of silver clay and had to use them quickly, so I made this second pendant and had a go at setting a stone, which I'd also never done before.  The design emerged from ideas about pollen and seeds, possibly because I've been getting hay fever, but I'm thinking it looks a little bit more like coral!

I'm linking up with WOYWW this week for their 10th Anniversary - what an amazing achievement, I've loved being part of it and look forward to many more weekly meet ups in blog land.

A Happy Anniversary to all you lovely deskers out there and a HUGE thank you to Julia who has kept it all running so smoothly and for so long. 

Resist Stenciling Cards

Despite being gardening crazy at the moment I managed to get some crafty time in and I turned a couple of backgrounds into birthday cards.  It was a continuation of my 'playing' with the Distress Micro Glaze resist technique. I can't seem to resist resist at the moment!

The top card has some gold embossing paste thinly stenciled on top of the resist stenciling so it's slightly translucent.  It's a little easier to see in the close up shot further down the post. 

The one below used just two colours of spray, pink and a honey gold but when sprayed on top of each other they made a very pleasing deeper burgundy.

I am linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Gardening Mini Journal

Over the Easter break I made a little gardening journal in which to keep all the notes about the garden this year -  with my husband's foray into the world of growing vegetables and his constant quest for knowledge about it on the internet I decided that rather than have piles of little notes and scraps of paper lying around I would make him a journal to collate all his valuable information!

I took the idea from a birthday card I made him recently, which can be found here.

I used Eileen Hull's Wrapped Journal die and decorated it with stenciling using Distress Micro glaze as a resist.  I added real seeds and Glossy Accents for 'water drops' to the front cover and little miniature die cut vegetables to the inner cover. For closure the twig (which is actually a shawl pin) is slotted through two loops of leather held in place with brads.  The signatures are loose but held in place with brown elastic thread so that pages can be moved around or replaced.

The inside front cover has a small envelope which closes with natural twine and I made a page marker out of thick linen thread with a bead and a little pea pod on the end - this is simply looped through some of the elastic binding inside the journal.

I so enjoyed making this and I really could have gone to town decorating it but I was pleased that I managed to keep it fairly understated and simple - the hubs definitely wouldn't want dangly decorations and fiddly bits that might fall off or get in the way!

I am sharing this over at Julia's WOYWW and the 
Mini Album Makers Challenge.

 

Spring Inspiration

I have been engrossed in the garden lately, and after making a gardening themed birthday card recently (here) I have been playing about with ideas for my 'Spring Emerging' project.  This is one of my seasonal on-going projects that comes out every year, and I work on it until the next season arrives - that's the plan anyway!

Ideas have been along a theme of planting seeds, rows of seedlings, earth and compost and of course a Ginkgo leaf thrown in for good measure (why on earth - I don't know - but I felt like it!).  Distress Micro Glaze was used as a resist, except for the green circles that were pigment tinted texture paste.  I don't know what I'll do with them yet but I enjoyed the playing!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.