WOYWW ATC Swap

 These are the ATC's that I made for last weeks anniversary ATC swap.

  

But now on to the best bit of the week - sitting on my desk today is an array of gorgeousness, all the little treasues that landed on my doorstep during the week -  I am absolutely thrilled with them. 

    

These are from Annie, Jo, Cindy, Caro, Jan and Zsuzsa...

...and these are from Angela (Felix the Crafty Cat) , Helen, Debbie, Angela (Crafting with Jack), Neet and Lynne.

Thank you all so much for the beautiful work and the little cards and extras that came with them.

 I had problems with one or two blogs last week, I visited and tried to comment on all of them but one or two took several attempts and still didn't look like they had accepted my comments - I don't know what was going on, I'm despairing of blogger sometimes!  

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

WOYWW 12th Anniversary

  It's the 12th Anniversay of WOYWW this week - what an amazing achievement, and huge thanks and appreciation to Julia, our host over at the Stamping Ground.   It's still the amazing, friendly and fun group it was when I first joined in 10 years ago.

 Last week I started hand embroidering a couple of ATC's for this week's celebratory swap but it took me so long to make two that I had to forego that idea and re-think the plan.  All ATC's have been re-thought and made - amazingly for me most have been posted - and the embroidered panels are very slowly becoming card toppers!

 

ATC's and New Stash

I've treated myself to some beautiful new hand-dyed felt this week, for no other reason than I was seduced by the colours!  

I also have seed beads and a pile of fabric ATC blanks, edges sewn and ready to work on for the swap.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Embroidery Threads and WOYWW ATCs

 After sorting out my ribbons and laces a few weeks ago I have tackled the last remaining area of utter chaos - my Coton a Broder embroidery threads!  The Sylko's are beautifully wound in their own box but I had a bag of tangled Broder threads that would make a naughty kitten proud of the mess.  Anyway here they are, colour co-ordinated, labelled and very user-friendly!

Along side them is the beginnings of some ATCs and my very old needle case that I made in primary school - I was so disappointed at the time when I asked for cream and got green background cloth - still I did a good job as it's lasted 50 odd years and still going strong!

If anyone would like to swap anniversary ATCs please let me know.

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

Decoupage Shells and WOYWW

I've had some fun this week decorating shells.

 I've been using some Spode patterned paper napkins as I do love blue and white - my previous blue and white shells are here.

I added some moss and artificial succulents to this little one.

I decided to try an oyster shell as I have seen some lovely ring dishes on Pinterest - this one is quite large at 12cm long.  I added some gold leaf liqud to the edges and under side and gloss varnished the napkin side to a very high gloss.   

I don't think this clam shell suits gloss varnish, I'll go over it with a couple of coats of a matte one.  I am going to drill a hole in it, and add ribbon or twine to hang it with.

And here's my desk as it is at the moment - a sheet of white paper for photographing on, plus a clam shell and some paper napkins - I am going to paint the inside of the shell with white paint first so the dark markings don't show through the napkin, then this will become a dish - it's another large shell at about 14cm wide.

And finally some more little shells, using up some old paper napkins.  I have no idea what to do with them but they were fun to make!

  I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW

Woodland Birthday Card and WOYWW

  I can't begin to tell you the problems I've had since replacing my old computer nearly 3 weeks ago - it's been a journey and a half but I finally have enough bits of the new one working to enable me to post something this week - a birthday card for the Hubs!  Made a couple of weeks ago but I'm only just able to access my photos!

 The increased time spent away from my computer while the Hubs tries to get it sorted has meant I have spent several happy hours winding my ribbons onto strips of card and tidying them all up.  I'm sure all neat freaks out there will understand when I say how satisfying it was doing that job - I have boxes for different colours - this one is neutrals - and I can see at a glance what I have which is so much easier and nicer than rifling through storage jars stuffed to capacity, however attractive they looked on the shelf!

 I linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week. 

Lino Printing and WOYWW

And before I know it two weeks have passed me by and I don't know where they've gone!  My desk is still pretty much unreachable due to sorting and organising - I've started on my degree portfolios now so an awful lot of huge A1 sized stuff is everywhere and my plan is to halve the volume of it all - I'm in a ruthless mood so it should work!

I managed to rescue some lino cutting tools and inks and brought them down to the calm of the dining table to cut and print a birthday card and gift box for my youngest nephew who has just turned 16 - he's into guitars as you might have guessed!

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

Blue and White Shells

 I'm linking up with WOYWW today.  My desk is unreachable at the moment due to the fact I've emptied out the eaves cupboard that runs the full length of my room - it's full of overflow art and craft stash, and stuff I might need one day! 

However, I have a jar full of shells in the bathroom and a pile of paper napkins in the dining room so in between the horrendous task of re-organising that is going on upstairs, I've been playing nicely downstairs! 

I have wanted to have a go at decorating shells for a long time - they often crop up on Pinterest and after a few disasters I was quite surprised at how good they look from a distance - a bit shoddy close up but I blame the glue!

I finished them off with an 18kt gold leafing pen - it was an expensive indulgence that I don't regret at all as the quality of the gold is lovely.