WOYWW 156 - The Anniversary Edition! :)

Well folks, it seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye but would you believe it's the 3rd anniversary of WOYWW?! I've only been blogging for a couple of years but I've loved joining in with WOYWW over that time (with only a couple of missed weeks) and taking a peek at what crafty people all over the world are working on... and sharing some of my makes, and my day to day life. :)

In honour of this momentous occasion, the omnipotent Julia, Queen of WOYWW, has organised an ATC swap for those who want to take part. And I do! So... here's what's on my desk this morning:

Yup, it's a pile of crafty chaos and a bunch of ATCs. I *am* taking part in the "send an ATC to the person after you in the list" part of the swap but these ATCs aren't for that person. Oh no, I felt like sharing big-time so these ATCs are for the first 10 people to comment on this post saying that they want one of them. If you are one of those select 10 commenters, please click here to email me with your name and address and I'll get one of these ATCs sent out to you (edit: I'm happy to post anywhere in the world! :D).

Thanks for stopping by my blog on your tour of the WOYWW desks... I hope you're enjoying the anniversary! I've struggled to get round many of the WOYWW desks in recent weeks but I'm going to make an extra special effort this week to visit as many as I can!

Happy anniversary, happy Wednesday, happy WOYWW! :)

Happy Birthday Passion for Promarkers! - Part 2

My second card for Passion for Promarkers' birthday challenge uses a Sugar Nellie stamp and I'm also entering it into the current "free for all" challenge at The Sugar Bowl blog.

The papers and the chipboard greeting are all Kate Crane freebies that came with a magazine a while back and I've coloured the cute Sugar Nellie image to match the papers for a pretty, summery card. :)

Happy Birthday Passion For Promarkers! - Part 1

The Passion for Promarkers challenge blog is celebrating their third birthday with a bumper challenge this week! :) The theme is, naturally enough, birthday and I've gotten into the swing of things and actually made two cards for this challenge. I'm going to pop them in separate posts as it'll make things easier when linking to the challenge blog. :)

My first card uses a Stitchy Bear Stamps digital image:

I love this little nymph/urchin/whatever she is. Isn't she cute? She's coloured in with my Promarkers and cut out with my new Stampin' Up! Framelits. The papers are all from my scraps box and I also had a play with a new Sizzlets die for the vines/flourishes.

This card also meets the criteria for the May challenge on the little cardmaking/scrapbooking group on BabyCentre. :)

Scrapbooking round-up

I have a confession to make - I haven't crafted in nearly a week! And I've missed it SO much! I've had a lovely week enjoying the sunshine with DH and the girls (and boy, did DH pick the right week to have off work, eh?!) but oh my craft room has been calling to me! :lol:

Don't get me wrong... I *love* having DH home (and so do the kids!) but I rarely get much - or even any - crafting done while he is home. In my usual week, while he's working away Monday-Friday, I put the kids to bed and the evening is my own, to spend as I see fit. But when DH is home I obviously want to spend time with him... and it seems kind of churlish to go and hide myself away in the craft room in the evenings.

So last night I was very glad to get back into my room and have a play. And this was the result:

This is an idea I've had floating around in my head for days, just waiting to be put into practice (so much so that I scribbled it down as a sketch so I wouldn't forget it!). I spritzed Sky Blue and Jade mica Dylusions spray inks onto my non-stick craft mat and then smooshed plain white card around on it before adding a few splats and flicks of the inks. I scribbled rough circles with a fineliner pen and then cut out the centres of the circles and attached the photos behind the holes. I finished up with a bit of handwritten journalling and a Thickers title. :)

I've made a few other scrapbook pages over the past few weeks that I've not shared on here so I thought I'd take this opportunity to have a catch-up. :)

First of all, there's the LO I did as a make and take at the SU regional training day the other weekend:

I loved playing with the new Twitterpated papers and also, I'm a genius! :lol: I took four photos with me to the training day as I had no idea what colours etc we'd be working with for the make and take... and blow me if DD2's cardigan in this photo wasn't just the perfect match for the Pear Pizazz cardstock for this LO! :D

I also made two LOs as part of the Green Button fun evening over on UKS (and there's a third still in progress!)...

The first was done for the speed scrap challenge:

Speed scrap's are a lot of fun - it's always interesting to see how everyone's LOs come out as they've put together the stash "blind", as it were, and interpreted the instructions their own way. :)

I also did a digi-LO for a challenge that required "dark, grungy colours and/or steampunk":

I think I fulfilled both those criteria using these elements from the Combobulated kit from Creative Victorian.

I've got another LO sitting on the desk, in progress, and ideas for several more floating around in my brain, jostling for pole position! :lol: I'm itching to craft after my days of enforced abstinence. Does it make me a bad mother that I kind of wish it was bedtime already so I could get in my craft room? ;) :lol:

WOYWW - 23 May 2012

Extremely quick fly-by post from me this morning cos it's looking like another glorious day, DH has the week off work so we're packing the kids into the car with buckets and spades and heading to the seaside! :D

So here's my desk this morning:

No actual crafting going on (I don't get in the craft room a lot when DH is home) but a lot of debris from making lots of swaps and some cute cards with some of my goodies from the new Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue.

That's it from me. Short and sweet. Thanks for stopping by... last one to the beach is a rotten egg! *Wheeeeeeee!* :D

WOYWW - 16 May 2012

Another Wednesday is upon us and time for crafters the world over to share a peek at their workdesks.

So here we go. Are you ready for this? Good. Prepare to be amazed folks, because....

I've actually tidied!! :lol:

I know it may not look much different in the main picture but rest assured you can definitely see more desk than before. And look:

You can actually see desk - full stop - on the previously overflowing spare desk!! Woot!

And I've even cleared most of the floor... cos I was in danger of starting to lose the narrow pathway between door and chair! :lol:

So other than tidying, I have actually been doing a bit of crafting, as evidenced by the desk view today. I'm off for a regional training day on Saturday (never been before so well looking forward to it!) so I've been hard at work making my name badge and playing around with some ideas for my display project and some swaps. Fun fun fun.

Speaking of fun fun fun, I really must get to bed cos it's silly o'clock and mum and I are taking the kids to the soft play in the morning... which, based on past experience, will involve me crawling/climbing/running around the place chasing after/retrieving/aiding/removing from the bottom of slides etc etc etc said kids! Wish me luck! :lol:

A Rose By Any Other Name...

A new challenge goes live over at Sweet Pea Stampers today and the theme is "flowers". The DT have put together some gorgeous cards to inspire you and this is my contribution:

The image is Rachel Anderson's Rose (appropriately enough! :D) and I've coloured her with Distress Inks (and a touch of Distress Stickles on her wings). The papers are gorgeous Webster's Pages ones that came free with a craft mag recently, all edged with Tea Dye Distress Ink. The border punches used were Martha Stewart ones.

There are Sweet Pea stamps on offer for the challenge winner so pop on over and join in the challenge. :)

WOYWW - 9 May 2012

I am starting to think that buying these lovely, new, comfy, reclining, leather sofas was a mistake. That and starting to watch Flashpoint.

I meant to get in my craft room tonight. I really did. I had every intention of doing so. But Flashpoint is on at 8pm every weekday on Universal channel and by the time I'd put the kids to bed and grabbed a quick bit of dinner it was time to watch... and that was it. I somehow didn't manage to prise myself off the comfy sofa for the rest of the evening! :lol:

So not a great deal to share on my workdesk this morning (yes, I am on my way to bed but technically it is Wednesday morning! :lol:) -

I still haven't tidied. I know. You're shocked, aren't you? ;) A few things of note amidst the debris... a bit of a background that I've been playing with, experimenting with my new Pan Pastels and Cosmic Shimmer acrylic spray inks... a sheet of digi images that I've printed in order to have a play with... and an in-progress attempt at doing an image transfer for an art journal page (belatedly trying to desperately catch up with the UKS Art Journey!!).

However, just because I've been sitting on my backside on the comfy sofa all evening instead of getting in my craft room, doesn't mean I've not been crafting. Thank goodness for digi-scrapping! :lol:

I recently went a bit barmy buying digikits at 7th Heaven (darn it, but digi elements are so addictive - I tried to put the new kits on the 16GB flash drive I tend to store all my digikits on and there wasn't room! Ooops!!) and I just had to have a play.

So while watching Flashpoint, Without A Trace and Law & Order: SVU, I made this: :)

The kit is called 1001 Dreams and it's just soooo pretty! And I couldn't resist making DD2 into a cute little fairy. ;)

Right. Bedtime for me. Gotta take DD1 (3 years old) to the dentist in the morning! Should be fun... :/

WOYWW - 2 May 2012

I seem to say this every month lately but how the heck is it May already?! Honestly, this year seems to be just flying by.

So, time for a peek at the workdesks of crafters the world over on this first Wednesday in May... if you're wondering what on earth I'm on about, then pop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog for the full details and list of people joining in. :)

On my desk this morning... still an awful lot of crafting debris in need of tidying and putting away and a few new Stampin' Up! goodies that arrived last week and that I just couldn't resist having a bit of a quick play with:

One thing I do love about SU is their coordinating stamps and punches. Sooo quick and easy to make this cute little cupcake: :D

I suspect people are going to be getting a lot of cupcake cards from me in the near future! :lol:

That's it from me this week - short and sweet! Thanks for stopping by - it'd be lovely if you'd leave a comment to say hi. Am going to make a concerted effort myself this week to visit as many WOYWW blogs as I can! :lol:

Here Comes Summer!

I wish!

Although, we did have sunshine today, for the first time in what feels like weeks! In fact, not only did it not rain today (*gasp*) but at times, when the sun was out and if you were sheltered from the wind, it actually felt warm!! Wow!

Maybe we will get a summer this year after all. :lol:

Anyway, regardless of the weather, the good folks over at One Stitch at a Time are feeling summery and their current challenge is "Here Comes Summer"... wishful thinking perhaps but roll with it people! :D

So here's my summery card... lots of warm pretty colours and flowers to put us all in a summery mood.

The image is a Stitchy Bear Stamps one called Rosalee.... isn't she gorgeous? She's coloured in with my Promarkers and I used some scrummy Websters Pages paper, my TH Elegant Flourishes die, a doily and a bunch of Prima paper flowers. :D