Finally done some crafting!!

After giving my craft room a darn good tidy the other night, I finally managed to get in there and get some actual crafting done! Woohoo!

First off, I finished up an ATC that I had been playing with:

I bought a fab set of Kanban clear stamps from Create and Craft a few months ago and as soon as I received them this one leapt out at me as being a perfect size for an ATC. I decided to have a play with my new ProMarkers so I stamped the image with black Adirondack ink and then coloured it in with the ProMarkers. Am quite pleased with the results... especially given that a) I've never been all that good at drawing in colour and b) it was only my second time using the ProMarkers.

As well as the ATC, I decided to have a go at a layout for the January house challenge over on UKScrappers. The challenge involved using a sketch and also to have at least 50% journalling:

This is actually the first scrapbook page I have made since the UKS cyber crop in early December! The only crafting I've really done since then has been cards - Christmas cards, birthday cards, thank you cards etc etc! Feels good to have gotten back into scrapping.

The layout tells the story of how I went into labour on Christmas Eve and was in hospital over Christmas.. so we postponed Christmas Day until I was home from hospital with DD2 and had our own Christmas day, with full Christmas dinner and presents etc, 4 days late! The papers are by Stampin' Up! - the background paper was just perfect for a layout with lots of journalling.

I've not really been able to get in the craft room much since making these but I've got some more new toys to play with (some yummy stamps) and I'm feeling inspired... and DH is working away from home again Wednesday and Thursday so I'll be home alone those evenings and free to craft to my heart's content (munchkin allowing!). :)

Blog Candy

For an chance to win some awesome blog candy (lookit all the Tim Holtz yummies! :D), make sure to head on over to An Art Soul.

This is what's up for grabs:

*salivates* :)

Well, would you look at that!

Turns out there was actually a desk under all that mess and clutter! :lol:

I managed to get in my craft room the other night and have a really good tidy... cleared up all the scraps of card and paper and all the jars and tubs of glitter and embossing powder and paint dabbers and the inkpads and random chipboard die-cuts etc etc etc etc etc and rediscovered my desk surface! :) 

And look who was keeping me company while I tided! :D

It feels good to have a nice clear, tidy desk and I am now all set to get some crafting done! Little ones permitting... ;)

Goodies galore!

My, what a lovely morning I've had! The postie has been exceptionally good to me today! I've received not one, not two, but THREE parcels of stash! :D

The first one was possibly the best because it was unexpected! I had placed three orders for stash over the weekend but none of them were huge orders/items... and yet DH brought me a biiiig parcel up to the playroom this morning...

I opened it, thinking it must be one of my stash orders, only to find inside a whole heap of MIC goodies and a compliments slip congratulating me on winning a giveaway from Scrapbook Magazine! :D

Check out these goodies!

There two albums in there, there's papers, there's embellies! So much crafty goodness! :D

The big parcel must have arrived by courier because an hour or so later DH came up to the playroom with the post... including two pizza boxes for me! Two of my three stash orders had arrived in the post!

From Cleo's Crafts I got some way cute clear stamp sets (half price in the sale!), some giant brads and a lovely sheet of journalling cards:

And from Merly Impressions I got a whole heap of yummy Kaisercraft goodies (I can see myself very easily getting quite addicted to Kaisercraft products!!), including papers, bling embellies, wooden embellies and some OTP albums:

I can't wait  to get in my craft room and play with all these!

I really am going to have to get some tidying done in there though to make space to play with my new goodies!

WOYWW - 12 January 2011

Wednesday is here again and it's time to share what's on your workdesk - if you're new to WOYWW, make sure to head on over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog to check out the full list of workdesks!

There's still not a lot going on in my craft room - although you'd never know it from the amount of mess/chaos in there! :lol:

On my desk today: my completed thank you cards, in their envelopes, ready to seal and to post next time I pass by the post office; a card kit that I am contemplating using to make a card; and the ongoing 2nd attempt at trying Julie's faux dichroic glass technique (as seen in a previous WOYWW) - these have now progressed a stage further as I have added the alcohol inks. :)

I really must do some tidying in my craft room. The desk is absolutely covered in stuff that is left over from previous things I've been working on and just haven't gotten around to tidying away... there's inkpads, pots of embossing powder, tubs of paint, stamps, acrylic blocks, bottles of Stickles and Glossy Accents, punches, packets of brads, scraps of paper and card, paintbrushes, pallet knives, craft magazines, half-finished ATCs, aaarrrgghhhhhh! It's getting to the point now where the mess is getting in the way and I really need to have a proper tidy/clear up in order to get any crafting done!

Thanks for popping by for a look at my workdesk. I sincerely hope to have a much tidier desk to share with you next week! :lol:

Playing with my new toys!

Well, would you look at this?! Here's me blogging and it's not a WOYWW post! In fact, it's not even a Wednesday! :lol:

Yup, I finally managed to get into my craft room for a bit last night and actually got a bit of crafting done! I wanted to make a start on making some thank you cards - which of course was the perfect opportunity to have a play with some of my latest acquisitions!

First on my list of goodies to try out was my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. I've actually had this die for a few months now but due to a combination of illness, pregnancy, the urgent need to make Christmas cards, giving birth and caring for a newborn, I'd not even taken it out of its packaging until yesterday! :lol:

I decided to use this yummy Laura Ashley flocked paper with the die:

Am loving how the flowers layer up. I was desperate to get this die and can see me using it a lot!

The other new toy I wanted to play with was my new Nestabilities. My mum got me three sets of Nesties for Christmas (she always asks me to tell her something she can buy me for birthdays/christmas etc so this year I sent her a link to a website and told her which Nesties I'd like! :D) and I couldn't wait to have a go with them - particularly the matching size circle and scalloped circle ones.

When I bought my BigShot a few months back, the main things I wanted to be able to do with it were use embossing folders, use some of the yummy Tim Holtz dies and use Nestabilities. All of which I can now say I have done! :D

Anyway, here  is the resulting thank you card prototype:

The patterned paper is by Stampin' Up! and the flocked paper, as previously mentioned, is by Laura Ashley. I also used plain black cardstock by Papermania, textured cardstock by Bazzill, black gemstones by Papermania and a velvet brad of unknown origin! The Thank You stamp is one from a Kanban set. :D

WOYWW - 5 January 2010

Goodness. I'm so behind. I didn't even get to WOYWW at all last week and I've done no crafting at all in weeks so nothing has changed on my workdesk since my last WOYWW post. This is currently my craft room in all its chaotic, untidied, non-productive state:

And the reason for the complete lack of crafting lately? This little lady:

My second daughter Mia arrived on Christmas Eve (her due date!) weighing 7lb 14oz and is a little sweetheart. We were in hospital for 5 days after the birth and since we've been home we've had houseguests for a lot of the time (my mum, my brother-in-law and now hubby's great aunt!) so even though Mia sleeps pretty well, I've simply not had chance to get in my craft room and get anything done. Really must make an attempt to soon though, if only to make some thank you cards for the lovely Christmas presents friends and family sent the girls!

So thank you for stopping by - sorry there is not much to see on my workdesk but hopefully I will have something of a crafty nature to share for next week's WOYWW. :)