WOYWW 368

Don't these Wednesday's roll around so fast?!?!?!

Am sure they appear more than once a week!

Just a very quick post today (Julia will be SO proud of me!!!) as I have a crazy, stupid amount of stuff to do and there are just not enough hours in the day.

My workdesk today ... practically untouched since last week I'm sorry to say.

We headed off to Crowborough last Thursday so I could attend the two ClarityStamp open days and they were so brilliantly exhausting that I have had no energy to do much of anything since getting home. 

It is absolutely wonderful to see that our dear, dear Head Desker, the truly delightful Julia over at The Stamping Ground has blogged this week - so very soon after her surgery and that the equally delightful Jan at LLJ's Fabric Frenzy is at the helm again this week.

Goes without saying, Julia & Jan, that I have you both very much in my thoughts.

So, as promised, short and sweet.

Happy WOYWW'ing fellow bloggers!

xXx

A little rust is a must ... but heaps is a whole lot better!!!!!

Finally had time to just play ... to sit and create something just for me!

Well, of course, all my crafting is just for me because 'tis what I love to do but this time this was not a project needed for a specific purpose ... and, oh did I enjoy doing this one.

And ... you'd better sit down for this

and get yourself a stiff drink

because

for once

I am actually quite pleased with how this turned out

in fact

it is not even destined to the Box of Failures

but it is going to be

HUNG ON THE WALL!!!

Whilst at a family BBQ at Alfie's I came across a pair of rusty old scissors that he had just dug out of his veggie patch ... 

Set his old aunt's creative juices flowing I can tell you

Kinda, sorta had a vision in my head straight away of what I wanted to do with them

After a false start where it was not coming together quite as hoped 

but I Carried on Regardless

but knew I was not happy with it

I had all the bits stuck in place and was leaving overnight to dry completely and was merrily bobbling away during the evening when I suddenly announced

"It's no good"!

And dashed off to rip off as many of the pieces as I could

Tore the canvas in a few places but nothing that could not be disguised

and I left it all in a heap ready to tackle afresh the next day

Tackle afresh I did

and was back to more of what I envisioned

Thought I had it finished last night

but was not happy with it this morning

so tweaked

and now it IS finished

I think ...

Linen stretched canvas 

Randomly torn corrugated cardboard

Modelling paste mixed with the smallest art stones and spread through one of my barbed wire stencils

Black heavy gesso

Everything stuck in place with 3D Gloss Gel and the heavier pieces with Heavy Body Gel

Layers and layers and layers of mica sprays :

Teal * Bottle Green * Rust * Copper

Then layers and layers and layers of Rust Paste

Rust mica powder mixed with Soft Gloss Gel and dry-brushed over the barbed wire to bring out the detail

Photo's are rubbish - not bringing out the true colours or mica-shimmer

but I promise they are there.

WOYWW 365

Starting off with the great news that our much, much loved Head Desker, Julia, has come through her very long surgery yesterday and is now in the HDU - hopefully we will have an update on how she is doing before too long.  We are all thinking of you, dear friend, and wishing you the most speedy of recoveries.

So what is on my desk today?

Working on some ATC's but was cross to come to my desk this morning to find the top layer of card - which had been stencilled with texture paste and had crackle glaze applied - had lifted and started to peel off.

Was I surprised?

No!

When asking dearest hubby to cut me some mountboard into ATC sized pieces he found some of the sort that has the self-adhesive coating on one side (used for mounting prints for framing) - onto this I stuck some plain white card which I had put through the Xyron.

I did say to him that I doubted the two surfaces would adhere and that they would peel but, of course, he thought otherwise.

Did just have a "told you so" moment when I pointed it out to him I have to admit.

So the Cosmic Shimmer glue is my last ditch effort to save the situation but even that was struggling to bond ...hence the upside down tin (which is full of metal cogs) pressing down onto a small canvas board under which are two, hopefully, no longer peeling cards!!!!  

If it works I shall attack the rest.

If not I shall have to scrap them and start again.

On the left are two projects I finished yesterday ... will blog these separately as our goal on WOYWW days is to keep our posts short and sweet and we can't go upsetting our Julia whilst she is in recovery mode following her op.,  

Huge thanks to Jan ... LLJ ... Lunch Lady Jan's Fabric Frenzy ... for holding fort and keeping us deskers WOYWW'ing ... you are a *S*T*A*R* and loved every bit as much as Julia.

Any excuse to play

Here it is ... bus number three!

Wanted to give everyone who attended my workshops a little thank you and a piece to offer further inspiration so, needing no excuse to play, I made everyone one of these (around 65!)

Because Sazz, Kimmie & Margaret did two workshops I made them a different one second time around.

They took ages to make but TOTALLY represent the crafting I love to do most of all.

Oh and the raffle prizes!  

I demo'd using white gesso but wanted to show what could be done with black so made three wooden hearts to offer as raffle prizes at each of the three groups.

These were them:

Tales of a demonstrating virgin

That refers to someone who has never demo'd a workshop before and not a nubile young maiden waiting for love to find her as she holds aloft a plaquard emblazoned with whichever cause she is fighting.

Oh, the visions I now have in my head!

Anyway, the title refers to me ... 

little old Debbie

 tatteredrocks

 Great-Aunt Grubby-Bee 

... who was invited to teach her version of Finnabair's wonderful mixed media pieces at three of Claritystamp's regular workshops hosted by the amazing Sally-Ann Moore (aided and abetted by the equally amazing Kim Shaw) and Maria Simms.

After much hesitation, dithering and contemplation and a huge amount of encouragement by Margaret Craner (Silvercrafter) I decided to bite the bullet and go for it ... worse that could happen would be I totally stuff up and make a fool of myself.

I am given to totally stuffing up and making a fool of myself so what did I have to lose?

Apart from public humiliation.

And pelting with rotten tomatoes.

And scurrying back into the comforts of my craft room never to be seen again.

So after tweaking a sample design to make it cost effective for the workshop and something that would not take too long to dry I got them OK'd by Sally-Ann & Maria and got all the kits put together.

Totally underestimated what a task that would be but will admit to enjoying it ... gave the OCD in me chance to come into play!

Although Sally-Ann was the first to ask me to demo, the dates worked out that I headed to Maria in Shrewsbury first.

I go as often as I can to Maria's workshops and travel with the aforementioned Margaret so off we went in April ... me quaking in my boots and not knowing what to expect.

All I had to do was sit there and do what I do with my eyes closed at home ... how hard can that be?

Er, how hard can it be to THINK about what you do with your eyes closed at home and explain it at the same time to a lot of ladies for whom this was a totally new experience?

Made a few mistakes, I have to admit but also have to admit I have not made those mistakes a second time !!!

Encountered a little negativity at that first demo which threw me totally off kilter - kinda, sorta held it together on the day but lost it completely once home and had serious doubts about myself but then along came a tidal wave of support and before I knew it the second demo, this time for Sally-Ann in Nottingham was upon us.  Again travelling with Margaret and to my regular group so demo'ing to faces I knew well - that actually made me more nervous than to ladies I knew less well as I didn't want to let any of them down.
Was blown away by two of the Peterborough group travelling to do my workshop in Nottingham!

My final demo was yesterday, again for Sally-Ann and this time in Peterborough and as Margaret does not attend that group it fell to hubby-dearest to take me on a roadtrip.  Oh and to a completely new group to me - never having met any of them before. 

Need not have worried.

The welcome, kindness, hugs, love and support totally blew me away. 

One lady even came all the way from Manchester - travelling over three hours to attend ... still can't get my head around that and have even messaged her asking if she was an apparition and I had been dreaming!

Am rambling.

But this is my blog so I can ramble all I like.

And I need to record all this so I never forget my first time demo'ing.

Can never forget the belief my friends had in me.

Can never forget the new friendships forged and just the overwhelming feeling of hoping to inspire even one person to have another go ... even managed to convert a couple of "I don't do messy" & "I don't do mixed media" ladies to my corner of the craft room and so many have, indeed, gone away to have another go!  

I count that as success and that is a word I never, ever apply to anything I do.

But today I am.

Those that know me well know how hard it is for me to say that.

These are my samples and the piece I did on the day for the three groups.

SHREWSBURY

Sample

The one I demo'd on the day

Was never happy with it so mounted it on a larger canvas once home

Still not happy with it so might try and prise off the bottom right corner composition and move it in a bit

Or I might leave it as it is and consign it to my ever expanding Box of Failures

NOTTINGHAM

Sample

The one I demo'd on the day

Will redo the sentiment at some point

Would prefer it to be narrower and longer

Too much space underneath it

PETERBOROUGH

Sample (same as Nottingham)

The one I demo'd on the day

This one ain't too bad!

Did I make mistakes?

Sure did!

Did I cope?

Yup!

Did I shake so much my stencils wobbled?

Oh yes!

Did I enjoy my experiences?

Did I heck!  'Twas amazeballs!!!!

So that's it then

Debbie the Demonstrating Virgin standing down

but

Watch This Space

because you never know!!!!!

Claritystamp Challenge #39 : Anything Goes

Well, as soon as I saw the theme for this month's challenge at Claritystamp my little creative cells went Psssst to me and I had a vision of what I wanted to do.  

Started off with a plank of wood ...

Gesso'd it ... stencilled it ... crackled it ... 

I used Clarity's CLOCKWORK stencil - one of my all time favourites

And the stamp has always been a favourite verse of mine and I am happy to have any excuse to use it again - again, it is available from Claritystamp

WOYWW 364 : The Anniversary Edition

Rolling back the years ...

Should we even think about rolling them back or just go with the flow, pottering along our little journey's through life, changing and adapting as we go ...

Birthdays and anniversaries do this to me ... reflecting of the past and how quickly time is passing - well, that passing of time has brought me here - celebrating the 7th Anniversary of our What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday's blog posts ... the brainchild of our wonderful and very much loved host, Julia who came up with the idea in what must have been 2009 (had to Do Maths there so I could well be wrong!)  I only joined up for the ride in February 2011 after many aborted attempts at getting my dear little blog up and running and I remain eternally grateful to my dear friend, Margaret Craner (Silvercrafter) for her patience and advice and support in helping me battle through the technical stuff ... still no idea what I am doing much of the time but know enough to be part of blogland!

So, what IS on my workdesk today?  

Easier to say what is NOT on my desk as it is utter and complete chaos ... well, ok, it looks that way only because I prefer neat and tidy but that is never going to happen when I am crafting so I just go with the flow ...

seems I do a lot of that - suits me just fine

This was taken yesterday as I was taking a few minutes in my recliner chair  ... I looked up and was torn between Shock Horror at the mess and Ooooh Creativity - safe in the knowledge that by bedtime it would all be cleared away and my desk would  be clear to start all over again - except I hadn't cut enough trees so that plan went out of the window.

However, that desk WILL be clear before breakfast this morning as I left the trees glittered and drying last night all ready for a few minutes of assembly this morning.  

Well, it almost sounds like a plan!

The two boxes with the blue handles contain 150 Christmas cards all made and ready for storing away until the jolly festive season and on my desk are the ones for family and close friends which will join them in the boxes and then, come Christmas I will not be the mad, frenzied Christmas Crafter that I normally am.

Well, it almost sounds like another plan!

We are all linking up over at LLJ's as Jan holds the fort whilst Julia is off on her pre-surgery holibobs - can't wait for her op., to be well and truly behind her and to see her fighting fit once more.  

Am off to link up now and to see to whom I will be sending my ATC ... I have a few names on my list of swappers so have ATC's allocated for them and if anyone else would like one then I also have a few spare so just leave me a message in the comments box-thingy and I will get back to you!

SO time left to simply say

HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY fellow WOYWW'ers !!!

WOYWW 362

Another Wednesday and one I am determined not to let pass until I have joined in the wonderful weekly blog-hop that is WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday for those not in the know).  Brainchild of the beautiful lady that is Julia over at The Stamping Ground

So, what IS on my workdesk this wonderfully drizzly Wednesday morning (had enough of summer thank you very much ... drizzle will do me just nicely!) ???  Easier to say what is NOT on my workdesk as I am trying to gather the stuff I need for Saturday when I am teaching the second of my three mixed-media workshops ... exciting, eh?!?!?!?!

So this is as far as I have got ... yeah, I know, chaos ... BUT it is organised chaos and I pretty much know what is what and where it is all going ... honest I do.

Note to self: remember to unplug heat gun and take it with me!

The birdhouse is waiting for himself to actually put it in the garden for me.  

It's not for the birdies though.

After losing mommy I found it incredibly helpful to post little messages to her in the "ornamental" birdhouse we already had ... then that got full so I got another tiny one ... the messages do rot away, of course, but the whole point is the sending of the little messages and I shall continue to do this for as along as I feel I need to.

Mommy would have been 80 this past April and it will be 10 years since I lost her in September so Phil treated me to this quite beautiful birdhouse and I can't wait to see it in the garden.  

I guess this is my real workdesk at the moment - stuff on a tray for the Christmas cards ... have already got 110  made (in the box in the picture above ... the one with the papers piled on top and behind the spray inks)  110 cards in that box I hear you ask?  Well, they are my much favoured tag style cards you see ... yeah, yeah, heard it all before ... they are not "proper" cards so some on my list will consider them not cards at all ... but tough, I like tag cards so am sending tag cards (AGAIN!)

So am aiming to get 40 more done and then the family & close friends ones and then put them in the loft until the jolly festive season is upon us.

Did aim to have them all done and dusted by the end of March but was just too busy but can live with them being done by the middle of May ... thinking way ahead to the start of advent when I am normally stressed and battling the clock to get all my Christmas preparations done ... not this year!  I shall be an ocean of calm and serenity.

Yeah, right. 

7th Anniversary ATC Swap 

I will be taking part in the Anniversary ATC swap again this year.

Er, actually, ah-hem, already have them made and all ready for posting on 25th May!

I shall send card number 1 to the next person to me on Julia's linky-thing  but that will leave 21 more for anyone wanting to join in.  

Just email me your snail-mail address and I will pop one in the post to you.

Right, must get on ... got bags to pack!

Happy WOYWW'ing!

Happy Crafting!

WOYWW ATC 7th Anniversary

Just to let all my fellow bloggers know that I aim to join in the ATC swap for the forthcoming 7th Anniversary of us WOYWW'ers on 25th May.

I shall, of course, send ATC #1 to the person next to me on the list with an asterisk by their name but will also make extras for anyone who would like one ... just please email or FB message me your postal address and I will be delighted to pop one in the post to you on, or as soon as I can after 25th May.

Happy Crafting fellow WOYWW'ers !!!

Control Alt Delete

Now that's odd ... was quite sure I'd blogged this already but whilst scrolling back through my posts looking for something else I realised this journal cover was missing.  Goodness knows where I did put it then!

Had been aching to do "something" with the huge ... HUGE ... box of computer parts hubby sent my way (he was not a computer engineer for nearly 40 years for nothing!) ... I am desperate to get them onto a canvas but just don't have the time at the moment to tackle that so decided to do a journal cover instead.

 I get to this stage and wonder what on earth I am doing ... before you paint it all back to one solid colour again ...

Then all the detail kinda disappears and it looks very solid and plain ...

But when you start to add colour all the details start to pop out again ...

And after endless spritzing and squirting with mica sprays it starts to come together ...

Got to admit I got a little carried away with splattering but it is such fun to do ... the wall behind me was equally splattered I'm afraid, er, as was much of the area around me !!!

I wanted the splatters to represent the electrical activity that would have taken place when the computer was, well, a computer, but I didn't manage to achieve the effect I wanted but can live with this as a first effort.

Just need to get into Art Journalling now!

Triptych Frame

Since putting this on Facebook I've had a few people messaging me asking how it was done so thought the easiest way was to blog it.  

No step by step photo's I'm afraid but it was fairly simple so this should give you some idea.

The triptych frame was supplied by Candy Box Crafts and what Roy Pakeman (the genius behind Candy Box Crafts) did with his frame was nothing short of AMAZING!!!!  

First stage was to decide on colours.

This is where it started to fall apart.

Determined to move away from my favourite and much used colour schemes I opted for black, red and ivory.

Base coat of black acrylic paint was applied and let to dry. 

Next came the crackle ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE crackle!  Use it whenever I can but this was a new product to me ... Cosmic Shimmer Clear Crackle.

You paint it on in the opposite direction to how you will apply your topcoat and then you let it dry completely.

Once dry you paint with your second colour choice using long strokes trying not to stop and start again.  

No chance!

Stopped and started many times but felt in the end it didn't really matter ... the crackle starts to appear almost immediately. The thicker the top coat of paint the larger the crackles ... so you can see I got a right old mixture by my very uneven topcoat.

I found that once you thought it was dry you could make it crackle further by using a heatgun.

This is where my colour scheme fell apart ... I applied RED gilding wax around the edges of my frame and the apertures but, to me, I see only pink.

Everyone assures me it is red but, nope, can only see pink.

I hate pink.

At this point I knew I would not finish my project during Pauline's Inky Workshop (that's Pauline Butcher by the way!!) as I had half an idea how I might tweak it to make it more acceptable.

One of the workshop techniques was to stamp and emboss onto acetate and colour in your design on the reverse using Promarkers and then to make the colour more intense you paint with white - also on the back.

Don't do colouring.

Hate colouring.

But was keen to learn the technique so went with the flow.

Still hate colouring and the only thing I love to do with acetate is to emboss it - but that's for another time!

My umbrella man is a Tim Holtz die and I embossed his umbrella and then squished just the brolly with Versamark and clear embossed it so it looks wet.

At least that was the plan!

Kinda worked.

Backgrounds were just the Tim Holtz brick wall stencil dabbed with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using just a felt pad ... couldn't be bothered with the wooden handle thingy.

The red LOVE and LIVE and the Dancing in the Rain wording was Barn Door Distress Ink which I clear embossed.

Splodges were Black Soot Distress Ink applied in the same way as the brick wall - two different stencils but I can no longer recall the brand I'm afraid.

Last two photo's are upside down for some reason ... but you will get the idea.

To tweak the should-be-red-but-looks-pink-to-me edges I used one of my favourite techniques ... now THIS does make me tingle!

Painted on 3D Gloss Gel (but you can use any medium - I just happened to have that pot closest to me at the time) using a paintbrush.

You don't need much at all.

Heap your embossing powder (gold in this instance) onto a sheet of paper and, doing one edge at a time, paint with medium and then dip into the powder.

Tap off HARD as much as you can and then heat it ... almost overheat it so the gel starts to bubble and go crazy.

I love doing this ... er, did I say?

If you want a smoother finish then paint on the medium and dab in the powder and then let it dry before embossing.

I much prefer the lumpy, bumpy texture though so embossed it whilst the medium was still wet.

Cosmic shimmer glue was used to hold both the backgrounds in place as well as sticking the fronts and backs of the frame together ... held with pegs for a while just to be sure.

Oh yes, for a more distressed look (the frame, silly, not me!!!) as the topcoat of paint was drying I rubbed some off with my fingertips.  Thought I had overcooked it until Pauline wandered past and said it looked great.

If it is good enough for Pauline then it is good enough for me!!!

Panels are held together with crinkle ribbon that was splodged and splooshed through some Black Soot & Hickory Smoke Distress Ink that was dabbed on my craft mat and then spritzed with water.  

Squeezed out hard in kitchen paper and voila!

Hope this answers the questions you were asking but if not then give me a shout and I will explain further.

Happy Crafting!