What a mess!

All this mess for one card! Well I did have help, I had a friend staying here over night and as she does not have a Bug, or a George (Cricut) she wanted to play, so we made paper using Glimmer Mists and then she got to playing with George. While poor George was chuntering away, I played with some of the paper and made this ..........

I actually got to use the dinkey little dragonfly and butterfly from one of the new cartridges as well :) Not the worlds best photo perhaps, but I ran the paper through the cuttlebug, highlighted the embossing with a gold ink pad and mounted on gold card, then onto corrugated card, the insects, heat embossed with iridescent powder, were mounted using just enough foam pads to hold them on, allowing the paper to twist a bit to give them life. It is nice just to play sometimes and not to have to work to a deadline.

Speaking of which, I now need to go and collect my tote that I left in the shop on Thursday night after class, what a Numpty! I know I have several of some tools, the result of being a messy crafter, but I do rely on my tote, and until I didn't have it to hand, I didn't realise just how lost I would feel without it!

Maybe this was just a sub conscious way of making me go back to the Continental Market :)

WOYWF ! ! !

I know, I know, it is not Wednesday, that's why this post is WOYWF , especially for Julia :)

While chatting with her earlier, I mentioned that I was going to go and actually DO something about my work room because today it really was a mess, I am still finding all the right places to put things, and when I do not see the right place, it gets put on the desk, and as I am having a bit of a sort out as well ................... you get the picture.

As we were chatting we both commented that we have workshops this weekend, she is OK because she has another day to make preparations perfect, mine is tomorrow, excuse me? What was that? Tomorrow? YIKES (or words like that)

Well I promised to put the before pictures on here, show my shame world wide. There is still more to be done around the edges, but at least we can all sit at the tables, and yes, the buttons are still there lol.

Just to prove that I did get all that mess put away, binned or put in the give away box, here is the proof.

Hmmmmmm this is not what I expected!

My take on a card :)

This card came from one in a magazine. Now in the mag it was covered in gorgeous Christmas paper and decorated to within an inch of its life. As I only have two hours to to two cards with a very riotous group of girls, they would have only got the one done and then felt cheated, so I embarked on a plan. Out came card, tools, paper, stickles and glue. Well, the basic card went well, but as I sat and pushed paper around, nothing jumped out at me until I went down the "keep it simple" road, so all this used in the end was card, paper and a white pen. I am still not sure that I like my "snow" but that is me not being a very good artist, not the idea, maybe the stickles will still come out to play on this one yet!

Oh the snowflakes are silver BTW, not dull grey :)

WOYWW (I made it!)

I have finally got to posting my work desk on the right day!

It is a right mess as I have still to put away my purchases from the show in Belfast, I am doing cards for class and well, I am just a craft slattern really :)

The christmas paper did not get used, nor did the Noel stamp, silver stickles or sepia accents, but the pale green 1st attempt Christmas Tree did, oh and no I have still not eaten the buttons :)

Over on Julia's blog, she is starting a campaign on the misuse of the word, altering. After all the items used in creating art are not altered they will still be what they were made as when the art is complete, so the item has not been altered.

I have to admit that I do sometimes refer to altering, not because I alter the item I am decorating, a loo roll inner, no matter what you do with it, will always be a loo roll inner, a sardine tin will always be a sardine tin etc etc etc, but as I mentioned before sometime, I am lazy and that is the only excuse I have. I do like making pieces of art with refound items the afore mentioned loo roll inners and sardine tins and adding anything that I can find to stick to, paint, glue, glitter or generally dickey up in a pleasing (to me) way. Altering, decorating, transforming or refinding, call it what you will, I like to do it!

I have been very remiss at posting, yet again, so this time I thought I would just post a few pictures of cards that I have done for classes. Hope you enjoy and if you like anything please do ask, I do keep notes on how I made them :)

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Rememberance

This is where I went yesterday to spend a few minutes.

There is no one there any more, everyone who had been laid to rest here were repatriated, but it is still a special place.

The only good thing about rain

We have been like most people in the UK and have had some seriously heavy rain this last week, but the up side of rain is RAINBOWS!

This beauty was over the house a couple of days ago, isn't it fantastic! It was a full rainbow and I love them, brings out the child in me :)

Choccie Buttons .......... and shopping!

OK, there are some that seem to think I would leave an empty packet of buttons just to tempt, well, here is the awful truth, I am not really a chocoholic. Don't get me wrong, there are times that I would kill for the stuff, but so long as I know that there is some if I want it, I am happy.

Yes there are buttons in the bag!

There is also a bit of shopping that sort of jumped into the basket while I was out this morning. I just fell in love with the Papermania Chatsworth stuff. I just had to get the paper and both sets of stamps, they will work sooooooo well with the Home decor cartridge that I got a few weeks ago.

Then we went to Subway (Thursday is my fav day as the special is the BMT) and compared purchases. Now that was a very bad move as I had time to think about another set of stamps that I had not got. Yep, I had to go back and get them. Oh and after seeing what Helen did with the brad maker, yep, I had to get one of those too, green cheese disease strikes!

WOYWW

Well here I am again, late as usual, but at least I have something to show this week. Life has been sort of getting in the way. I have been doing things, just not a lot I can show on here as the wrong people might see them! You know it is that time of year again when we all get kinda secretive.

Well, what is there? I left the cards I will be doing in class on the desk so that I would not forget to pick them up, so you can have a sneaky peek at those, a wiper card and a stepped card and making flowers with ribbon. There is my Christmas Planner still in the "WIP" stage, a mini canvas that I am fiddling with and as usual, a huge bag of buttons, and yes, it is the same bag that was there last time I managed to upload a WOYWW picture. My Fairy House STILL does not have a roof, I must finish that sometime, and the alcohol ink backgrounds are STILL waiting for me to stamp on them and turn them into cards, hmmmmmm a lot of to do's there.

Pictures and a query

OK, so I am trying to be good :) Another post and this time I have even taken a picture of my workspace for you all :)

I am on a card making marathon for a fundraiser on Wednesday, but as far as marathons go, it is more of a snail trail. Inspiration just will not come, even with new stamps to play with! I am making cards, but not liking them very much.

The second picture today is of a set of stamps that I bought and I have no idea at all who makes them, if anyone out there in blog land knows, please, please tell me! I love it and would like to know if there are any more available to buy. I need them ............. honest!

Alcohol Ink Cards

Hello again, I know, it has been ages since I last posted, I am a bad, bad blogger, so I thought I would give you some pretty cards to look at. I love alcohol inks, messy though they are.

These have been great fun to do and only a small mess made this time, must try harder!

Poor Froggie!

Well, we had a lovely weekend here, so much so that time was actually spent in the garden tidying up! I have discovered that i make a much better forewoman than gardener .......... no surprise there then!

The poor froggie in the title is not me, it is this poor chap, or chapess (I have no idea how you tell the gender of a frog! (answers on a postcard please)

No 1 Son was helping with all of the practical stuff, like trimming round the edges of the lawns where the mower does not get to and came upon this critter, unfortunately for it, he found it with the garden shears, so froggie will have to go a wooing minus a foot. It did not seem to bother him/her much though, and like the good froggie it is, sat happily for a few minutes for a photo opportunity then hopped off back under the stone he had been under.

He/she has been seen since, so no lasting harm seems to have come to him/her.

Oh RATS!,

Just as I was getting used to the idea that I was nearly at the end of my quest to have all of the Promarkers that there were to have, what to Letraset do? they go and release a whole load of new colors!

Now don't get me wrong, I love these little beauties, and I am finally getting used to the way that they work, I can even color in something that I am not ashamed to put onto a card now, so these new colors are going to cause me problems, not because I will have to try and choose which ones to have (no brainer that one!) but where am I going to put them all? At the present they are all lying quite happily in a box that a) fits my shelves beautifully, b) is not too heavy to put away when I am done so they do get tidied up and c) they all fit in the one box, bonus!

If I am forced to use two boxes I know I am going to get frustrated when I have not pulled the right box off the shelf and end up using ink pads to color in (what I did before I went down the Promarker road) or, even worse, I am going to have to rethink the box situation, which will mean buying something else, I am just not up to all this thinking!

I am going to go to my sanctuary and have a good sulk, then I am going to take some pictures for Lyn, I am sure she is worried for my stamp collection (and rightly so) Something else I have to think about, as right now, they are all a bit higgeldy piggeldy and stored in different places, but, and I know this will cause you pain Lyn, I DO know where they all are!

This is my workdesk TODAY!

I have finally remembered on the right day to do this! I just do not know where my mind has been these last few weeks, but I am missing it!

There do not seem to be enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do, let along all the things that just have to be done. I have been card making, mini book making and I have splurged and treated myself to two new cartridges for George (Cricut) from the US, so hopefully they will be here within the next couple of weeks.

If you look VERY carefully Mrs Dunnit, you will notice that I have taken you excellent advice and got myself a notebook, it is the bright pink one hiding under the instructions for the flip book, and yes, I am using it, just not all the time yet :)

Still in shuffling mode here as you can see, I will have it done sometime soon as using two tables just as storage is not the reason I decided that having two would be a good idea. I have come to the conclusion that I am never going to be a tidy crafter, but a messy madam does not really suit me either, I do like to be able to find things occasionally!

A Day Late

But better late than never I always say! Well, here it is in all it's glory, not a lot this week as I have been messing around putting things in one place, then another, trying different chairs for comfort and building more storage :) I think I am nearly there now though so production can start in earnest (she says hopefully!) I have so much in my mind that I want to do and the one thing that I didn't think about was music, I don't actually have a small CD player to take over with me, so this is going to have to be remedied today, not that I HAVE to have music on all the time, I do like the peace and quiet, but it is nice to be able to if you want to, and the evenings are drawing in now, and there is something about background music in the darker evenings.

So what have I actually got on my desk this week? I am still faffing with bright coloured card as you can see, it just does not "speak" to me. While these two pieces were sitting waiting to be used, I did two Christmas cards, had another play with my Pringles House and shuffled things around, the card is still sitting there!

I am very pleased with the extension lead that you can see lolling around in my stamp basket. I have had two double sockets fitted to the sloping ceiling so that as I need to use anything that needs to be plugged in, I can do so without having leads trailing over the floor, just right for me to fall over. Not that I would be too worried about hurting myself (plenty of padding) but I would hate to damage equipment!

Mojo, Mojo where for art thou Mojo?

Why is it when you cannot do something, or cannot have something you want to do it/have it all the more?

When the electrician was here I was raring to go, and when I thought the plumber was going to be here at half past silly this morning, I had ideas a plenty, but as soon as I have time and a space to work in, mojo goes a walking?

Mind you, having hayfever from Hell this afternoon does not help of course, but even so, you would think that I would be over in my lovely craft room instead of sitting here moaning wouldn't you? I even have lots of lovely corrugated cardboard to play with as we went to the Swedish shop yesterday to get my second Expedit unit so that the new radiator, when fitted, would fit in the space that I have allowed for it. I have been abandoned! Mojo has gone again.

I have used my lovely room though, as the picture at the top of this post shows, a cute little card using Hero Arts and Habico stamps, I saw the shape for this card in one of my too many magazines, that is something else that needs a good sort through. I don't like to chop magazines up, so I end up keeping the whole magazine if the is something in it I like. My half way through the year resolution, that I am just making now, is going to be to scan any articles that I like and pass the magazines forward!

There I have done something this afternoon, I do feel a lot better for that :)

OK, I know I am late!

I have not been a good girl, I did not post WOYWW last week, but I think I have made up for it this week! Just goes to show, you give me a bigger space, I make a bigger mess!

This is the result of making some cards and a wedding invite, far too much mess for such a small output! But in my defence (if there is such a thing) I am still finding out where things have to live, so Cuttlebug has not found a permanent home yet, and electrician has STILL not been, so no sockets anywhere near the desk, plumber not coming until Monday, so things are still a little topsy turvey, OK, OK a lot topsy turvey :)

As to the dilemma of the clear stamps Julia, I have most of them in a photo holder thingy which I will let you see, just as soon as I find it! But the most used ones are in the turquoise basket you see sitting proudly in all it's untidy glory at the far end of the table. I am going to be re-doing this system, as I find that A5 folders are working best for me ATM, by maker, and odd ones by what they will be used for. Not a lot of use if you want to display them I know, but as you can see, I do not have much in the way of wall space in this room, I am up in the Gods here, sloping eaves and all.

The only down side to this arrangement is I now have no view to distract, sorry, inspire me. It is the old apple store on the mezzanine level of an old barn, but I am happy with it, and I appreciate the views a lot more when I do come out of my hidey hole .............. eventually!

WOYWW

Here we go again, another week gone by, but such a lot has happened in the last week! I have got me a new craft room for those of you who did not know this yet!

So now I have two dining tables to work on, the tables are sort of clear, well useful things on it, the box has my Nestabilitie dies in it, I was using them and no, I have not put them back on the shelf where they should belong yet!

Here is another view of the room, pan right!

And another one, pan left!

Yes, those are LO's on the desk, and yes I have finished them :) Started on Saturday and finished before the following weekend, must be a record!

I know it is not very tidy yet Mrs D, but I am getting there, honest :)

Up too late!

Is this tonight or tomorrow morning, I am sitting here at 1.20 in the morning knowing that i should be tucked up in my bed snoring! What am I doing instead .......... blogging!

I have been playing around with my new craft room, and I even finished the LO's that i did at Saturdays crop! Did I remember to take pictures before I came into the house? Course not! As I will be taking some in the morning for WOYWW they can wait till then. A bigger desk can only mean one thing more room to spread the muddles onto ;-)

Mrs Dunnit thinks she is the queen of procrastination, but I think I can give her a run for her money tonight. Tis the cricket season and I am waiting for Mr Ffrog to finish reading the teletext review of the days play, even though he has watched it, seen the highlights and kept up with what is going on on the radio during the day. What is it about sport that turns grown men into children? Is the result going to change the more reports you get of the game/match?

You see the bed needs made up and Mr Ffrog was asked to help at 7pm and I am still waiting and childish though it may be I am not going to fight with the duvet cover myself, again!

I am going to have to go and do it hough, my eyes are closing all by themselves, and if I do not crawl into bed soon, I will wake up sometime in the middle of the night with the imprint of the key board on my forehead!

My Workdesk Today

Ok, so here is what is on my desk today. I am still in the doing cards zone, so that is one thing that is there, and yes Mrs Dunnit, I did leave the leftover bits of peel off paper there for you to see :)

The card that you can see is hoping to be a masculine card when it grows up! Looking like it might work too!

This week the messy drawers are actually closed (for a change!) The pile of what looks like papers at the top is actually my working notes! It does mean something to me, honest lol.

Other than that, not a lot different to other pictures really.

Messy ..... is Desk as promised!

Well after the fiasco that has been the last few days crafty speaking of course, all of a sudden, inspiration, albeit in the form of some magazines and a HUGE kick up the jacks from Mrs Dunnit, in the form of an idea for paper piecing, all of a sudden last night I was up and running!

Firstly came the daffodil cards, the first one paper pieced and the second, the "easy" one.

I always try to do one that takes a bit of thought and effort on the part of the maker, well they are there to learn something! And a second that when theyhave got over having a good whinge about the first one, is easy on the mind and fingers to do. In this one, the image is stamped, mounted and some pretty flower edged organza ribbon is wrapped round the card.

Then came the Damask one. This paper is just gorgeous, it does not take a lot of "doing" to make a classy card with it, and the Inkadinkado stamp set is divine, it is a Christmas set, but I have used it all year round as I love it :)

The "easy" one is a vellum butterfly tea bag fold. This one , with larger 3" squares for the butterfly. Most of them have done before, but it does no harm to remind them does it!? And to my way of thinking, the more often that a technique is practiced, the easier it becomes to do it, not only that, but it is a pretty card to do :)

Next, and yes, there is a next! Came the purple beauties, and if you don't mind if I blow my own trumpet here, I am rather taken with them :)

These bees are about as cute as I get, aaaaaaaand it uses offcuts! Coloured with my Promarkers ...........of course!

But the one I am most pleased with, even if I did pinch the idea from a magazine, is the flowers one. Embossed with gold and coloured with Promarkers. I like the effect of stamping outside the box, it is a technique I use a lot. There are some in the class that I know will just not be able to do this, they will HAVE to have the image centred, but is OK too. I like the effect, but I know that there are some who just cannot "get" off centre stamping, and I do want them to go away happy, that way, they will come back!

WOYWW

Nothing to show today at all :( Mojo has left home. This is not a usual photo at all, nothing on the desk at all, zilch, zip nada.

The stamps for the class I am supposed to be doing are still sitting there, the cards would just not come together, but I have turned the "signature" stamp over so Mrs Dunnit can see it :)

If inspiration should arrive anytime soon, I will repost todays failure.

Spare Time

Why is it that when I have an unexpected few hours to myself, I never know how to use them!

Take this morning for example, M, Son and two of his friends had been on a bit of a beano last night, so were all sleeping in this morning, YIPPEE! thinks me, time to myself with nothing that HAS to be done until they all fall out of bed with sore heads.

I say myself down at my desk and ................ NOTHING! Not a dicky bird. So I wandered off out to my in progress workroom, and nothing there either, well I did look at the paintbrush, and I did move a few things round on shelves, but nothing creative at all. So back into the house I wandered, sorting I thought, that always pleases me, but when I had a look, besides making something to do, as I have not really been doing anything, nothing to sort.

One cup of coffee, a magazine and a sit outside became the next thing I tried to get me motivated and do you know what? An hour sitting outside as far away from the house as I could with nothing around me but the birds was fantastic. I actually read the magazine, not just flicked through marking pages that interest me for future reading that never really gets done.

I could have sat longer, but the moaning bodies schlepped outside to see where I was, so it was time to go and start crashing a few pots and pans around, well a good fry up the morning after the night before is supposed to be the best thing for you ........... my excuse and I am sticking to it!

WOYWW

Here we go again :) I just love this!

There is definitely a bit of the voyeur about me, I just love looking into other peoples lives, even if it is just a peek at their work desks!

I also love Christmas time, when the tree is up, you get peeking into folks front rooms. Dark evenings and lights on inside the house, the tree lit and the curtains open ......... perfect! Funny really, as when I am visiting, unless an improvement or decorating is pointed out to me, I am unlikely to notice! Seems to me that being given permission to be nosey isn't good enough, I need the thrill of doing something that is just a little bit naughty :)

So, what have we got today?

Hmmmmmmm well the usual pile of inks, what would a craft table be without inks?

I am working on a journal of my holiday to Southern Ireland, I was going to make a mini book, but what should I find in a stationers in Birr but a K&Co Travel Journal! Right there in the window, just sitting there! I HAD to go in! Now don't get excited, there was not lot there, and the journal was the only one they had, The nice lady in the shop didn't want to sell it to me as it had been in the window for a few weeks and she thought it would be sun damaged, but I WANTED it! So I got it very reduced :) When I got it outside and ripped it open, no fading at all!

Two new Cuttlebug folders, no Lyn, they have not been put away yet, I need to look at them for a while longer :)

Ahhh yes, two sets of Prima stamps, just happened to jump into my hands and stick when I was getting the folders lol.

Stamps for class preparation, some done, some still to be worked on :)

If you look very carefully, you will also see a little Esso flame man keyring. I am still gradually sorting through M's Aunt's effects, one suitcase/box at a time, this little fella has old suitcase keys attached and has been appropriated for use at a later date :) If anyone remembers what he was called, if anything, please let me know!

As usual, if there is anything you spot that you would like to know about, please ask. What else are we doing this for if not to have a good old gawp at others messy habits!

Been too Long..........

Since my last post! No crafty pictures to show you, but I thought a couple from my holiday would be nice :)

The drive for the first day was a long one, 320 miles, but I enjoyed it, singing along to hits of the 60's, Tom Jones and Meat Loaf! Don't worry, I didn't sing in built up areas! I stopped a couple of times, once was in the lovely town pictured above, Adare, lots of cute thatched cottages and a great coffee shop!

All the way to Dingle, the town was a lot smaller than I expected it to be for some reason, but the harbour was lovely at 5.30 in the morning when this picture was taken. Dingle is the hone of Fungie the Dingle Dolphin, he has lived in the waters around the town for many years now and is very human friendly, swimming with whoever braves the waters to meet him.

And the West Coast of Ireland would not be the same without a picture of a donkey!

Next are the spectacular Cliffs of Moher, thankfully barriers have been erected since the last time I was there to stop people getting too close to the edge. There are even wardens with walkie talkies to try ans stop those who do try and jump! It gave me the collie wobbles to see youngsters sitting with their legs dangling over the edge of the cliff!

Next is the Burren, an amazing landscape. Barren rocks, or so it seems to start with, but the flora is all hidden in the cracks in the rock formations, called grikes, orchids by the dozen, miniature hazel bushes, wild strawberries and honeysuckle to name but a few, then it was on the see Father Ted's house :)

Enough for now, just a selection of a few of the places I went to and saw, and if you are not good, I will post more sometime, as I am only about halfway through my journey. So many fantastic places to see and people to meet, if you can understand them!

Now I am back I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of things again, butterfly mind syndrome. I have done the Circle Journals that I am in, and I am gradually getting some classes ready for Autumn, I have even started printing out pictures for a journal of my week away, but actually doing anything constructive is proving beyond me. Upside of all this procrastination is that I have a clean house, washing is all up together and even the ironing is done!

Anyone for a guided tour round Ireland?

WOYWW

I missed last weeks WOYWW because I went on a very last minute few days holiday to the West of Ireland, so I am hoping that this weeks makes up for it!

So, what do we see this week? Drawers lying open, I have started to use up some of the mountain of scraps that I seem to generate to make cards with, and about time I hear you say!

Stamps left out, naughty girl that I am, no I do NOT always put them back as soon as I have used them.

Pro Markers at the ready, I was actually using them, evidence is under the album :)

Guillotine not put back, as usual!

Then comes the album, boy! What an album! An auction find that Mr M bought for the postcards that were in it, and trained as I have him, he knew not to even consider throwing it out till he had asked if I would like it. LIKE IT? I nearly broke the poor man's arm to get it off him! It is a beautiful velvet covered photograph album with metal cut and scroll work on it .....fabulous! I know it will not be acid and lignin free, but I WILL find a use for it :)

The "pages" inside are thick card with arches cut out to put those lovely Victorian posed photos in. There were a few loose pictures in it, of whom I have no idea, but they will not go to waste either.

Now I must get back to sorting and titling some of the 761 photos I took while I was away!