Good morning, my friends. Hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy this week – when am I not, some may ask?! However… let’s cut to the chase – my desk this morning.

In all it’s glory! All neatly laid out are the pieces I made yesterday. Mrs D and I decided on a playday… We would have a go at the shaving cream technique…

A little compilation of our attempts – top left, Mrs D’s first go; top middle, one of my attempts; top right, what’s left behind on the shaving cream; bottom left, my try outs; bottom right, Mrs D’s fun. As you can see, the bedroom floor was an extremely useful resting  place and drying area! You can also see the drawer of acrylic paints – had them since I did my C&Gs back in the late 90’s – but most were fine – only had to throw a couple that had dried up. Yes, I enjoyed playing – but I don’t think I shall bother again – just not me.

So, having tried that… well, we couldn’t waste a playday, so… out with the gelli plate. Mrs D had made her own some time ago, but never tried it… so we thought this was an ideal opportunity.

So, there’s Mrs D showing me what to try out – and there’s my efforts… we had a bit of fun trying out textures – found some old lacy curtains and cut a bit off – but it didn’t work very well, although using corrugated card made more of an impression. Again, it was fun – but not something I will do again.

So, what else to do? We still had loads of time, and hadn’t yet filled the bedroom floor with all our efforts! So, I suddenly remembered I had some brushos. Now, when I did my C&Gs way back, it was in design and embroidery – but the teacher was determined we should really abuse our sewing machines by adding all sorts of things to the fabric  and then sewing into it! Hence we were introduced to brusho inks. They are SO intense, and I remember loving the effects I could get… so, out they came. I only ever bought the three primary colours, but they are sufficient…

We had a load of fun with these –  spraying water, dabbing with kitchen paper, putting the ink onto a glass mat then dabbing it on the paper… and getting extremely messy! Top left, my efforts; top right, Mrs D’s efforts; bottom left, a close up of one of Mrs D’s attempts; bottom right, the proof – a selfie! Yes, only three hands ‘cos one of mine had to use the camera shutter! At this point we realised that poor Mr D was probably thinking his good lady was lost for ever, and packed up – but we had a tremendous time playing!

So, what else have I been doing this week? I’ve done a jigsaw – love ’em – go to a charity shop, buy one with 1,000 pieces, do it, pass it on to a different charity shop! Of course, sometimes they are not complete – but it’s the challenge I enjoy as much as the finished piece, so that’s ok. I’ve finished the first arran weight cardigan for Africa, using a tiny part of the bag of yarn given me to use up, just got the funky buttons to sew on, and am half way through a second. I had a HUGE day out with John on Friday – we went out to see Wordsworth’s daffodils. Fantastically sunny day, drove East from here then North, then, because the M6 was manic and we were spending more time with our handbrake on then off, we turned off into the start of the Yorkshire dales, and then turned further North. Eventually we ended up in Windermere and Bowness, popped into the Lakeland shop, and then had a walk by the lake. Glorious day – enormous for John, lots of driving for me – but beautiful. Daffodils, lambs, daffodils, catkins, daffodils, hills, daffodils, mountains, daffodils, lakes, daffodils, moors, daffodils…. you get the picture! Tired when we arrived home, but it was so worth the effort.

I promised you last week a better look at the Easter card I was making for John. I’m happy to report it was indeed finished in time…

As you know, I love doing pergamano work – and when I found this pattern in the magazine I knew just what I wanted to use it for. A love poem from Father God, shown and demonstrated on the cross where Jesus died.

So that’s us this week here in beautiful North Wales. I confess I did an absolutely appalling job of visiting and commenting last week – sorry. I’ll hopefully do better this week! I will be MIA next week – as we are hoping, John’s health permitting, to go away with our daughters. We are all renting an enormous farm bungalow just South of Caernarfon. We all went last year, and the grandies immediately asked if they could go back! I think the main attraction was the farm dog – he loved them, and they loved him! Just a thought – some folk have asked why we don’t show more of the different things we do here on the blog… well, that’s because they are already on the site here. If you go to the top of the page, not just the top of the blog posts, there are lots more pages – all stuff we have made over the years. Lots of John’s pyrography work, our sewing, photographs, etc. Not got John’s scraperboard masterpieces up yet – but hopefully I shall soon get some photos of them and get them up there. Do take a peak if you would like to.

Take care, my friends. God bless.

Margaret

Good morning, my friends. I trust this week finds you well, being arty and crafty, and enjoying the start of Spring (in the Northern hemisphere), or Autumn (in the Southern hemisphere). It’s good to be joining in again with WOYWW today. Not sure what this might mean? What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday is a crazy group of friends across our world who display their workspace for all to see. Daft? Be assured not… Good friendships are formed, ideas shared, fun had. Try it out – go here to find out how.

So, today – my space…

Here you see my pergamano effort for John’s Easter card – well, a tiny peak of it… Can’t show it all yet as it isn’t finished, and John hasn’t seen it. Trying to do this particular picture did, however, cause issues – basically, I couldn’t find it! Lost – under the great heap of magazines… So… time for a sort out! And now…

Yes, an amazingly neat pile of said magazines to pass on – look out, Mrs D – you’ll get first dibs!

A busy week here, craftwise. I’ve been playing with hexagons…

I had seen the most beautiful hexagon crochet blanket at the show in Manchester the other week – and thought, “I’d love to make that” Being told the pattern was freely available on the website of the particular company, I hurried home… couldn’t find it – probably my lack of internet savvy – so thought, “Well, ok, I’ll make it up as I go along! It was fun – but, of course, hexagons mean you don’t get a straight edge… anywhere! How many did I make? Where did I stop? Hmm.

I’ve been making my Easter cards – which, of course, I sealed in the envelopes before I remembered to take a photo – just had the last one still unsealed.

The other week I had found some old Arran weight yarn, left over from jumpers and cardigans I had made, so thought I would make it all up into a blanket for Parental Care Ministries. This was the result, which thrilled my friend in PCM SO much that she immediately put it on the mission table at church asking for sensible donations!

I was delighted with it, too. The knock-on effect, which is inevitable, is, of course…. I’ve now been given a whole lot more arran weight yarn to “do with as you think fit”. Now, I don’t mind this – I’m at home an incredible amount taking care of John. He needs me there most of the time – that’s fine – but he doesn’t need me to be doing things for him 24hours a day – only about 8! So, I have time to do these things. After all, there is only so much dusting and cleaning a body can do! (Dusting – what’s that???) So… here’s my next couple of projects…

I thought maybe I could knit some of the yarn into simple sweaters and cardigans for the children in Uganda. As you can see from the next photo – it could take a couple of weeks!

On the right is the giant bag of yarn – it stands over 2feet tall. On the left is a bag of fabric which needs cutting out to make those Bags for bibles for the children out there in Uganda. I’ll cut out about 80 of them, and different folk will sew them together. The children are just SO proud and delighted when given these bags. Something made specially just for each one of them. Pop over here to see all sorts of pictures about them. There’s lots to look at – peak at several different pages…

Last week, I mentioned about a “new storage system” for our dies. That seemed to intrigue folk – and the question was asked how did I store them before? Now, the nervous among you should not look… it isn’t for the faint hearted… But… here goes…

When Mr and Mrs D first gave me the big shot – well, I had no dies other than the circle set which came with the machine. That was simple to store – pop it in a  box. However, I soon discovered that one set of dies was insufficient… and, well, you’ve guessed the rest. Yes, the collection grows – but it stayed in the same box. The dies lived in the right hand ice cream box in the photo above. They were on the right, and stencils on the left. Embossing folders got an ice cream box to themselves, because of course – they are thicker so take up more room!!! Simple, huh? Until I began to get more dies, and the box got stretched to bursting point… That’s when we decided we had to find an alternative – and now they are in a posh zipped folder (the lovely dotty one standing up at the back of the top photo). All on magnetic sheets and labelled with name and company. Those magnetic sheets are odd. Some are magnetic on both sides – others only on the one – and they all came with the same folder?! And now I have an ice cream box stuffed to overflowing with embossing folders…. so, guess what the next project must be?

So, that’s it for this week. Sorry, Julia – not exactly short. That’s what comes of my having several different workspaces this week – oops!

Take care my friends – have a wonderful Easter break – and opportunity to reflect on why Jesus came, how He died for each one of us – and ROSE AGAIN to show us the way forward.

God bless.

Margaret

For challenges, please keep scrolling down!

Good morning my friends. Here in Britain it seems Spring has begun to arrive – there is something in the air which suggests warmth!! It’s lovely, and even tempted me outside to do some gardening… However – that’s not what you are here for today. Why are you here to look at my messy (very!) workspace? Well Try peeking here, and you, too, can join the crazy world of WOYWW . Just get the health warning – it’s addictive! So, to my desk. The photo was taken late Tuesday afternoon.

You see before you the detritus of a huge card making session – some for challenges (my effort at making me move out of my comfort one with card making!!). Scraps of paper and card, heat gun, embossing powder, specs(!), scrap paper for inking on, little tub of dirty water (just so Shoshi realises she isn’t alone!), tools, etc. As you can see, I’d had fun.

John is feeling a little better at the moment, so last Friday we had a day out. Now, as you know, we live on the North Wales Coast – and we wanted to go to the craft show in York Racecourse…. for the day… Yes, we are officially certifiable. It was 149 miles from door to door. However, it was a great day out – lovely intimate venue, good food, lots of different companies to look at – and….

… yes, there at the show, demo-ing, was our very own Neet. It was such fun to meet her there, see her at work colouring with Distress inks, producing some lovely effects. She gave us this gorgeous little book she had made – women through the ages. We had made that triangular box for her(from last week’s post), and had filled it with some goodies for her to play with. Many thanks for all the fabulous comments last week about that box – and for the requests to see it when finished. It’s in this composite of pictures for you. You all commented on the Ultimate Pro as well – it really is fun to play with and use!!!

Now, having travelled almost 150 miles it would have been rude not to look around at the show – and, erm…, buy a few bits… now wouldn’t it? So, here’s what we managed to find…

I think just about everything was on a real good offer – so much so, that we had money left to treat ourselves to a lovely meal at the racecourse. Yes, they do full meals at reasonable prices!! So, some dies, tattered lace magazines, bling, card packs, die storage (we had been looking for some better way of storing our dies for some time), double sided tape, and those egg shaped sponges which I have yet to try out. A fun day. Of course, we then had to drive the 149 miles back home – and were ready for bed that night… but, hey, it was worth the miles to meet Neet!

Since then I’ve been busy making bits and pieces, and entering some challenges – so here are my entries… The 52 Christmas card Throwdown March Challenge was to use Green and White – so here’s my effort…

A card base with embossed edge, then die cut two images of the Britannia Snowflake Christmas tree, and attached them simply down the centre so they are 3-D, then die cut the words Happy Christmas. CAS card.

The Merry Monday Christmas Challenge 196 this week is to use black, white, and silver or grey. So here is my effort for that…

A silver and white striped paper was attached to the card base, then the Diesire create a card die cut was placed on top. The angel was cut out of silvery white card stock. No words – I felt that it wasn’t necessary, as the image spoke for itself.

The Glory of Christmas Challenge 80 is to re-use an old Christmas card. So….

A die cut skyline was stuck on to a blue card base, then a piece of last year’s Christmas card was stuck on top of that. The shepherds pointing to the town where they would go and find the baby as told them by the angels. The text reads “…And His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…”

So, my friends, that’s us this week. Thank you so much for ALL the comments last week. They were so lovely. I actually managed to visit all the posts, but there were some I couldn’t comment on – they, too were great, and I did enjoy what I saw there! Sorry if you didn’t get a comment from me – especially if you had taken the time and trouble to leave me a comment! I will be round to visit you later – one or two things to do first… help John get up, sort the laundry… you know the sort of thing!
Take care. God bless.

Margaret

Hello my friends. Straight in this week with what we are all here for – my desk this late Tuesday evening. Part way through a project to make a shaped box – experimenting with the Ultimate Pro John bought me for Christmas. So – you can see – the DVD playing on the computer, giving me the instructions; a large orange tub with water and stencils (just haven’t gotten round to cleaning the stencils!!); a drawer unit with my brusho paints; a couple of unfinished dumfings; scissors; embossing tool; double sided tape; and the usual clutter with which we all surround ourselves.

And so to the project I’m working on – a triangular box. I shall decorate it tomorrow then see about popping some goodies into it. I have to say, the Ultimate pro is incredibly easy to use for making oddities like triangular boxes, fancy shaped cards…. you name it, really.

I have also managed extra time here at my desk this week – the previous two posts show some of the cards I have managed to make – challenge entries – but they gave me the opportunity to try out some different techniques, shapes, and ideas.

So, that’s us this week – short and sweet. We have booked ourselves tickets to go to the show on Friday in York. Yes, I realise that York is the other side of the Pennines from here, but we decided it wasn’t so very far when we considered the fact that we frequently go to the Lake District for a day! Anyone else going? If you are, do let us know, and we can meet for a cuppa? Apologies again for those who left any comments last week to which we did not reply. Some sites I just cannot reply to – usually Google+ folk – I do come and visit and read….

Take care my friends. God bless you.

Margaret

If you want to find out quite why I am explaining what is on my workspace… pop over to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and find us all.

Sparkles Christmas ChallengeI realise that it is only a short while since my last post – but I can’t work out whether it’s a good idea or not to link different pictures up to different challenges at the same time… So I won’t – I’ll give them separate blog posts.

I decided that for the Sparkles Christmas Challenge – an old fashioned Christmas, I really wanted to make something look Victorian. No idea whether I have succeeded – but I enjoyed trying. A blank white card base was covered with holly patterned vellum from my stash. Then both were cut through with the Sue Wilson die “Vienna”. The image was placed in the centre part of the die area, and enclosed with a peel off winter border of holly leaves. A muted holly leaf paper was placed behind the card front, then a ribbon and bow added, with just the corner peel off pieces to complete the whole. Oops – just noticed the top peel off has moved… sorry!!

My second effort was taken from a photo I found of a Victorian card for sale on E-bay! I chose three toning papers from my stash, cut two round the larger of a cake stand plate, and the music paper I cut from the smaller of the cake stand plates! What would we do without a traditional cake stand?? It even had lovely bevelled edges! I then folded it as if it were a serviette, and in the centre part added a poinsettia patterned paper, cut up and decoupaged. A red ribbon and a cream bow finished the card. It opens when the ribbon is undone, and there is space inside for a message.

So, there we have it – two entries for the Sparkles Christmas Challenge – an old fashioned Christmas. Hope you enjoy them.

Take care. God bless.

Margaret

Hello my friends. So, once again I have had the opportunity for some time in my craft space. It was so cold on Sunday that John felt it unadvisable for him to be going out to church, especially as he had been suffering from an infection last week. No point in making matters worse and risking yet another 999 call! So I took the opportunity, once I had helped him get up and dressed and breakfasted, to spend a bit of time playing.

The tree image here was embossed with glitter embossing pastes through the Glitzcraft “Bell tree” stencil, onto deep blue mirror card, then cut with a Sue Wilson “Vienna” die. This was mounted on some handmade paper in a rich goldy/yellow , die cut from Sue Wilson’s “Ornate pierced rectangles. A piece of lovely dark blue velvet ribbon was placed over a further piece of handmade paper, embossed with Crafter’s companion “Vintage snowbells” folder.  To this was added some sparkle and bling. The whole was placed onto gold mirror card, and the Nadolig Llawen sentiment added.

I am linking this card with the ABC Christmas challenge – E for embossing and also the 52Christmas card throwdown challenge – March sketch. Hope you enjoy the fun I had.

Take care. God bless.

Margaret

Hello to Wednesday, my friends. I’m really late to the party today ‘cos I’ve had 24hrs away from home and not been back long. Our elder daughter came to look after John while I travelled down from here to Rugby to see my dad. He’s been ill lately and because John has been so very ill I haven’t been able to see him since the beginning of December. It was a great visit – he recognised me, we had a lovely time together, and I drove home here today after staying with friends overnight. John “did good” with his physiotherapist daughter, so it was a successful time all round.

So, my desk is neglected – but that doesn’t mean I have been idle…. I thought I’d show you this photo in the absence of desk events!

These are two “unpublished” cards I have recently made for John. The top one was for his 70th birthday in January. An easel card with a Sheena Douglass image and sentiment, then a choice of special moments in our lives – John the day he very nearly got to the top of Snowdon; holding Bethany our first grandchild; holding an owl last autumn; a night in the Albert Hall, London at the Proms concert; reading a story to our own daughters; standing on Whistler Mountain in Jasper, Canada for our Silver anniversary; and enjoying watching the grandchildren on their trampoline. Beneath the picture of us on Whistler mountain, made so that it would lift and reveal the words, I folded a piece of paper and wrote the message.

The second card is the pergamano Christmas card I made for him. Star shaped, it all folds up so that when it opens out, there is a smaller card within for the message. A ribbon on the top means it can be hung on the Christmas tree along with the baubles!

So, what else have I been up to this week – making a few cards which I have actually got around to entering into some challenges.. The previous two blogs – yes, I’ve actually posted twice since last Wednesday’s WOYWW!!! – should find the entries – simple stuff, but satisfying in that I have actually had the time to do them!

So, that’s us this week, folks. Back home now, John doing OK, back to the regular routine. I’ll do my best to visit – but it will take a few days. I really do appreciate your visits and comments, and I apologise that I can’t always leave comments on your posts. If you are on Google+ there are some who obviously have different settings to others, because some I can comment on, others I can’t. I do visit you, and enjoy your work

Why not join the fun which is WOYWW? Pop over here – http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and discover a NEW World!
Take care my dear friends. God bless you.

Margaret