What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 95

Hi ladies! Crumbs, these Wednesdays seem to come around quickly!

My desk today shows that I'm trying to multi-task (also known as fiddling round, not able to concentrate on one thing at a time):

I've been playing with Kirsty Wiseman's new 'Bug Girls' stamps (love, love these....go here to see, and more are on the way!), but then I realised that Easter is looming so am also sticking little googly eyes onto some bunnies and ducks (I know, I need to get out more!). One of the Mima Bug cards I made a couple of days ago is still lying to the left, waiting for an insert, some Lila Bugs are waiting for me to decide on which paper to use for paper piecing them - they are just perfect for paper piecing! And there, propped up in the background to prick my conscience is a really great PB Slapstick stamp called You Are the Bestest that I was keeping it for a special occasion! It's gonna need some time to colour in but my plan is that this will be used on my step-mum's Mother's Day card. So I'd best get my skates on! Sometimes I need to have my back against the wall to get things done :)

And, just in case anyone thinks it all looks suspiciously tidy - take a gander at this little heap pushed to one side!! Oooops :(

I need to do a big sort out of that lot before it spills onto the floor - so much to do and so little time!

Edit: 10am - that untidy pile has now been sorted into smaller piles, categorised, onto our bed ready for me to put it all away into rightful homes.....a little bit has found its way to the bin, but not a lot! I now HAVE to clear and put it away else we won't be able to get into bed tonight :))

Easel cards seem to be still very much 'in' and this is an extract from a posting in December 2010, when only a handful of people knew about this blog and before I was brave enough to 'wear my big pants in public' on WOYWW :)

For ages I wanted to produce some labels to stick onto the back of easel cards showing how to display them - trust me, not everyone knows and it's such a shame when you go to all that trouble only to confuse the recipients of your efforts!

I found this website, although there are others too:

http://www.docrafts.com/project/Easel-Card-Label/p3173142

So, I made a copy of the image (thanks Becky!), re sized it, turned it 90 degrees and set up a page of labels! It was so easy I wished I'd bitten the bullet a long time ago!
I use Decadry labels - 65 per sheet - ref. OLW4730 - pack of 30 sheets from PC World.






This has saved me a lot of time as I used to handwrite the instructions onto each card I sent :) A picture is worth a thousand words they say!

If anyone has a burning desire to have a copy of the file emailed (it's just a Word file) - please let me know by leaving a comment or emailing me here: di_wray@hotmail.com
 
That's it for me - I'm off for a good old hop around to see what everyone is else up to :) Grab a cup of tea or coffee and join me here over at Julia's! (I'll be there too, in between trying to clear away those piles from our bed!)
 
Thanks to everyone who called by last week and for your lovely comments, and to those who have already joined in the Card Candy giveaway at the top of my blog.....not long now ladies. NB, one lovely Blogger has asked if I'll send abroad - of course I will, anywhere in this big, beautiful world!  

Di
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Mia goes to Kindergarten

I sent this to Kai - our DIL - when little Mia, our three year old grand daughter, went to kindergarten in Germany a while back. Kai recently posted it on their 'family-only' blog...................it still tickles me :))



Di
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Blog candy from Wipso and Twiglet!

This looks so exciting, and having already been lucky in a Pay It Forward bit of fun when Wipso sent me some fabulous goodies - I just know these mystery parcels will be super! Hop over to Sisters Crafty Creations to join in the fun!



Di
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Mima Bug Card

The very talented Kirsty Wiseman has done it again! This time she's designed some gorgeous 'bug' girls - the name comes from their big, bug-like eyes. When I saw that she'd ventured into having some polymer stamps produced I was there tout suit!! You can also download digi-images and papers from Kirsty too - go here to see her stamps and  I bet you'll also have a good mooch round her blog :)

This is one of the stamps I bought, called Mima Bug, just inked up and ready to go:

I love the simplicity of these stamps, yet they have a character all of their own. I decided that they are perfect for paper piecing and this is what I produced:

Very straightforward - the card is approx. 6" square, topped with paper from Dovecraft's Back to Basics II set. The ribbon came from my stash - and I tied it as shown by Kirsty here by making a slit in the spine of the card and wrapping it round the inside of the card. I would have never thought of doing that so thank you for something else Kirsty!!

Little Mima was coloured using Aquamarkers and her dress, hat and shoes were paper pieced also using paper from the same Dovecraft set. She originally had bare feet and my OH was the one who suggested I made her some little shoes................I might find him crafting yet :) The flowers were punched using an X-Cut 3-D Punch and emboss punch with a teeny brad in the centre.

I'll be making more of these little darlings!

Di
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Magnetic cupcake bookmarks

I found this photo a while back when I was using Piriform Recuva to retrieve some lost files.

I had great fun making them for a friend to sell. They're self-explanatory really - plain white card folded in two with magnet pairs attached on the inside so they flip over the page of your book. The images were stamped and the colouring was done using a mix of Whispers pens (before my days of Aquamarkers) plus some sparkle added using Stickles.

I think the sparkle was appropriate as Becky, who sold them, had a cute shop called Purple Sparkle Crafts. She sold some gorgeous things and her hand made scented candles were amazing, many in the shape of cupcakes. Hence the cupcake bookmarks :) At the moment she's having a little break to concentrate on other things but I hope she opens her online shop for orders again soon! My stocks of her yummy wax melts are running low :(

You might be interested though to see what she's up to right now here - especially if you live in the Bath area.

Di
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What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 94

Oh my goodness - it's a beautiful sunny day here, how wonderful for a change! This is how I left my desk yesterday evening:

Shame on me - the Penny Black stamp that quite a few lovely bloggers commented on last week is still on my desk. It's there as I've promised some stamped images to someone, it's top of my 'to do' list - if you peek closely you'll see that at least I've finished colouring the one I was partway through last week though :)
A pair of scissors which I only use for 'sticky work' are lying begging to be cleaned - I use Sticky Stuff Remover which you can buy online or from your friendly Kleeneze rep. if you have one. A set of Nesties is still waiting to be put away - I store them in CD/DVD cases. The other detritus is left over from a card I set about making yesterday. We currently have a lovely lady decorator here (ain't they the best!) and today is her birthday. This is the card I made yesterday for Jan.

Jan is a keen gardener and I thought this LOTV Cute Square (Dressing Up Girls) might amuse her. Especially as no way could I imagine her dressing like this to do the garden! Happy Birthday Jan!

I layered a mauve spotted square of paper from the Back To Basics Designer pack (with the corners rounded to soften it) onto a white scalloped square card from Craftwork Cards. There's a strip of mauve card punched with a Martha Stewart lace strip punch, with the cute little girl watering her plant layered onto a Nestie square and placed on top of the lace strip.  Finishing touches are a lemon organza ribbon bow, flowers (baby roses and cherry blossom) from Wild Orchid Crafts, punched out leaves, and twirls of green wire. The wire is just left from flower stems wound round a pokey tool (a thin knitting needle would work just as well).  I lightly 'twinkled' the flowers with Lemon Ice Stickles and added the Happy Birthday sentiment, which came from Craftwork Cards.

Time for me to have a nosey round what everyone else is doing on WOYWW. Do join me at Julia's here. But so much to peek at there! And thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments last week - don't forget to take a look at my Blogaversary Candy that's on offer! Have a super Wednesday!

Di
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Pay It Forward goodies

It seems like ages since I joined in a Pay It Forward initiative - I was lucky enough to be sent some gorgeous goodies by the very talented Wipso which I posted about here.

I had, in turn, to do my bit for two girlies who had joined in the fun. The first was my friend Karen, who is always coming up with clever ideas so I kinda cheated and sent her some handmade Gor Juss Girls magnetic bookmarks plus a few goodies for her to play with and make her own designs.

The second girlie was Ginger who I knew less about - except that she lives in Miami (envy!), is a scrapbooker and also publishes free WordArt on her blog. As scrapping is so big in the States it seemed a bit like coals to Newcastle if I sent scrapbooking stuff so my parcel included handmade magnetic bookmarks, some English Lavender products from The National Herb Centre and a pack of hand coloured notelets.

The backgrounds were stamped using a Hero Arts stamp called Old Letter Writing and topped with some 'old gold' coloured card with the images mounted on top. The images were stamped using a Joanne Sheen stamp called Letterbox, which is just so nostalgic, then coloured in using Aquamarkers. The post box itself was deliberately made to look faded and in need of a lick of paint BTW! :)

The parcel took forever to get there, at one point I truly wondered if it had gone walkabout - but then I got a lovely email from Ginger saying it had arrived. Phew! I hope it all spoke a bit of the UK!

Di
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Pay It Forward card

This is the card I made and sent to Ginger in Miami, along with the Pay It Forward goodies. I think the parcel must have walked as it only arrived a few days ago!

Once again, a Gor Juss Girl decoupage which I made into a twisted easel card and topped off with a flower made using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die with a jewelled topaz brad and other little touches. I love this sentiment, it's a Stampin' Up one  and talking of sentiments - do go and look at Ginger's blog here. She publishes some great free WordArt sayings.

Must fly, hectic day here - will show the rest of what I sent to Ginger tomorrow...providing I don't asphyxiate meself spraying radiators!!

Di
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Waterfall card - a first attempt

On Wednesday (WOYWW) this card was lying in kit form on my desk. It was a freebie with a craft magazine but at times, when I was making it up, I wished I'd left it where it was! It look me ages to figure out how to make the thing - plus some serious scouting round YouTube tutorials. It's OK-ish but I know some things I'd do differently another time....we live and learn :)

I added some Papermania backing paper and a piece of ribbon from my stash. And, I got to use some eyelets and my 'pretty pretty' pink floral eyelet hammer. I've had it for well over eight or so years and this was its first use............shame on me!! My OH dashed into my little den to find out what all the banging was - then beat a hasty retreat when he saw me wielding a hammer :) I guess a Crop-o-dile or similar would be a lot quieter but am not sure I'd get much use out of it.......besides which the hammering was very satisfying. As a small child I used to fill my first little dolls pram with any rubble I could find and wheel it all over the place wearing my favourite little dungarees - maybe I should have been a builder?!

Di
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I wish.....if only......

If only I could say I made this lovely card - but I didn't :(

It arrived yesterday from Dawny P, along with the LOTV Romeo Teddy stamp that I recently won in her candy give away. Isn't it just like a breath of Spring - evwn prettier in real life than this photo shows. My photography set-up leaves a lot to be desired.....if you want a better look, nip over to Dawny's blog here. Be warned, there's lots there to look at so you might be some time :)

Di
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What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 93

At last - a bit of a messy desk!

Piles of paper to be sorted and filed away, leftover bits from cardmaking - some of which has been there for over a week, the usual cup of coffee, stamps out ready to make some Easter cards and other general paraphanalia! On the workmat are a couple of waterfall cards from a freebie magazine kit ready to be assembled - plus this little half coloured image:

Another Penny Black stamp - and such a cute one - which needs the colouring finishing off and then to be made into a card to send to my step-mum who is still hospitalised. I think it'll appeal to her sense of humour :)

Lastly, in amongst the mayhem, I got fed up of rummaging through a box of glitter glues which were all higgledy piggledy (isn't that sooo descriptive?!) - and arranged them like this:

Yup, another Really Useful Box with divided tray to the rescue! A right mixture of Liquid Pearls, Distress and ordinary Stickles etc. There's also a fine paintbrush lying in the box - I'm too pernickety (another lovely word!) to apply glitter straight onto card with the nozzle......and also too flipping clumsy. So, I just squeeze a blob onto a piece of paper and pick what's needed up from there with the brush. Probably a bit wasteful - but much better than spoiling a card!

That's my state of play for this week - I'm off for a good old WOYWW browse to see what everyone else is up to! Join me here at Julia's! I'm also lying in wait for the postman - my blogaversary candy for the giveaway should be here any day now..........hmm, better work out how to set up Mr Linky and randon number gerneration I 'spose :) Might have to ask my in-house IT chappie for a hand!

Di
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A special birthday card for Paula

Hmm, I found out that it was a bloggie friend's birthday recently - and a milestone one at that. She makes beautiful cards so I was up against it - added to which I flipping got the date wrong so this should have arrived today....... a bit late. Belated Birthday Wishes Paula! Here's hoping that this year is a really great one for you honey!

This is what I came up with:

It's another 'LOTV Cute Square' from the Party Girls set.....I just love these sooo much!! The card is an easel style using a Craftwork Cards white scalloped card - with a layer of patterned paper from the Papermania Capsule Collection 'Boysenberry' Paper pack. I punched both edges of some co-ordinating card using a Martha Stewart punch and the ribbon was from my stash (Hobbycraft). It was wired but if I love a ribbon I don't let that put me off buying it as it's really easy to slip the wire out of the edging. The circular Magical Birthday sentiment is from the LOTV Dreamy Days stamp set with a couple of little charms from my stash dangling merrily below it. The luscious flower is from the Prima Ballerina Recital set (appropriate 'cos the little cutie is dancing!). I chose the stamped Penny Black message to kinda bring it all together, and it sums up how we should face each day if we're able - especially as Paula had a rotten time last year health wise, and she is still in pain but always so funny in her emails.

Right, ironing is beckoning me - whoop, whoop!! But it's straight from the washing line as it's a gorgeous day here - and the smell of freshly dried ironing is one that brings back a lot of childhood memories. Err, plus it should be craft time on QVC - just looking you understand!! :)

Di
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9 squares card

I've made a few of these over time. They look quite clean and crisp and are relaxing to make too:)

It's self-expanatory really - the 144mm square card is white linen with a silver mirri card square, topped with another white linen square. Then nine 1" squares of lilac pearlescent card topped off with cupcake stickers from my stash. Simples!

Di
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Flower card - if you can't have real flowers

My step-mum is still unwell and we aren't sure where things will go from here - will she go back home or possibly need long-term care? She's quite perky now but has to have oxygen due to chronic asthma and consequently she can't have flowers in her room but, as she loves flowers so much, I thought this card might be the next best thing.

I made the flower a while ago - and showed it on WOYWW here. And this is the finished card:

The flower is a La Pashe Build-a-Flower azalea. It seemed best to keep the card fairly simple (I used a pure white A6 linen effect card) - the pink background was die cut using a die from a Nesties Labels Eight set - I then used the next size down to cut the white label  from embossed card with a little bit of pink shimmery chalk edging added before removing the label from the Nestie. It was then just a case of adding the flower, leaf and a label before adding a few little drops of Anitas Glaze as 'dew'.

I hope it fits the bill, even though it has no perfume!

And, I've re-discovered my lovely chalks at the same time :) It's probably several years since I used them so they're well overdue for a few outings.

Di
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What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 92

Wednesday again! First up, here's a tip (which the more I think about it is probably teaching Granny how to suck eggs) for anyone using Aqua Markers. Of course I had to have the whole set - as you do. So......being a tidy little soul I then HAD to have the zipped Letraset holders didn't I. I know the barrels of Aqua Markers are coloured as a guide but some of them aren't totally accurate. My tip is so simple - I didn't want to work with a colour chart so off I trolled to Staples and bought some small white round stickers which have been scribbled on coloured to match each pen and stuck onto the flat ends of the tops:

I guess this would work with Promarkers too - as I say, I betcha I'm by NO means the first to think of it though. I can see some eye-rolling going on! Before anyone says, I'm meticulous about putting the tops straight back on in any case - so no chance of ending up with a handful of pens and mixed up tops!

It's been a busy week so not a ton of crafting done really, although this is the card I made for my friend Joy's son and his girlfriend Jess. They recently got engaged so Jess is of course now Stuart's fiancee.......OK, so where is the accent symbol to go above the letter 'e'?!

Just to prove I can do a little bit messy - here's my desk just after I finished the card:

And this is the card - plus insert:

I used a square scalloped card from Craftwork Cards, a Love and Romance Lili of the Valley Cute Square, mounted onto a Nesties die cut - with a little bit of Stickles plus a teeny diamante gem in the little chap's hand - apparently Jess's engagement ring is a gorgeous diamond solitaire. I like the way the little girl seems to be having a think about what's going on :) The background paper, lace and roses are from my stash, the cute 'double heart' charm came from Dies to Die For and the sentiment stamp is from the LOTV Dreamy Days set. For the red bow I used some scrummy red organza ribbon that I bought in Germany a year or so ago - it has silver heart outlines on and I've been waiting for a very special card to use it for the first time! I hope we'll be going over again to see the grandchildren this Summer so a visit to the little shop where I found this and a few other tasty ribbons is def. on the cards..........to coin a phrase :)

So, now make sure you hop over to Julia's to find out what everyone else is up to........have fun!

Di
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Whoopee - I won something!

This is almost the very first go I've had at entering a draw for some candy - normally I can't even win an argument so I don't bother. BUT, Lady Luck smiled on me and I won a newly released Lili of the Valley stamp - called Teddy Romeo. The lovely Dawny P ran the candy draw on her blog here. And this is the little fella that is winging his way to me in the post - isn't he cute as a button! :)) I'm 'doubly delighted' 'cos I'm such a fan of LOTV!! Whoop, whoop!!!



Di
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Thank you card

On Friday I had a brilliant day out with a good friend called Joy, who I used to work with - and totally true to her name it was a day with a lot of laughs. We set off early and spent most of the day in Ikea down in Southampton. Got there in time for their 99p breakfast (yippee!!) and talked and shopped a LOT....thank goodness we went in Joy's 'people carrier' as it was stuffed full with goodies by the time we left Ikea! As soon as I spottted this LOTV Cute Square which Mr Postie brought the other day I just knew a card had to be made to say thank you for a great day out.......but we did dress casually and neither of us wore a hat :))

The background paper is from a Daisy and Dandelion paper pad called Picnic Patch, the LOTV Cute Square is from the 'Tea and Chat' set, the lacy strip was cut using a Martha Stewart punch, brown organza bow from my stash of ribbons, little heart and bakers twine also from my stash. The sentiment is an Elzybells one and the yummy organza flower came from The Crafty Cow and is made by Prima (Roosevelt Collection). I've said it before - I do so wish Elzybells hadn't closed down as their stamps were such good value and really well designed. Thankfully I stocked up before they closed but just know I missed out on quite a lot :(

Di
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Sympathy card

As my friend Moira knows, if our parents abandoned us had to leave us behind at boarding school in Germany, due to our Dads being posted back to the UK, they had to appoint guardians for us. This happened to me and a really lovely couple called Alice and Frank, who were good friends with my parents, took me under their wings for half term breaks etc. I think the main reason was in case they needed to sign for any emergency operations and so on and I felt very treasured because, although they had no children of their own, they coped admirably with a 17 year old lovesick teenager!

Sadly, my adopted 'Auntie Alice' died a week ago and I sent this card to Frank - they had been married for over 50 years I believe. I kept it simple yet as elegant as possible, given that Alice was always such a quietly elegant lady herself - the image is a Penny Black one - 'Letters and flowers'.

RIP Alice and thinking of my lovely 'Uncle Frank' - so very sad.

Di
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Never ending birthday card

I have a friend who is also into cardmaking and has followed me into making kenetic cards, easel cards and twisted easel cards. I've got few few more ideas up my sleeve and as it's her birthday next week I wanted to give her a new challenge to try out - wicked girl that I am! Luckily she's currently in Spain (hopefully sunning herself and going nowhere near a PC) and doesn't get home until late at night on the day before her birthday so I can post this early!

My first attempt at assembling a never ending card went into the bin, I made a real pigs ear of it - thankfully before I even got beyond the initial stage. This one worked fine though - much to my relief 'cos I hate to be beaten. The papers are all from a 'Celebrations' paper pad by Paper Cellar so they co-ordinated pretty well The sentiment is a SU one, 'The more candles the bigger the wishes'.

Di
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What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? 91

It's been a funny old week - I seriously think my litle car must be in love with someone at our local dealership - three trips there this past week, plus an overnight stay! I think she's all better now, so fingers crossed.

This is what we've been up to here - Mr Fixit doing the drilling and myself directing operations and then me playing. My craft room is very small compared to many, so I keep lots of stuff neatly tidied away in Really Useful Boxes behind sliding doors. But, I found that staring at a blank piece of wall to one side of my corner desk was uninspirational to say the least. Mr Fixit wasn't happy about my original idea of shelving - and in any case I couldn't reach it without kneeling on the desk if it went too far along (that's how little space I had to play with). This is the solution - and I'm so easily pleased that I just love the compromise :)

I had such fun digging my favourite and most used bits out of their boxes. Martha Stewart punches of course plus other punches. Then a little selection of wooden stamps - these are the ones I'm using a bit right now and I'll ring the changes for example at Christmas time (probably should be starting on Christmas cards now really!?) and a few bottle of glimmer and shimmer mist. The bottom shelf was originally going to hold all of my Stickles bottles (got a load of Tim Holtz Distress ones this week and they're gorgeous). When Mr Fixit saw them he remarked that it looked a bit like a spice rack though so they have been relocated apart from a couple of plain glittery ones. I had to laugh though 'cos this IS a spice rack in any case :)) Bought from eBay here and really well made - just great for anyone with limited space or even a spare piece of wall in amongst lots of other display shelving. So hopefully no fears about the wall falling down which keeps Mr Fixit happy - plus I have something more inspiring than a blank wall to look at.

Right, I'm off for a good old nose at what everyone else is up to - join me at Julia's here to see what's going on :)

Di
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