WOYWW 108 - Different Desk This Week!!

Good Evening Crafters

Woo Hoo it's Wednesday!!  What does Wednesday mean to a bunch of Crafters?  It is "offical nosey round other's desks" aka WOYWW via the wonderful Julia Dunnit.  This week though Julia's Buddy Jan is hosting while Julia is sunning herself in a foreign country!!

Not my usual desk this week, but the desk I am sitting here typing this and most postings!  If you look carefully you can see my PiF sitting proudly under the (dirty!!) screen!  (Gosh my screen needs a clean!!)

I am trying to make an order to go to a famous supermarket chain where "every little thing helps" for photographs.  I do have a fab printer to print my photographs but when you can upload them and receive them back for only 5p each (4"x6" when you have 200 prints) then what is the point?  Also, the ink and paper has gone up a fair bit and the last lot of ink I bought was "pants" and not good enough to print photographs with.  That is what I get for not buying the kosha ones!!!

However, trying to find all the photos I want printing has been tricky so I am carrying out a little "housekeeping".  Some piccies are on my laptop, some are on the main computer but they SHOULD all be on the external hard drive.  Also, some old piccies I have scanned have been filed under the month and not subject - so tricky to find.  By the time I went to bed last night, after being in work all day and sorting all evening, I was more than a little "square/rectangle eyed"!. 

Why an external hard drive?  First we were burgled and all my photos on my then laptop went with it and then last year my big computer went "poof" one evening!!!  So I try to make it a priority at the end of the  month to file them on the external hard drive which is kept well away from any computer just in case!  I used to put them on CD but they do deteriorate after time - as I have learnt!  Grrrrrr!  Sometimes I think films were not that bad!!!

Well, enough of my waffling.  Off to look at some other desks now.  No cooking tea tonight as my lovely Man is doing bangers and mash! Gravy on the laptop is not a good idea!! 

TTFN

Please do not forget to leave me a comment so that I know you have been to see me!!

Hettie

P.S.  The Jelly Bean tin is empty!!

Scrapbooking my Favourite Place

Good evening Crafters

I don't know about you, but today we are encountering some crazy weather from hot and humid to monsoon and now a terrific thunderstorm which is a cracker!!  In case you don't know I love a good thunderstorm and it might just clear this fuzziness I have had in my head for a while now - or is that the fairies that my Hubby thinks live in there?

I was sorting out some of my pictures tonight and came across some of a layout that I completed a little while ago and had not yet shown you on my bloggie so I thought I wouls share it with you. 

For those of you who have not been here before or who have not known me for long, Hubby and I absolutely love Prague or Praha.  We love the beauty of the architecture,  the quaint little streets with beautiful fresco painting and of course, the food.  So much so that we have booked a little break in the New Year but more of that later!!

The photographs were taken on our first visit to Praha at Christmas in 2000 which was wonderful as it gave us a chance to see more of the city which we had been to twice before but only for a few hours on each visit.  Little did we realise then that we would be visiting again many many times in the future.  We are really quite smitten with the City.  Long may it be before it gets to look like any other European city!!

The photograph was taken by a lovely local man who had seen us taking individual pictures of each other and beckoned to let him have my camera.  After hearing horror stories of people having their cameras taken off them in other cities I will tell you I was a little apprehensive about seeing it again, and he took one of my favourite photographs of us that has been taken.  Thank you whoever you were!

Seriously though, if you have ever fancied popping over to Praha please contact me and I can give you some hints as to good places to stay and things to see and do while you are there., as well as some good eateries.  In my opinion, Paris has nothing on the beauty and romanticism of Praha, and I have been to Paris now too!!!

Well, off to watch the rest of the thunderstorm in the comfort of my bed with the curtains open.  I am just relieved that the electricity hasn't gone off whilst I am typing this posting.

Thanks for reading and a huge thank you and welcome to my new followers!  I love both new followers as well as comments so please leave me a comment!!

Night Night

Hettie

Ingredients:  Stamps - Dark Room Door and Tim Holtz; Papers My Minds Eye and K&Co; Silhouette die cutter; Embellishments - assorted. 

  

WOYWW 107 - Not alot happening here!!

Well peoples, here we are on a Wednesday again, and time for WOYWW.  If you don’t know what WOYWW means then (1) where have you been hiding? and (2) click HERE where you will be whisked across to the desk of the lovely Julia Dunnit, the Desk Jockey of a Wednesday night and where other like minded (i.e. nosey!) crafters post pictures of their desks for other crafters to have a look at! 

Well without further ado here is my desk!

Shock! Gasp! Where is everything?  Well it is like this.  I finished my tag on Monday (click HERE to see it) and decided it was high time I cleared as much “stuff” off it as I could.  The sharp eyed amongst you will no doubt spot some more goodies, which were in a box on the floor having arrived last week!  You see, once my desk was clear I decided it was high time my floor was clear, then one thing led to another and I started moving things around to try and make finding things just a little bit easier!!  I even put the ironing board away last night after I had done a pile of ironing (I do wish we were naturists, then I wouldn’t have to waste time ironing so much!!  It would be a bit of a shock to the neighbours if we did though!!)

So that is about it for me tonight.  The little box is now waiting to be waxed and then it will be finished, but again I need as much work surface clear because I know only too well that if there is stuff anywhere near me when I heat my cauldron up and start applying wax on, EVERYTHING will end up with wax on including the box, me, the desk, the floor and something that I no way, no sirree, wanted wax anywhere near!!

If you are wondering why there are two mobile phone case backs it is because my lovely Man bought me a new Blackberry phone.  It is black! Boring Black! So he has bought me a new cover and before I put it on my phone I want to play with some stamps.  These two cases are surplus to requirements as the Man has changed his cover too blah blah blah!  As usual not enough time and too many things to do e.g. work!!

Off to look at a few more desks tonight once I have started the dinner - mmn - Chicken and mushroom pie and stuff - all home made.  I am usually to be found on a Wednesday with the laptop in the kitchen so I can view desks and cook at the same time - multitasking!! 

Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I do love to receive comments.  Last episode of NCIS tonight so need to get moving before 9pm! 

Pip Pip!

Hettie

Grungy Monday 12 - A New Die/Stamp!!

Evening Crafters.

Would you believe that I actually completed Grungy Monday 12 on Grungy Monday!!  Woo Hoo!!  It did mean that my intended early night went by the by but hey - a girl's gotta suffer for her art ey!

For those of you who don't know what I am on about where have you been?  The lovely Linda runs a wonderful challenge every Monday  called..... have you guessed it yet...... Grungy Monday.  Each week we are sent around the blogosphere somewhere where we see a technique which may be new or maybe done in a way we haven't seen before and we are challenged to come up with our own little adaptation of what we have seen.

This week we were sent HERE to the One and Only Tim Holtz blog back in 2008.  I then pondered for a little while (I had been able to have a peek at lunchtime so I could think a little in the afternoon in between doing my work!) and wanted to somehow incorporate my lovely new die of the Rain Man which my lovely Buddy had bought me for my birthday.  How she knew I wanted him I will never know!!  (Large hints I tell you!!)

So I made a funky foam die out of the die and the beauty of making your own stamps is that it does not matter which way you stamp finished stamp so if you want to you can flip him and have his brolly the other way - which I did as I wanted to make my little corner pocket on the left side of my tag!

Firstly, I made a tag using my lovely tag die and then covered it with K&Co paper which came from one of the matting pads - they fit lovely and you don't have to use a 12x12 page. I stamped the image with clear embossing ink and then sprinkled the clear embossing powder over the top, heated with my heat gun and then let it cool.  Using a tan paint and a piece of cut'n'dry I painted over the top of the whole tag including the embossed image.  Using a piece of kitchen roll and my mini mister I wiped over the top of the tag to reveal the clear embossed image of my man.

I made a little corner pocket and attached it to the bottom left hand corner, die cut the smallest flower twice using the Tattered Florals die, inked with Vintage Photo DI, ribbled a piece of the patterned paper and attached to the pocket with Glossy Accents finishing with a small button in the middle of the flower.

I then made a small tag and covered with more paper.  I stamped the sentiment on one side and wrote on the back "Summer 2011!" as I feel alot like the Rain Man this summer!!  I also ran some paper strip through my Dymo (this is not as easy as it looks through my Dymo as it is not as posh at Tim's!) printing "Singing in the Rain".  A little grungepaper finding to hold the paper strip on using a brad, ribbon, hanging attachment, word stick, doodling, distressing edges and hey presto one tag finished to go with my lovely collection. This is one tag I have really enjoyed.  Thanks Linda!

Don't forget that you can go to Tim's blog by clicking HERE to keep yourself up to date with what the man is up to!

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment as they are very much appreciated.

See you soon.

Hettie

Ingredients:-  Ranger- DI Vintage Photo, Walnut stain; Glossy Accents; Tag die; Rain man die; Tattered Florals die; Word stick; Chain attachment, Pin: Paper K&Co, DCWV; Ribbon; Tan paint.

Grungy Monday 11 - Busy Busy!!

Hello there Crafters! 

Firstly I would just like to say Happy Father's Day to all those lovely Dads out there and especially mine!!

I have nearly missed putting this on this week!  I have had a bit of a manic week this week what with making a mini book for my Dad, three tags - yes three tags, being a little bit under the weather with headaches and nosebleeds and being a Birthday Girl yesterday too.  I must say I was terribly spoilt yesterday and had lovely gifts from my family as well as fab gifts from my friends including a Birthday Cake handmade by my buddy Mandy's hubby Andy and an Album made by Mandy.  I will try and photograph that to show you in the coming week!!

Well, this week we were sent HERE to have a look at Tim Holtz's blog and to make a tag inspired by his technique.  I slightly changed the way I did mine by inking through some sequin waste with Wild Honey and then using clear embossing powder.  I then inked the background using the Wrinkle Free distress inking technique with Mustard Seed, Barn Door and Faded Jeans DIs and then going over some of the tag with some Vintage Photo.

I then removed the embossing powder and stamped some small bees over the tag before adding some sequin waste up the side of the tag and some corrugated card from a recent delivery of crafting supplies!!!

I used one of my new TH Ring reinforcers and attached a larger bee which I had stamped onto watercolour paper with Stayzon and painted the body with Mustard Seed and Wild Honey and a waterpen.  I then washed the wings using Perfect Pearls and then added a little onto the body of the bee. 

Some fibres and the sentiment stamped on a little Kraft cardstock and attached using a Memory pin. 

 I made three of them because I had the idea for my Grungy Monday challenge and decided to make an extra two to put onto cards for Father's Day.  One for my Hubby and one for my Dad as they were both having Honey for their presents!

I hope you like what you have seen today and if so, please leave me a note so that I know you have been here.  Also, please pop over to the Lovely Linda's blog HERE so that you can see some of the other wonderful pieces that have been made for this Challenge.  And don't forget you can always visit Tim Holtz's blog HERE to see other wonderful creative ideas.

TTFN

Hettie

WOYWW - PiF!!

Sorry Guys.  I am not showing you my desk this week.  No sirree - I am showing you the wonderful PiF which was sent to me by Kim.

If you are wondering what on earth I am on about click HERE and you will be transported by demolecularisation over to the wonderful DeskJockey Julia's desk two weeks ago where you will find out what this PiF thing is all about.

Well, I had been in touch with Kim on the day of the Anniversary and gave her my address, and I was also in touch with Sandy who was the receiver of my PiF so that I could have her address.  Every evening I would drive home wondering if my gift had arrived.  Until, last Wednesday I arrived home and there was a yellow squishy envelope with stamping all over it.  It had arrived!

I made a coffee, sat down (coffee cup well out of the way) and then very carefully opened the envelope.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect but I certainly did  not expect this wonderful little book full of ATCs.  These pictures do not do the book justice!!! This is the first ATC which is printed on glossy cardstock.  Stunning!

This is the inside of the book...... Two more ATCs hiding in there.....

Another beautiful ATC of Ophelia.  Beautiful!!!!



And then another ATC with Yellow Pear.  A Miniature Yellow Pear printed and then adhered to a gaceted charm.  Fabulous!!!

And now the reverse of the book.

Another beautiful ATC with Waves and Water.  Wonderful!!

I have now cleared my computer desk so that this little book and the card that came with it can stand in pride of place clear of any litter!!  Now I have set myself a hard task to keep the desk clear!!

Words cannot describe how chuffed I am at not only receiving this little book but about the fact that I now have two new friends - Kim and Sandy.  I have to say a hugh Thank You to Julia for organising this strange phenonomonon of WOYWW!!  I am soooo looking forward to the third anniversary now!!

Off to have a look around some more desks via Julia's blog.  Why not join me in having an official nosey at other crafters' desks?

TTFN

Hettie



Scrapbooking Layouts

Good Evening Crafters

I thought tonight I would show you a couple of layouts which I completed at the Penallys workshop which was held last Saturday.  It was a fun class with lots of giggling and frolics going on and the day seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were packing up to go.  I had also completed two layouts of my "Fergus" album too.  I will show you that album another time when I have got over being teased about it on Saturday!!

The first layout we completed was this one...

The photograph was actually taken from the Eiffel Tower and despite the layout looking very girlie I thought that the colours of the papers were absolutely perfick for the colours in the photograph. 

Who says views cannot be portrayed in pretty layouts? 

There was a picture available of me having just taken the photograph, but my red handbag let the colours down a little!  It was a Radley handbag but the red wasn't right!!

The next layout we did after having a bit of lunch is this one....



The photo is of my Hubby when we were on the Seine hopping from place to place. 

I think here we were on our way to the Notre Dame after walking all round the Eiffel Tower.  We were glad of a rest!!I had taken several "nautical" photographs with me but I felt this one best suited the colours.

The papers we used for the first layout were Basic Grey and the second layout were Paper Loft.  I had not heard of Paper Loft papers but they were lovely quality and not as thin as some makes of paper.  I will definately have a look around to see if I can buy more of those papers.  As for Basic Grey they are one of my favourite companies already.

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment so that I know you have been here.  They always make me smile!!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow as I will be showing you the PIF gift I received from Kim.  It is fantastic!!

Hettie

Grungy Monday 10 - Distress Inks

Hi there Fellow Crafters

Well I don't know about you folks out there, but here inSouth Wales it has been a pretty wet and miserable weekend.  It does not even feel like it is June let alone approaching mid-Summer!  And we are approaching a very important birthday too!  I doo hope the weather cheers up for my birthday. 

Well, tonight i am going to show you my latest tag which I made for the Lovely Linda's Grungy Monday Challenge no. 10 (can't believe we are on no. 10 already - yikes!), for which we were just told "Distress Inks".  Now this left the field wide open, but I opted for simplicity.  Less is often more!

I haven't actually tried DIs on plain white watercolour paper so have not seen just how vibrant these guys can really be and yet pretty and delicate too.

I made two tags very similar, by making bands of colour using Mustard Seed and Broken China.  I then splashed water over the tags and left them until I was happy with the effect before drying them with the heat gun.  After I had made sure they were bone dry I then chose which stamp I wanted to use which was a task in itself and using Walnut Stain DI I stamped the stamp on one of the tags.  I then placed the microscope glass over the area which I wanted to show through and adhered with glossy accents, cut the excess paper, before placing it in the metal frame. 

I then stamped the bottom of the main tag and from the excess pieces of the previous tag I die cut and stamped three flowers.  Distress Stickled with rock candy dried and then adhered.  I then inked around the tag with Walnut Stain before adding a little chain to hold the frame and a little ribbon and hey presto project completed. 

Don't forget to pop over to Linda's blog to see the wonderful projects carried out by other participants and also why not go to Tim Holtz's blog where you will see many wonderful inspiring ideas from the Duke of Distress himself.

Thanks for looking.  I am off to look at the other participants now!

Please don't forget to leave me a comment so that I know you have been here!

Happy Crafting!!

Hettie

Ingredients:

DIs Broken China, Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed; Glossy Accents; Memory Glass, Frame; Ribbon and threads; Stamps Crafty Individual, Paperartsy.

WOYWW 105 - Oops! Messy Desk Again!

Good Evening Everyone!

First of all I am one of the Lucky ones who has received her PIF from my new friend Kim in New York and here it is.... 

 I want to show you more of it but it needs a posting of it's own.  It is absolutely gorgeous and I feel truly honoured.  Thanks Kim soooo much.  It cheered up my otherwise "pants" day yesterday! (Very interesting trying to explain what having a "pants" day means!!)

Now for my desk (hang my head in shame .................................nah!!)  I do have a valid excuse for it's messiness as I am in the middle of a messy jobbie.  No!  Not that sort of jobbie!!!  Tuh!

The box you see on my desk is a lovely wooden box to hold t-bags in which I originally bought in Tesco in Prague (my favourite place in case you don't know), after looking for one for ages.  I drink loose leaf tea at home but I do drink herbal teas and like to have a selection so need several boxes on the go.  Hence the need for a box. 

 Well, the lid had become unstuck and I am a little bored with it so wanted to alter it in some way.  So.  I had all the lickle bits which I collected after making my Alterations box with the Fabby Tim Holtz, so wanted to put them to good use.  Hence my WIP! 

 Right.  I am late tonight starting so will have to get my skates on if I  am going to get round any desks tonight. 

 Please leave me a comment to let me know you have read my waffle and don't forget to pop over to Julia's blog to see what the 'eck I am posting pictures of my desk for tonight.

TTFN

Hettie

Hello Jack! Scrapbook layout

Hello there.

Last night I actually went through some photographs with the aim of scrapbooking a few.  It took me a while to decide what to do as I have soooo many photographs but wasn't quite sure what I was in the mood for.  You know what it is like, lots of things you NEED to make for various reasons (birthday cards mainly in my family as June is a pretty hectic time - including the most important one - mine!), lots of projects lined up to do, but you really want to do something you haven't thought of yet but you will know it when it comes!  (Or is it just me?)

Well, as soon as I saw this photo I knew it was time it was scrapbooked!!

This is my nephew Jack, only son of my brother (that is his arm you can see!).  I knew that I had some papers left over from my Paris album (I will put that on here some time soon!) and had been keeping them for something special, and here was the ideal opportunity. 

You may recognise the papers as Basic Grey.  If ever I see a pack of these designs again I know I will snap them up poste haste as they really are super.  They are not specifically gender orientated and are lovely to work with. 

I hope you like my layout.  It was really nice getting back to scrapbooking 12 x 12 layouts again, which I have not done for an age at home (well, other than Bank Holiday weekend!) as I always seem to be finishing something off in the making pieces for challenges, which I love! That reminds me......

I felt very relaxed making this layout and it seemed to flow nicely once I had made the decision. (Maybe that was the glass of wine - on a school night too!)  I even managed a little doodling and Stickles.  I cannot remember the last time I used Stickles and yet at one time everything had stickles on it. 

BTW, Jack is now a 14 year old!!  Yikes!!!

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment so that I know you passed by!

Hettie

Grungy Monday 9 - Asian Theme

Good Afternoon Crafters

I don't know what the weather is like with you this afternoon, but here in South Wales it is a grey, wet and miserable Sunday Afternoon!  Just the right sort of weather to sit in your Craft Room and brighten up your day with some crafting!! 

I actually made this tag a couple of days ago, but nearly forgot to blog it until I realised this mornng that I hadn't uploaded the photos from Hubby's camera - Ooops!!

This week our leader Linda told us to go HERE where Tim Holtz showed us how to make a shabby chic tag.  Now Tim used the acrylic paint dabbers but as I only have one (Snow Cap) I had to dig a little to improvise.  When I went on the Paperartsy day in February (was it that long ago?) we were shown a technique whereby we made white paint any colour by using Color Washes.  So this is what I have done!!  I used a dark brown cardstock to make the tag (that die was such a worthwhile buy I have to say!), stamped two Asian themed stamps with clear embossing ink and sprinkled with clear embossing powder.  Then I used white acrylic paint and sprayed it with Bottle Color Wash and swooshed with a piece of cut'n'dry until I got to the shade I was happy with it.  Dabbed this paint over the whole of the tag covering the stamped images.  Once the paint had dried I wiped the top of the stamped images with a damp cloth using mini mister, uncovering the images.  I then stamped the top and bottom of the tag  with Walnut Stain DI before inking the edges with the same.  I then used the Dabber Snow Cap to stamp the smaller images.

I am afraid that I cannot remember the make of these Asian stamps but I purchased them from QVC and they were possibly the first things I ever purchased on QVC which was not long after I had been to Vietman and decided I wanted to make a Scrapbook of the trip!  Hence the start of my Scrapbooking journey.   The stamps came in four packs, each with an acrylic block.  A good buy, though I have not used them very much recently - a fact which I will have to remedy.   I like this technique though I have noticed that  little too much paint came off in one small spot!!!  That's life!!

Right then folks, off to make another scrapbook layout and then I will be visiting some desks tonight of the other Grungy Monday folk. 

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment so that I know you have been.

Hettie

P.S.  If you are having trouble making comments on Blogger, I picked up a fab tip the other night whilst wandering on WOYWW - untick the "Leave me signed in" and this should unblock you - a bit odd, but it worked for me!!  Thanks Frankie!!  (You must go and visit Frankie's blog - her work is STUNNING!!!)



WOYWW 104 - Happy Birthday - Sunday Stamper

Big Congratulations to Julia today for hosting the 102th week of WOYWW!!  Hurrah!!!!  Do you know that it is partly Julia’s fault I even started blogging?  No?  I came across WOYWW and thought it was soooo much fun I wanted to join in with the fun, as well as some of the Challenges that are around.  Hence – Julia’s fault I am here and it is sooo lovely to be here!!!

Since I have joined WOYWW I am able to travel all round the world via desks not only on a Wednesday but throughout the week, though this has been hampered by Blogger the last few weeks as I am finding that I am not always able to leave comments.  I am sorry if I have not left a message, though I may have been noseying on your desk!!

I still cannot get used to the fact that it is now June!!  Where is the year going?  And why is it still cold?  Well, it is in my office anyway!! 

Very very very important date coming up in this month!!!  Though that does mean another year older!!  I managed to persuade Hubby to buy me a set of Tim Holtz stamps the other night too for my birthday while I was on a certain website ordering bits!!!  Hee Hee Hee!!!

My desk is a little untidy (nowt new there then I hear you say!) but I stayed up a little late last night in order that I could finish my Sunday Stamper Challenge with the lovely Hels Sheridan!!  At least I won’t be finishing it on Saturday evening!!! Hurrah!!!  I had hoped to show you all a tidy desk!!!  No chance I fear!!!

If you have read an earlier posting you will remember that I was having a crop in my room last Saturday, it being a wet Bank Holiday weekend, with two of my buddies Mandy and Rachel. 

Rachel popped in for a few hours and completed a layout (very good for a newbie!!) but Mandy and I managed to do the full 24hrs!!! 

Still not sure how we made it but we did!! In that time I managed to alter a tin for last week’s Sunday Stampers, make a tag for the Grungy Monday (I told you I wanted to join in on some of the challenges!), finish two WIPs (a layout and a mini album), make two layouts from scratch and start my Sunday Challenge for this week!!!!  As well as that I managed to give Rachel a hand with her layout, eat pizza at 3am, and drink Baileys at 5am! It was “5 o’clock somewhere”!!! (I still cannot believe that Mandy had never heard of that song or the saying!!)

I am looking forward to the PIF thing too this week! 

My pressie is all ready for posting tomorrow to the person who is destined to have mine.  I hope you like it whoever you are.   

If you are not sure what I am on about WOYWW then click HERE and you will be whisked over via fairy dust to the (empty) desk of Julia, the Desk Jockey of this phenomononononon!! 

Well Congratulations to Julia once again, and here's is to the next 52 WOYWWs!!

TTFN

Hettie