What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 306

A sunny hello to all :)

Desk-hopping day has arrived!  Pop over to Julia Dunnit's blog to discover more about WOYWW and have a glimpse into the intriguing desk spaces of all these creative people http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ You can also reach there by clicking on my WOYWW badge just to the right and down a bit ->

So here's my desk view today:

 To the left is a decoupage project I'm looking forward to starting, I'll be covering the Papier-mâché photo frame with the colourful postage stamps themed decoupage papers.  I'll be applying a coat of the white gesso paint (sitting above it in the pic) before layering and glueing torn pieces of the papers.  It's a present :) (Overdue!) 
 Next to the gesso pots you might be able to just make out a set of Inkadinks sprays that I am yet to play with.  They are there to remind me to try them out!
 In the centre are some stamped images (Strawberry Kisses, Crafter's Companion, 'Together Forever') that I've been colouring in for one of my course units for a Certificate in Paper Craft.  I gave the Spectrum pens another try...but alas, still not quite mastering the technique!..Am finding colouring with pencils and water much more my thing!
 Above this you can see a pile of remnants from making this birthday card:

 On the far right is my close companion-my Ipad!  Next to that, my diary, pencils and the latest Craftseller magazine to enjoy with a cuppa :)
 At the back of my desk is my ever faithful Grand Calibur residing in its permanent spot.

So, lots to keep me busy!

Time to go visiting fabulous desks, looking forward to an inspirational journey!

Thank you for viewing my craft paradise and many thanks for any comments that may be left :) :) :)

Bye for now,

Angela xx
Angelgreetings

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 305

Hi everyone :) wow is it really Wednesday already?!..time for some fun desk hopping with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, see Julia Dunnit's blog to find out more http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ or click on the WOYWW badge to the right ->

The sun is shining gloriously into my craft room today and I'm loving that I can craft for longer now the evenings are lighter for longer :) Love Spring!
I've been having fun with my new craft goodies and tried my hand at zentangling the Dreamweaver Angel stencil:

Having taped the stencil down, I used a pencil to draw the stencil and then removed the stencil and went over it with a black fineliner pen.  I did it this way to protect my pen nibs (Sakura Pigma Micron-well worth the price!)  You can rub out the pencil lines.  Then I started doodling away...needless to say I used my magnifying lamp to see what I was doing!

Then I created a background using an 8" x 8" Kraft card for my base and built up the layers...

Following many button and ribbon options(!) I finally settled on this:

Flowers are Papermania Big Bloomers Bexley Black. The button, ribbons, twine and daisy embossed paper are all from Hobbycraft.

My cats are prowling around me, how do they know when it's feeding time?!..like clockwork!  Must tear myself away from my desk and pay them some attention!

Thank you for dropping by and for leaving a comment-they make my day! It's great to feel part of a community of like-minded crafters!  Speaking of which, I'm off for a nosey round the desks for some marvellous inspiration :)

Til next time, Happy WOYWW people!

Angela xx
Angelgreetings

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 304

Good day to all :) It's time for some desk hopping inspiration, take a look at Julia Dunnit's fabulous blog for enlightenment on this fun opportunity to share our work desks: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk or click on the WOYWW badge on the right...

Here's a picture of my desk crammed with crafting happiness from a hugely exciting (and expensive!) 'make it' craft exhibition:

To say I was in craft heaven is a great understatement! So much to play with as you can see!  

Working from the left are a range of paper mache photo frames, Crafter's Companion Distress Texture folder, Papermania flowers, Candi embellishments, beautiful papers, a selection of Imagination Crafts stencil templates, several pots of gorgeous Sparkle Medium pastes and chalk paints, blending solution, key brads, Inkadinks Summer Garden spray inks, a Dreamweaver Angel stencil, black satin card, cut and dry foam, purple low tack tape, a brayer, glue, football embellishments and butterfly charms and I also came away with bags of enthusiasm to learn new techniques!

Next time I'll share some of my experimenting with these glorious goodies!

Thanks so much for dropping by and for any comments, they're very appreciated :)

I'm off to enjoy looking at those creative workdesks where the magic happens! Thanks to Julia for hosting :)

Happy days crafters :)

Angela xx

My favourite makes of 2014

It's been an enjoyable year's crafting for me.  Here's some of my favourite creations that I thought I'd share with you :)

This birthday card above was my first attempt at quilling and parchment craft. 

I loved making this card for my niece Livvy's 11th birthday.  Like me, she adores owls.  

This twisted easel, 3D decoupage card was a joy to put together.  The page extract is taken from the actual scene of the story.  I was delighted to find the Queen of Hearts ribbon.

For this project I used some acetate to attach the hot air balloon so it had some movement.  I folded a strip of acetate and glued it under the background paper and to the back of the hot air balloon.

I was delighted to discover Santoro London papers and embellishments this year. Their range of crafting goodies are beautiful.  Perfect for my butterfly obsession!

I made this gate-fold card for my great aunt's birthday.

This baby owl birthday card was great fun to make using a variety of textures.  I loved the bright colours.

Life's a beach :) I enjoy playing with handmade paper and teasing out the threads. I just dab some water around the edges using a paintbrush and gently tear to create this effect.  

I gave this card to my wife on her birthday. The quote is taken from Teresa Collins 'stationery noted' paper.  There are some wonderful quotes on the sheet; I like 'Do not let anyone ever dull your sparkle'

This is a picture of my desk a few weeks ago when I was busily preparing cards for a local charity called Care for the Carers in Eastbourne. 

This particular quote has been of great inspiration for me this year.  

The full saying is:“The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.” -Alice Morse Earle

This altered art project was challenging but I was very pleased with the results. Thanks and credit to Mark Gould http://speshink.blogspot.co.uk for the inspiring course at That Craft Place and help in making this. The Tic Tac Toe box is from Tando-Creative.  I used DecoArt acrylic paints and sandpaper.

I've really enjoyed playing with these papers and have made several cards.  The papers were free with Papercrafter magazine.  I made this card for a friend's birthday.  I used a thin paintbrush handle to roll the papers and secured with strong adhesive tape.

I have found the Tim Holtz Idea-ology 'Lost and Found' papers to be great for mens birthday cards.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my post.

Here's to a fabulously creative Happy New Year!!

Angela x

WOYWW

Hi all :)

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  

Yes it's that time for a blog hop...take a look at Julia Dunnit's blog to discover more about this fabulous opportunity to have a nosey round other peoples' desks...
http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's a peek at my desk area:

To the left is a Decopatch project I'm working on for a friend's birthday present.  As you can see, I'm half way through covering my HOME letters.  Having coated the papier mache letters with Gesso/white acrylic paint, i then glued on an assortment of torn papers using Decopatch Glossy Glue. I painted over the letters with Ultra matte Finishes Sealing Varnish No.3.

On the right of this is a New Home card surrounded by some of the materials and tools i used.  Here's a closer view of the card:

Beyond this card is my new Awesome Auntie mug and coaster which i received for my 40th birthday.  You might just be able to make out the scattering of '40' confetti which I am still finding 10 days later!!  Behind the mugs are 2 gorgeous handmade birthday cards that i was thrilled to receive.  There's no escaping my new era!  One card from my cats said 'You're not 40...you're just 21 with 19 years of experience'!!!  Another said '40 & still a bit naughty'!!!  I also loved the card that said quite simply 'Keep calm and just lie about your age'!!!

I was completely spoilt and had a fantastic day brimming with surprises :) 
I absolutely loved my birthday cake which was designed with the theme of 'My Favourite Things':

Thank you Anushka Rampling for making this glorious cake for me.  I didn't want to cut into it, too beautiful and special! But i can confirm that it tastes delicious!!

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at my desk.  Your comments are really appreciated.  Looking forward to hopping round your inspiring desks :) 

Happy crafting :)

Angela, Angelgreetings xx

Back at last! - with my top 10 makes of 2013

Greetings to you all :)

It has been a while since my last post, but I've kept up with the crafting-there's no stopping me!  I have chosen some of my favourite projects from 2013 to share with you :)

'I'm late! I'm late!'-I created this card for my wife's 40th Birthday, inspired by

her favourite book, she loved it so much, it's still up on the mantlepiece!

I enjoyed making this Christening card for twin boys:

I made this card for a friend's parents' 

60th Wedding Anniversary:

This was a new challenge, altering a plain book - a birthday present for a keen gardener:

'Have A Hoot!' -I made this card for a friend's 50th Birthday, I've developed a love for owls! 

My first attempt with the vintage look for this thank you card:

'Twit twoo' -I made this card for a friend's daughter's 

1st Birthday:

Last year I discovered Steampunk, this was my first make in this style: 

The following project started out as a plain papier mache frame that I covered in several layers of torn pieces of paper, card and craft tape.  I made this for my brother to illustrate his trip to Vietnam and Cambodia:

Here is the reverse side of the frame:

Another discovery I made last year is decoupatch, I'm addicted now!  I layered these 20cm tall papier mache letters by glueing on a mixture of torn decoupatch papers and painted over with a layer of PVA glue for a gloss finish.  I gave it to my older brother for a Christmas present:

Here's to another year of creative crafting!!

Belated New Year wishes :) Angel xx

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Hi all :) it's that time of the week for desk sharing, if you're not familiar with this inspiring activity, take a look at Julia Dunnit's blog for enlightenment at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/

I've been making progress with my collage picture and today I'm going to explain how I achieved the effects:

Background:

Using a white canvas measuring 30.5cm by 22.8cm, I began by inking up some Cut-and-Dry foam using a palette knife to spread on a thin layer of Inka-Gold, a fast drying metal gloss paint.  I gently rubbed the ink over the canvas and applied a thicker layer around the border.  I dabbed some pale turquoise ink here and there.



Corners:

Next, I experimented with applying a mix of white and blue acrylic paint on the two corners, using a palette knife and an old toothbrush.  I then lightly sprinkled some gold and silver glitter on the paint. I painted a rose using the toothbrush to create swirls.  I soon decided that this wasn't quite the colour I wanted for my vintage theme but I was pleased with the dimension achieved from layering the acrylic paints.  Once the acrylic paint had dried I sculpted over the paint using the Inka-Gold, leaving some traces of the blue and built up some great textures.

Having gathered up my collage elements I decided that the rose wasn't going to blend in with the vintage style..

Embellishments:
From the picture above you can see an assortment of pictures and embellishments that I wanted to include. I kept discovering bits and pieces such as the shells, lace, twine and buttons...I'm planning on leaving some gaps to add extra bits as and when I find them!

Lace:
I lightly sponged over the lace, shells and twine using the versatile Inka-Gold paint.  To create the lace 'wave', I stuck a length of double-sided tape across the top and pinched the lace whilst firmly sticking an inch of the lace between the loops.

Rose:
For the rose I inked over the picture using tiny pieces of foam.  To get the gloss effect, I stamped embossing ink over the rose and then scattered embossing powder (Cosmic Shimmer, Lapis Pearl Lustre) and used my heating tool to melt the powder creating the sheen.  I inked round the edges with Distress Ink-Aged Mohogany.  I curled the leaf and petal edges in different directions for more dimension.

Pink heart and words:
The large pink heart is from an old birthday card I had kept.  I distressed the picture using the Inka-Gold and heat-embossed the edge with Lapis Pearl Lustre.  I applied the same technique to the word pictures except the DREAM shape; for this I inked a very light layer of  Distress Ink-Aged Mohogany around the letters.  I added a couple of glittery brads to the sides.

Photos:

I printed out the photos on white paper having played with the sepia and warmify effects.  I made the photo frames by nestling together (with a little space in between) two dies from Spellbinders Nestabilities, Labels Eighteen.  I used papers from the docrafts Vintage Notes pad.

Tag:
For the wooden tag I experimented with the Dylusion ink sprays-black marble and vibrant turquiose.  I then heat-embossed the surface by crumbling a combination of embossing powders including: black glitter, Cosmic Shimmer ancient copper metallic and topped with a sprinkling of Stampendous mica fragments in blue.  I used the gold Inka paint round the edges of the tag.  The heart key is from the Papermania Chronology range.
For the American seam binding ribbon I played with the same ink sprays and used my heating tool together with some black glitter embossing powder.  I finished with a layer of the Lapis Pearl Lustre.

My next plan is to make some felt and fabric flowers to add to the collage.

I've really enjoyed making a meaningful picture for myself that I can keep adding to.  Now I just need to decide where to hang it!

I think that's it!  Phew! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  Next time I'll show you how I got on with making the flowers.

Happy WOYWW crafters!  Wishing everyone a good week with sunshine-please!

Angela xx
AngelGreetings