woyww...leaping high!

I love that we get an extra day in February! It means I have an extra day to tidy up my absolutely disgustingly untidy desk! Spot the pens, and the piled up bottles and boxes.. I really do need a tidy up pixie!! Both pictures were taken in daylight, but it has been very murky here...

 I was extremely lucky last week and managed to get number 1 in Julia's amazing blog hop What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, but did time dictate that I could visit all of yours?.. sadly I have been busy and only made it to a few...( hangs head in shame). I did start out with good intentions, but failed miserably. A big thank you to everyone who visited, it is always much appreciated.
Now since my desk is in such a mess, I reverted to my other desk... I do cheat a bit sometimes... but all I can show you is space (ooh how lovely) and my favourite coffee mug! as I am working on top secret projects!! lol

Anyway since today is the 29th day of February, and since it only comes round once every four years, we have a special on our website today , ( you will need to visit our facebook page for the details) and although I know technically I am not supposed to advertise on woyww, as this only happens once every four years.. do you think Julia , Queen of desks will let me? ( grovelling here Julia....lol)
I am absolutely going to try to find time to visit all of the desks this week, as way of a thank you for being number one last week...
Have a very Creative and Crafty What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday
Hugs

mini canvas workshop

Yesterday was great fun as always! A mini half day workshop at Pickleberry with yours truly always makes me realise that there is so much potential out there, and oh boy we always have so much fun! The idea was to semi recreate Tim's workshop from Stitches with the tools that we had. I managed to get a full set of the new Distress marker pens for everyone to use and try, and with lots of die cutting and craft knife cutting ( I was amazed that some people had never used a craft knife to cut out!) new techniques were learnt, and gorgeous original artwork was made! Thank you to Rosemary, Barbara, Lesley, Caroline, Liz and Carole for putting up with me, and to Kate for hosting!
Here are a few of the creations made during the morning. No pics of the class as I had my camera on the wrong setting and they are just a blur!! doh! Must remember to check settings before taking pictures! The last one is mine, and only half of it as I didn't get time to finiahs it! too busy teaching!!

Have a a very creative day

Splish splosh and a bit of spray!

No it is not raining in my world..thank heavens, just a lot of colour and spraying and an altered book page made with the fabulously colourful Dyan Reaveley at Stitches last weekend! I have been hooked on altered books since I first did a workshop, almost 10 years ago at what was then HIA ( now CHA) in the States! Tear up a book...never! sacrilegious! How could you? It was heart rending to tear that first page ( of an old and unwanted book, of course!) but I have never looked back. Don't get me wrong, I adore books, and am always buying them, but if a book is unloved and about to be tipped, then recycle it, and use it to make art!
Dyan showed us a great technique and we got to try her new sprays with Ranger ( they will be in the shop soon :)) and some of her stamps and her stencils .. . Lots of paint and my hands were their normal mess when we finished. Thanks Dy, it was a little bit of colour in a black and white world.

I am off shortly to my workshop at Pickleberry, to show my girls the new Distress Markers, and to give them a taster of working with them! hehe. My gorgeous loving hubbie bought them for me as pressie from QVC.. how lucky am I? You can pre-order them from us.... sadly not due in for at least 3 weeks as they have been delayed from Ranger. This week we have FREE postage with no minimum order!
Have a very creative day
Hugs
 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 142

As my son or daughter would say.. this week's post for What's on Your Workdesk, now famous by way of the tv,(  allegedly mentioned by Dyan on QVC!!) probably is an epic fail! I am supposed to show you my desk , and all its glory or in my case, all its downfall, but I haven't used it, and the mess piling up on it is far too much for me to show you!! So in order for me to join in here is a picture of my desk at the Stitches trade show where I was lucky enough to join in a retailers workshop with the Duke of Distress, and his assistant the Queen of journaling... Tim Holtz and Dyan Reaveley. It was very busy and fun filled afternoon, and for the first time ever I had my photo taken with him!

Here is what we made.. lots of techniques and ooh the new distress pens :))

For those of you who kindly asked last week, here is the link on how to make my little porcelain rose.
Now I am off to check out some of the desks in this week's woyww hosted by the delectable Julia.
Have a very happy what's on your Workdesk Wednesday
xx
 

How to make mini faux porcelain roses

Often I make lots of bits and pieces but never really show you how to make them, but I have been asked lots of times how I made my mini porcelain roses, so here you are in true panoramic vision! This video by Christie Hund gave me the idea, so technically it is not completely my idea, but because I absolutely adore UTEE in all forms, and because I love making faux porcelain flowers -technique originally by Sherry Cheever , I thought why not combine the two!So my first video in over 2 years.. (what happened to the time?) is now up on youtube. The technique uses Tim's Tattered Pine Cone die, and one thing I didn't mention on the video is the paper I used is Ranger's Core'dinations. It does work with other papers, but I would not use too thin a paper as the roses don't come out quite so well.

I do hope you have time to experiment with them.. they are very very addictive! I am off later today to take a workshop with Tim Holtz and Dyan Reaveley, and to go shopping at Stitches for you...getting excited... lots of new goodies, and time to see long standing friends :))
Have a very creative weekend.

woyww....an addiction

Oh my it is the middle of the week again and time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday hosted and ruled over by the majestic Queen of desks, Mrs Dunnit! No desk this week, but a much bigger space with lots of room to move, and lots of goodies to play with! I decided that instead of the same old, same old, space of mine that really hasn't changed much in the past few weeks, you might like to see part of my stand at Stamperama , which was last Sunday. This was just before we opened, so nice and tidy! For those of you who wonder, yes we take almost everything we have online to the shows ( a veritable feat of organisation, and for those who know me, not something I am very good at!!!)

 I spent my day making tags and mini roses ( addictive little things they are!) and giving them away, and so if I liked a piece I quickly photographed it.. here are a couple of them....

Hope to get round to a few if not all of your desk this week... I did manage some last week before work took over!
Have a very happy woyww day!

Love is all around...

Many of you will have noticed today is Valentine's Day! Did you get a card or roses or a gorgeous gift from your loved one? I do hope so... but then why does today have to be the only day we give gifts to the love of our lives? I maintain that it should happen all year round!
It is possible that you have missed Tim Holtz's start of a new challenge. Today sees the start of his 12 Tags of 2012, and he kick started it with a Valentine tag! Now as you know I do like to follow and case his, and today is no exception! I don't have everything he used, and have used the larger of his Valentine Silhouette Alterations dies, and a music folder... OK ,I have done this in a hurry.. time is limited, so it isn't completely the same,

but wow it makes a great tag fro my DH to go with his bunch of roses  I made earlier this month.

Hoping you have a great Valentine's day whatever you do, and lots of love and hugs to you!

Pretty in Pink

I am sitting here very early in the morning writing this post just before wending my way through the icy roads to Stevenage for Stamperama. To show my age or even how long I have been in the business!! I actually did the first ever Stamperama that was in the country more than several years ago...at least 15 or 14 years ago! Does anyone remember it?
I am demoing as always and if you are coming along, I will be making these....

 and showing you how to make faux porcelain roses without a meltpot.. We also have these ....

which I will be demoing a different way, and these new Tim Holtz stamps!

which arrived very late last night! (They will be on the website Monday morning!)
Hope to see you there and if not I will be back with a tutorial to show you how next week.

Take care and Happy Creating

woyww....

Wednesday's come round quick as a flash these days! I have hardly blinked, and What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday comes racing around the corner! Now last week, I cheated and didn't even show you my desk, so this week, here it is, and see I told you.. nothing has changed... same push back, pile it high, put more on it, scenario!

I really must find time to tidy up! But I have a good excuse.. we have Stamperama right around the corner, and here is my growing pile of dies ready to be cut and packed!

All I hope now is that the snow that is here, thaws a wee bit, so I can safely make it to my unit! 
If you have never been to Julia's, the Queen of Desks, then now is the time to have a nosey around other crafters desk...
I do hope to pop over to yours, but please forgive me if I run out of time
Happy Woyww

Published in March Craft Stamper!

It has been a while since I have had anything published in a magazine, and I was very chuffed when Katie asked me if I would like to do Stamping Contrasts in the current ( March ) issue of Craft Stamper.

All the designers used the Swirls, Splats and Dots A5 die sheet from The Artistic Stamper, and I have only briefly seen the magazine (waiting for my copy to arrive) , but the creations are just gorgeous!
Here is one of my pieces, ( apologies for the awful photo, which I took as they were being packed up to be sent off...always at the last miniute!!LOL) If you fancy making this , then all the ingredients are in the magazine article.

Off now to get stamps moulded for Stamperama, coming up fast next Sunday 12th February!
Have a very creative day
Hugs

woyww... if music be the food of love

Hi, and prepare yourselves for a long post for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday . hosted by the uber organised Mrs Dunnit, and the stipulations of it are that you show your desk! Well mine is full of rubbish ( OK, crafty stuff!) and hasn't been touched since last week! Now should I own up and tell you that I have another desk? LOL. It is actually a space that is higher and I can stand at and use my meltpot, and heat gun. Not that comfortable for creating on... I haven't taken a picture of that either as it is now covered in paperwork! So instead I have a rosy heart I have made especially for our Creative Team Challenge which starts today, being that it is the 1st of February.. how did we get to the beginning of February without me noticing? Anyway I digress. I made lots of mini roses using Tim's Tattered Pine Cone die, and followed these instructions by Creations by Christie. I have to say that practise makes perfect, and I did a lot of practising on these!! To make them, I used Core-dinations paper, and layered some with Tim Holtz's Music Tissue wrap, and left some plain. I used a papier mache heart for the base, and made lots of the roses. All of them were sprayed with Perfect Pearl Mists in Interference Red, and some were dipped into clear UTEE in my meltpot, to make faux porcelain roses. I hot glued them onto the heart. The saying "if music be the food of love" comes to mind!

I do hope that after you have hopped over to Julia's to see all the other wonderful desks, that you will hop back to mine and have a look at the Creative Team's gorgeous heart creations!
Have a very Happy Woyww day.
 

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