WOYWW #399--Clearing the Decks

Welcome to the “What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday” blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground, where we open our craft rooms up to have you peak at our desks. 

Back (or still) at the journaling table.  This past week I was busy again with the Wanderlust 2017 assignment…which you can see here.  I spent 8 glorious hours in my craft room…and it was a freakin’ mess when I was done! LOL!  So Sunday I cleared the decks, so to speak, so I would be ready for this week’s assignment.  So what you see are my journals stacked and ready to go.  The front square one is what I’m using as my primary Wanderlust journal.  You can tell we haven’t used any Dylusions yet, as its still clean!   And the Prima journal is brand spankin’ new…can’t wait to crack that baby open!  The stencils are all nicely piled…in a somewhat Kimmy organized way. Brushes and Palette clean and ready to go.  

And that Peppermint Bark tin?  My Dear Hubby confiscated it from his work once empty, knowing I could find a loving home for it.  Some wives get flowers, I get empty tins….is there any doubt why I love him??! 

So that’s me; now go back to the Stamping Ground to portal off to other creative desks.  Stay Crafty my friends.

Wanderlust 2017--Week 3

This week looked very intimidating.  Wilna Furstenburg started with drawing in ink, then showed 3 ways to finish it off.  Thank heavens she made copies for us to play with!  I started with the plain inked version, and since I didn’t have acrylic inks or oil pastels, I used my liquitex basic paints and Distress crayons.  The Distress Crayons blended really well, but I had used gesso on the pages first, so that helps.  It came out much darker than I was planning, but overall, not bad.

Then I used her colored version, and got so caught up in the blending of the background I forgot to use texture paste first.  She really uses these images as frames for her journaling; and since my handwriting is the KoD to any page, I stamped on Tim Holtz’s tissue paper with Archival ink, darkened it a bit with a PITT pen, then when glued down, it becomes invisible.  Again, I was trying for some white space; nada.

And with being pleased with the first two attempts, and already finishing one beer before lunch, I took my only jar of ink: Opalescent green, and dove in with a free hand page.  1) the ink is amazingly pale—not necessarily a bad think for my first attempt.  After starting the first flower, which is one of the leaves now, I decided Lupine’s were pretty doable.  So that is where I boldly went.  And I will say…I’m rather shocked that that’s what they looked like!  I still can’t get the liquitex paint to drip.  Maybe after a few more weeks of using paints, I’ll explore acquiring some new ones.  I know the Dina Wakely Heavy Body paints have been calling my name for a few years now! LOL!

So there are my week 3 lessons.  Now I need to try a few on my own.  For info on the year long Wanderlust 2017 online course, visit Everything Art.com, there is plenty of time to join in! 

WOYWW #398

It’s happening again (still)! Time has just gone crazy!  So we are on the 3rd “What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday” hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground, of the year…and I totally missed last week.

So the last two weeks have been me keeping up with the Wanderlust 2017 classes.  So far I’m 100%--that’s freakin’ awesome!  I did mention it’s been 2 weeks…so I’m really just bragging to me. 

This past week was to let go, not think, just get paint on a canvas, and covering up layers.  That part was hard.  So after a fairly successful first go (see my prior post here) I’m in the process of doing another one.  But I think I’m thinking.  It’s not nearly as organic, and taking much longer.  So we’ll see how it progresses over the course of the week. And in my usual fashion, my journaling desk has become overrun with paints, stencils, the canvas.  This was taken Tues. night.  I’m hoping that tonight I’ll get back up here to work some more. 

So that’s me; now go back to the Stamping Ground to portal off to other creative desks.  Stay Crafty my friends.

Wanderlust 2017 Week 2: Feeling...not thinking

Good thing my statement for the year is be brave, free and to break out!  This lesson got me to do all that!  Mary Ann Wangerin led us through feeling the painting as opposed to thinking the creative process through. 

I used Liquitex Basic acrylics, as that’s what I had.  I can see how the fluid acrylics would be a tad more manageable, as well as achieving the lovely drippage.  I ended up using my Gelato’s to get some drippage going. I was surprised how badly the stencils glopped up, as I was just using my finger and very little paint. I think the give in the canvas is to blame.  And since my handwriting is the worst ever, and stamping on the canvas itself was an epic fail, I ended up stamping on Tim Holtz’ tissue, which very nicely blended into the wet paint.  And, again, do to my limited hand coordination in all things…I left off the fine black doodling that finishes off most of the other students work so nicely.  (but yes, I did try, and repainted..and tried…and repainted.)

And just like in card making and ATC’s...eventually the art will tell you when it’s done.  Amazing! And I actually like it.  Even without the mandala doodling finish.  But who knows: the year is young!

For info on the year long online course, visit Everything Art.com, there is plenty of time to join in!

WOYWW #396 A clean desk for a Clean New Year!

Whoo Hoo! The first What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday of the new year!  Thank you again, Julia, for hosting us on this fun mid-week blog hop!

My desk this week is waiting.  I spent some more precious hours over the New Year’s weekend not crafting, but tidying.  All my Christmas stamps, papers, embellishments, etc., have been put away. And I can no longer buy any more holiday stamps; unless I do what the organization experts say, and get rid of an equal or greater number.  I just can’t fit even one more cling stamp in my huge under-bed storage tote.  Such a quandary to start off the new year! LOL!

I did go into almost every drawer and cubby space, and while I did get rid of a few things (see the full trash can?)  it was mostly to re-organize so I can fit in more.  So my main desk and side desk, which as soon as I move the iPad and Laptop will have a nice clean area, are ready for my 2017 Endeavor!  My wonderful Hubby enrolled me in the Everything Art’s yearlong Wanderlust series!!  49 weeks of exploring creativity and new mediums! I can’t wait! 

And the mica spray update; I found the receipt…I did purchase them! Yet they are still very much missing in action.  Only 2 more workstations left to go through, and then I can blame it on the mice.

So that’s me; now go back to the Stamping Ground to portal off to other creative desks.  Stay Crafty my friends.

WOYWW #395--

Welcome to the last Wednesday of 2016….which makes it the last “What’s on your Workdesk” of 2016.  And with such a seemingly bizarre, stressful, annoying year  that it has been for so many…it’s been great  that we can count on visiting Julia at The Stamping Ground for some crafting comradery and grounding. 

So jumping in to the whole reason why we are here, and as part of that grounding, centering, and soul-fulfilling act that is art, I took the day off yesterday and spent half of it in my craft room.  First cleaning my second and third desks.  And for those who remember my last post a few weeks ago, this mostly in an attempt to find missing stash I know I brought in.  Found the WoW Embossing powder, found but didn’t know was lost the Tim Holtz snowflake charms (x2) but still missing...the Dina Wakely Mica Sprays.  And that is really annoying!

And then I got out my poor neglected art journals; they have not been touched since I took a workshop with Dyan herself in October!  So on my clean journaling desk, with the stencils somewhat sorted, I jumped in getting all paintey and making a mess.  What you see is the 2^nd page I played with.  Not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but it was fun getting there.  The tray upper left has water, in my attempt to keep my stencils somewhat clean.  There is a mug of egg nog…nicely nogged—it is my day off! LOL!  the whole back are piles of my stencils; not as neat as they were when I started (and no; can't blame that on the Nog).  Oh, and my new grey craft mat comes from Ken Oliver Crafts…billed as the Best Ever Craft Mat. I like the heavy feel, the fact it won’t crease or curl; but I have to say, the non-slip, or to me, stickiness is sorta driving me nuts.  Also it doesn’t seem to clean nearly as nice as the Ranger craft mat. 

  

So that’s me; now go back to Julia’s to portal off to other creative desks.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of crafty stash (I got the Everything Art year-long Wanderlust online course! Yipiee!) And I wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2017! Stay Crafty, my friends!

WOYWW #393

These Wednesday's are just flying by!!  So I almost missed another "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday" blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground.

Now, brace yourselves; this does not reflect the rest of my craft room;

But yes; this is a shocking view of my main desk.  It is in this current state because I finished my Christmas cards last week. And near the end of my creative chaos, I noticed that things that should only be at this desk...weren't.  So I figured it was a good time to get a good clean-up in.  So the box of white brads was found, as was the bone folder, the little pack of new X-acto blades, and my blue distress blending foam.  Still missing: my white embossing powder, and my brand new, never opened package of Dina Wakley Mica Sprays.

And here is a birthday card I made for my Mother..who we think will be 93; maybe 94.  See what happens when you keep lying about your age! LOL!  

So there is my desk...at least the main one; stay tuned as I progress around the other desks in my attempt to find those sprays!

Have a great week everyone.