WOYWW #503

 Happy WOYWW.  For those unfamiliar, that is “What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday”, an international blog hop hosted by Julia at The Stamping Ground.  

Even when I’m not working, Wednesdays seem to fly right by me!  So aside from blogging more, the rest of my new year intentions are holding.  Still no job, but have some applications out there.  And I’ve lost a few pounds, so that’s good. But mostly I have been cleaning and organizing. (I should show you my kitchen pantry!)  This is my 2^nd desk area, as I left it Monday.  I still have 6 areas in the craft room to hit, but my two main card-making desk areas are done!  And no, I won’t show the rest of the room where things are getting placed until they find their own space—but the good news is there has been a few trash bags. 

 Below, mostly 'cause its still clean, is the "main" cardmaking desk area.

And I have been doing a ton of crafting; mostly for the Wanderlust online class. Here are two pieces for the “Typography” class.  These are directly from the teacher’s examples, as I was way out of my comfort zone to get creative and come up with my own lettering style—maybe this afternoon. 

 

 Hard to tell, but the one on the left spells Pencil vertically.

 

So, my desk this Wednesday morning; now hop back to Julia’s to see other great spaces.  And I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram, where I post far more frequently.  Please find me @pussnflutes.  

Have a great week everyone!

WOYWW #500!

Happy New Year! And Happy first WOYWW post of the year as well.  For those unfamiliar, that is “What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday”, an international blog hop hosted by Julia at The StampingGround.  And #500!  What a post to come back to!

I have been absent from blogging since August; things had gotten a tad crazy at work, a minor health scare thankfully resolved in September, ended up losing my job middle of December, and while I was constantly crafting, it was more of a “catch-up; get ‘er done” kinda thing. 

So this year; I will take time for myself; (obviously not taking lunch hours at work mean nothing,) I will enjoy the process of creating.   I will explore new opportunities, keep an open mind, and be positive to new situations.  I will also be more diligent in fighting the hoarding syndrome and cleaning and organizing my life and space.  I will work on getting healthier. (Hmmm; finding a new job is also on the list; but it seems like there’s not a lot of time left over! LOL!)

And, while blogging more is also an intention, I do Instagram far more frequently.  Please follow me @pussnflutes.   

So, my desk this Wednesday afternoon; clean and clear (I said I’d be more diligent-not perfect!) and ready for the first Wanderlust lesson of 2019!  Two Journals are ready to go.  Most of my supplies are tidied and ready to grab. You see my Advent Calendar Journal top left;(visit my Instagram to see those images) and, since you can see the floor under the futon; those are all my Christmas stamps, ready for the fall (did I mention less procrastination as well?).

Welcome to 2019—a Year of New Beginnings!

Now go back to Julia's and share your space.  We want to see what your new year brings...

WOYWW #479

Happy WOYWW! WOYWW? You ask?  It is the What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

So, August 8! I completely missed July.  Mostly because of traveling for work—but even once home I’ve had very little time, or it’s just been too hot to be upstairs in the craft room. So, when I am up here, it’s been a bit hectic. Oh heavens: just looking at this photo even makes my skin crawl.  And since when has that punch been there? And the HoHo envelope is holding a Michael's gift card that I was going to spend on my lunch hour, in 10 minutes.  /sigh.

Front and center is my spread for the Wanderlust Class.  I know I’m tried too hard because I really wanted this one to work-and it sort of looks like a hot mess.  I got carried away with the Paper Artsy Inclusions powder, thinking it would look like the book had been in the field when gathering the flowers, and now the pages really do look muddy.  Any my poor dried daisy is losing its petals.  I’m going to give it one more coat of gel medium, once my hands are less sticky, to see if that helps. I love the scent of the Indian Paintbrush, and it sorta carries, even when dried!  I also need to finish the journaling part, once everything is dry. The lavender is a gel medium photo transfer; worked really cool onto canvas!!

My DH went above and beyond for my birthday this year. We took a lovely road trip into Connecticut and discovered a fabulous store, Inspiration Station in Stratford Springs.  He kept insisting I fill up my little basket with goodies, papers, etc.  What you don’t see is the Tim Holtz Media Mat that is waiting for me to make space for it…it is HUGE!  (well, compared to my usual working area of 6x9 inches! LOL!)  He also had pre-ordered the Tim Holtz Lift Ink bundle and the Dina Wakley Paint Pouring bundle—everything arrived while I was gone, (and is scattered above the journal) EXCEPT the pouring medium, which is on back-order.  That is just too cruel!  I’m hoping to play with the lift off inks this weekend, and I can’t wait to jump into paint pouring! 

The Dylusions Dyalog further up the pile I'll save for another day...chalk it up to me and my big ideas.

Finally, here is another lesson from the Wanderlust class called “Taming the Mountains” by Tori Weyers.  As much as I love the mountains I live on, they are not visually diverse, so I used an image of Hidden Lake in the Adirondacks.   One was to be more realistic, while the other fanciful. 

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my friends!

WOYWW #473

Happy WOYWW! WOYWW? You ask?  It is the What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

I know…I’m not sure what happened either.  And it didn’t just happen at my journaling desk..lookit:  it happened at the card making desk too!

All this open room is sorta freaking me out.  But it was necessary as I have to get into full card making mode for upcoming birthdays, a few fall craft fairs, and…you are all thinking it…Christmas.

That is a Sheena Douglas 3D Embossing folder I had gotten from the Home Shopping Network craft Marathon months ago. I'm just now trying to use it; it didn't come with any sandwich instructions, and I have the Vagabond and a Big Shot, and I just can not find a way to get it to go through the machines!  Too thick with two cutting plates, too thin with crease folder and all the shims...any ideas?  

I also did get some creating done this weekend.  Here is the finished page of the second half of Kasia’s Wanderlust lesson on using photographs and trees. 

And then, to avoid the hoarder syndrome: last week’s really, really, nice watercolor journal?  Look!! I used it!  It came with a set of water color pencils, so I used my new Darkroom Door stamps (I just had to get thanks to an Instagram post-I have a thing for grape hyacinths!) stamped in pale gray, then colored with the pencils and watered down to blend.  I didn’t ruin the book; the pages don’t suck, I don’t have to hold this book to immaculate standards.  It is just a book, with really, really nice watercolor paper.  (OK, now I have to do that with the Dina Wakley journal…shame to have that sitting there never to be used!!)

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my friends!

WOYWW #472

Welcome to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!  The wonderful blog hop created by Julia in The Stamping Ground, and now in it's 9th year!!

Real quick for me (and late for most of you) as I was actually (gasp!) working in the craft room on Wednesday! I had to run down to print another photo for my Wanderlust lesson, and jumped on the blog while the printer was warming up..good thing!

So what you see is the first side of the lesson from Kasia Avery.  Trees was this month's theme, and this one was to incorporate black/white photos with  colored backgrounds and get different moods.  This is the dark mood.



I've got paint out, stamps piled up, those filled water brushes are there in the back... the paper (actually plastic) plate is my palette.  I'm not ever sure what is pushed in the back of the desk!!

Oh..yes, my new addiction; to replace my patterned paper addiction.--there is a new journal back there...with water color paper...really nice watercolor paper...like, so much better than my art watercolor paper that I'll probably never use it watercolor paper.    See it...the dark blue book with the vellum strap?  (and it came with a travel brush and watercolor pencils!) 

And here the the last two ATC's to arrive from Kelly and Nikki .  Everyone was so creative this year!!

So, I gotta run, I'll visit tomorrow.  Have a crafty week everyone!

WOYWW #471

Happy WOYWW! WOYWW? You ask?  It is the What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

First--does anyone know how to turn back on the email notifications?  I still show it in my settings, but I'm not getting any. Since I do my blogging at work (Lunch hour--really!) it's nice to be able to see comments without actually entering Blogger.

So, a real quickie this week.  Yes, this desk is a mess, as is my card making desk.  When you have the option of 1) spending 30 minutes tidying and reorganizing, and then 30 minutes crafting, or 2) shove everything back and craft for an hour…Guess which wins? 

So, you see the bouquet of flowers I bought for subject matter for the Wanderlust lesson.  It was mindful nature artwork with Chrissy Foreman Cranitch.  Very cool lesson!  A bonus that it actually looks like lilies!!  The watercolors are from Prima Marketing...love these little sets!  The Dylusion’s inks are out from working on my new Dyalog (crazy idea to use it as an inventory of supplies—stay tuned, and stop laughing!)   I also finally finished filling up all the watercolor pens , which are hiding behind the vase.  They all belong in the tote that is currently holding my IPad…didn’t want to take the time to lift it and move them. (The phone is still there, and will be dead by the time I get back upstairs) The pile in front of the iPad is about 4 inches high, and has some stamp sets, a small watercolor paper pad, and I honestly don’t know what else.  You can see a white box  in the back that has my Color Bursts (American Brusho’s) that I listed for my inventory-ing. 

I did close up the paints before I headed downstairs, and underneath was the first exercise from the Wanderlust lesson.  To draw an object without looking at the paper.  It was hard not to peek—we were allowed to look when we changed elements, so my roses and zinnia (?) didn’t all end up on top of the lily.  I was really surprised how this came out! I figured they would all be a hopeless blob! 

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my friends!

WOYWW #470

Happy WOYWW! WOYWW? You ask?  It is the What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

I’ve received some lovely ATC’s from LLJ, Helen, Monica, Diane and my PIF Cardarian (Dolores). I love how creative everyone is! I’m hoping my wayward mailings have finally reached their  

recipients.

And now, for the desk: As of last night in between dinner getting done and attending a Facebook Book Party…really…like the Scholastic Book Fair from school, but on Facebook.  Bought some books for my grandson, but will keep them at our house, as I know his parents don’t read to him.  Don’t get me started on that!!! I’m working on a birthday card for a co-worker.  The new 2-part stamp set is from Rubbernecker Stamps…they have such cool stamps, and I did some serious spending at their booth.

So, back to the desk; I tried using the Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks…I thought I had seen them used on stamps somewhere, but I had less than stellar results.  In the background are the Nuvo Mousse’s I bought at the show, some stencils piled up, and then all the paints, water brushes, and mess from last week that I literally just pushed back to make room for the stamp platform. But, you know me; that’s how I roll.

And, might as well show the annual stamp show pilgrimage results.  This year had 8-10 less vendors than last year.  It’s kinda sad, I wonder when they will call it quits. On the other hand, we got to them all (and strongly supported the independent companies financially!)  and even got to watch some demo’s. 

Looking at the photos, I’m surprised how few stencils I bought, since I thought they were my latest obsession.  Apparently not, and the new obsession is the Nuvo Embellishment Mousse; Trying hard not to acquire all the colors. And Yay Me! Only 3 Christmas stamps!  And of course: Paper…getting pretty good at judging how much paper I use in the year.  I just ran out of the black layering paper last week! 

And finally, a Journal spread using the new Nuvo Mousses (Moussi? LOL!) and stencils. The page on the left is my attempt at this cool 3-D effect using the gray one as a base.  The right side started as a clean off page for the stencil. You can't tell from the photo, but there is a very nice shimmer to all the colors.

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my friends!

WOYWW #469

Happy WOYWW! WOYWW? You ask?  It is the What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

First; for all the overseas deskers, of which there are 10 of you that I sent ATC cards to: I am an idiot! Knowing our Global postage stamp is round, I grabbed my Solar Eclipse stamps thinking I was good to go.  Nope!  They are square stamps with a round image…not the same thing, and a few have already come back. They are being sent back out with proper postage as I get them.  But, as a neat note…hold your thumb over the dark image and see what happens when it warms up!! 

Second: Sarah Brennan!!! Every week I mean to do this: Thank you for all your visits and comments! I do get to visit your blog but from my phone only, and then for some reason I have a 50/50 shot at leaving a comment back.  So thank you again…and I am lurking! LOL!

And Finally…my desk, as it was Sunday, and today.   Ever since my first class with Dyan Reaveley I’ve had a bug in my head to do what she did, and fill the Tim Holtz water brushes with her spray ink for coloring.  Great idea when you work for Ranger and can get those brushes at a huge discount.  And you know me—and the name of my Blog; I can’t make do with just 5-6 brushes…Nope: Need 29 of them (talked myself out of the white one! Whew!)   So, finally JoAnn’s had a 50% sale, and Bam…they were mine!  Ummm…now to label and fill them.  Notice I got 3 done! Notice the labels aren’t sticking?

 Of course, that was after I spent 4 hours of precious time trying to find my Muse (who must have gone off with my Husband on his Brewing “Research” jaunt with his friend, leaving me a whole day to play, and not a wisp of inspiration. Grr.) The stencils, paints (new Fresco’s under the stencil, and Art Alchemy to the right) where all used to disastrous results, and since this turned out to be quite the project, I decided it was not my day—went downstairs, did some strawberry mojito “research” and watched sappy movies until the Mr. came home.  For the record, I think his research was more intensive than mine. 

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces. Stay Crafty!! 

Happy 9th Anniversary, WOYWW! #468

Happy WOYWW! And not just any WOYWW…but the 9^th Anniversary of this wonderful blog hop 

hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

Nine years; remarkable longevity for anything these days—especially something so intangible as a virtual community.  This alone should be proof that creativity, common interest and mutual respect can save the world.  Unfortunately sending art journals and finger paints to every hostile region probably is a bit too simplistic.  Ah well, at least we have our Wednesday’s to touch base with our own tribe!  Thank you Julia. 

 So, on to our main purpose; and ironically based on another virtual community—is my workdesk.  I saw a video on face book; the one with the woman showing string pull art.  So Cool!  So I had to try it!

There was a bit of trial and error.  I used a beading cord, thinking it would be more durable. Yes, but it isn’t very “bendy” so it was hard to get a good number of loops, swirls etc. Nor was it that absorbent…I found Dylusions spray inks worked best, but another friend used Bakers Twine, and could use regular paint and ink, so I’ll try that next.  

Here are some more images...cause I think they are so cool! LOL!

And here is a little ATC Book Box I made to hold the ATC swaps we received at the Back to Back retreat. I used Dina Wakley’s Media paints and stamped on her collage tissue paper. The box is by Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, and I’ve ordered a few more to hold all my WOYWW swaps from over the years. 

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  And here’s to another crafty year!

WOYWW #466

Happy WOYWW! What is this? Why, it is the blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

Those faint of heart may want to sit down…you may never see the likes of this again…

My journaling table.  Non-cluttered.  Well, a little cluttered, since I made a Mother’s Day card, but for my usual state, pristine.  I had my friend Julie over on Sunday for some catch-up and crafting time.  Which meant I needed to make room, put away all the paints/inks/mediums that had been piled up, finally organize and put away all the stencils, and basically put stuff where it belonged. 

This is after our play date, where we practiced our Dina Wakley flower painting skills for cards, and then delved into general craftiness.  What is left are boxes of card backs,  the Dina Scribble Sticks (Really starting to love them!), and general scattered supplies. The water glass is supposed to flattening a sheet of practice flowers. The 3-D embossing folders just arrived from the craft marathon on Home Shopping Network. There are three of them, which my husband sorta guilted me into getting…since he was the one who was channel surfing and stopped there, while I (yup, I) was completely oblivious on which channel he stopped on.  The tulip painting was my first take on the card, but I liked the geraniums better-hopefully Mom will too!

Here is that card, using Dina Media paints and some stencils for texture. 

  

So, there you have it.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my Friends.

WOYWW #464

Happy WOYWW! What is this? Why, it is the fantabulous blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

It has been a whirl-wind two weeks!  I just can’t believe May is just a few days away, even if our snow has finally disappeared!  The main cause of the whirl/wind?  My friend Julie and I wend down to Florida to attend the Back to Back Art Journaling Retreat with Dyan Reaveley and Dina Wakley! Three crazy days of art!!   And I don’t want to lose the momentum, so I’m trying really hard to finish up the signatures on the books we made from Dina’s watercolor paper.  We also made books from Dyan’s large journal paper; I never thought I’d ever do that!   

 

So my desk is an ever-loving mess!  There is no room to think!  You see tags that will get tipped in to the journal, some with collage work with Dina’s tissue paper, all with lots of stencils and her glorious paint.  The ultimate goal was to put the journaling back into art journaling, so I still have that to do—the hardest part in my mind!  The scraps top left I’m thinking of weaving somehow to go onto one of the other sets. 

The flowers are for one of the Wanderlust Online Classes with Kasia Avery. As she said, the lesson is a good excuse to buy flowers!  We were to paint flowers with shadows and highlights with early morning light…she did roses, which I thought was safe.  No, my painted roses look nothing like the real ones…I was mostly trying to look into the petals.  Hopefully they will last a few more days so I can get some practice in.  Disregard the paper towel on the floor—LOL!

So, there you have it—my desk in its shameful messy state.  It will have to get tidied if I want to get anything else accomplished.  Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my Friends.

WOYWW #462

Happy WOYWW! What is this? Why, it is the fantabulous blog hop hosted by the lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground where we open our craft room doors to show what our work desks look like on Wednesday.  And to show what fun crafty items everyone is working on. 

I have no idea where the time has gone!! I just realized it has been 5 weeks since I last visited WOYWW! 

Maybe all the snow storms have tricked my mind into thinking it’s still February and not April (and another 1-3 inch one is predicted tonight). 

But all this forced indoor time has left me with much crafty time, working on the Wanderlust class projects and then working on ATC swaps for—get ready—a Back to Back Art Journaling Retreat in Florida with Dyan Reaveley and Dina Wakley!! We (going with my BFF Julie) fly out tomorrow and come back Monday.  I am so excited I just can’t stand it!!!

So my desk is the pieces/parts for the ATC’s-I don’t want to show the finished ones, since there is a good chance they will be similar to the Anniversary swap.  Lots of little Tim Holtz Flower Pot die cuts…what on earth was I thinking???  I do have the coordinating stamp set,  but it was too detailed/dark, and quite overwhelming to stamp and the match the dies to over 90 of them.  Just a touch of pen seemed much better.  There is also a practice sheet of some watercolor exercises.  I bought a book "30 Days of Water Coloring"--because I have so much free crafting time??  That was Day 4.  Stay tuned!

Other projects: my Brothers Birthday Card, using Distress Oxides.  The stamp is from Northwoods.

(And I actually used a piece of my Washi stash!!! LOL)

Wanderlust Class with Jaime Avery working on sunrises using just one color of paint plus white and black. This is a Cape Cod Sunrise over the sand bars.  This was fun--I need to practice more!

Another Wanderlust Class with Marlene Meijer-van Niekerk using water colors and negative painting. The technique was a blast--now I need to try again using watercolor paper, and my own subject matter.  

So, there you have it. Now jump back to Julia’s and see some more creative spaces.  Stay Crafty, my Friends.