happy blogaversary karen

hi world
there is some lovely blog candy up for grabs over at  Ink, Paper, scissors.
 It is Karens first blogaversary, I wonder when mine is, note to self,  check when I started too.
I have had a busy day in my room today but nothing to show yet, pictures to follow later.
mind you it was really hot in there as the sun was streaming in through the window all afternoon . . .  should have been outside really, maybe tomorrow.lol
have a look at the stash giveaway over at    crafting time      just right for starting your Christmas cards.
janet
ps saw this while blog hopping how about giving it a go. . .  the a-z of me
  Dylan's blog if you link it back to me I can learn a bit about you too
A. Age: 52
B. Bed size: double
C. Chore that you hate: that's easy ironing!
D. Dogs: yorkie called rosie... thinks she rules the house and doesn't have any patience!
E. Essential start to your day: kiss from my other half
F. Favorite color: Oh go on then...Red.!! no lime, no teal oh so many!
G. Gold or Silver: silver
H. Height: 5’2"
I. Instruments you play: everything but only on an MP3 player lol
J. Job title: Craft specialist... yes really, only in retail store. .  oh and mother , wife, nurse, cook, dishwasher, cleaner, babysitter, taxi driver, etc etc etc.
K. Kids: Mummy to 3 grow.n up kids, emma 25 (recently married to gary 'meiow'). Amy, 25 about to be married to matt (the font of all knowledge) and Lucy 20, mum to gorgeous grandaughter of 3 months and partner to Rob 'the gym'
L. Live: day to day coping with the menopause. not LOL
M. Must haves: .crafting time and chocolate
N. Nicknames: nope, well none I'd care to repeat
O. Overnight hospital stays: Ooh heck , both births, lots before having the girls... infertility also not LOL
P. Pet peeves: Rudeness. Bad service  in restaurants, hotels, lazy spelling,  customers putting mobile phones before all else! 
Q. Quote from a movie:  from now on I'll write 2 letters a week.... Shaweshank Redemption.
R. Rhubarb or Custard:  custard with hot apple pie.
S. Save or spend: Both in moderation, I know... boring!
T. Tea or Coffee: Coffee.... black
U. Underwear: has to be matching and pretty
V. Vegetable you hate: cabbage
W. What makes you run late: crafting!
X. X-Rays you’ve had: tons, broken wrist aged 7. Arthritis in my neck (probably due to crafting, LOL) foot ...old age 
Y. Yummy food that you make: Angel food cake. chocolate truffles, roast dinner
Z. Zoo animal: Not a fan of zoos, they make me sad but i do love watching tigers

WOYWW121

hi wednesday world
Time to peek at the worlds work spaces once again.
See what Julia the head desk hopper has been up to again,  desk hopping
 its well worth a visit!
This is my desk on Tuesday morning. I went to the scrapbooking and papercraft show at Ally Pally on sunday. All the stuff I brought has just been tipped on to my desk waiting to be 'put away' or if I'm really lucky played with.
 Funny the way the letters fell out of the bag! might have to leave them like that lol

I did 'tidy' some of it and wrote it in my 'new stuff' diary I started this year.
I have display items to make for work but didn't have much time so nothing is finished yet.
 This is what my room looks like this evening, a bit neglected, sometimes I have to go to work!

I did manage to make something from my new stash: a UTEE pendant. Someone was demonstrating heating the UTEE in a foil tray, but underneath and then pouring it into a cookie cutter on a heat mat . .  brilliant who needs a melting pot! lol
The little butterfly is a part from a Primark necklace I have taken to pieces and made several things from. The UTEE looks orange in the picture but it is actually red lustre with a bit of copper in. . . . . very pretty.

Happy Peeking, see how many you can get to this week,

happy birthday girls

hi world
It was daughter no 1 and 2's birthday on friday, here are the cards I made for them. I cannot believe they are 25 (OMG)

This is Lady Audrey from the Octopode Factory, I love these stamps they are sooo off the wall.
I sprayed the background with colourwash sprays, I used a combination of sequin waste, lattice and  Tim Holtz masks.

Lady Audrey also has  diamond eyes and earring, she is coloured with aqua promarkers and sakura glitter pens.

This is a gorjuss stamp and more to daughter no 2's taste. I made a similar background as before and layered it with my new sizzix die cut. This is a really good shape as the largest die is big enough to layer behind. The die also came with a magnetic sheet for storage.

I have also coloured her with aqua promarkers, I like these as they have a much 'softer' look, more like water colours than the ordinary promarkers. The butterfly is from papermania. 

I also made a couple of cards for the stash

Anyway that's all folks.Happy crafting
janet

WOYWW120

hi world
120 already omg.
Julia is up to her usual tricks this week, if a bit organised... for her. See her blog HERE  and have a peek at some very interesting work spaces. Also check out her funny post on vinegar bottles).  spray bottles.  I tried to get one but Sainsbury's didn't have any!
Here is my desk, another busy desk with lots going on on it. hooray!
On the left are two cuffs I have made for daughters 1 and 2 who have their birthday on Friday.
I think is safe to show them...... they don't read my blog, too busy on facebook (yuk)!
But just incase, look away now girls.
I first saw these on  the little shabby shed (as featured in Craft Stamper this month)

On the right is some red fabric, a bag of black buttons and a yoyo maker, more about that next week!
At the back you can just see my first Christmas card,
 yes I know I said I wasn't going to start yet, but I saw this on Joanne Wardle's blog and had to have a go. made by joanne.blogspot.
 I knew I would find a use for the horrible green holographic card one day lol.

The yellow box in the middle contained little wooden flowers, but the box is too good to throw away and just the right size for my new inchie bird stamps. I painted it with acylic paint.
 Then I made a card with the inchies instead (I will get back to it).
 I was pleased with the card, I used a mask for the background with a post it note in the middle as well. I used wild honey and mustard seed D.I. The birds are stamped with stazon, from a set by Inkadinkadoo

Well I think thats more than enough from me, I'm off to see the world (desks that is )!
janet

WOYWW119

Hi Wednesday watchers

Is it really wednesday again, so soon?

It has been quite busy on my desk this week as part of it was in holiday mode.

Julia has a fabulously untidy desk this week. Check it out, along with lots of others here ; stamping-ground.

I have made quite a few cards this week , but I'm not showing them close up yet, just in case the recipient see them.

A couple of weeks ago I  was inpired by sarah amongst the landrovers. to make a scrapbook page of my other half's old minis, well here it is sarah (i hope you get to see it )

The circles are supposed to be the head lights and the keys are cut from  a Tim Holtz die.
 The clubman was a real winner for me, he was changing the wipers the first time I met him.... ah!

It was my daughter and son in law's 1 month wedding  anniversary yesterday so I made them a card... and they said it wouldn't last . The little envelopes were used to hold the menus at the reception. I like to re-cycle.

This is what I was originally going to put on the front , but changed my mind and went for the calendar. I put it on the inside instead.

Well I just have a necklace to repair and then I'm off desk hopping, maybe I will see yours, hope it's messy. 
Happy Hopping
janet

now for something completly different

Hi world
As I have been off work for a couple of weeks (and not going away).
 I thought I would have a change from papercrafting and make myself a new knitting bag ... I have loads of fabric just crying out to be made into something usedful!!
This is the bag I made (sorry I couldn't find my card reader and the camera wouldn't let me rotate it so you will have to turn your computer on it's side to see it properly.
Why is it somethings just dont go right, the fabric was too thick, the vylene was too heavy, the handles I wanted to use wouldn't fit  etc. etc.etc! It took me all day!!
Still I am quite pleased with the result.
A few weeks ago I saw some fab wrist cuffs made by Kaz at the  thelittleshabbyshed.
Finally I found time to make one of my own (and the fact I now own some grunge board)
I embossed the board through the bigshot and painted it with acylic paint, then I inked up the numbers with distress inks. Next I stamped and embossed the clock images.

 I added the clock ephemera, because the clock pieces stuck up quite a bit I covered them with glossy accents, this will also prevent them from getting 'caught' on clothes etc. The 'time' on the clock face is just ' after eight' Mmm chocolates!!!
Finally I sewed on a large popper, but I should have made it two, one on each side. the next one will be fixed better, I might make some more tomorrow. As this is very steam punky I am entering it at  simon says stamp and show some steampunk challenge

WOYWW118

   

 hi wednesday peepers,
 I see julia has sorted out her numbers this week. see what it is all about here   WHAT'S ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY 
My desk isn't looking very interesting today.
 I have just come home from pickwell farm (yes if you are reading this zoe 'I know pickwell' I have to send my other half to the car when it is time to pay LOL.
Yesterday we went to basingstoke (terrible weather, the only place that was dry!) and I brought some chunky pieces of lace to use as masks (at the bottom, no! that's my feet, just above them to the right)... going to use them in a minute when I have done this so will put a p.s. on the bottom.There is also a packet of dish cloths I'm going to use too.

When I have cleared the messy sidde that is.
Also hidden just out of sight is a scrap page I did on monday,
 I finally got around to doing something with my Arizona photos from last May. Here we are in Tomstone.

As I am on holiday this week I will have blogged this earlier in the day so I should have more thime to see your desks too.

P.S. here's the masking , it was very quick, only took a few minutes to spray with colour wash

I think they worked very well, top left = millinary net.with distress ink. top right = dish coth
the bottom are both the cotton laces, just shows you don't have to spend a fortune to be crafty!
here's lookin' at you
janet

GRUNGY MONDAY 21 FINISHED AT LAST

Hi grungy world
grungy monday is taking a bit of a break in September but fortunately Linda gave us more time to make challenge 21. (Sorry if this is a long post ..... you dont have to read it, but I need to write it!)
Anyway this was lucky for me as I didnt have any fragments. Take a look at studio L3 to see what it's all about.  GRUNGY MONDAY
I had to make a special trip to hobbycraft to get the fragments, It's all about Tims Transparent Illusions which was silly as they were £2 cheaper online! BUT  if I hadn't gone there I wouldn't have brought the wooden word that was the inspiration for my piece. (a bargain at 49p)
I wanted to make a special mixed media canvas for my newly decorated craft room.
 I liked the  mini canvas that Vicky at work made for another colleague's birthday Something Arty Farty   I wanted to make something similar.
The piece I have made is full of all the techniques I love to do, plus the new ones using the fragments.

The first thing I did was paint the word with metallic white acrylic paint and Ranger crackle paint. then I sprayed it with cosmic shimmer .... a lot, so the colour seeped into the cracks.
 Not sure if it shows up but it is quite shimmery. Then I used  a Tim 'mask' and colourwashed the swirl.
The little butterfly is a piece of broken jewellery glued on with glossy accents.

 Next I made  the fragments; top left is the faux etching, I manage to glue this on using glossy accents in the embossed areas. The 'ghostly' face is Piccasso, The hummingbird is stamped with a fragment glued on top. The text is made with the sticky tape transapencies method.

 The words live, love, laugh are stamped on to  the top of the fragments with stazon and backed with patterned paper.
 The silver fragments top left are pieces of PMC that were left over from other projects.

The button at the top is embossed with UTEE, it is quite textural see the the crafty robin's   photo frame.
 The leaves are embossed with various colours onto card.
Everything is 'glued' on using an art modelling paste with acrylic paint added for colour, This was lovely to use, I just splodged it on in a random way, like you do ! great fun but messy!
Finally I inked the edges with distress inks .... well we cant leave those out now can we LOL.
This is the finished piece, I am quite pleased with it, not too bad as a first attempt.

I am also entering this piece in the craft room challenge (but cannot seem to get the side bar working (doh!)  but do take a look there are  some lovely 'home decor' pieces.
CRAFTROOM CHALLENGE thanks to zoe at the craftroom I have sorted the link thanks Zoe, see the shop here www.craft-room.co.uk/