WOYWW 231: The King

It's 'What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday' time which gives me a good excuse to blog again.  But hey, where's my desk?

I am sitting cross-legged on my new thick carpet, in front of a makeshift desk made from an Ikea Poang Footstool.  Never thought it would serve this purpose.  You'll see in the background my actual desk but hey, I'm quite happy sitting here.

And here's the card I made:

Not so bad, considering I left all my craft stash in Malta when I came to the UK and now have to make do with what I have (or rather not have).  Imagine, I don't even have a paper trimmer here yet.  Oh man, was it a challenge to cut that background paper with just a ruler, a mat and scissors?  No stamps or distress inks at all, nothing baby, nada.  Back to basics.  Hence, my new found love for decoupage sheets and stickers, they're certainly a godsend for crafters still building their stash.

I'm lucky, I know, to be able to indulge in a hobby when people out there are just struggling to heat or even keep their homes.  It's sad. Hence, let's remember that for some of us, our hobbies become our refuge from whatever life throws at us.  

I haven't done this in a very long while but keep visiting, I'll be putting some stuff up for grabs in the coming weeks.

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It's been such a long time since I took part in a challenge. Really thankful I can at least show off my desk at WOYWW. December was really a busy month but I finally managed to finish off my sister's gift. It took me a lot of coaxing for her to give me some of her favourite photos. I hope she likes it.

You might have guessed - it's the mini album I'd started for her birthday and never finished. Oh, well, as they say - better late than never, isn't it?

I don't know about you guys but it takes me ages to finish a project. The reason is that I have to clear things away every so often or end up scrambling for whatever I need. I found a good system to keep my nesties as I go along and until I get my creative studio. Hopefully, then I'll have proper storage for them. But have a look - my lamp worked as a good hanger and there is no way I was gonna lose the things as I work. And if you're asking, yes, oh boy they were hot, but not so much that I couldn't handle. The stamps I was using found there way up there too.

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Forgive me if I haven't posted anything new these past few days. But I have a good reason.

My production line is finally finished. And I must thank my hubby and my dad for this. Oh, well, ok and my sis and mum who helped cut some flowers, to say the least. Have a look at the photos to get an idea of the madness that was in the craft room these last few days. Monday was a holiday here and I spent the only long weekend I had this cutting and gluing. Can you guess how many cards were made in all? Do you want to know what I worked on myself? Delegation skills, ha ha. No don't worry, I would have never got away with it. In fact, I spent half of my energy keeping my hubby glued to the chair.

So here is the first batch of coloured images ready to be assembled:

And my dad sticking ribbon to the cards. He has certainly become my craft buddy, never complaining not even when lunch was served at 4.00p.m on Sunday. We were starving by that time but work is work, isn't it?

Guess who the guy below is? Yes, that's it. My hubby. And I had strict orders not to publish his lovely face in his track suit. And can you guess where he's working? On the ironing board. Innovative, isn't it? I hope to do away with all the mess and make custom made furniture for my new Creative Studio. More about this later.

And finally the end result. Can you guess how many cards we made in total?

Check out WOYWW if you want to have a peek at other desks.

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Wanna know what I have on my desk? My Christmas assembly line this year and has my Big Shot come in handy! Just love it! Paper pieces, felt snowflakes and lot of colouring to do! If you want to take a peek at what the card will look like visit my previous post!

Check out Julia's blog at WOYWW. Now, I'm off to start my work. See you peeps!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree ...

Thy leaves are so unchanging ...

What better line to open today's post? All these Christmas cards are making me sing carols in my head. I had to get them out and what better way than to sing it loud to you guys.

Well, back to my desk and WOYWW. Sorry peeps, but I forgot to take a picture of my work in progress this week, so instead, I'm showing you the card I managed to pull off after a lot of inking. I must say this card gave me some ribbon trouble. I had it lying there for days with ribbons next to it in all shades of blue. Bought even more in different shades today just to end up using a black one. Still not 100% sure, so please, let me know what you think.

Materials:

Broken China and Antique Linen distress ink

Gold mirri card (at least, that's what I think it's called)

White card stock

Giving Tree stamp by Hero Arts

White Embossing powder by Zing

Ribbon from Hobbycrafts

Rhinestones

Rectangle and Scalloped rectangle Nestabilities

Tools

Sizzix Big Shot machine

Sizzix Dots and Flowers embossing set

How to:

1. Die cut a white rectangle panel and a scalloped one from gold card stock.
2. Stamp and heat emboss the tree.
3. Distress the background with Broken China. I first tapped a bit of ink from my pad to the craft sheet and then diluted it with some water to obtain the light colour you see in the picture. Distress the edges of the card base as well.
4. Emboss a panel with dots. Attach a ribbon down the middle
5. Assemble everything as shown and embellish with rhinestones.

I'm entering the Crazy4Challenges and Stamp Simply for the first time with this card - hope you like it!

Christmas Clear

It took me ages to finish this card but here it is finally. A lot of thinking and inking and voila, it's done. But before I show you the final outcome have a look at the state of my desk for the past week. My thinking cap was on all the time but the bulb just wouldn't glow. So ladies at WOYWW, a late sneak peek for you here!

Until a few days later when I came up with this. The only problem? Now, I have to find envelopes in which to fit it as, silly me, I decided to go for 14.5 by 14.5cm and have none of this size at the moment. If you're interested, visit the video that inspired me on Hero Arts by Shari Caroll. Although I must say, I had to give it a little twist as I still don't have an electronic die cutting machine.

Materials:

Wassail paper pack by Basic Grey

Antique Linen, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo distress ink

Ice Crystal by Cuttlebug

XCut Corner punch

White Embossing powder by Zing

Papermania sparkling trims

Old Letter stamp by Hero Arts

Sentiment free with magazine

Tub-O-Button from Hobby Crafts

Raffia by Papermania

White printing paper

Tools:

Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine

Nestabilities

How to:

1. Distress a piece of white card stock with fired brick, peeled paint and antique linen. Stamp the background with old letter and die cut the snowflake.
2. Die cut a circle round the snowflake, draw a circle using a nestie that's a size bigger and cut. Die cut the scalloped circle and mat them as shown, with the white paper showing through the snowflake window. Embellish with a button and a raffia.
3. Cut a 14.5 by 14.5 cm transparancy. Cut a strip 6 by 14.5 cm Spruce paper, attach a piece of ribbon and mount on card.
4. Cut a small rectangle and round the edges with the punch. Stamp the greeting.
5. Assemble as shown.

This card fits the bill for two challenges. The one at Cute Card Thursday and The ABC Challenge.

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Here's my mess and it's a mess all right. I'm still feeling sick and left everything there for the past week, closed the door and have no intention of opening it again until I can craft without thinking of the pain. And tomorrow I am back to work, oh dear. Hope it's over soon.

Today, I kept thinking of the past and how pain seems to be erased from our memories and all you can remember are the cuddles and your mother's soft voice. Once I remember watching the TV and all of a sudden realize I had dozed off and both mum and grandma were fretting around me, one putting a wet cloth on my face and the other checking the temperature. Another time when I remember mum making me jelly as I couldn't swallow anything. It felt so cool down my throat, yum. See, pain goes away but good times don't and that's what I'm looking forward to.

Good day everyone! Don't forget to visit WOYWW.

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Check out my blog candy here!

I just realized it took me over a week to create a Christmas card and it's not finished yet. Unfortunately, that's true. It seems I am not in Christmas mood for now. Soon, I'll post it soon. In the meantime I had a commission to finish for tomorrow and as usual I just started this evening, quite late, don't you think?

WOYWW: Some Basic Grey papers this week. It took me ages to find the right combination, so I hope it works.

Many have left me comments, telling me to show my 'real' messy desk. (Why am I using inverted commas, I wonder? It's messy all right.) So today I am showing you a section of a desk I usually hide - loads of tins I use as holders. These are future altering products but I'm not foreseeing any near future. That can of peas will remain so for some time, I guess. I use make up spongers for blending inks (saving money for the real thing.) I filled an ex- sanitizer spritzer, which I bought at a pharmacy, as a water mister (again, saving money to buy the real misters later on - everything in its own time, Josianne. That's what I tell myself, even if my hands itch to spend some more).

In the last picture, you can see two other unfinished projects. Top left is an album I was doing for my sister's birthday which is on 1st October. I have given up on finishing it for this week and the other is the Christmas card of last week.

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Sizzix Die Up for Grabs. Check out my blog candy here!

Here we are, another week gone by and What's on your workdesk Wednesday is once again here. I'm loving this sharing and if you want to have a go, check out Julia's blog.

Yesterday, we had a public holiday here and I spent the whole day crafting and made totally handmade card using distressing. I was really pleased with how it came out. But efore I left my little haven, I was about to start another card but dear hubby reminded me it was quite late and Ginger was waiting for supper. So I pulled out these stamps - yes, Christmas stamps! - hoping to do my first Christmas card this year.


I have no idea what's coming out of these, haven't even made a sketch yet but we'll see.

And a peek at Ginger. As a rule Ginger rarely joins me in my room. He's quite a loner, this guy. This is one of his favourite retreats. And this is how I often find him once I come out of my room.

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Check out my blog candy here.

Yesterday, I just couldn't sleep. My mojo is back. It is so back, it's not letting me sleep. I go to bed, try to close my eyes and these designs just float in my head. I had to wake up at around 1.30am just to go back to a card I'd been working on that evening and finish it off. Am I crazy or what? Probably, it was the fault of my 5.00pm nap after coming home with a terrible headache from work.

If you remember Mr. Postie had brought me a hard-earned lovely box of Basic Grey goodies just before I left for Exeter College (see this post). I really didn't have the time to play with it before I left, so I am trying to make up for it now.

As you now know, I like to take things out and try to match before I start. Some of the items in the picture were not used but inspired me for my card. It is not yet finished, so you'll have to come back to see it. The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Olivia Collection and is just gorgeous!

But here is another peak in my room:

Sorry to disappoint you ladies & gentlemen, but I'm only showing one of my stash drawers and hiding the mess around me. Maybe one day, I'll show you the innovative use my ironing board has (haha - my husband learnt what he got into a tad too late, lol - I'm certainly not your traditional housewife).

Back to my drawer. Here you can find some of my clear stamps, brads, chipboard, gel pens and the like. Note the Lock! Yes, my drawer has a lock. No, my husband doesn't bum my craft stash. Nor does Ginger, I assure you. I have to cajole him with bacon treats to come to my room and he stays there until it's polite enough for him to go back to his hideout - under a table in the living room.

So can you guess why the lock? Dad made this cabinet for me when I was still at Uni and I brought it with me to my new house (he's such a crafter my dad, someday I'll introduce you to him). I always complained how my little sister bummed my stationery - and voila, my dad put locks on it.

"Now, no one can take my stash away," Josianne growls in the dark.

Here are some more close ups:


Rachel Ann Miller, Magnolia and Imaginesce are just a few among them. That peach box is a K & Co chipboard alphabeths. They're so yummy, I just can't use them. Contorted thinking, isn't it?

I'm sure you noticed I haven't used most of this stash. I know, I know, less shopping, more crafting Josianne!

If you want to join WOYWW go over to Julia's blog and come back later to see my two new creations. And don't forget to check out my blog candy.

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Another What's on your workdesk Wednesday is here and my second week at school. Time really flies by. I'm already counting the weeks for Christmas break, lol. But, let's take it easy and start the academic year first. So here is what's on my workdesk this week:

I was about to use all the items in the picture but changes my mind regarding the blooms and used something else. A lot of nesties, embossing and stamping this week.

Here is a sneak peek view:

Come back tomorrow if you want to see what I created.

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I won't keep you guessing much longer. I've been working on creating a Stamp Catalogue of all the stamps and sets I own. Mice, mice, mice - a uber duber messy task not to mention tiring as I have to stamp and clean each and every stamp I own, some of which I haven't even used once on a card.

Between you and me, this exercises helped me realize how much money I've been spending lately. I hope my hubby doesn't read this, lol.

These are some pages from my catalogue. It's not all finished as yet but I hope to get there soon.

As you can see, I used a display file to keep my pages in. Hopefully, this will protect the pages from wear and tear. If my collection increases (and I hope it will) I can always swap this display file with a thicker one.

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Today is back to school! At least for me. Today was my first day back to school/work! It was so difficult to get up this morning after a whole summer taking it easy and working on various projects both crafty and not. I hate routine, so I suppose this will help create a new cycle, won't it.

This is what's been on my work desk (WOYWW) for the past few days:

Can you guess what I've been working on? You'll probably think it's a Christmas card. Check my next post to find out what it is.

A clue can be found under the Staz on ink pads in the top right hand corner of the photo.