Mixing Stamping and Stencilling with a Magazine Image

This image of a giant toadstool came from a magazine advert and had been sitting in my clippings stash for months.  I picked out three colours which toned in with it, Vintage Photo, Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade and created an art journal page.  This was one of my earlier page attempts, but I think it has stood the test of time and there is little I would change about it if I were working on the page again.

WOYWW 508: Busy, Busy, Busy

What a difference a week makes.  This time last week we were in Bucharest visiting the Old Town, where I came across a whole street filled with art shops, this week I am back at work!

I admit that my desk is totally staged.  I was very good and actually only ventured into one shop as my husband was with me.  I spent the equivalent of a whole pound on these paper napkins that could be bought individually.  I also picked up a play in Romanian for 40p which can be used for journal backgrounds.  The cover is good too and I may well alter it sometime in the future.  The reason my desk is staged is that I have been very busy making samples for two upcoming Clarity shows on HOCHANDA since we returned home.  Leonie's are on Friday and Barbara's are on Sunday afternoon.  Obviously I can't share what I have been making, but I did use my watercolour pencils for a couple of the samples.

The old town of Bucharest is full of restaurants and cafes as well as art shops, a fabric shop which I would have loved to explore, boutiques and the book shop which I shared last week.

I may set aside more money for crafty purchases next time we visit as the Talens and Pebeo paints and inks were rather good value.
There is no picture of the other side of my desk as Eva hasn't made it over for crafting this week.  Next week we will make up for it for certain.  We have a full day workshop with Maria Moorhouse on Saturday for a start.
Please visit Julia over at the Stamping Ground to find out more about what WOYWW is about and to see more interesting desks than mine at the moment. 

Brayer Background Bookmark Tag

I haven't joined in with a challenge on Tag It Tuesday yet in 2019, so decided to work on a quick tag as I was up very early yesterday morning.  The tag will be used as a bookmark as I always have a few books on the go at any one time.  This challenge always consists of four prompts, at least two of which have to be used.  For once I actually included all four.  The prompts for February are: Add one letter from your name; Add numbers; Doodle with a white pen and Fussy cut and attach something.

Life Begins At 50: An MDF Book and My blogging Journey

I started this blog exactly one week before my 50th birthday.  I had never done anything like it before and I wondered if anyone would be interested in my love of crafting and some of my projects.  One of the most viewed projects on my blog was an early share: the MDF card/book that I made for my twin sister's 50th birthday.  I bought this Kaisercraft MDF book on a whim as it was half price but I was really pleased with the way it turned out - and my sister loved her birthday book.

The colour scheme was easy - my sister's favourite combination.  Having primed the MDF with white gesso I painted the front and back panels with Reeves Lavender Acrylic paint and the middle panel with Pebeo Studio Acrylics Iridescent Green Yellow (359).  I then put it to one side for a couple of weeks as I couldn't make my mind up how to decorate it further.

Clean and Simple Thank You Card

This card is for my son and his girlfriend who hosted us for the most wonderful break in Romania.  I wanted to theme the card, so used the colours of the Romanian flag in the background.

Clean and Simple Monochrome Fold Back Card

This card could be adapted for any occasion with a change of sentiment and can be used with any colour scheme too.

Happy Accident Art Journal Page

This is one of my favourite art journal pages from 2017.  I love this colour combination and the happy accident of discovering a sunset on the mop up sheet is a type of background that I use a lot.

Throwback Thursday: New to Groovi at the Time

This card was made over two years ago for the special birthday of a long time acquaintance of mine; a lovely lady who has been cutting my hair for more than half her life!  It was one of the first cards that I made using the Groovi system and I enjoyed by learning experience.

WOYWW 507: On My Travels

This will be short and sweet although I could bore you all with hundreds of photos of our holiday in Romania visiting #2 son. My desk shot is of the game of Monopoly that we played yesterday evening as I bought absolutely no craft supplies with me (shock).  If you visit Julia at The Stamping Ground you will find far more crafty desks to peruse.

I will show you a few of the sights that we've seen so far so you can stop reading now if you are not that interested lol.

Bran Castle: home to Vlad the Impaler

The Castle courtyard

The bread comes in all sizes.

A bookshop in old town Bucharest over 5 floors

I won't have much time to visit this week I'm afraid, but see you all next week for certain.

Airbnb in Brasov

A selection from the bakery for breakfast.

Multicoloured Masked Panel Background

I made good use of the mask which comes with this phoenix stamp from Clarity to create a coloured panel.  It's a technique which could be used to create a card for any occasion.

Dream Fairy Bookmark

A quick and belated post today from my holidays.  I thought this dream fairy bookmark would be appropriate having visited Bran Castle in Transylvania yesterday!  I use tags like this as bookmarks.

Mood Board Journal Page: Follow Your Heart

I am rather behind on my art journal pages for Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  This is the first one I have completed for February's prompt 'Follow Your Heart'.  The first week of the month, as always, is based on a mood board.

Shrink Plastic Mythical Creatures

I had a play with shrink plastic to create this sample using the mythical creature stamps from Claritystamp.

Unicorn Decoupage Card

This is another of my samples from Maria Moorhouse's shows on Hochanda on 13th February (watch on catch up 12pm and 4pm).  I used the cling film technique to create  the background and decoupaged the stamped image.

Bright Inky Background Dragon Card

As promised yesterday, here is the step by step for my dragon card made with one of the new mythical creature stamps and masks from Clarity.  You should still be able to watch Maria on catch up on Hochanda (13th February 12pm and 4pm).

WOYWW 506: Nothing Much Happened

Well I did cut a piece of mixed media card ready to create a front cover for my 2018 art journal yesterday, but nothing came of it.  I have been full of cold for nearly a week and spent a lot of the weekend and Monday in bed.  I had to go into work yesterday afternoon for a parents' evening so, having got the card ready, never got any further.

To make up for it, here's the finished card made from that orange background everyone liked so much last week.  Hopefully it will be glimpsed on either the 12pm or 4pm Clarity shows with Maria Moorhouse today on Hochanda.  I will share a step by step for it tomorrow as I will be at work today (the shows are set to record). 

Please pop over to Julia's at The Stamping Ground where plenty of more interesting desks will be on offer.  I will try and visit everyone after work this evening.  Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wdnesday (WOYWW).

Thistledown Fairy Birthday Card

This is the last of the cards which I made for the Clarity shows which introduced the four fairy designs.  I combined the stencil and the three way overlay stamps in the Thistledown Fairy design to create this birthday card.

A (Hopefully Funny) Birthday Card

I had a bit of fun with the Leafwing Fairy three way overlay stamps and matching stencil from Claritystamp.  I deliberately created a blurred effect to go with the idea that I had for a (hopefully) funny birthday card.

Thank You Gift Tag

I enjoy making tags to try out different products and techniques, but they also have a practical use.  This one could be used to accompany a thank you or congratulatory gift.

Birthday Card using a Master Board and Dies

This card used up the last piece of master board that I created for another project.  I love how it looked with the die cuts.  A very feminine birthday card.

A Quick and Colourful Surprise Card

This card would be perfect for announcing a surprise party or any other surprise event.  It is quick to make, clean, simple but effective.

Warhol Inspired Fairies

This is another of my samples for the launch of the Clarity fairy designs on Hochanda.  This one seemed to go down well so I thought it was about time that I shared the step by step.  It is a very straight forward technique and would work with any of the square three way overlay stamps from Clarity.

WOYWW 505: Looking Forward to the Holidays

Well it's been a busy half term and, with a week and a half to go, I am starting to look forward to the holidays.  I have plenty to keep me busy, between writing progress reports and lots of craft projects to meet deadlines.  Once again I am afraid that my desk is not very interesting, as I can't show you much of what I've been working on.  However, I have been getting inky with Artistry inks as you can see.

The copy paper has some nice inky patterns from cleaning an acrylic block that I had been using as an ink palette.  On the other side of the desk, Eva popped in briefly between projects, to sort through some of her new stash and try out her new Tonic guillotine as she had been craft shopping. 

I did manage to start a fourth project after she left.
Why am I showing you pictures of our desks?  To join in with the weekly Wednesday desk share (WOYWW) hosted by Julia over at the Stamping Ground.  Please feel free to pop over and peruse desks from all over the world in, what must be the longest running blog link up ever (coming up to 10 years in 15 weeks!)  I'll be over to visit after work this evening.  I'm hoping that you will all find it easier to comment now that I have changed my comment settings to remove the link to google+.  As this will be disappearing in April anyway and the comments can't be transferred over, I thought I'd make a head start.  I have lost all the comments prior to the change which is rather upsetting!

Multicoloured Backround using Masking and a Stencil

It is possible to make a far more complex card with the same leafy swirls stamps and stencil than I shared in Sunday's clean and simple card post (link HERE).  I decided to try using masking behind a stencil to produce a multicoloured background.

A Watercolour Painting Using the Dew Drop Fairy Stencil

I hope everyone caught the first couple of shows for the Clarity One Day Special on Hochanda yesterday evening. I loved playing with the new fairy stencils and stamps and they are available as dies and Groovi plates too.  This is the first sample that I made using the Dew Drop Fairy stencil and a technique that I previously used on another piece (see HERE).  The finished piece would look great in a square frame with a mount.

Clean and Simple Thank You Card

This is the first of my samples created with the fabulous Leafy Swirls stamp set and the matching 7" x 7" stencil from Claritystamp.   Don't miss Barbara Gray's shows this afternoon on Hochanda from 2pm - 4pm where she will be sharing loads more inspiration.

Using Up My Scraps on an Art Journal Page

This is my final page for the January prompts on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The monthly prompt was 'words' and the fourth week each month is for using scraps.  Everything used on this page came out of my scrap box and I am really pleased with the result!

Garden Heart Tag

I haven't joined in with a challenge on Tag Tuesday recently.  The latest one is 'hearts, hearts, hearts' and I had the perfect die to work with, the Garden Hearts Fresh Cut Die from Claritystamp.