Playdate output..

Hey,

Happy Friday!

I just realised that I didn't show the cards I made on my 2 day playdate with JT.

We had a lot of fun, eating, drinking, shopping, gossiping and crafting.

It is always fun to hang with her and it's also a lot of fun to play with her stash.

The giant chevron stamp that you can see in several of my cards belongs to JT and I totally adopted it for 2 days - I fell in love. It was so versatile.

I think I have a similar stamp somewhere...I need to go on a hunt.

The big win was the bottom left interactive card,  made it, stamped it with that awesome Chicken Wire stamp and then was all 'hmmm it needs a critter..' and lo, JT pulled out one of the Hema Chicken stickers - WIN!!

We've had more epic playdates, but this one was one of the most enjoyable for me. I got to hang with my girl in her new home and just chill for a couple of days, we so rarely get to do that anymore it was nice.

Cx

Random Desk Pile: Whale Hey Cutie!...

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

I am back home in NYC, it was great to be in London for so long, but always lovely to be home with Hubby and Boscat. My weekend has been all about rest and reuniting with Hubby and my desk.

I hit my desk early on Sunday morning and realised it was a bit of a mess and noticed a big random pile of stuff..

Looking through it, I realised I could probably make a bunch of cards without too much effort, which is perfect when I'm a bit tired and have been away from my desk for a while.

Here is a photo of the 12 cards I made -

Amazing right?!

I added ribbon, sentiments and gems to what was already on my desk.

I'll be showing you all the cards individually over the next week, as I want to ease back into blogging before my vacay at the end of the month.

Today's main card is a fun one.

I found the tag and the stamped, die-cut Whale in the pile and I added the sentiment and made it into this fun card.

I love the sentiment, I was going for 'Whale Hello There!' but the 'Hey Cutie' stamp by Mama Elephant was perfect. The Whale is by MFT, from their 'Ocean Pals' set

A great way to return to my desk.

Cx

Cleaning....

Hey,

So today's card came about because I looked at my desk a couple of weeks ago and realised that it was covered in random crap stuff.

I decided to have a tidy and if anything was useable, I would make a card from it.

I ended up with the die-cut oval watercolour panel, the Bear and the heat-embossed sentiment.

I smooshed the panel in some distress oxide inks and a little water, I wanted the background to tone with the gift and the balloon.

Using foam tape I mounted the watercolour panel and the Bear to the card blank (also on my desk) and then added the sentiment banner.

Really simple, easy and pretty card, thanks to the random things on my desk.

Cx

Shopping..Cheaper Than Therapy

Hey,

Last week Lisette and I went and had a little playdate with Jamey in her craft space..

I love it when we go there, I get to rummage through all of Jamey's stamps and play with all kinds of things.

I came across this great set by The Ton Stamps 'Retail Therapy' and I had to colour the lady holding the bags (I also feel the need to own it).

I stamped the sentiment first, so that it would look like she is standing on it.

I coloured the image using Jamey's Copics..personally I still prefer Promarkers.

I added some Nuvo glitter pen here and there.

Keeping the whole thing simple really showcases the image.

I love playing with other people's stash, one of MANY reasons why I miss JT.

Cx

WOYWW #449 In mid flow...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW to you.

The time of the week where we join Julia and the gang for a desk nosy.

This week you see my desk in action - I was in the middle of smooshing a background or two for a card for a friend. You can see the stamp set I am going to use, my waterpot (recently cleaned..it was GROSS), my wine and on my computer screen is a tutorial for my new Heatwave tool that I bought in the Black Friday sale for $10 with a stencil and a pack of foils...great value.

Here is the finished card -

I heat embossed the stamp and the sentiment ( Kinda, Sorta Miss You by Unity Stamp Co.) and then added some gold heat embossed hearts. I love that big blue streak at the top of the smooshed panel.

With the weather in NYC being so cold I am pretty glad about my forced time off meaning I don't HAVE to go anywhere. Last Thursday was ridiculous - minus 16 and the wind was so strong that our apartment windows were covered in SNOW!!

Me + Mr G venturing out..

Anyway, so far my forced hiatus has been great! I am taking an online yoga course, so did that this morning and I'm heading to Macy's now to return some stuff. I've been to the gym, cooked healthy dinners and had oodles of fun time at my desk. As long as I stay inside for the bulk of the day I can resist the urge to spend money LOL.

I'll be nosying at your desks later.

Cx

WOYWW #448 - It's total chaos...

Hey,

Bit late to the party today, but still managing to play along with WOYWW.

Today is my last day at work - I am having an enforced hiatus, due to my work permit not turning up in time (sigh). I have decided to not be a slob and have early morning gym sessions planned and lots of crafty projects to keep me alert and out of mischief.

Yeah, so my desk is a hot mess...this is the result of an epic playtime on Monday!

So what can you see? Me!! My computer, my keyboard - which is covered in bits of scrap papers and papers I have pulled out for something else. To the left of my keyboard is a planned out card teetering on top of all the stamp sets I pulled out for my DT makes over at Retro Rubber. At the front you can see punches, cardstock, small trimmer, scissors, some silhouette couple cards I am mid-way through, stamp block, headphones, mouse and pens. That disgustingly coloured pot to the right is my waterpot..sometimes when the things start to grow out of the top I empty it..

Obviously with my first day off tomorrow I'll be trying to tame this beast.

Here is a different colourway of the silhouette couple..I'm thinking Anniversary cards.

See you later for a nosy.

Cx

P.s - any WOYWWers going to Crop on the Cape in March? Because if you are I want to smooch you and buy you Gin!

WOYWW #446.. Pretty tidy for me..

Hey,

Hello WOYWWers!!

The last time I played along was July 2016 (WOYWW #370)...

I can't believe it has been so long.

I recently sent Julia a Christmas card and I was delighted to receive one back from her, but her note made me think about you all and the delight I've always taken in seeing your desks.

I stopped playing along as I was traveling so much with work, I really wasn't able to comment on all your desks and it upset me to not return the compliment of a desk visit.

I have also been a bit poorly, cue major op, large complication, 8 weeks off of work - but let's not worry about that, as I am now 100% fit and well and better than ever.

So here I am back for right now..

My desk today (well last night..) is pretty tidy for me! You can see my stamp perfect in action (faux MISTI) I was making baby cards last night, there has been a ridiculous amount of baby arrivals in the last 2 weeks! I have a fave design I always seem to default to for Girl Babies.

Also you can see my wine, water pot, some misc bits of paper for things I am supposed to be working on and some stamp sets for the baby cards.

Here is the original card that I was recreating last night -

I am looking forward to a desk nosy later on today.

Cx

Simple Notecards...

Hey,

Happy Monday!

OMG I had such a fun weekend, playing at my desk, lunching with the Craftgang and watching NFL with Hubby.

And only one more week of work before the Christmas break.

Today's photo is of the notecards I made last weekend. The idea came to me, because I was doodling in my notepad on Friday whilst eating lunch and I created a little pattern that reminded me of the new Lil' Inkers Unstoppable set -

I started by die-cutting all the white panels and then masking off the area I wanted to stamp. I decided I wanted to make 2 sets with 4 cards each and have 4 different designs in each set..complicated much?

I stamped all the patterns by hand, much easier, as I had 4 stamp blocks, so it was super quick to do. Next I added the glittery washi tape - from Target dollar bins. I then set-up the thank you stamp on my MISTI to make it all easy.

The card blanks are actually large panels from PaperSource that I crease and fold to size. PaperSource had a one day paper bar sale and I think every crafter in North America went frantic spendy spendy crazy.

I love the end result, simple and elegant and a perfect Christmas gift.

You might have noticed that I departed from my usual background when taking my photo. I recently bought a huge Dahle self-healing mat for my craft desk -

Isn't he pretty!!

It has made my desk much cleaner and easier to work on, I was always hanging off the edge of my previous one.

I also think he makes an awesome backdrop for my cards.

Best thing about him? He was on super bargain sale!

Cx

Let's get spooky...

Hey,

Happy Monday to you!

So it is really nice to be home and I managed to get to my desk a fair bit yesterday in amongst all the NFL watching..

I came home to this awesome stamp and die set by Reverse Confetti - they were part of my birthday gift from my parents.. obviously I chose the Monster set!

I don't actually get why Halloween is so big here in the US, but it gives me an excuse to a) own unnecessary Halloween stamps and b) send happy mail to my people.

I made a background using the Pumpkin lantern stamp and coloured it with Promarkers. I watercoloured the Monsters and die-cut them out and added some stickles here and there.

Simple and fun to make, so good to be back at my desk.

The tag die is by Simon Says Stamp and is out on my mini magnetic wall so that I can use it. I have been pulling out dies that don't get used and adding them to this little wall of mine, so that they get more use!

Here's a pic of the 'wall'

Basically just x3 magnetic panels affixed to my expedit, so that my most used dies can be out on display and easy to hand.

Cx

Inside My Craft Room..my desk updated..

Hey,

When I was on sick leave earlier in the year, there wasn't much I could do. So I pottered around the craft 'room' and tidied up and took some new photos.

A few things have changed since I first created my 'Inside my Craft Room' page.

I thought I'd give you a little sneaky peek, I will be updating the page before the end of the year.

The main photo today is the view of my whole desk area. All yummy second-hand Expedit.

I won't give you too much detail - there is a lot to see here!! Obviously front and centre is my Dell All-in-One computer 'he' is my precious baby. The photo on my desktop is of Poppa and I last year at an NFL game (Go Hawks!).

Here's the one big change is the pen storage, I outgrew the one I had made, so I am now using Defacto boxes that have dividers, so you get 4 storage areas - awesome.

Recently I admitted to myself that I love markers and I want to try all different ones out. I have decided I can buy small sets - I have 2 sets of Spectrum Noir markers (blues and pinks) this works well and I just choose my fave colours. You can see Promarker Brushpens in the middle quad and regular Promarkers either side (greys and browns).

Sitting on top are a few fun things - my cupcake pincushion (made by my friend Jade), Pineapple tin - it holds paintbrushes and was a gift from JT, the red thing is a crochet uterus! the Aardvark is called Winston and was made for me by my friend Hannah and the succulent is Scott.

I love my desk area, I like certain things to be in arms reach and I've achieved that here.

I'll show you another little peek of the area that has my printer and fun things..

Cx

Leopard Heart..

Hey,

Hubby left for London yesterday and I took an extra day of today (no work until Tues for me..).

So after the gym last night, I tried to get back to my desk.

It actually felt really good to immerse myself in pretty things, just like working has focused my mind.

I needed to make a couple of Anniversary cards.

I made the one in the main photo for a particular couple who are a bit funky, I thought stamping a leopard print heart would be fun and a bit different.

It's a bit different, maybe a bit too pink? But not too smushy - right?!

Cx

Cleaning my desk...

Hey,

Happy Saturday.

Hubby and I are currently in Philly visiting friends that live there - English friends, so it's gonna be a riot!

No I did not clean my desk really. What I did was realised I needed to make a few more girly cards to add to the batch that I was gifting to said friends...

I was a bit like 'ugh where do I start' then I looked at my desk and decided that I would try and use all the random nonsense that is on my desk.

The main card consists of these desk finds - Happy Birthday banner, tag (there are always tags on my desk..addiction), Flamingo stamped and die-cut!
All I had to do was stamp the awesome Flamingo background by Simon Says Stamp and die-cut the panel and then assemble the card - easy peasy. I went with gold staples to match the tag.

I stamped the background for the card above on a craftgang playdate, it belongs to Gina and as she knows that I love background stamps, she brought along a whole batch of them for me to merrily stamp. I die-cut it, heat embossed the sentiment by Stamp Market (I bought 10 stamps for $15 secondhand UNUSED!!!). I love how the heat embossed sentiment pops against the busy background.

The final card is a semi-cheat, as only the inks, sticker and the white die-cut panel were on my desk, so I dug out my fave Concord & 9th Give Thanks stamp set and ended up with what you see here.

So now my desk it slightly cleaner and I made 3 cards in 20 mins!

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..Numbers or Letters...

Hey,

Welcome to another fun Moving Along With The Times Challenge..

This time our Hostess is Judith and she wants us to use die-cut letters or numbers.

I made my card in October when I was at JT's house having a playdate. So none of the items you see on my card are mine - love playing with someone else's stash.

I used a great woodgrain background stamp that JT has and I inked it up with 3 different distress ink blues and spritzed it with water before laying my paper on top.

I love doing this, you always get a great effect and its a total surprise!

I decided that a word banner would work well and rooted through JT's stash and came up with this awesome Die-versions Cheers banner. I die-cut it in a coordinating colour and secured it to the card using mini staples.

It felt a bit bare, so I added some punched stars and some blue bling.

It has already left my desk and is winging its way to a friend.

Show us your creations, but first hop on over to MAWTT and see what the rest of the DT have been making.

Challenge ends on November 23rd at 1pm GMT. You can enter 3 times.

Cx

Craftgang Playdate..

Hey,

So last Saturday, the Craftgang (as I like to call us) gathered at Jamey's studio for a little shoebox make session, along with food and gossip.

SO MUCH FOOD.. I totally overate LOL..But it was all so yummy and I didn't have time for breakfast!

The idea behind a shoebox make is that each person brings a thing for everyone to make, complete with all the tools etc.. Then you go home with x things - awesome!

The main photo today is my make..I kept it simple and I am really pleased with it.

I used x3 distress inks on a craft mat, spritzed them and then smooshed my paper in it and dried it and repeated this process until I liked the pattern / splatter / mess I had!

I then used a Stampin' Up hexagon punch to punch x7 hexagons. The longest part of this card was trying to figure out where to place the hexagons to get the best pattern...

The giant Hello is by Simon Says Stamp.

Because my card was so easy kitting it up was simples, card blank, watercolour stock, die-cut Hello - too easy man!

Here are all the things we made...

Lisette's Mermaid Mixed Media Frame

Jocelyn's Fairy

Jamey's Sassy Lady

Ava's Flamingo

Cheiron's WTF girl

Tiffany's Bunny Friends.

They are all so different and Lisette's mixed media project had us all oohing and aahing. Even though we had a card to follow, we all added a few individual changes here and there, so none of the cards are alike.

Sorry about my lack of technique, what did we use, etc, but the post is already long enough, message me if you want more deets or leave a comment.

Such a fun way to spend a Saturday, with the ladies that randomly adopted me and gave me back something I'd been missing.

Love you craftgang.

Can't wait for the next one.

Cx

Sparkly Christmas Cards...

Hey,

Happy Monday.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

I had an excellent weekend, starting with the USPS finding all of my missing post on Friday. My playdate with the CraftGang was hilarious (photos later in the week) and hanging out with our friends from Philly on Sat and Sunday was the icing on the weekend cake.

I wanted to share the little batch of Christmas cards that I made last weekend.

Super simple. I had a bunch of watercolour paper squares that I got ages ago in a misc bag of paper die-cuts.

I dug out x6 of the squares, heat embossed a freebie sentiment that I like using Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder - which is the best metallic powder ever!

I bought a cheap garland from Michaels and chopped it up and mounted the pieces using foam tape on the square.

The mini kraft blanks were a birthday gift from JT.

Super easy to do and a great way to use up random items.

Cx

Playdate Part 2....

Hey,

Happy Friday...

So this is part two of the playdate at JT's house posts.

So now we get into the part where a fair amount of food, booze and gossip had been consumed..so the cards might be odd..

LOL.

Not the headliner though, I really love it, it came out so well.

I used the same stamp that JT has been procrastinating about for ages (see her version here), I covered it with x2 distress inks, spritzed it with water and then dried it. I love the result.

I then die-cut it to shape and added some ribbon from JT's HUGE collection. The die-cut sentiment I added when I got home, as I could picture it working.

The next two cards are hilarious and use a new set called Monochrome by Waffle Flower, I got it on super sale because it was damaged.

I packed it when I was leaving for London, as JT had just used the 'Rad' from the Recollections set that has Voila! and Word! in it as well and seeing her card sparked an idea.

The first card had green hexies added to cover the green ink splodges that were already on the white cardstock, waste not want not..

Of course a Zebra would say Word. I was a bit upset that the Zebra hadn't stamped well and JT said it made him look more like a Zebra, she was right. I added a red scrap (cut off the card above) and a zebra print candi - love it.

Always way more fun to play with friends, hence why I am off to Hoboken tomorrow to have a shoebox make day with all the wonderful ladies I met at the Inkpad - they rock and keep me sane..

Cx

Playdate part 1..

Hey,

So last Saturday as I was in London in the evening, JT and I had a great opportunity to have a long overdue face to face playdate - YAY.

I had seen this great video by Jennifer Maguire and really wanted to try it out.

The idea is to mask an image and stamp a sentiment over and over again. Genius and obvious!!

My main card uses a Clearly Besotted sentiment, stamped in black and a great yellow ink I found in JT's stash (LOVE playing with someone else's kit!). The bird is a freebie that we both have.

The next one uses the same stamp set that JT used, but a different sentiment and a bee stamp that we also both have (JT bought it for both of us). I finally got to use glossy accents to 'accentuate' something...don't ask!!

Fun times man, there are more cards to come in part 2 - later in the week, as tomorrow is MAWTT and hosted by JT!!!

Cx

WOYWW #370..Momma arrives..

Hey,

Happy WOYWW!

Time for the weekly global desk nosy, currently hosted by the lovely Lunch Lady Jan at her blog. Whilst our leader Julia recovers from her op.

I'm all wiggly with excitement today as my Momma arrives for 2 weeks tonight - yay.

My desk photo was taken just as I was finishing work yesterday, so my work keyboard, mouse and desktop (on the computer) are visible. I was getting stuff ready for colouring for Kathy Rac's 30 day colouring challenge and I got out some stamps for the art journal spread I'm working on.

Here is the finished card from yesterdays 30 day colouring..

I love this stamp, it is by Stamping Bella and it reminds me a bit of me lounging in the sun LOL.

Some of you asked me to show you last week's art journal spread in progress finished, so here it is, along with a close-up shot -

I am not 100% certain that it is finished, but it's done for now..

Have a great day, I will be checking out desks after Yoga before Ma arrives.

Cx

WOYWW #369...Getting ready for a holiday weekend...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW to you.

We are still hanging out with the lovely Lunch Lady Jan, at her blog, whilst Julia takes the time she needs to recover.

WOYWW is that awesome time of the week, where we nosy at desks from around the globe..

My desk photo was taken before I started working on my art journal page.. So it's quite tidy, you can see my hand wiping towel, some oval stitched dies, a halloween stamp (for a DT make), my Lawn Fawn stamp shammy (get one they are awesome), my mouse and a scrap of fabric..it's a piece of an old shirt of Hubby's, when they get discarded, I wash them, cut them up and use them for craft cleaning..best thing ever.

I've been absent for a couple of weeks..I was in London and then the last week and a half back at home has been crazy! Looking forward to the long weekend (4th of July) that we are about to have :)

Whilst I was away the lovely Lynne sent me this -

Isn't it gorgeous!! She also sent me some items to use in my art journal. I plan to make a spread around this lovely piece from Lynne, so watch this space.

And final pic for today is off my art journal in progress last night, complete with a view of my toes..not sure why I still had my sandals on...

Have a great day, see you all for a desk nosy later.

Cx

WOYWW #366..Learning and Laughing...

Hey,

Happy WOYWW to you!!

It is that time of the week when we pop over to join our leader Julia at her blog Stamping Ground for the global desk nosy.

She is still recovering from her op, so Lunch Lady Jan is still hosting us and doing a marvelous job.

My desk is a teeny bit dull after the excitement of the last 2 weeks.. Just my computer, my sippy cup, glasses, die pokey tool and a little pile of paper, cards and dies at the front of my desk. This little pile is something I am working on for a swap with Scrapbook Lynne...a fellow desker..

On Sunday I went to a great class taught by the one and only Dina Wakely (swoon), she is my new crush, she is awesome, hilarious and a great teacher.

Class was fun, as I sat with Cheiron, Jamey and Lisette (an unexpected surprise). I love these ladies, they make me laugh (out loud and a lot!), make me a bit braver in class and are just all round fun..needless to say margaritas and Mexican food followed...

Below is a little collage of my pages from class (and a pic of Moi and Dina)...

Here are a couple of pics of my finished pages, so you can see them in their entirety. We cut windows, so you could see each spread and Dina taught us a whole load of techniques, some of which were new to me..Like rubbing off paint using a baby wipe through a stencil - and my mind was blown!!

Warm spread, using 3 warm paint colours (pinks, oranges, purples)

Cold spread, using 3 cold paint colours (blues, greens, greys)

I'm off to London on Friday for a week, so no WOYWW for me next week - I schedule my posts when I am in London, it's easier that way.

See you all later for a nosy.

Cx