WOWYY #282

Another busy and full week has flown by and Wednesday is here again before I was ready for it...  That's another thing about getting older vs when we were younger is that when I was a kid it seemed to take an eternity for a week to go by now it seems like I sleep a night and a month has passed!   Welcome to WOYWW and what's on my desk(s) today.  Take a snoop around and take your time cause they are all junked up today.  Whats WOYWW?  Check out Julia and her blog Stamping Ground and come play with us!

Here are what my desks look like today.  The front desk is busy sorting various bits and pieces into a new box my dear daughter gave me to hold my plethora of plunder...  I don't know how I got so lucky to have such an awesome daughter  or so much crap!!

 Back desk is a dumping ground until this afternoon when I get back from an appointment and I will clean it off and mess it up again!

 It's not that the desk hasn't been busy... its because I am a slob and never put anything in its proper place!

Made a couple new cards for my Granddaughter's Halloween surprise!  As someone pointed out I made them pretty much the same for this age so they won't feel slighted!!  I made them bright and small so small hands could hold them...and spooky enough that it is Halloweenie but not scary enough to frighten them!  What do you think?

What's inside? 

 



Not the best stamp job I have ever done but I was using a new clear polymer stamp set and with a foam pad they were still stamping uneven.   Now not to be put off I ran to the stash and found all sorts of stickers and rub-ons to cover the mistamps over with.  I think the girls will like them no matter what they look like!

 I would like to say thank you to my Halloween Secret Sister for sending me this awesome box of goodies. 

 Sorry it isn't a better picture but I know you can see what awesome lot of goodies she sent me.  I love this sweater pin and the giant clothes pin that holds a spooky tag! 

Aren't they awesome!

 Have a great week and I am sorry I didn't make it around to every one's desk who came here last week but I promise I will this week even it ends up being next Tuesday night!! 

WOYWW #281 and more!

UPDATE: seems my auto post didn't post last night so everyone has been commenting on Monday's post...

My desk has been a little busy this week and as you can tell from this picture it is busy again today!  I am sorting and trying to get things together to make some keys for swapping that have to be in the mail next week...hmmm...13 altered keys in a week?  Having never joined a challenge like that it will be just that...a challenge!

I got the keys in a dollar bin at Michael's and they are actually metal and not resin so I am a happy camper here!  I have brought out some charms and bling...to the right and plan on starting these asap.  If you are interested in Altered Keys check out Pinterest.    To the left is my undone witches hat and some kiddie style Halloween paper that I am going to make the grand daughters some cards out of today.  I made these Halloween cards and thought they might not be appropriate for a 3 year old and 5 year old...  My desks are a whole lot cluttered today but I have been having loads of fun playing in my crafty room this week.  Want to see other cluttered crafty desks?  Check out Julia and Stamping Ground and come play with us!

Are you missing the witches hat that was on the Prima craft inks stand?  Well folks I got it done this week too!  Ta da!!!

I think it turned out wonderful!!  I love the colors and patina and it was oh so easy to make!!  More pictures you say...well Julia likes it kept simple so if you don't want to see the rest I am done with stuff for WOYWW...

A front view!

Left side!

Back side!

I first covered a plain old paper mache witches hat with bunches of grunge paper/board gears I cut out using the various Tim Holtz gear dies I have.  I then painted the whole hat with black spray paint!  Next step was covering the whole hat with VerDay Iron Paint and then spraying with the Patina spray.  VerDay is interesting because the paint actually has metals in it and when you spray it with the Patina you actually get oxidized metals.  Tenseconds Studios carries the VerDay products and you can get them in bronze, brass, copper, and iron like I used.   I plan on trying this on a couple other paper mache boxes I have using the different colors and you know the interesting thing is until I moved craftrooms I forgot I had these...Hey Darnell does this count as an NBUS?

Okay enough for me this week.  Already photo heavy but I will leave you with one last photo...my pool today! 

Sad day huh!!!  I miss my pool!  It is all covered and winterized for the up coming cold months!

Art Deck Inspirational Art Tags

A couple of weeks ago I signed up in a The Creativeblock-StampersAnonymous group to participate in a tag swap that is more then just a tag swap.  It is an inspirational art deck and everyone who participates will get a complete deck because Sandy is going to scan and print out a set for everyone who gets in a funk and lacks inspiration or is creatively blocked somehow.  I am really excited cause sometimes it is just the little things that will get me motivated and having deck of tags to fall back on will definitely help. 

The minimum number of tags each person had to create was 3 but the moderator of the group, Sandy, sent each of us five different color chips to play with.  Sandy said we could pick what three we wanted to do or if you wanted to do so you could use all five.  Well you know me....overachiever and all that!  I decided that I would do the five and here is what I came up with.   The color palettes paint chips are next to my completed tags and the colors didn't have to be exact but at least one of the colors should dominate your tag.  

Anyway here are the tags I made. 

All the tags are a variant of the #8 size tag.  These tags are 3.125"x 6".  

Tim Holtz (TH) Distress inks: shabby shutters, peeled paint, and black soot.  Stencils:The Crafter's Workshop (TCW) stencil (I think)and a Dylusions stencil.   Stamps: TH Classic Stamp 1 TH stamp set Going Somewhere. 
White Signo Uniball pen





 



Inks:  Black Soot, scattered straw, mustard seed, squeezed lemonade, wild honey, peeled paint and rusty nail.
Distress Pens: rusty nail, wild honey
Stencils: Dylusions
Stamps:  Inbetweenies and How does your garden grow by Dylusions.  TH Going Somewhere

This tag is covered with a paper from the Prima line called Natures Garden.   I loved the print of this paper and didn't do much to it to cover it up.
Glossy Accents covers the fairy.
Inks:  aged mahogany, tattered rose, spun sugar
Stamps:  TH Urban Chic
Recollections butterfly stencil
Artist Loft coarse texture paste.

 Another tag covered with paper from a DCWV paper stack called Once Upon a Time.
Inks:  aged mahogany
White Signo Uniball pen
TCW Stencil with Artist Loft coarse texture paste tinted with aged mahogany
Inspirational sentiment from
TH Purely Random set. 







For some reason these colors don't follow through true on the scanner the darker colors are almost identical in person!!
Inks:  faded jeans, weathered wood, black soot, Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy.
TH stencil #8 Lattice
Stamps: Mini Holiday, Winter Sketch book
White Signo Uniball pen







It was a lot of fun creating these tags and if given another opportunity to do a similar project I would!  It was fun to be challenged and have to work outside my comfort zone! Next time I won't glue the backs and tags together till they are all done.  The paint chips got kind of messed up!  +];-)

UPDATE:  I used a gum eraser and just about all the backs cleaned up perfectly!  Yay!

Halloween Cards

I spent some time crafting today to try and get caught up a bit on some challenges and swaps I am doing this month.  Today I made a card for a group on Facebook called Paper Crafting Swappers that had a challenge this month to create a card or lay out with the Bingo line you chose to create.  Once you had chosen which line you wanted the leader of the group sent you an email as to what you needed to use to create the item.  I chose left diagonal and my email said I needed to include in my project the following items: Paper clip, stitching (can be faux), a circle, ribbon and dry embossing. 

First time for me to join in any swaps with this group so this is what I came up with!

I think I covered all the needed items and then some!  The card is a 5"x7" kraft paper blank that I seem to have tons of in my stash.  The print paper is actually a left diagonal print (aren't I clever!) out of the DCWV Bewitched Halloween line that I cut 1/4" smaller then the blank on each side and glued down to the card base.  The fun begins now!  I cut a strip off a sheet in the same paper pack that had the Halloween sentiment and what I consider to be a faux stitching line each side of it.  After gluing that down I made a 2 1/4" circle that I inked up in coordinating colors and ran through the Vagabond in a Tim Holtz Spiderweb folder for my dry embossing.  I used an organdy ribbon to surround the circle, slapped a couple spiders on the web.  I decided to use a mini-paper clip to hold the little ghost to the left side cause it seemed a little bare over there to me.  I love all the wiggly eyes on the spiders and ghost!  The ghost is some card candy I received in a swap last year that didn't get used and seemed to fit with this card!

After finishing the card and posting it I got to thinking that I would send it to the granddaughter's for Halloween with a bit of cash tucked into it but...Well Teresa is almost 6 years old and Hannah just turned 3 years old and I thought they might like to have their own cards and money this year so...

I followed all the parameters for the previous card challenge and came up with this...my second card of the day!! 

 I used more paper from the DCWV paper pack and a cream colored base to make this card.  The ribbon is a pom pom ribbon from Stampin'Up! and the mini-paper clip is holding an October calendar (Tim Holtz stamp) and circling the 31st!  The circle was another one of the card candies from last years swap so I am clueless as to who makes that stamp or punches...looks like Stampin'Up! but I am not for for sure.  The bats are cut from a Martha Stewart edge punch.  

Now that I have posted these I am thinking that perhaps they are a little old for a 3 year and 6 year old!  I don't want either one choking on paperclips or bling!  Hmmm...might have to rethink this and create something that doesn't have detachable bits on it...what do you think?  Like the cards?  Should I use them or no? 

rocks to cactus

Okay you say!  Rocks to cactus!  Interesting!  For those inquiring minds asking about where I got this idea and how I did it!   The whole story is this...

Here they are in the pot where they now reside.  Now I didn't go for the OMG! they look so real look but for the "I really like these and I am so happy I don't have to worry about watering them look!"  I tried them in another pot but I like this one best.

A few weeks ago my dear husband sent me a link on Facebook showing this cactus garden in a bowl...Chuck thought I might be interested in trying my hand at making a display like the picture he sent me.  I did.  It took me a while to find the rocks I wanted/needed because to buy them at Michael's or Hobby Lobby could cost me a small fortune!  3 rocks for about $6 was a little steeper then I wanted to pay to play with.   I found the rocks I needed at an outdoor garden store that sells nothing but rocks, big and small, and the concrete statuary for outside near Newcastle, OK.   I paid about $10 for a huge lot of rocks(30 lbs.) and will probably have enough rocks for a lot of other projects for a long time.   I got to pick out what rocks I wanted and this is what I got.  Some flat, some round but mostly odd shaped and lighter in color.

First thing you need to do is give all the rocks a good bath.  OMG!  talk about dusty and dirty.  I guess the paint would eventually mix in with the dirt but a bath is good and I just set them out to dry for a few days in the sun.

Next thing I did was paint every rock a different color of green.  I added white or yellow to a basic green and painted a few rock, added some dark green or black in and painted a couple more....Get the idea?  Don't make it too hard cause it is suppose to be a fun project.  I did a web search and found a whole lot of info on painted rock cactus and I started painting mine just however I wanted and however I thought they would look as a caricature of a cactus.  I actually found some that looked like real cactus and I thought it was too much work and some that were even too primitive for me.  Check out Pinterest for some ideas.

So after painting all my rocks green and getting ideas from various online spots I started painting my rocks and detailing them. 

 

 From top left...

1. dashed lines all across the top and down each side
2. lighter colored lines that I made x's on and put a dot in the middle of each x.
3. just lighter dots
4. x's gone wrong here...I made what looked like flowers and put yellow dots in the middle
5. a flower on the cactus.  Before I did the messed up flower I used various shades of green in a highlighting technique...fancy word cause I actually smeared paint on till I liked how it looked
6. dashed dark lines on lighter green
7. light x's on dark green
8. a rock that had natural pock marks that I just painted green and left it alone
9. once again I slapped some light and dark lines on until I liked how it looked then added white lines and x's with dots in them to simulate spines and stickers.
10. dots and spikey lines.

a little better picture of the stones on the work table.

The other pot!  I thought it looked over crowded is why I moved it into the above pot.  I liked the way the natural rocks make them stand out too. 

 Hope this answered some of the questions I was asked.  I was surprised at the number of sites that popped up when I Googled painted rocks and then painted cactus rocks.  Give it a try.  This was a fun project.

WOYWW #280

It is an interesting Wednesday...interesting from the aspect my body is trying its best to foil all my attempts at a normal day.  I love the laundry list of medical issues I have and I hope that someday there will be a pill to cure it all but so far no luck in that department for me.   Flare ups aren't fun and the decrease in my mental capablilities definitely tick me off but hey you work with what you got...

Since this is WOYWW I guess I should talk about my desk.  If you would like to know why we are here on WOYWW check out Julia's blog Stamping Ground and she will show you how you too can participate in the weekly round of blog hopping!  My desk today...

Not a good picture cause I had to take it with the light on and with flash but it is the best I can do.  I have been doing some more Halloween type projects and you can see the two witches hats in the photo but since they aren't done we won't focus on them!

I just finished a tag for an Anything Goes Halloween swap on ATT and got it in the mail to its recipient today.  I love this stamp set by Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous called The Chemist and using some of the Tim Holtz dies and ephemera to create the tag. 

The Chemist set used to make a Halloween tag.  I think it worked!

 I love all the new things I am finding in the jewelry making aisle at Micheal's recently...a good example are these little clock faces!  I have looked all over for more of the Tim Holtz Halloween tags but so far no luck.  Anyone know of a store still selling them?

I used the Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers's bottle dies to cut the bottles out of grunge board.  I painted them a silver color then put bottle stickers on them and covered them with Glossy Accents glaze and Crackle Glaze.  I like the way it cracked but some of the crackle glazed ones just rolled the label up as it started to dry.  The clear ones stayed just fine. 



Another project I worked on this past week was my painted rock cactus garden.  What do you think? 

My husband is always looking out for me and he saw a link on Facebook and thought they were awesome!  I think they turned out very nice and I have enough rocks I might make another! 

Okay that's it for me!  Hope you have a great week and I look forward to reading peoples posts this week!

WOYWW #279

It has been a busy week around here with a lot of varied and fun things going on.  I spent a little time crafting but a lot more socializing.  The gardening is starting to wind down because fall has started to settle in even though most days the temperatures are in the upper 80's and low 90's(28-30 c.)  We are still harvesting tomatoes, peppers, some okra and eventually the last watermelon will ripen so we can harvest it.  If you would like to read about my weekend this past weekend that I spent at the SCA Protectorate down in Texas go to this post.  Protectorate is an event where all the fighters get together to see who is best and will be the champion of the newly crowned Baron and Baroness of this Barony.  It was a lot of fun and I enjoy the interaction with the people.

Oh yeah!  My desk this week...

Not a lot to show.  I have a couple things I am working on but nothing that I care to share this week...not far enough along!  Looking at the picture I really think I need to clear off some space and put stuff away.  I did make a couple more tags you can see here, the 6x6" butterfly journal pages, learned to weave and made some rings and pendants in a beading class!



I had someone ask about my cutting machines and especially about the Big Shot Pro.  Question was why do I need a Vagabond (on cutting cart to left of desk), a Big Shot, and a Big Shot Pro and what the differences were? I also have a Cricut.




The Vagabond is electric and I use it a lot when I have to cut a lot of pieces out of the same die cause it saves my poor arthritic hands some pain after a marathon of cutting out bits and pieces.  The Big Shot rarely gets used (it was my first machine) and I probably should sell it but I save it for back up.  Those two machines will handle all the Bigz steel blade and thin cut dies, regular sized embossing folders, and strip dies.  The Big Shot Pro handles all the those dies plus the larger 12"x12" steel dies and the 8"x8" embossing folders.   I can also cut 3-4 different die cuts at the same time or more then one strip die at a time which really helps when I am in a hurry.  The Pro will handle Accucut and other broad platform dies so I can cut bigger things out. 

and example of the big shot pro dies vs regular dies. 

I really like the diversity of the Big Shot Pro and lucked into getting it when a friend asked me if I would like to buy hers.  My friend had bought the machine about 6 months before to use for quilting and didn't like it but had never used it.  I bought all dies she had, the machine, various platforms and shims for just over $300...the machine retails for about $500 itself so it was a buy I couldn't pass up!

I had a young friend whose birthday was this past week and we attended her birthday supper on Sunday evening after I got back from the camp.  I had forgotten to make her a card and hurriedly made up a card using the Graphic 45 French Country Market papers when I got back from camp.  I really love this paper and the colors are so warm and inviting...really has a fall felling to it.  I thought since it turned out so well I would use this card for a sketch challenge on ATT this month. 

front of card

inside

 This came in the mail while I was gone!  Isn't it gorgeous!  A friend on ATT made this Halloween card for me in a swap I participated in!

 

 If you would like to participate in WOYWW this week go check out Stamping Ground and Julia will tell you how you too can layout your desk and crafty possessions for everyone to have a good snoop through.  I love seeing other peoples desks and projects they are working on and really miss it when I can't participate.  

Okay I am out of here!  It is just about 2 am my time and I am bone tired tonight... I am hearing my bed calling my name!  Hope everyone enjoys their week and I will be back in the morning to go blog hopping and snooping on others desks.  If you visit my blog and leave a comment I promise to make it by your desk this week! 

Camping, SCA and the fun time I had this past weekend!

Several months ago Heather and Micheal took me to my first big SCA event in Pennsylvania called Pennsic Wars.  Up until that time I didn't have much to do with the hobby except tag along when I could and I was asked to do so.  I thought SCA and the medieval recreation was a little strange and far fetched for a 62 year old grannie from Oklahoma to get involved in but...how wrong would you believe I was?  If you are interested in the Pennsic War story check out my blog post you can find here.    I had so much fun that after the trip Heather signed me up on her family plan to be an official member of the SCA and this weekend was the first official event I attended in the Kingdom of Ansteorra which is comprised of the states of Oklahoma and Texas and I am directly associated with the Barony of Namron here in Norman.

The thing I like about the society is all the different fun people I have met and the different arts/crafts and science things that I am learning.  This past weekend Heather and I traveled to the kingdoms Protectorate encampment south of Wichita Falls, TX where battles were fought to find a champion to guard the new king and queen who will be crowned next weekend.  Here are a few pictures I thought I would share with you. 

Heather and my tent at Protectorate.  Now it isn't the huge canvas tent that we lived in at Pennsic it is still a far grander tent then I usually take camping.  I loved all the room and there was actually a queen sized air mattress bed that was up off the floor...heaven for my old achy bones!

Some photos of people I hung out with most at the event...

Julie, Monica, Heather

l-r...Monica aka Veronique, Heather aka Droen back l-r Dave aka Jon, Julie aka Caitrin

Jacque in his new finery for the even being totally embarassed as Monica tells us how she 

'did' the fly!

Looking all flustered by our teasing!

Asha

Asha sitting at her tent where she sells jewelry, clothing, and hats she makes for sale.  And here is a class she taught on jewelry beading where we each got to make rings and pendants.  I made 4 rings...forgot to take pictures of them and 4 pendants.

everyone enjoying learning how to bead.  See Heather and the gals in the picture at the very top?  They were keeping and eye on me and making sure I behaved!!  I think I needed to watch them truthfully!

the pendants I made.  I kept the turquoise butterfly one.  Probably with use it on a canvas someday!

 Heather taught a class...(me and Monica) how to do Inkle weaving.  It is done on a loom where you wind threads around dowels for the warp (called warp dowels) and you use heddles to separate top threads from the bottom to create a shed where you can throw your weft (shuttle) through.  The weaver has to manually raise and lower the threads each pass through.  I found a good article here that helped me understand what Heather was telling me.  Check it out...inkle weaving.

 Here is the first few inches of weaving.  This style weaving produces a flat band that can be used for belts, handbag straps, straps of any sort and if you want you can use the band on clothing as a decorative element. 

I took pictures of the rapier fighting...

 I was impressed at how friendly all the fighters were even when they were killed and out of the competition.  Everyone offered suggestions and words of advice and 'picked up' fights with other rapiers so everyone could compete. 

Court on Saturday evening was interesting as it was the last for the out going King and Queen and several people were given honors and it was fun to see for a first time. 

The Thrones in the royal pavilion

Out going King and Queen

Prince and Princess who will be crowned King and Queen next weekend.

The Baron and Baroness of Namron

For some reason I don't have any pictures of the feast after court.  It was really yummy...breakfast for supper with yogurt and fruit, quiche and ham, pancakes, and pastries.  I wish I had pictures...

Packing up to go home the next morning was sad but I have been told that Samhain at the end of October will be our next event and I am really looking forward to it!  It was a fun first event for me in the kingdom!