WOYWW 182 - Still out to sea.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Time for some WOYWW, thanks to Julia at The Stamping Ground.Snap a picture of your own and join in the fun if you've the inclination : D.

The bit of purple fun foam is a very low tech means of marking the middle of a whorl at regularish intervals. I made it back in 1998 and it still works well, though it is a bit grimy. The file is to open the holes in the wooden wheels so they can be spindle whorls. I think the bobby pins were left by my daughter when she was foraging for supplies. Or the bobby pin fairy has been at work. The whorls will become top-whorl spindles once a bit of dowel is added.

The tiny drill I use (with a pin-vise? from the hobby store).

I'm not sure if it's from the residue of the sea-themed bead swap, but these four separately spun (on spindles) remind me of the sea, so I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with them. Trying to find the fiber I used for each one so I can figure out quantity and project size. Sometimes a serendipitous approach makes a lot of work lol.

WOYWW 181 - Something beady :D

Happy Wednesday everyone :D. I'm getting ready to assemble some spindles (for yarn/thread). The narwhal is a leftover (painted with a puddle of Pumice Stone Distress Ink spritzed with water). The beads still haven't been put away lol. The pink thing is a brad-setter/paper piercer combo tool.

 

This is the beaded charm I made for the swap. Freshwater pearls, an aquamarine bead, dark blue rondelles and some seed beads. The ends of the longer pieces have spiral ends. I was tickled pink to find some K&Co. paper that picked up the colors of the charm.

 A better view of the coiled bit at the end of the longer pieces.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW then, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your crafty space and join in the fun :D.

Merry Kiss-mas Gift Box.

(Glue dries clear. It keeps yarn/thread from unraveling.)

Materials:
(paper, ribbon, and embellishment are all from the December 2011 Club Ruby Designers' kit).
Paper Mache box.
Acrylic Paint.
Patterned paper.
Ribbon.
Drawer Knob.
Artificial Mistletoe.
Glue.
Sparkly yarn/thread.

WOYWW 179

 Not very much on my workdesk. I had a bead swap (which I can't reveal yet), but I was playing around and made these. Love freshwater pearls.

I haven't posted much lately because I've been ... well would you believe walking (and dancing) and trying not to dance while I'm walking (okay I did break out po-going the other day much to my daughter's mortification and my surprise) lol. I swear I've dropped 2 shirt sizes in the last month, tee-shirts have become tunics. Unexpected music found me and it's all I can do to sit still. Here are some examples  :D.

SHINee

TVXQ

Aziatix

And my favorite band, BIGBANG.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a pic and show us your work space :D. 

WOYWW - Beads Ahoy :D

My desk is covered with beads. I've lost my mind and entered a "anything creative and beady" swap and it's all hush hush only I'm still in the experimental stages. My lovely oldest younger sister (I'm the oldest of four) sent me the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and lots of co-ordinating stamps. I've already put it to good use but had to send them off before I could take pictures.

I've been puttering through paperwork deciding which to keep and which will be turned into cat litter. I found a "recipe" for turning shredded newspaper (I'm guessing old paper work will do as well) into cat litter on Pinterest that's on my list of things to try this week. Oh and I'm now addicted to Korean Dramas only since I speak no Korean at all I can't even doodle while I'm watching.

So if you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, take a picture of your workspace and share :D.

WOYWW 170

 I've been mostly working on a box and card set (the muslin of it is in the right hand side). The beads in the upper left are for a swap I'm working on.(Forgot to say my Gypsy (portable design device for the Cricut) is not upside down because I'm a leftie. The OCD part of me blocks out the upside down label on the sleeve in person lol).

 I added some flowers to the face of the clock. Am I the only one who has trouble finishing a project even months later?

 My Dancing Umbrella Man card. Made with two cuts the legs swing from side to side. The sentiment says Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain. The judge said she loved the the moveable legs.

 My two skeins of novelty yarn.

A close up of all the slubby bits, basically winding the purple/pink/orange strand a few times in a spot every 3 to eight inches.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, then head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your workdesk and join in the fun :D.

Pun Card Set

 A set of six cards for a thank you gift (two of each sort shown). I'm quite impressed that the black strips of cardstock all lined up as I put them all on separately lol. I'm thinking of making more of this sort just to have on hand when a little something is needed.

Materials:
Vintage Cream Papertrey Ink cardstock
Black cardstock from stash
Stampin' Up "Puns from the Past"
Graphic 45 patterned paper Fashionista "Tres Chic".
Close to My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge
We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
EK Success punches (1.75" circle and 2" scallop)
Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Thanks Ewes Variation No. 2

Sometimes I have to make variations of things I've made before. This time I used a mash up of Papertrey Ink's My Punny Valentine and various Cricut cuts.

 

But what was realllllly fun about making this card was making it so the feet move side to side. 

The sheep faces and feet are from Papertrey Ink's My Punny Valentine stamped on PTI's Stamper's Select Ink (with Black Soot Distress Ink) and fussy cut, except when I was cutting the legs I left enough paper at the top to punch a tiny hole. I looped the wire through the leg hole and then stuck the straight end into a very thick piece of dimensional foam.

For the Cricut parts, the "Thanks" was a two-part process. One layer of the Gypsy used for the "Thanks" to be drawn with Cricut Markers using Street Sign Solutions, colored in with regular markers. The word bubble is a rounded rectangle from Gypsy Wanderings and altered pennants from Pretty Pennants welded on the Gypsy on a second layer. The flock body is made from a cloud on Create-A-Critter.

The background is a 4.5" x 5.5" PTI's Kraft cardstock embossed with Darice's Wood Grain embossing folder. The card base is an A2 made from PTI's Vintage Cream.

WOYWW 169

It's not my workdesk, but it's my Altered Alarm Clock (in the pink photoshop circle) at the fair. It sure does look a lot smaller there than it does on my craft table lol. And ohhhhhh my bug, I fell in love with that quilt on the wall, looks like it's made from wool, the quilt maker should be pleased with her work :D.

It's been a long lazy catching up on little projects and napping day for me. But this evening I'll be listening to one of my favorite podcasts and it's featuring Tim Holtz!

And speaking of Tim Holtz, I was channeling my inner TH earlier in the week and came up with a way to make fall leaves out of wax paper (I started with wax paper instead of kraft glassine though). I'm going to make a picture tutorial, but you can read about it here if you are interested :D.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander at crafty goodness all over the world. Better yet, take a picture of your own workdesk and share :D.

Who's So Silly?

 

I was really feeling dotty when I made this. I was going to sew the pleats in the ribbon, but loved how the round pin heads picked up the dots in the paper. Added the round (these are so much shinier in real life) Pink Sparkle Lights and then rounded everything off with the Kelly Panacci Giggle Stamps (especially the round ones), using various pink markers to ink them. The ribbon is glued on with Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue on the back of the pleats so it doesn't show through the ribbon. The Journal mat is edged with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. The Pink Kraft letters are edged with a white gel pen. The photo is attached to the photo mat using Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher, but since it's not long enough to reach to the middle of the page, I used adhesive tape to attach it to the page.

Materials from I'm In Love Club Ruby Designers  Kit:
Strawberry Satin Ribbon
Megan Elizabeth Sparkle Lights
Pink Kraft Letters
Fancy Pants Designs: Vintage Valentines 'Will You' (base paper)
My Minds Eye Love Me Collection 'Love' (journal mat)

Additional Materials:
Sandylion Kelly Panacci Clear Stamps - Giggle! 
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Round Head Pins
Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue (for ribbon). 
Spun Sugar Distress Ink (edges of journal mat). 
White Gel Pen 
Pink Cardstock (photo mat).
various pink waterbased markers

Papertrey Ink August 2012 Blog Hop

This month's challenge is "all about autumn patterns, textures & textiles.  Think warm & cozy woolens, houndstooth, tweed, burlap, felt, corduroy. herringbone and even argyle.  You can create your own custom patterns & textures with stamps or impression plates". One of my favorite patterns is fall leaves on the sidewalk when it's raining (say that 4 times fast lol).

I embossed a 4.25" x 5.5" Ocean Tides cardstock with Tim Holtz's  Texture Fades Retro Circles Embossing Folder for the rain effect.

The leaves are made out of wax paper die cut with the Leaf Prints Dies (I easily cut three layers at one time). Then I colored them with Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Worn Lipstick and Barn Door Distress Inks. I smudged the ink pads on my non-stick mat and spritzed with a little water. The rough side really absorbs the color, and then I used my heat gun on the waxy side (carefully of course lol) which sort of melted the ink on that side into the wax. Then I added a little chalk ink in golden and rusty colors on the back side. Finished them off by using the Leaf Prints vein stamps.

The front is attached to an A2 card made of Melon Berry cardstock and stamped inside with the Falling Leaves sentiment "Happy Fall".

WOYWW 168 - News from the Fair

Relatively empty desk this week. The black circles will become nifty vinyl (also known as records back in the day lol) embellishments for one of DD's projects. And my local ACMoore is a budget saboteur, they have an entire section of discounted TH products. I've been pining for the die since it came out and it was priced at $10 and the stamps were $2.00. I didn't linger in that aisle lol.

The results of the entries were: Altered Alarm clock, 3rd place, Memory Page, honorable mention, Novelty Yarn, honorable mention, Umbrella Man card, honorable mention, Hanging Christmas Ball Ornament (pictured above) not accepted. I'm really tickled pink about it all, especially the Umbrella Man card as it was a filler so I wouldn't have any unfilled entries (you have to fill out entry forms a month or so in advance). It was my first time participating and I'm already thinking about what I'll be doing for next year lol.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your own desk and share :D.

WOYWW 167, the aftermath

This is the aftermath of frenzied crafting, well I did a bit of cleaning. But all five projects were turned in for the fair, now it's waiting to see if any have been accepted. The umbrella man was turned into a dancer and those are the leftover's from two cuts. My tweezers have wandered off, so the ginormous ornament had to be substituted with something else. The water bottle is a very useful souvenir of Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire (especially as the lid screws on to make it spill proof).

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture and join in the fun :D.

It's Grow Time!

One of my January 2012 Design Team Projects for Club Ruby Designers (the kit can still be purchased from craft-e-corner.com). Important to note that the packaging for the clock mechanisms aren't all the same size. The length of the base for the clock hands can vary widely from 1/4"ish to 1.5"ish. Be sure to double check before you buy lol.

Coins can be adhered to the back to offset the weight clock mechanism if needed. Another handy feature of the clock mechanism is that it has it's own hanger.

Materials:
Fun For Boys & Girls Kit
My Little Shoebox 3-D Roll-Up Flower Sheet (Flowers, Banners and Cloud).
American Crafts Elf Glossy Chipboard Stickers

Additional Materials:
Cardboard Canvas (5" x 7")
Clock Mechanism
Tim Holtz Memo Pin
Acrylic Paint
Antique Linen Stickles
Close to My Heart's "Vintage Type" Stamps (Time)

WOYWW 166 - Procrastination Central

 Deadlines are so not my favorite thing. I have to put the finishing touches on three things for the fair and make two entirely. I've had months, but distractions, obligations, etc. Now my back is up against the wall and my creativity is flailing lol. So today I treated myself to a rare trip to Hobby Lobby and wound up with 4 ginormous glass ornaments (for one of the entries) and a clock mechanism on clearance (for after the chaos). The ATG is just for scale so you can see how large the ornaments are.

I've been a bit obsessed with clocks lately. This was one of my January 2012 Club Ruby Designers' projects, an altered canvas with clock works. I'll post more another time (okay accidental pun there lol).

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. better yet, take a picture of your own crafty space

WOYWW 165, miscellaneous organization

This is a wall never before seen on WOYWW lol. It's still in a state of reorganization. Basically I've come to see that having my large desk jammed in corner only made it harder to set up properly. So I switched the side table that was by the door (now on the right of the picture) with the desk.

One thing about my house is that there is only one interior door with a functioning doorknob. Only two interior doors in the house HAVE doorknobs. This door had a very sturdy sliding bolt as a closing mechanism (on the inside only) and a drawer pull. I took off the sliding bolt lest someone lock themselves in with my craft supplies lol.

Also in view is one of my Eiffel Tower lamps. The photo box really is not dangling precariously off the edge of the desk, it just photographed that way. Once that surface is put away it will become my sewing/felting embellishment desk. The devices on top of the tv help my little near 25 year old tv get the digital broadcasts (the lengths I go to to avoid getting cable lol). I have been watching a lot of Olympics this year, I'm thinking it's because Enfys posts all these interesting teasers on facebook lol.

 Some of the goodies I brought back from my sister's house (have I mentioned how awesome it is to have a crafty sister?). Yes I now have FOUR distress ink markers and some scrap dots to play with. The polaroid frames are amazing, they have the color and texture of the real McCoy.

The protractor stamped on my miscellaneous image page. This book saves me a lot of flipping through all the stamps sets to find out which one had the image in question. I find the image I'm thinking of, and then start flipping through all the stamps sets to find a particular set. It really is much faster :D.

The stamp put back on the acetate and the identification written in Sharpie.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW business, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, join in the fun and share a picture of your workspace.

WOYWW 164 - Home Again Home Again

I spent the weekend at my sister's house doing the Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire :D. It was my first time crafting away from home and it was a wonderful experience. Lots of fun things to try and I got to spend time with my oldest younger sister (I'm the oldest of 4).  This library tag mini-album was my favorite and I gave it to my sister as a thank-you. We found out that Tattered Rose Distress Ink works well as a substitute for Papertrey Ink Melon Berry. All the stamps were from Papertrey Ink. And I've had my eye on the library card pocket die for a couple of years now. My sister's Vagabond got quite the work out lol.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your own crafty space and join in the fun :D.

WOYWW 163

Not much has been going on except spinning the orange ply for my novelty yarn. It's about 1/3 the width of the first ply so I probably won't fill the bobbin. Blogger made some changes and is no longer supporting the browser I've been using (although it's on the list of approved browsers). All right for reading, but everything goes squirrely for posting. Finally figured out to use another browser lol.

I walk dogs at the almost local rescue. It's one of those win win win things, the dogs get out, I get exercise and we both get to socialize :D. So I was tickled pink to find out July 21 is National Craft for Your Local Shelter Day. I might not be able to do it on July 21, but it's good to have the reminder about other ways to contribute and still get my crafty time.

If you are wondering what all this WOYWW is, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander at all sorts of crafty desks. Better yet, snap a picture of your own crafty space and join in the fun!

WOYWW 161 - Crafty Spinster Fun

OK, I'm not really spinning a bobbin full of wool at my desk, but my Lendrum Single Treadle spinning wheel won't fit on the desk, so I just showed you the bobbin. This is 4 ounces of a lovely hot pink, purple and orange roving purchased many years ago. I'm going to ply it with a lovely burnt orange for a novelty yarn using a technique that makes an intermittent bit of fluff. It will be my second entry into our local fair.

BTW, when I say spinster, I'm referring to the old skool definition one who spins wool (or other fibers) into yarn (or embroidery thread). The rest of my guild (except for my daughter) refer to themselves as spinners, which to me means people clad in lycra furiously pedaling stationary bicycles. I am a spinster :D.

Spinning is one of those things you can learn in less than a minute (it's twisting fibers together so they make yarn, rope, thread) and yet you can spend the rest of your life trying new techniques and fibers, so it can always be something different.

I have three wheels, but I mostly spin with spindles which are infinitely more portable than wheels. Plus each spindle is different, so one can rarely have too many :D. Also, spindles tend to be looked down on as a beginners tool, so I give them lots of love. I've been spinning since 1978 when I bought lessons from a member of the secret spinning police, but that's a tale for another day lol.

Three of my favorite spindles. The one on the left is a Bosworth Moosie (the whorl is made of moose antler) with unfleached flax top on it. The one in the middle is also a Bosworth, but I forget the type of wood. The one on the right is one I made with a toy wheel, a bit of dowel and an eye hook and then covered in a semi-irregular peyote stitch made with three different types of beads and is being used to spin some dyed silk cap.

My current purse project (in a plastic pencil case) another spindle I made with a wooden toy wheel, a dowel and a eye hook which I'm using to spin some navajo churro wool.

The top of the spindle. And in the upper left in the background is my sample of the plied wool from the first picture.

So that's what's going on in my crafty bit of the world, if you want to see more, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander at what other people are doing. Better yet, take a picture and join in the fun :D.