WOYW Wednesday

Nothing on last week's desk actually got finished, so these bits are all sitting in the red embossing powder tray along with other bits accumulated over this past week.

Also on the desk, debris from my efforts for the Compendium Challenge.

Hot humid summer days here with next to no rain. The grass looks scorched and brown. However, let's have the sunshine in August too !

To find out all about the WOYWW weekly entertainment, click the link and visit Julia at Stamping Ground.

Compendium Fun - Challenge 7

Linda at Studio L3 has set us another challenge, this time from page 55 of Tim's Compendium, and entitled Tinted Vision Fragments. Thank you, Linda, for providing an excuse for us all to get disgustingly inky and painty.

Well, I got my old favourite die out to cut the edge of my card. Then I just had to try out some new purchases. On Sunday I ordered some new (to me) colours of acrylic paints and a Crafty Notions spray from Paper Artsy, and much to my delight they were waiting on the doormat for me this evening. Great speedy service. I chose one of my new Kaisercolour acrylic colours, Terracotta, and two old favourites, Raw Sienna and Soft Moss for the background, and then sprayed with my new CN black matte spray. I then cranked the card through the Big Shot with the TH damask folder, gave it a quick rasp with a sanding block, and spritzed with Bronze Glimmermist.

Next I did the secret Tim technique with an oval fragment and photo of an aunt. Then I inked up a panel of grungeboard with Rusty Hinge, and edged it with ribbon, and stuck on to the background the panel, the fragment and some Prima flowers smooched with Wild Honey and Dried Marigold and embellished with little amber pearly things. In real life there's lots of texture and dimension which the photo doesn't quite get.

Anyways, Happy Compendium Crafting !

WOYWW

It's that day again when we all get our binoculars out and have a good snoop around other people's work spaces. For the full lowdown on this popular activity, report to Julia at Stamping Ground.

I've had a bit of a tidy as there wasn't a square inch of space to work on. I put everything away except a few items that I had in mind to work on. A couple of pieces of grungepaper that I've painted with acrylic - one brown and one white - with the aim of having another go at the Compendium shabby chic thing. A couple of chipboard letters to be decorated with UTEE and inclusions. A painted chipboard house to be decorated. And a piece of tissue paper to remind me that I want to try stamping on it and adding it to the decoration on a tag as demoed by Jean at Crafty Individuals.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Compendium Challenge No 6

We are now on Challenge No 6 at Linda's Studio L3 where you will find the details on what to do to join in. This one is called Multi-Medium Collage, and Tim's Compendium will give you all the instructions. Here I can tell you what I used.

I started with card and stuck to it some of Tim's paper cut on one edge with a die. I changed the colour of the paper by using Old Paper Distress Ink and stamped all over it with a flourish. Old French/French dictionary pages stuck to card provided the die-cut leaves, and a rummage in my chipboard shapes box produced the flower, and I coloured the leaves and flower with Old Paper. I had seen Hels on her Ink on my Fingers blog use a memo pin and Ranger enamel to make a flower, so here I decided to have a go with a jump ring and the black enamel to make the centre of the flower. Then I stamped the little 'heart songs' lady on card, cut her out and 'old-papered' her. Then I added some bits of tissue tape and finished off by highlighting leaves, flower and tape with Rock Candy Stickles.

UTEE

We had fun at our local stamping club this week playing around with ultra thick embossing powders. I took along some pieces of thick grey card that I had saved from packaging to use as the base.

My heat gun is rather fierce so I had to heat the first layer from underneath so as not to blow the UTEE away. I worked mostly with black UTEE sometimes dropping in some other colours of embossing powder and sprinkling in glitter and beads, and sometimes brushing with Perfect Pearls.

This one has embossing powders, glitter and Beadazzles, and is stamped with Encore metallic gold ink on a Karantha stamp.

This one has Ancient Copper UTEE on black with a sprinkling of glitter and Beadazzles, and is stamped with Crimson Copper Brilliance ink on a Katzelkraft stamp. Have gone round the edges with black acrylic paint, and am going to mount them on cards.

The proms started on Friday, and I am now in the last hour of the five hour TV broadcast of the Welsh National Opera performance of Die Meistersinger with Bryn Terfel. Wish I could have been there at the Albert Hall. Tomorrow is Placido and the Royal Opera in a concert performance of Simon Boccanegra, but only on Radio Three as a staged performance has already been on BBC2 TV - last Saturday.

Compendium of Curiosities Distress Powder Challenge

If you've got Tim Holtz' book, Compendium of Curiosities, pick it up, turn to page 43 and go to Linda's Studio L3 blog for the rules of the challenge. Trying out these techniques is so much fun, and you will enjoy seeing what each of the participants comes up with. Thanks so much, Linda for organising this.

I've used Distress Embossing Ink with Peeled Paint, Tea Dye and Black Soot Distress Powders, and Stormy Sky, Walnut Stain, Wild Honey and Black Soot Distress Inks, and I am sure you will recognise the Tim stamps. Lots of shine and texture not all picked up by the camera. Always seem to get birds in my pieces these days. Lots of lovely birds in the garden to inspire.

Another Wednesday

I didn't make it to WOYWW last week. Last Tuesday evening was my wonderful evening in London, and the rail company in its wisdom decided to put on a bus service on the last train for what should have been the last half an hour of my journey. Consequently I was jolted around country lanes for over an hour and eventually crawled into bed at 3 am, and had to be up again at 6.30 and off.

I did have a tidy of a very messy desk this Tuesday evening, only to get the paints and stamps out again to do the Compendium Challenge, and there it will all remain till this evening, paint on grungepaper waiting to dry so that I can try more of the Shabby Chic.

I haven't made any progress with the little chest of drawers since last time. Too many birthday cards to make. But you will spot that gorgeous WOYWW easel commissioned by Mrs D from Mr D. By the way, if none of this WOYWW stuff has made sense to you so far, hop over to Mrs D's blog, and all will be revealed. Julia, very sincere thanks to you and Mr D. I love this gorgeous work of art. I'm using it to hold a card made with the Crafty Individuals house-shaped chipboard and stamps as demoed by Jean of CI at the recent Craft Barn Extravaganza.

I have a new addition to the craft space. Picked up a beautiful oak cupboard at bargain price. Had planned to change the handles, but haven't seen anything suitable yet. I have been advised to feed it with oil, and stroke it a lot. Have a few things on top of it picked up from charity shops for altering - mirror, little drawers, jug. The old radio cassette player is not for altering, but so I can still listen to old tapes !

And of course as soon as you open the doors, as if by magic .....

... a certain little lady has heard about WOYWW. Join her, and enjoy your snoopings round the blogs !

Compendium of Curiosities Shabby Chic Challenge

I am loving these challenges chosen by Linda on her Studio L3 blog. Each week Linda picks a technique from Tim Holtz' book for us to try out.

This one, challenge number 4, was great fun as it meant playing about with paint and embossing powder on grunge paper, and using some of my favourite Paper Artsy stamps with a smidge of Wendy Vecchi.

Here is my first attempt. I will certainly be working on this trying different colours and stamps. In fact, I think I might go now and paint up my remaining sheet of the grungey stuff, so that it is dry and ready to work on tomorrow.

C of C Challenge No 3

This week it's Challenge No 3 from Linda who asked us to work from page 51 of the Compendium of Curiosities. If you are curious, check out the link. The technique uses alcohol inks for the background and archival ink for stamping.

In my entry I'm celebrating a double dose of serendipity. One day last week I was working at my computer when I hear an email ping in. Now I don't necessarily look at each email as soon as I hear it come in, but that time I did. It was the Royal Opera House telling me that they had some returns for performances of Simon Boccanegra, and from their records they were aware that I had not had the opportunity to buy tickets. Indeed such had been the demand that when I had tried to get tickets at the ROH and for the Proms semi-staged performance, they were sold out. I logged straight in to the website, spotted a £30 ticket and put it in my shopping bag while I tried to find one for a friend. No luck with a second ticket, but I was on cloud nine for the next four days while I counted the hours till the performance.

On the appointed day, after work, I headed for London. I usually try to go to the stage door before the performance to see the great man arrive, but this time I knew I was going to arrive after the time he would get there. However, I decided to go there, just in case. And yes, there he was, taking time to talk to people, letting us know that he was leaving for Vienna after the performance. This meant that there was no time to spend with fans then, and is characteristic of his consideration for the people who have followed him for so many years, not to have us waiting around in vain.

Lots of people there to say hello and welcome back to London, and happy to see him looking so well after his op.

So to celebrate my unexpected opportunity to say hello again to Placido Domingo, and to see and hear him sing a baritone role in a fabulous Verdi opera, my piece has an alcohol ink background using the colours predominating in my memory of the costumes of the singers, and Coffee Archival for the stamping.

Placido's performance was sensational, and his Simon Boccanegra came to life in a way I have never experienced before. He has every quality as a singer, scholar, musician, actor with exemplary character and temperament. I usually judge an opera performance by the number of paper hankies I use, and this was a three-soaked-hankies performance. The tears come from the beauty of the music and the singing and/or from the emotion of the scenario, and when it's from both of these, it's the best. Thank you, Placido. You make the world a better place.