WOYWW 102

Another Wednesday comes whizzing around, and it's the day when Julia at Stamping Ground bids us welcome to snoop around other people's workspaces.

Well, there's all sorts going on on and around my table. On the right there's a tag drying - my attempt as far as I've got at the Grungy Monday challenge. In the middle are the components of a double page spread in a circle journal entitled 'Imagination' that I need to get finished for tomorrow. And there are also some stamps waiting to be used in a birthday card that needs to be ready for tomorrow. On the left is my bag of tricks in the process of being packed for our Stamping Club evening. Yes, that's tomorrow too. In the red holdall are some die cut tags that I've prepared for Stamp Club. And in the bottom right hand corner there's a bit of someone who always tries to get into every photo.

Best get cracking then ! Happy Wednesday all !

Grungy Monday 6 and my favourite time of year

The garden has been taking up a lot of my time this past week, but I was keen to take part in Linda's Grungy Monday Challenge No 6. Go to Linda's Studio L3 blog to enjoy looking at all this week's entries. As ever we are indebted to Tim Holtz for the challenge technique.

So out came the paint dabbers and inks. I used Juniper dabber for the resist background, and Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint and Pumice Stone DIs. No hesitation about the stamps. I had just received the geese stamp as a birthday present and was itching to use it. I was so pleased to receive the stamp as the geese are the spit of the pair I used to have and was very fond of, and my friend had recognised this. Hence the delightful gift. The other stamps are Tim, Clarity and Hobby Art. The ribbon is cut from a recently bought tee-shirt (the bits manufacturers now sew into the shoulders to help keep the garment on the hanger). They're not much use to me, and I know I'm not the only one to cut them off and put them in the ribbon box for future use. Here it was white ribbon which I've coloured with DIs.

I have to say that luck was with me when I made this tag. I had just got out of the shower and got myself dressed and ready to go off to London for a musical afternoon and evening when I decided I needed to make the tag. How clever is it to do this when wearing a pair of freshly laundered snow white trousers. Well, would you believe, the trousers survived unsullied, but the inky fingers looked a bit out of place with the nail varnish and jewellery !

Weatherwise it's been an unusual year to date. So cold in the early stages that the Spring bulbs were all late, and throughout April so warm, hot even, that the shrubs, roses and clematis are all early. My Weigela 'Bristol Ruby.'

The lilacs.

The Viburnum opulus sterile, or Snowball Tree as it is known in these parts.

The perfumed Choisya ternata.

In this beautiful weather it's been a real treat to have meals in the garden and be able to look up at the mass of white blooms on the Snowball tree, choisya and another viburnum.

The clemmies are out too. My macropetalas are finished, also having bloomed early, so now we're on to the montanas and the early summer hybrids.

I can't remember the name of this white one. Have three different white hybrids and can't remember which is which ! Every year I marvel at this one. It is only one plant but it has hundreds of blooms. This is one side.

And this is the same plant viewed from the other side of the trellis. There are still lots of buds yet to come out.

This is my earliest rose of the year, the Rosa banksiae lutea. The photo doesn't do it justice. It was a rushed shot and a little too sunny for a good one. Now of course she has begun to fade, so I will have to try harder next year.

And my second earliest, the beautiful Maigold who was out in April this year.

And finally the gorgeous big shrub rose with an intoxicating perfume, the Blanc Double de Coubert.

The first blooms of quite a few other roses are out but not yet in profusion.

WOYWW 100

My poor desk has been a bit neglected of late with all these holidays and the beautiful weather we've been having, when gadding about and gardening have been my chief occupations.

So on my desk are the leftovers from a tagmaking session last week, and a few bits to make something for a challenge that I never got around to doing. In my sewing basket right at the front of the picture are some lengths of material waiting for me to make some new curtains and cushion covers for my kitchen. At the moment my fingers are getting more grubby/dirty from weeding, seed sowing and pricking out than inky and painty, but I should have more time this week to get the desk really messy again.

To see more desks pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and choose from a vast menu. Happy Wednesday all.

London 28 April 2011

It was good to have a walk around in London today to see how things looked before tomorrow's big event. Regent Street was decked out with Union Jacks for its full length.

In front of Buckingham Palace there were structures on each side of The Mall to accommodate the world's press. This is just one small section of one side.

And the other side.

Crush barriers were in place.

Hundreds of Portaloos had been delivered from Wales !

There were towers erected along The Mall for the press cameras.

People were already camping out, and some had come quite a distance.

Some not so far.

Others were settled in chairs.

Parliament Square is festooned with Union Jacks.

More camping out, this time by the Abbey.

Westminster Abbey was closed to the public. Was this the red carpet waiting to go down, or is this just some spare ?!!

On the sign outside mention of the wedding is fairly low key !

A Pearly Queen happy to pose for photos.

And from this shot who would guess that there was so much activity all around, and that it will be the centre of attention in just a few more hours.

Grungy Monday 5

Linda's Grungy Monday challenge no 5 at Studio L3 is a Tim Holtz dimension technique which dates back to May 2008, and can be found here on Tim's blog. It involved using fun foam to create dimension by making a niche. I decided to use the tag die to cut card, fun foam and Kraft resist card. I coloured the card with distress inks, and stamped with Coffee archival and Viva swirl stamps. I made the woman's head with clay in a Karantha mould and coloured it with alcohol ink and various colours of Inka Gold. I edged the card and the niche with gold leafing pen.

In this part of the world we've been having glorious sunshine and high summer temperatures not usually seen in April. I've noticed that this has lifted people's spirits and everyone is so cheerful and talkative, and of course, not only have we had the four day Easter weekend, but we now have another four day weekend to look forward to with the extra bank holiday on Friday for the royal wedding followed by the usual early May bank holiday on Monday. Temperatures have now cooled a bit, and all fingers are crossed for dry weather on Friday for the processions and street parties.

I've been out and about with friends, visiting exhibitions and enjoying music in London, sitting in the sun on the Thames embankment drinking tea, and eating evening meals in the open air. Instead of the usual roast dinner on Easter Sunday, it had to be a barbecue, and we needed a walk to burn off some of the calories from the Easter eggs, so it was off into the fields.

Everywhere is so fresh and green, with touches of the bright colours of wild flowers.

The colour is not just in the flowers. Fungi can come in vivid colours and amazing textures.

The holly is covered with flowers. Looks like there will be a good supply of berries.

This log had been positioned here as a horse jump, but it's ideal as a walker's resting place to enjoy the view and the peace and quiet for a while.

And now what I came down this path to see - a fabulous carpet of wild English bluebells with some beautiful silver birch trees.

Like an impressionist painting.

Gingersnap Creations - Spicy Supply Challenge

At Gingersnap Creations there is a 'Spicy Supply Challenge' to use mists. My fingers were still stained from using colour washes for Linda's Grungy Monday challenge earlier this week, but I was most definitely up for more spraying.

This time I used layers of Dylusions ink sprays in Fuchsia, Sky Blue, Hot Pink and Burnt Orange on white card, together with the Dylusions Fuchsia mica spray and Glimmer Mist in Sweet Pea and Candlelight. Towards the end of the spraying I placed sequin waste and a Tattered Angels mask on the card to create a patterned background.

I wanted to make some Easter cards, but didn't trust myself to draw decent oval shapes for eggs. Luckily I found a free template at a website called First Palette and printed the eggs on to some card, cut them out and gave them the same spray treatment as the background. Then I embossed them with my favourite Ranger gold powder (love the smell of the melting powder too), and Viva Decor swirl stamps. I rubbed the back of each of the 'eggs' with a large headed embossing tool to get the card to curl a bit and look more egg-like. I cut a piece of the background card, and ran it through the Big Shot with a border embossing folder, and then mounted the 'eggs' and the 'Happy Easter' on the card with large sticky pads. Couldn't resist photographing the finished article with today's haul from the henhouses.

Still got background card and eggs left to do some more cards.

Simon Says Stamp & Show Some Distressing ... and the New Arrivals

The Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is distressing. I'm really enjoying experimenting with my new Fresco Chalk Finish paints so decided that, teamed up with some crackle glaze which was lurking at the back of a cupboard, they might produce the ideal effect for this challenge.

The background has Honey Dew as the base colour and Vintage Lace as the top coat which crackled quite satisfactorily. Umbrella Man has Honey Dew underwear and a Toad Hall top coat ! The stamping is Tim and Paper Artsy (not sure whose the 'Hopes & Dreams' stamp is); and the seam binding is coloured with Antique Linen and Spun Sugar.

Thought I'd just check on the nest today and lo and behold .............

Soon these little beaks will be upstretched when mum and dad come back with some juicy worms.