WOYWW - Week 76 & the J for Jingle Bells card

Good afternoon to you all, and welcome to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday again.Here's what's was happening on mine early this morning - not a lot:

The cold I had at the weekend developed into sinusitis and with all the associated dizziness and nausea I couldn't do much except try to keep my head still, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday turned into real duvet days for me.

But look what the postman brought me - another prize! I'm obviously on a roll now as this is the second prize in as many weeks. This time it's 3 cards handmade by the presenter Konnie Huq at a Craft for Life, Make a Card a Day, event supporting Cancer Research UK and run by Docrafts Creativity Magazine. And, there's a certificate signed by Konnie on which she says 'I Craft for Life because it's fun and creative and personal cards can mean more ...'

At the front of the desk is a card I started working on late last night - it's now finished. It's the J card in the Alphabet Series - J for Jingle Bells. The colours used are a range of oranges and browns, dictated by the choice of digital background paper from Bearly Mine Designs, CD22 in the Christmas Delights pack and a need for a dark background beneath the bell panel.

I drew inspiration from the famed Barbara Gray's, of Clarity Stamps, demo on TV this weekend - what else can you do with duvet days but watch crafty programmes on the box : ) I stamped the bells from the set from Let's Get Crafting, Issue 26, in Momento Tuxedo Black onto a strip of white vellum, then embossed them with Papermania clear powder. Next, I turned the panel over and using the embossing tool went over the bells - never tried this before but was pleased with the effect. As you can see in the photo I used a mouse mat as an embossing mat - a tip from Barbara!

The rest was fairly straightforward - the panel was mounted on some brown card and attached with tiny orange brads from my stash. I edged the paper and card with Tim Holtz' Brushed Corduroy and I stamped out the 'jingle bells' using a small alphabet stamp set then embossed with gold powder, added the ribbons and the charm and job done! Oh, and being me, I decorated the back and inside because I just can't leave them blank.

The rest of the stuff in view is my usual tools of the trade. Someone recently admired my green check workmat.  This is simply an off-cut of the kind of plastic material used to make kitchen tablecloths - I bought several pieces for £1 from a stall at the Ayr Flower Show this year. I keep one piece for when I'm messing with paint and the one on my desk is for when I'm distressing with TH ink pads.

For anyone who is still wondering what WOYWW is all about pop over to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, where you will find you have the opportunity to snoop at a lot of workdesks around the world.
Bye for now
Elizabeth