Serendipity Papers - Follow Up to WOYWW 106

Evening Everyone

Serendipity Papers

One of the benefits of playing along with WOYWW each week is the wealth of tips, wrinkle and ideas that many of the WOYWWers freely impart each week. And yesterday was no exception. While hopping round the desks of my fellow WOYWWers I landed on Mary Ann's post in which she showed her serendipity circles and explained how they are made. I had never heard of them before but they are such a brilliant (and frugal) way of using up all those strips of paper left over from various scrapbooking and cardmaking projects. Up till now the only use I've found for the strips is  the occasional trim on a card, otherwise they just linger unloved in a box gathering dust.  So I set to and, after colour sorting, I got out the Pritt and spent a relaxing couple of hours sticking them onto some thin and not so good white card - a purchase bloomer until now! I got 5 A4 size sheets altogether - not bad for something that I might have ended up tossing in the wastebasket one day.  I just have to  punch the circles out and add little embellishments as Mary Anne has done and I will have some very pretty and money-saving toppers. So thanks for a great idea Mary Anne.

Now I'm off to investigate the work of Tim Coffey as mentioned in Beatrice's post - apparently he does something interesting with a cereal box and a hot glue gun :)

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW - Week 106 + PIFs

Good Afternoon Fellow WOYWWers, Followers and All,

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

No, not my desk this week, there's nothing to reveal here, so it's What Was on Your Workdesk Last Wednesday instead. We had a couple of stormy evenings whilst in Wales so I got out my emergency craft pack - well, you didn't really think I'd last a whole ten days without doing something crafty, did you? Now, crafting on the dining table was okay . . . but what a bother it was having to clear everything of the table each night in readiness for breakfast next day! As many of you will know, I'm one of the neatniks of the crafting world but when I'm working on a project I've learned that it pays me to keep all the materials out on my desk. (If only because it helps when I'm putting together the list of materials used for the finished project - I have the most appalling memory these days!) I now realise just how thoroughly spoiled I am having not only a dedicated craft desk, but also my very own craft room. So hat's of to all you crafters out there who work on the dining/kitchen table - you deserve a medal.

And, if you are reading this and don't know what WOYWW is all about then follow this link here which will take you to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, where you will find links to a huge variety of crafty people, and their favoured crafting tables (or, as in Helen's case, crafting floor space!).

PIF from Sioux

Don't you just love this tag which the lovely Sioux has made - it was waiting for me when I got home on Sunday. It's just so gorgeous. The textured finishes on the ballerina and the wings are very tactile - I keep stroking bits of it. Clearly a great deal of thought has gone into the composition, not only is there 'WOYWW'  but also the date of the second anniversary 'June 1' and even the word 'deux' - fitting in nicely with the ballet theme too.  If you would like to know how the tag was made follow the link to Sioux's post above. Thank you so much Sioux - I'm absolutely delighted to have this fabulous gift from you.

PIF to Beatrice



This is the wall hanger I created to celebrate Week 104 which I just managed to get in the post to Beatrice , just before I went away . . . phew!

As you can see it's an Alice themed hanging with characters from the Polka Dots Wonderland stamp set and the colours were sort of dictated by Alice's dress - can't get away from blue there. I cut a piece of mount board for the base and covered it back and front with some Crate paper from the Sweet Branch Collection called 'Flutter' - though you can hardly tell after I treated it so badly by stamping it randomly - stamps from various sources, e.g. Polka Dots, Tim Holtz & Anita's - in black, and then giving it a coat of gesso to tone the stamping down.

The WOYWW letters were computer generated, adhered to card, then embossed with 3 coats of platinum UTEE which I stamped into with the word stamps from the Wonderland set - great fun to do. I stamped the characters from the set out, in some cases several times, i.e. the Mad Hatter's hat & the Queen of Hearts strawberry tarts, and coloured them with ProMarkers before cutting them out. They were then adhered to the hanging and the hat and tarts were 'decoupaged'. This just left the embellishments, pearl trim, ric-rac braid, WOC cherry blossoms, rose leaves and a blue heart-shaped crystal spray (there's a lot of hearts in this piece), roses and purple heather spray - well it couldn't be made in Ayr and not feature something Scottish, blue seam binding and a heart shaped silver charm and a key (out of shot here).

I thoroughly enjoyed making this piece but worried that it would not be to the taste of  the eventual recipient. We all have such different crafting styles, and I'm still such a beginner in a lot of ways that I did hesitate about taking part in the PIF celebration. However, I'm glad I did, and Beatrice assures me that she does like the wall hanging, much to my relief. I'm now planning to make something similar for my little granddaughter, Shari-Ann, whose birthday is coming up soon.

This post has taken rather longer to write than I thought but I did have a lot to catch up on.  We are getting a new gas hob fitted this afternoon - to replace the old electric one. The EM hates how long it takes the plates to heat up and prefers the controllability of gas so soon he really will be 'cooking with gas' : )

Off for a much needed cup of tea now but will be back to check out as many desks as I can manage later.

Happy crafting to you all,

Postcard Notecard - Vintage Style

Good Afternoon to You All,

I made this card last night just to get myself back into the crafting way of things again. Though, to be honest, I did suffer from the occasional withdrawal symptom whilst away. And I did return home refreshed and raring to go so, after all the dreary but necessary chores, unpacking, etc., it wasn't too difficult to get going again.

The postcard topper was one I had, in true Blue Peter style, already prepared. I applied a wash to the watercolour paper with diluted shades of Twilight Blue and Straw Yellow AquaMarkers before stamping the Penny Black's Keepsake stamp. The flowers were water coloured with Twilight Blue too then I distressed the edges with a combination of Tim Holtz's Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone  distress ink pads.

Onto a base of brown card (Stampin' Up's Soft Suede) I've adhered two papers from docrafts V&A Quilts linen paper pack. The yellow card (SU's Saffron) is embossed with docrafts V&A Hanoverian folder and distressed with TH's Pumice Stone and Brushed Corduroy ink pads. The vintage ladies, from Crafty Individuals Miniatures 'People & Places' pad, are matted on to SU's Marina Mist card,  distressed around the edges with Brushed Corduroy and attached using dimensional squares. Card candy in yellow and brown provide the final touch.

The insert is computer generated after scanning the V&A papers. To decorate the back I just folded one of the DPs over from the front.

I must admit I like the look of vintage collage so this card really pleases me. However, after admiring it for a while, the EM did ask me when I was likely to use it, what occasion would it be appropriate for and who would I give it to! Well, I'm not sure - I'll put it away in the box with the rest and maybe one day I'll find a use for it.

According to a certain TV shopping channel Christmas crafting begins today - even though we are still in 'flaming June' and midsummer is still a week or so away!!! Of course, for some of us it started the first week of January and because of my resolution I now have quite a stash of Christmas cards already prepared. However, I've fallen behind by a week because of the holiday so I'll need to get a wriggle on to catch up. So much to do and so little time :)

The EM is at the dentist this afternoon, having a tooth removed, so he'll be needing a bit of TLC afterwards so not sure when I'll be back in my craft space - we'll see how he does.

 Right I'm off to get some lunch now.

Wishing you all a great day.