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WOYWW #156 | What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, fellow crafty-folk! This is the day each week when a bunch of folks choose to post pictures of their workdesks and link up over at Stamping Ground so we can visit each other.

There's nothing going on here, other than some cleaned stamps, so I'll show you some things I made over the weekend.

I used some of my new distress markers to stamp the image on the left. It appears I need to take my time and really cover the rubber well to get a more saturated image. Not bad. 

This is for my daughter's teacher -- I'm ahead of the game, since school doesn't end for a few weeks or so. 

Left page of two page layout. This took some time, as I wasn't certain what medium I needed to cover the "architectural" embellishments -- paint turned out to be best, after trying distress stain and distress ink. The package said you could use either of those, but the surface is kind of glossy and I decided they'd probably wipe off. 

My ribbon flower is a bit oversized -- I think I should have made the ribbon loops shorter -- but I decided to use it anyway. Hopefully the "white space" helps balance it out. 


And finally, a paint chip -- we're going to redo the room, which still has the faded little girl wallpaper and cutesy 90's style border that it did when we bought the house. I'm leaning towards Nautical, with off-white woodwork. We bought paint samples to try out. So, maybe by next WOYWW the room will be empty and I'll be displaced while the transformation takes place.

Long-winded today! Thanks for visiting and I'll try to get around to a lot of folks this week. 

~ Laura

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 155 (WOYWW)

Happy Wednesday! It's the day each week when crafty folks the world over post a picture of their workspace, share a project or two, and then go look at everyone else's. (Well, at least some of them; the list is usually around 150+!) Visit Stamping Ground and take a look. 

The only things in progress at the moment are the stack of thank you notes from kidlet's party. I typed up part of it and had her add a few words on the lines. It seems like thank you notes are going the way of the dodo bird, but I think it's a good tradition. I've got ballet pictures in a pile to the left from the recent recital and others in a pile to the right for other layouts. Hope to get a lot of scrapbooking done over the long weekend. :)

 

This layout shows off some of current favorite things: hearts & clouds washi tape, My Mind's Eye paper, and wood veneer embellishments. 

I love misting the embellishments and then stamping on top with archival ink. This stamp is actually a Hero Arts heart (from the Four Hearts set), but since it is larger than the butterfly, I can use it as a background-type image, too. 

Thanks for visiting!

~ Laura

Moxie Fab World Gingham Challenge

I made this whimsical flower by using a tag punch to make the petals. I stamped on some of the petals with a stamp from a new Doodlebug/Hampton Arts set; the sentiment is from that same set. I flicked some Glimmer Mist on the background and added some bling to the flower center (punched with a scalloped circle punch from a Hero Arts stamped flower) and within the sentiment. Finally, I rounded the lower right corner. 

12 Tags of 2012: May

This is my "take" on Tim Holtz's May tag, which you can see here. I had to do a lot of improvising and substituting -- I think that's always going to be part of the process!

Thanks for visiting.

~ Laura

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 154 (WOYWW)

Good morning, everyone! If you'd like to play along with show-your-crafty-space-to-other-crafty-folk, be sure to visit Stamping Ground (once you've sufficiently perused this post of course -- ha,ha.) 

Here is the state of entropy I left my desk in last evening before going to sleep. Here's what's "new" -- sharp eyes will see a new chart on the wall to the left for keeping track of which distress markers have come to live with me so far and will also see the markers themselves in the green metal holder in the upper right corner of the table. I've got a few teeny tiny wood embellishments on the table that I've misted and/or stamped on and a couple of canvas ATC blanks that I'm going to use on layouts or to die cut embellishments from. I picked up a couple of new rolls of washi tape (trying not to go too crazy, but these are so pretty!) (All photos can be seen larger if clicked upon.)

I couldn't get myself motivated to start a layout, so decided I'd give Tim Holtz's May tag a go. I had to do a lot of substituting (which I'd feel more guilty about except that Ranger and TH get a steady amount of my crafting $ over the year.) I think I still want to do some inking over the top and find something for the ribbon trim, but I'm basically done. 

Since I don't have the melting pot or UTEE, I tried two different methods of emulating the faux porcelain flowers. The flower that appears slightly darker here I smushed into my Versamark ink pad and used regular embossing powder and a heat gun on. The other two that appear lighter, I coated liberally with Glossy Accents. (What did I ever do before I had GA? Too scary to contemplate.) I think I prefer the latter, but having the two shades is a nice little bit of contrast.

I've probably babbled a bit too much here this morning! I need to get ready for work and get this posted! Thanks for visiting and I wish you a very happy and creative Wednesday.

~ Laura

P.S. Administrative note: I've turned off the feature that requires the funky words to be typed in (after a WOYWWer said she had to try three times to comment) and instead have opted for moderating the comments. I hate to have to do that, but I was having a problem with rude spam comments on my posts.

Missing a friend this night

My sweet blog friend (and talented cardmaker) Janelle Hayes has gone home to be with the Lord today. We never met in person, but we commented on each other's blogs and sent emails once in a while. She and her family have been mainstays on my prayer list since last summer. Her husband posted this afternoon to say she is with God and they are rejoicing for her. Ken and his family are people of faith and I pray that their faith sustains them as they grieve and remember and celebrate Janelle's life. Praying this night for Ken, daughter Britt, son Ian, son-in-law Kenneth, as well as Janelle's mother, Ken's mother, and extended family and friends. 

[Here is a tribute post from last September, where I made a card based on a design of Janelle's.]

~ Laura

WOYWW #153 | What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I am just getting around to posting a picture of my craft space and will then link up over at Stamping Ground, where Julia hosts this weekly "party." 

New goodies this week include a handful of Distress markers -- woo! -- which I broke down and bought at Michael's over the weekend, but haven't had a chance to really do anything with, yet. The tan album is my pseudo-Project Life album and it's there to remind me to do last week's page. (I'm doing a page per week on a piece of 8.5x11 cardstock -- minimalistic and therefore fast.) On top of it are the handouts from May Flaum's class which just ended over at BPC. I didn't get a chance to try everything and want to keep those front and center to remind me to play some more.  

I'm making this canvas for my daughter for her room. We read The Wizard of Oz together this year and she's seen the movie, so I thought she might like this. The yellow brick road needs some help. I mixed paint and mist to paint over the top of the molding paste and the yellow isn't anywhere near the yellow in the paper. I am not even sure exactly what to do to it to make it match better. Would a little orange help? I'm pondering Wild Honey distress ink. 

Thanks for visiting!

~ Laura

Two layouts from the weekend

Big Picture Classes threw a party on Saturday to celebrate National (International?) Scrapbook Day. They hosted 12 challenges, along with a message board and gallery, naturally, for everyone to be inspired by and participate in. I was home in the morning, but I'm in the East and the challenges didn't begin until 9:00 AM PST (the time zone where BPC is headquartered.) The rest of the day I was out and/or had company staying overnight. But Sunday afternoon I had a chance to make three layouts. One I won't post, as it has pictures of kids not my own. 

When I first began scrapbooking, I was drawn to the bright graphical look of this line by American Crafts. My style has changed a bit since then, but I still have some of the paper. I'd been cutting flowers out of this sheet while I watched TV and was thrilled to use it all up. The challenge was to frame a picture on a page in an interesting way. 

The challenge for this one was to use kraft on a page in two different ways. I was momentarily stymied, but decided to use punched circles as a very subtle embellishment by the pictures. I'm actually quite fond of this layout . . . it's certainly simple, but I'm happy to have made it. 

WOYWW #152 | What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to anyone who finds their way here! If you're wondering about the WOYWW acronym and wondering why I've posted a picture of my craft table, visit Stamping Ground for a whole list of folks doing the same. 

I don't really have much of anything in progress at the moment. I'm putting away some stamps and planning to cut some flowers out of this American Crafts paper I've had forever. There's a tag near the back of the table that I've just added something to, here and there, as I've had extra puddles of paint. I'll be curious to see what it becomes when it grows up. 

I love this cut glass bowl that sits just to the right of the main table. I bought some of Studio Calico's wood veneer embellishments: butterflies, stars, and tiny birds. 

Gave this card to my Mom for her birthday.

This one is for my baby girl, who is somehow going to be eight next week. Inconceivable! Yet, also true. 

Thanks for visiting,

Laura

P.S. Edited to add that I feel like a dope -- I accidentally added my link for #152 to the end of the link list for #151 -- oops! So I've just fixed it -- on the following Monday!