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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

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.

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!

Favorite layout from last week | Cosmo Cricket Elements challenge

I've been meaning to scrap these pictures for ages and am so glad I did so. The story is simple, but there's a lot of meaning in it for me. 

The paper, journaling cards (Elements), and chipboard accents are all Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety line. The letter stickers are American Crafts Thickers and I edged the layout with Picket Fence distress stain. 

Happy Thursday and thanks for visiting.

~ Laura 

WOYWW #149 | What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

I'm ignoring the fact that there are intermittent flurries in the air outside as I take this picture of my desk. The mourning dove who is "hoo hooing" out there says it won't amount to anything. :)  

If you'd like to see others' creative space and possibly share a picture of your own, visit Stamping Ground to find out the scoop. 

Here is a card I finished yesterday. I'm quite happy with this design and might make more as a set sometime.

 And the layout I'm mostly done with. I can't decide if it needs anything else, so I'll leave it here to marinate until after work.

I'm not wild about the addition of the fuchsia camera (which I balanced with the washi tape in the bottom right.) It's ok with the pinks, but clashes with the tomato red of the minigolf bit. I probably need to get over it. :)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! And for those kind souls who wondered how the button project would work out and/or the canvas project from last week, there are thumbnails in the upper right corner of the screen that will show the final versions! (5th thumbnail down in the first column is the button project; 2nd thumbnail down in the second column is the canvas)

Thanks for visiting!

~ Laura

WOYWW #148 | What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Along with Julia over at Stamping Ground and a bunch of other artistic and crafty folks, I'm showing the current state of my work table this morning. 

By the window I've got a layout I finished yesterday.

And front and center is a project I started last night for my Mom's birthday. This is a family saying -- simple, yet profound, you know? I'm trying to decide whether I want to use the music paper clouds and/or the Prima flowers. I got the flowers as a freebie in my last box from Two Peas. What do you all think? Clouds? Flowers? 

Thanks for visiting!

~ Laura

WOYWW #147 | What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

I think this will be my first time participating in the weekly round-up of creative spaces this month. Visit Julia's blog to see what's on her desk and to find the link list of all the other folks as well. 

My usual table -- and I swear I didn't lay everything out so precisely for the picture -- I just like to see what's next at a glance as a motivator. One change is that the long wooden bowl just to the right of the teal stamp tin now holds things like die cuts and chipboard decorations. I decided I wasn't using the stuff up and needed it in front of me (instead of in a drawer.) 

Two cards in progress -- am sending them to family as Easter cards. Love the look of the Martha Stewart pearl paint used with the white embossed flowers. I'll definitely do that again. :)

This is a page from my version of Project Life. I wanted to do a 52 week project with absolutely no stress and this is it. Some weeks it looks a bit more pulled together than others. 

This pile includes a tag and card to be mailed to a friend, some butterflies stamped on patterned paper to be cut out, and a few things I'm just playing around with. 

Hope your Wednesday is happy. Thanks so much for visiting, especially as I'm sure I'll be near the end of a very long list by the time I get this posted!

~ Laura 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 142 (WOYWW)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I so enjoy everyone's visits and try to reciprocate as much as possible, but can never seem to get around to as many as I'd wish! For the home base of WOYWW, the desk of Julia, and the list of participants to click on, go here. [Edited to add: For any blogspot blogs that don't have a separate "pop-up" page for comments, I am still unable to post comments. . . sorry.]

Here is my work table, photographed in the morning before heading off to my "real" work. The stamps in their containers do tend to live there on the left, unless I need more room and then I put them on the floor temporarily. I've got a layout in progress (more on that in a minute), and some stamps to put away on the right. You get just a glimpse of the card table in the corner that holds stickers, adhesive, etc.

I'm working on a no-photos layout here. I wish I had pictures of my husband and I attending a movie, but before I started scrapbooking, it wouldn't have occurred to me, most of the time, to take such a picture. So, I'm using our ticket stubs in lieu of a picture and took some appropriate stickers from a stationery set my sister gave me years ago. Not 100% sure about the black doily. The shape works, but I put too much gold on top of the black paint and now I'm not in love with it. 

Here are a couple of cards I made recently. I had a different pink strip to go across the first one, but lavishly applied adhesive to the wrong side of it.  Oh, well. The second one is inspired by an example by May Flaum -- I'm in her latest class at BPC -- anyone else taking it, too? 

 

 

My version of "project life"

I, too, was bitten by the "Project Life" bug -- it seems like everybody I "follow" in the scrapbooking world is doing it this year. I toyed with picking up the album, inserts, kit, etc., but at the time I was considering it, the page protectors that I found most desirable were sold out. I decided to go my own way (and, candidly, save some money.) I'm using an album I already had, and am reusing some 8.5 x 11 sheet protectors I had kicking around. I'm doing one page per week in a hybrid manner. I find that doing only one page per week means I have to pare down the pictures and journaling much more than if I was doing a two page spread each week, but I have a small family and a pretty routine existence, so I think this works! Honestly, the ease of just printing the page on cardstock each week, with no measuring, trimming, etc. insures that it remains fun and doable for me. I want this to be manageable and fun.