In a WORD, or two, or three...

....it's finished.  The word book sample that is.

Thought that ribbons down the side didn't fit with the grungy theme so added a bit of broken jewellery chain and a Tim H safety pin thingy and round letter wotsit (techy terms).

Here are the other pages.

Not as pleased with the final page, bit bland to my eye but overall I'm happy, not grumpy or dozy so that cant be sneezy(d) at  and dwarfs it all (sorry).

Off to the library to return a quilting book before I forget and owe them £5,000 for late return.  It used to be a penny per book in the good old days but seems like they charge moneylender's rates today.  Then home to start on my sister's birthday card. only 5 days to go now so better get my thinking cap on.

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Another, week, another Wednesday and another mucky desk on show.

 Please snoop round as much as you like - no peeping under my table as that is where an even bigger mess is hiding - and then head over to Julia's place to continue  round the desks of other WOYWWers.

Lots and lots of stamps this week as I have been working on yet another sample of a WORD book.  This one uses heavier card and was a bit of a *****! to cut out.  The outside of the letters were OK but I tried to cut the apertures as well - wont be doing that again in a hurry.

It's a very grungy version as I used scrapbook papers and some very, very old pages from a catalogue on the spine edges, so old they were crumbling as I tore them but they look good.  I finished stamping the pages but they need a few embellishments (nibs etc) before I bind it.

The big 'M' to the right of the Really Useful box is ready to be decorated for my big sister's birthday next week.  So do I paint and stamp, or cover with scrapbook paper (I have some very pretty Graphic 45 put by) - will depend on the time available once I make up my mind and get down to it.

The stamps are just a selection of my 'background and misc' box, words and phrases (in the folder) and various newish one on the right - I just love rubber.

Will share the WORD book when finished.

...and the word is - Japan

Just finished the sample Word book I'm making for Vicky Stampers, our local craft group, and here it is...

Pages inked with Distress inks and letters cut from washi paper.  I have loads of this because Andy's cousin is married a Japanese girl (he teaches over there) and she is very generous with her gifts.  So generous in fact that I got a parcel before Christmas - a Kimono and an Obi (the belt).

Here are the individual pages.

Not too keen on the front one, my favourite is the blue 'P' with the floral masked background and the white cherry blossom stamp (white 'Inksentials pen).  Good job Blogger doesn't have all round vision as the backs of the pages are an inky mess - well it is only a sample.

And if you thought my desk was messy each Wednesday here it is before I tidied up (honest, it's pristine now).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  We planned a trip to Bristol to see StepD and family but the forecast snow put paid to that, again, maybe next time we will make it.

Friday smile

Every Friday Annie, aka Wipso, hosts a happy blog hop and this week I'm joining in.

Yesterday I went to the Hobbycraft and Stiching show in Manchester which was the first time for me.  As well as the tempting treasures on sale, some of which ended up in my bag of course, there were a number of exhibitions including a massive knitted work of art by designer Alison Murrae titled 'Above and Below theWaves.  A tunnel you could walk through full of the most beautiful and inventive knits - jellyfish, mermaids, sandcastles etc etc.  Out side was covered with knitted items as well and i managed(with my wonky camera) to take a couple of photos.

Pirates amid the knitted strips.

and this enormous sea-monster.  Wouldn't like to meet him when paddling at the seaside.

Another smile was the one on my face as I bumped into, literally, a couple of WOYWWers.  Had already met Jozart as I walked through the door with some more ladies and she told me AnneR and Lynn Holland were also there amid the hundreds of other crafters.  An hour or so later I was looking at a stall and saw this beautiful felted bag hanging from the shoulder of a complete stranger.  Couldn't resist telling her 'I love your bag' to find she stared straight into my face for several seconds before saying 'Is it Ann?' and I replied 'Is it Lynne?'  Answers 'Yes' on both accounts/  What a coincidence was that.  Met up later for a chat and to meet AnneR for the first time, and for a show and tell session which of course sent me back to the £1 stall when I saw some of the bargains AnneR had in her bag.

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My desk as of late Tuesday afternoon, taken in the reflected light from the snow outside my window - enough now please, even Sorrel has had enough, she was shivering when I took her out for her walk yesterday morning.

I've been preparing for the next Vicky Stampers meeting in March when I'm doing a 'WORD' book.  This will be the first workshop I've delivered so I'm starting my prep early so I don't mess up.  I didn't have a 4inch letter stencil so used WordArt to creates the alphabet and spent yesterday afternoon cutting out the letters so I can use them as stencils.  Have started a sample piece (Japan) and just about to get inky.

To the right is the concertina card Carol showed us at last weekend' club meeting - butterflies, again, love them.  The card is decorated using the seragraph technique and chalk inks and gives a very pretty effect.  You can find out how to do this over at Splitcoast Stampers  where, if you didn't know, there are tons of brilliant tutorials.

One of the tutorials uses alcohol inks over embossed images on glossy card then a piece of plain card (uncoated) rather than the usual paper to iron off the EP.  Wasn't keen on the AI's piece, bit vivid for me, but I loved the negative it gave on the plain card (bottom left). closer look here.

Better stop before you get bored but I want to share the bag I made to go with the LillyBo quilt.  I passed the quilt on to Jozart on Saturday at our club meet but I hadn't started the bag.  Finished yesterday and ready to go postal but the PO is busy on Tuesday (all the pensioners drawing out their money - says she who gets hers paid into the bank) so it will have to wait for a snowless morning.  Anyway, enough rambling, here it is.

If you missed the quilt it is on my previous post here.

Plans for Wednesday?  Why blog-hopping of course, starting with the person responsible for my big bum - Julia over at Stamping Ground, well she does encourage me to spend a lot of time sitting on it.

My first quilt....ever.

Quite a challenge for me as I don't do much sewing these days and I dithered about too much thinking of the 'what', and 'how' but once I dove in I was OK.  Cut on Wednesday and layed it out on the bed to sort out the pattern, sewed the front panel yesterday, including the applique flower fairies, cut the backing and sewed the edges this afternoon and here it is.

This is a close-up of the centre.

All those from one fat quarter, and I have some left to trim the bag.  That's the next task and I'm going to keep it as simple as possible.

Was hoping I could get it finished today so that I could take it to Jo tomorrow at our monthly craft club but I can't see that happening, unless those pixies who helped the tailor of Gloucester pop in overnight.

The quilt is a LillyBo quilt, made with love, and a bit of backache, to help provide a bit of comfort and a quilty cuddle to a sick child.  If you want to know more pop over to JoZart's LillyBo blog 

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January is almost over, roll on the spring, daffodils, crocus (or crocii if we are being pedantic), gentle warming sunshine and bright blue skies.  I live in hope anyway, and in the meantime, and in the rain, I can craft away at my desk.  Here it is when the light wasn't too bad Tuesday afternoon.

Worked on my art journal yesterday and made my own 'rainbow' (see previous post for a closer look) so that's on there, as is the pile of fat quarters I bought on Monday ready to start on the quilt I'm about to make (my first ever) for the charity JoZart blogged about on her LillyBo blog.  I'm dithering a bot about what to do - if you think steeling yourself up ready for cutting into a pretty piece of paper is hard how do you think I feel about getting the scissors going on this pile?  There is some more fabric on the chair, including a very, very pretty piece.  I'm not sharing with you yet - want to keep the surprise until I finish the quilt, if I ever get it started.

Also in sight, two new stencils and a couple of sheets of Graphic 45 paper (you have to take my word for that as the sun (???) is glaring of a plastic bag so you can't see it.  What you can see is the beautiful paper bag the shop put the paper in, that's it at the top left under my paint storage box, all leaves and autumnal colours - saving that.

That's all for this week but if you want to have a look at my finished iPad case that featured on earlier desks then pop over to this post.

Then pop over to Julia's place to join in the fun, it's Wednesday so make yourself a drink, pull up a chair and get snooping.