WOYWW 164

So how gorgeous is the weather??? Been waiting for this for so long, and it is utterly fabulous. We are on for 32 Celsius tomorrow !! Woop woop. Finally! So the stuff on my desk this week is me playing about with distress ink-putting it on and taking it off...as you do...

I was so torn yesterday afternoon. I was really keen to just lie in the sun after dropping off the sack of post to the post office.....but I was itching to play with some rubber stamps too.....so I gave myself 30 mins to see what I could do.

I haven't used my distress inks in ages, so I put several colours with CND foam onto an A4 piece of card. Then I spied a stencil nearby. I have no idea why I haven't tried this idea before...I'm sure you all have done this loads of times!!!! I put the stencil over the distress ink background, dabbed some cut n dry foam into a spritz of water, and tapped the water gently through the stencil. Of course, as you well know, distress ink kind of gets bleached off by water...so the water, through the stencil, looks like ink has been removed!!! LOVE THAT!! Why have I not done this before?

Then I dipped a large script into the water too, and stamped that to 'bleach' more ink away. You can see it on the yellow section above left.

I stamped the large...and it is large....collage stamp HP1216 (above) in a deep green permanent ink...it's a lovely ink...I bought it in Paris, never seen it here, but it's manufactured by Tsukineko for a French-based, Japanese owned stamp company...and heat set. The ink I think is probably a similar formula to versafine, an oil-based permanent.

Next i either removed ink with a wet paintbrush from the image, or I applied more distress with a wet paint brush to add deeper colour. You get the idea. Sometimes I removed, then put a different colour on top...

Anyway, it's a work in progress, I still have to layer it up, embellish it and so forth, but that is what is deffo on my desk ATM!

Oh yes, and this is on my desk too. A couple of weeks back I used a crackle glaze that looked from the outside to be more or less the same as our Freso Finish crackle glaze, however, apparently it has a 4 hour window of opportunity to apply your top coat. So that got me wondering if ours had a use-by time for the top coat. So I base-coated a small paper mâché board gold. Dried it. Put on the layer of crackle glaze, and set it to one side. That was probably 2-3 weeks ago. So today I applied black on top and voila. It cracked instantly, just like it usually does! Yay. I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't, so I was pretty glad and relieved to prove my theory correct.

If you get a chance to show us your desk, pop along to Julia's blog here, and make sure you link your post on her post...it's pretty easy, just follow the instructions

Hope you have a lovely week/weekend, and don't forget to watch the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on Friday night!!

Leandra

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WOYWW 159

I have had an utterly fabulous and totally chillaxed week so far! In fact make that almost 2 weeks.Last week we got caught up getting the back log of bits and bobs done by Friday after ArtsyCrafts the weekend before. So that meant with nothing pressing on the usually looooong 'to do' list....the weekend was mine!!

Saturday was spent mostly watching 3 international games of rugby-and they were amazing! 2 at home (watching and ironing), and the latter, late afternoon I watched in the local Irish pub with Mr PA. We then dropped into a Turkish restaurant in Brentwood, and had a nice bite to eat before heading home. Fab day!

Sunday, of course was Father's Day, so we did the cooked breakfast thing, and then somehow, I managed to get my 3 teen girls to sort out the pantry zones. Yes, no bribery, no payment, just an announcement from me that their time was required to sort my cupboards. I duly delegated, and then went off to clean the house. Courtney was armed with one of those labelling gizmos and bam! They were off, even Mr PA and Hugo emptied, defrosted and re-filled the freezer!!! I probably could have gone and had alie down and no-one would have noticed!!! Noooooo....of course I didn't...... but the net result is now everything has a place and a name! I think Morelos than I intended went in the bin bags than stayed on the shelves, but there were so many badly out of date items that needed hiffing, and I wasn't doing it so who cares!!!!! We topped that effort off with a 3 bird roast for the pa-bear's day dinner. Brilliant weekend, and boy it feels so good to be organised. I have been wanting to sort that stuff out for about 6 years!!!

Monday I went into London with Miss almost-18. She has been invited to go to Marbella with a friend's family for a week or 2 this summer, and so she has been working to save up for some time. Of course we only realised last week her passport expired on Friday, and lucky for her, she got a cancellation appointment at the passport renewal office for Monday morning. So off we went bright and early to be there by 7.45!!! Yes you read that right. So after dropping off the paperwork, we went to Bill's near Covent garden for a lovely breakfast, then we wandered around the new Gilly Hicks/Hollister, where she managed to find (of course) a pricey bikini or 2 for Marbs. {All she needs is the oompa loompa fake tan from Amy Childs salon up the road, some Scottie dog eyelashes and blinded up nails, and she will look the part no doubt} After all, she pretty much is a proper Essex girl these days! (rolls eyes)

So Tuesday was spent marvelling at how organised I am.....even got all the final AC stuff sorted with Lin..... Orders, a usual work day.....and i cooked dinner on time for the family. wow!

.....fast forward to today. Wednesday. Rubbish day. I was up nice and early, getting the last of the rubbish out, hanging washing out, and even ironing!!! The last time I was this organised I was probably in one of those pregnant nesting phases!!! {NO I AM NOT-Don't even go there!!!} I think the reality is that for the first time in several years I am not tired and struggling to get through a list a mile long!! Usually once one ArtsyCrafts is over we are immediately planning the next one, and we are not having a next one!! (see last blog post) Yay! Space! So I can actually think and plan other stuff! Great feeling!

So, to the point of this post.....WOYWW...... I decided that it was time to put the rest of the ArtsyCrafts bits and bobs away that had been dumped in my studio/storage-shed 10 days ago, and have a bit of a tidy up and stock take at the same time. And *that* she'd is where my desk is!!!

So you want to see the desk...well it started out the day looking like this

And now it looks like this

But the best part is I have finally managed to unpack the huge bag of stash I bought when Lin and I shopped at Version Scrap, Paris back in February!! So as you can see, the desk is now ready and waiting for me to play with lots of new stuff. I have a carillon ideas whiz zing about in my head...so I think I need to jot them all down before I forget them and then go and have a play day

But tonight, to continue with my perfect week, I have cracked open a nice New Zealand Chardonnay, the BBQ is on, the sun is out, and we are having a kiwi BBQ ...so this means an evening relaxing with him cooking, and me watching...and with not a lot on my to do list...for once...I cannot tell you how good this feels!!!!!

Sooooo...... I know I'm a tail end Charlie WOYWWer....... and an erratic one, but if you want to play along, go to julias's place, and let others know what your desk looks like....in an as round-a-bout manner as you wish!

Leandra

 

WOYWW 141

Someone's been using my desk to paint! And its not the usual kind of painting that's get done on my desk either!! We've been getting ready for another show. That will be 3 weekends in a row of events. Don't panic don't panic.....this is my mantra!! Lol. It'll all be fine on the day but we always seem to be doing things right till the last possible second to get ready. It's how we roll I guess.

I know the colour looks kind of pink in the tray, but it dries a lovely red. So we're are using it to touch up a few of the panels for the walls of the stand before the show.

I'm off to clear it up so I can finish off some other bits and bobs before the weekend is upon me!!

Don't panic don't panic.....

Don't forget to pop on over to Julia's to check out other peoples desks and to join in the fun !

 Look forward to seeing you next week when I'll be mega relaxed!!

WOYWW 140 - It was there last week...

My desk was here last week...I promise...but for now, all the demo boxes from being away at Bluewater are sitting on top of it waiting to be tidied up again ready for Sunday. Yes we have had the best part of the last 6 days away. But look....a whole heap of stuff dumped on my desk! Oh dear.

In 2 sleeps we are off again to set up for another event at Stevenage, so....my 'studio' has become the drop off point while racks are re-organised, re-stocked etc.

I'm hoping I can get the elves to return it to normality by this time next week! We shall see!! But if you take a look at my last post you will see that my work desk while at the show (and Lin's) was extremely productive, so I'm hoping that makes up for this little hiccough.!

Have a great week, and maybe we'll see some of you at Stevenage on Sunday. I do like a good crafting get together! In the meantime, pop on over to julias to check out woyww malarkey.

WOYWW 139 - nada, rien, diddly squat

Pinch and a punch and all that......ha got ya!! Coffee is kicking in!

It has been another week of late nights and early starts. My eyes feel dry, gritty, and probably require a good concealer to hide the bags underneath! However I did find time to squeeze in a bit of rusty play, and we had a good old matter on twitter this weekend with Kim Dellow about the Rusting Powder she has been playing with. See her post on last weeks WOYWW here. So a bunch of us is now know as the 'rustyartytarts' - there's a name to live up to!

So quicksmart I ordered the rusting powder, and I had a bit of a play on wood, paper, painted surfaces as you do. These have been waiting for me to turn into samples to have with me on our stand at the Craft show this weekend - but despite my best intentions, this is still how they look!

Have pretty much only had 1 day at work this week cos yesterday was spent loading up for the Hobbycrafts show this weekend at Bluewater in Kent. So I was thrilled on Sunday, when after a day of hard yakka with the PA elves and munchkins here at our world of rubberville, my work desk looked like this. Tadaaaaaaaaaa. Impressed!! You should be! It's HUGE!

That is a miracle. Fact. As you well know, my piles of rubber for trimming have been bottomless for many, many weeks! The feeling is bliss. And look at the purdy spanking new demo desk we have for the show! Well acsh this is Lin's, mine is red inside, hers is blue....apparently it's so MrPA knows which desk bit goes where...anyway....we have these cool sliding drawer things and everything! Very posh, and it will be splattered with paint in about 5 mins flat. hey ho...its a WORKdesk afterall! At least you've seen the before pic, I should show an after next week!!

Shortly we are off to set up the stand at Bluewater, its not far, only 40 minutes,however, that 40 minutes can be 3 hours if the M25 Dartford Crossing is in a dysfunctional mood . explanation:(M25 is the London ring road . the Dartford crossing is a poxy, traffic-congested toll-controlled bridge over the Thames - well bridge-over in one direction, tunnel-under in the other) . Once you get past that bit, if you make it to Bluewater Mall, we will be there for the next 4 days, and you can see whats on my work desk Thurs, Fri, sat and Sun in real life if you wish. Do say Hi! It's so awesome to meet online peeps in real life,so make sure you tell me your a WOYWWer too!!!  I am so looking forward to doing a show close to home for once! My own bed at night!!! Bliss

Thanks for all your lovely comments last week, I got around quite a lot of people. I try to do a few at breakfast, lunch and then late evening, so by the end of the week I reckon I've got around 30% of the desks of other people who participate in this challenge. I try to pick randomly - no logic to my visits what so ever! If you don't know what i am talking about where have you been?? WOYWW stands for 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday', the brainchild of the very witty, blogger extraordinaire, Julia D. Do go check her out...as she is officially 'proper' famous cos she's featured in this month's Craft Stamper Magazine! We all bow before her in awe and we adore her as our great leader on high. I am sure she has a throne in her craft room, and a sceptre and crown....and ermine mink collared velvet cape thingy.....well she does in my head anyway!

Come and play with us, its so much fun!

Leandra

WOYWW 138 - {neon} UTEE, hair and tan???

 Do you want to play along with other desk divas? They don't muck about! Pop on over to the Queen of desks, Julia's blog to see the rules. Share a few pics and visit the others playing this week, you're sure to be inspired, amazed and probably horrified at the desks on display. It's fun being proper nosey mid week!
This weekend, as you can see from my last post, it was brainstorming for 3 days with Lin to get the ArtsyCrafts ideas flowing.....but late Sunday evening Miss 17 arrived to create with her arty friend Lilly, and they were on a mega UTEE mission. Bissfully unaware that Lin and I had moved about 36 boxes to get to the meltpot box in the back bottom corner of the shed! Teeneagers huh. Raving about all things Suze, Courtney duly gave Lilly a crash course in UTEE fondue options.

So when I went out to the desk this morning...yes MY desk had been invaded by the overflow from her experimentation from her desk....
I think they have dipped fresh flowers, and wire wrapped them....but I can't be sure.....

 For me it's more mega rubber trimming this week, but I am really looking forward to deliveries arriving later this week with new goodies ready for the new show at Bluewater 'glow' exhibition arena....cracks me up that name.....I imagine I shall be demoing looking like a luminous beacon..... I live in towieville's own Brentwood, perhaps if I pop into Amy Childs salon I can get a neon styley fake tan that glows in the dark or something.....

Thump back to reality....we have paint bottling ahead of us too....that should keep me, the elves and Lynne (aka Cheryl/@bodgerbird) busy. I wonder what colour Cheryl's hair is now...we bunked work on Monday to go to the trade hair/nail supply warehouse.....she 'advised' me on professional colour options....is this wise to attempt pre-Bluewater .....maybe I will end up neon after all!!!

Watch this space!
Leandra

WOYWW 137

I wish it was a play day today because I have lots of ideas whizzing about for ArtsyCrafts that I want to explore, but that might be happening later in the week if everything goes according to plan.....for now this is a small bit of the lot that is on my production table to tackle today. Is it OK to show my work desk rather than my play desk???...., it is craft related...think of it as a top secret BTS (behind the scenes) sneaky peeky of my day job.... You can share your desk with other like minded, craftty, nosey people too if you want. Go to Julia's blog and follow the destructions. Its easy -spesh if you are nosey like me!! I love seeing how people organise their spaces...or not....so in these baskets...minis waiting to be packaged up to go in stock.
I have about 400 minis to do today, this is just the tip of the mini iceberg....

Ohhh heres the best bit....this week we have had a regular supply of baking from Miss Millie (age 13) who cooked up a storm over the weekend. Mary Berry's banana bread recipe (no failures here, unlike those slebs who don't know the diff between a t and T of baking powder!), and Gran's caramel slice...aka Millionaire's shortbread or its called 'sticky wicket' if you ar a northerner I hear. Whatevs, it's yum and calorifically off the scale!!! But we don't have it very often, so it's allowed!

This morning I'm working on orders to go out later today to craft shops in Belgium, Canada, France and the Netherlands. It's a never ending battle here to keep the hundreds of hooks as full as possible. I prefer it when we can pick, pack and ship in minutes. So we usually press and trim rubber nearly every day to keep hooks as full as possible....we do have elves to keep productive.....maybe I should try to get a pic of an elf one day for you to see!!

Piles of sheets of minis and stamps waiting to be trimmed peeled and stuck to their index sheets. I quite like these jobs. I find myself dreaming about all the things you could do with them....probably spend much of my day dreaming come to think of it! And in the distance, Hot Picks etc. I need to get cracking I think!
Keeping our PaperArtsy world fully stocked is the same challenge as having your house looking show-home perfect, your clothes washed and ironed and your fridge chokkka full on a daily basis. It's probably not achievable all the time is it!!!  Oh well...back to the dreaming then!

Still, it's all worth it when I get to wake up to this view every day...well on frosty winter days anyway!! Just snapped as the sun was coming up across Creaseys Farm yesterday morning. Always amazes me the number of trails in the sky from airplanes. We are pretty much under flight paths of Heathrow, Stanstead and London City airports. We don't really hear the planes as they are pretty high, but I always feel a niggling concern about those trails and the effect they have on the environment.
Have a great week!
Leandra

WOYWW 136 - waxing...but not what u think!

Full of good intentions to be more regular on here than last year! I actually have a desk, 2 even, this year (so no excuses now), and it's generally clear, ready and waiting.

Except today its covered with the remnants of the tag I made yesterday. I've been playing around with a new product that Lynne Perrella brought to our attention last year at ArtsyCrafts: Portfolio Oil Pastels. 

She has her own take on them - an amazing and very unusual technique using them as a printer might with lots of layers of colour swiped through hand made stencils of a photocopied image. And so I've been playing about with stamped images, different ways of colouring, melting and more. The first example I blogged yesterday, but will add more in the coming weeks. 

It's nice to go and make something just because. I enjoy that when my day job seems to have an endless list of far more pretty boring admin-related crafting tasks to be done. I must make sure I go back and tidy up that desk though. Just in case someone drops by!

So if your want to share your desk, pop on over to Julia's and add you name to the list, and check out lots of the other desks out there in the crafty world of blogging!
Have a great week
Leandra

WOYWW???? ... I {FOUND} IT !!!!

I should probably be utterly ashamed that for the last *whispers* (cough, mumble, not telling) years I have kind of lost my desk(s) in my studio and if I show you this piccie below you can see that it was actually quite a feat just to get your butt inside the door!

So this space realistically is not JUST a studio..technically it is also a storage space...but initially it WAS my studio...and then it got lost.....lost behind all the boxes...boxes for shows, boxes of class supplies, boxes of unused class kits, boxes of stock, boxes of stamps...boxes of stuff i really needed to sort out. It was driving me utterly bonkers, and I just couldn't find a minute to get stuck in.

On her shining horse came Jo Firth-Young to the rescue..(insert trumpets)and she spent days and days ordering around PaperArtsy elves, and drawing up plans....and co-ordinating what went where....and then left me to it to sort out the nitty gritty of what went where. It was fabulous to have another person to do this with, and we had a lot of laffs along the way.

As many of you know, we embarked on this process several weeks ago, and a skip load later and many many many more hours than I ever imagined it would take, finally we are done. The relief is enormous, and I LOVE my new space. So it does need some tweaking, but at this point, everything is in a box and on a shelf or in a cupnoard. I still need to arrange lots of artwork back on the wall etc to pretty it all up, but for now it is utterly FUNCTIONAL!

So do you wanna see??? Do ya????

 

Well here is the magnificence of it all! Look at all that floor! 

 And look, not ONE but TWO desks! I found TWO desks!! A bit greedy I admit..all clean and ready to play 

And here are some of the shelves with everything all in a place..now to be honest if you ask me to find..say buttons, or grungepaper...I may have a job finding it all...but I know its there somewhere...and all of the same thing in one place for a change!

 And this is what I call the homework zone..for munchkins...and it could also be the coffee/ lunch area!! Oh what the heck, it's an internet cafe!! Clearly you can see that!*squeals*

 Hidden behind the internet cafe is this storage zone...some of our boxes...more class supplies, excess stock

 And also some more cupboard for more stock

And it's just as well we got it ready because today *drum roll* Mrs Linda Brown herself is the first to play in MY STUDIO...many of you may remember I was first to play in her Studio a few weeks back, so it's only fair that I return the compliment. However, just between you and me, she has just texted that she has a whole car load of stuff to bring...I hope she's not going to come in and trash the place! Surely she knows I have everything a crafter could possibly need already!!

Regardless, if she does go into trash mode, I shall duly report back to you with an update....just so we're clear about who has to clean up their mess later OK?? So I have set up the tables all nice and pretty ready to roll after lunch when she gets here...and this is what my desks look like today! For those of you WOYWW fanatics who have been with me on this journey of tidiness, I salute you for getting to the end of this post!

I think this calls for that pimms get together to celebrate...currently taking signs up on twitter...everyone is bringing drinkies and nibbles....must go and check the calendar for a free day in between kiwi visitors...we have had 3 sets so far this summer BTW!

And don't forget to go see Julia's blog to share whats on your desk today and have a nosey around a whole lot more!

Leandra

WOYWW 111

Ohhh its number 111 WOYWW, and I realised I have 1111 followers on twitter today too!! 

So my desk is still somewhere in the white shed. And if you didn't see my post last week, to update you, the white shed is a portacabin that has been mainly used for storage in recent years, and my studio space went missing in there about 5 years ago.

After discussing the strategy with Jo Firth-Young for about 3 years, we have taken the plunge and started the big clean up.

We finally have all the furniture in the right places, and since then we have started to re-organise all the stock (non PaperArtsy stock) that we carry so that we have a much better idea of what we have, where it is and how many are in there.

My studio end is a much trickier kettle of fish. So many packets of so much stuff. At the moment, on the desk, floor and shelves are baskets and baskets of like-for-like items that are all being sorted so we can then find everything new homes and better storage.

So maybe next week you'll see the lost desk actually clear!

Have a great week, in the meantime, pop over to Julia's to see all the other desks on show this week!

Leandra

WOYWW - rubber rubber rubber

I know I have been AWOL, but if you look at the previous post you will see why. I refuse to feel guilty about it, because the truth is everything I have done in the last several weeks has been so totally TOP SECRET that I could not show you a thing! Or the post would have had to self destruct in 15 seconds or something.....!

Anyway, today I have mega work to do, and here it is...3 big piles of rubber to be put on foam, trimmed and sent to their final destination.....if you are nearby and fancy a quick lesson in machine trimming rubber, then pop over and I'll put my feet up and leave you to it.

And before you ask.....yes rubber can be grey...we don't normally use grey...but as our supplier has run out of red (again), we have to use grey until the red shipment arrives in the UK...we are told in days.....hopefully it will arrive cos I am nearly out of grey now too....

And NO the sodding white shed is not cleaned up and sorted out, so don't go asking about that either...bit of a sore point.... not entirely my fault....Miss Jo F-Y shot thru to the big apple for a vacation...and she was chief, self-appointed, shed-elf... 3 summers later and now I'm not sure I can even get the camera in the door to take a pic, but I will have to think up a subversive tactic to get her over here...maybe if i set a date that might help???

So as you can tell, very excited about the day ahead..... now where did i put that ipod....

Don't forget to see what the team are up to by going to Julia's place and practise your 'nosey' skills. Bet you're a natural, just like me.


Leandra

WWOMWW what {was} on my workdesk on Wednesday!

Missed out getting to the computer yesterday, you'll see why in a sec!

Wednesday morning Courtney's friend Ellie came over bravely trusting me to do her nails for the prom which is Friday evening. No I am not a beautician as well as a stamper, administrator, rubber-presser, mother, wife, teacher and all the other hats I wear...I just figured after more than 20 years of getting my nails done...well how hard can it be, so decided to give it a go!! And after practising for a few weeks on various teenage daughters, a few hints from Jo F-Y who IS trained at this lark...I think I am getting the hang of it.

This is what my desk looked like ready for Ellie's arrival. (Well acutuals its the outside garden table in the heat but under the shade of the brolley!)

Now you are going to be miffed cos I forgot to take a piccie of the finished result which we all thought was pretty good. In short French Manicure, pinkie nail art in blue to match her dress and small blue bling with clear coat on top. Very simple but nice for prom. (you'll have to picture that yourselves!)

So far so good.Off to work I plan to go.

Then Miss Corky decides she want "more" for her nails. So suddenly my fingers become the guinea pigs...initially x 5....

We mix clear or White acrylic powder with fine glitter, chunky glitter, and brainiac moment...mica powders!!! to make custom batches of acrylic for funky tips.{Remember we are in Essex, so this level of bling is totally acceptable, just probably not on a mother of 42!} 

So by 10.30pm my hands looked even more ridiculous with 10 potential options on offer! Remember I did do my right hand with my non dominant left hand, so not so bad for a beginner working with her left hand!

So now I have a pair of hands like this and a BBQ to go to tonight. And Corky still hasn't decided which blingy nails to go for!!

Today she gets the spray tan. Tomorrow Amy's mum Michelle drops of the hairclip to tuck into the back of the quiff(sp?)and we still have to practise the quiff and makeup and actually do those nails. Decided it's worse than a wedding - well worse than ours which was a very simple wedding on the beach in New Zealand.

Anyway. Mark was not overly impressed with my unscheduled 'pampering??' day off so I shall have to make up for it today! Drop by Julia's to see what everyone else got up to yesterday. Soz for being late!

Will blog prom pics on Saturday!