Some snowy "art"

I have not been completely idle. Here is a new reverse canvas I made recently ...

I don't know why those snowflakes look unpainted. (They are. Maybe the lighting is weird.)

And here's a pretty birthday card I made the other day ...

with the stamp and die set I won a while ago. 

WOYWW and once again ...

a month has zoomed by! Where it went to I'll never know! Oh wait, there was more skiing involved - Spring Skiing, the second last week of the ski season, which officially closes this long weekend. And then comes the long ... hot ... Summer ... (sigh).
Nothing much has happened here. I'm still in Winter Knitting Mode ...

I started knitting this hand dyed and hand spun (local) merino wool, like so ...

It got unknitted and then reknitted as this* ...

So, it's blocking on the ironing board and that will be my workdesk for WOYWW.
Catch you soon, or as soon as I can get back into computerland.

* Oh, if you're interested, the pattern is called "Elevations"

 and can be found on the amazing Ravelry website.

------------------------------------------------

---Snow in Australia---

WOYWW sometime later

A good deal later, actually. And I'm still caught up in out-of-control "creative" disorder. If we're talking about "Serious Artistic Creations" ... well, not a great deal has happened lately. I seem to have fallen down a very deep Rabbit Hole of Winter Knitting. Anyway, that's ok, so let's play catch up with needles and wool, eh?

But first though, here's today's desk shot. Papers piled high, as per usual ...

Well, that's not terribly exciting, is it? A Happy Birthday tag (above), to go with a present, and a very recent birthday card for a friend ...

Here's some handmade, hand spun, locally produced wool. I keep forgetting that I don't actually enjoy knitting thick 'n' thin wool, but the soft merino and the pretty variegated colours keep distracting me.

I've been playing with the top one ... a lot. Still not happy with how it's knitting, but I've got more ideas!

And here's a sort of "Skinny Scarf, Shawl" that I made for a friend ...

There's plenty more woolly things for "show and tell" but I guess that's enough for now. This is more picture heavy than I normally leave you with, but who knows how long it'll be before I get back here again :)

Catching up with WOYWW friends over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

WOYWW pass me a ladder please

The month of June ... and I, fell into a black hole of lethargy and laziness. Maybe I can, and should, blame this sorry state of affairs on the lingering after-effects of early winter flu. So ... I have a few bits and pieces buried (see below) which will go into the post just as soon as I can unearth them, with many apologies. (From the look of this mess you could be excused for thinking this won't happen any time soon.)

Some details ... laceweight wool just arrived to feed my current knitting addiction. (Trying now to source appropriate beads to knit with it.) Just happened to be passing the "real" art shop yesterday and only came away with one watercolour pad. Very restrained, yes? And in between doing pretty much nothing, except making a mess, I've been making little bags of non-poisonous insect repellent which will hopefully replace moth balls.

I'll pop over and visit you, via Julia at her Stamping Ground over the next few days. 
Nothing happens fast around here.

WOYWW Eight Years ... and One Week

Happy Belated Anniversary!

Congratulations Julia for bringing together desks and friends from all over the world!!

Circumstances conspired to ensure that I missed the party last week. A serious bout of Aussie Autumnal flu has seen me completely out of action for weeks. However, last Wednesday, when I mustered up just enough energy to join the party, the necessary technology just wouldn't play nice! No internet connection ... none whatsoever!

I've got lots of recent "show and tell" which I think might have to wait, but for now, here's a little taste ...

I've missed the Anniversary PIF, (see above), but I have a little batch of ATCs which I'd love to swap if anyone has any spares! Just leave a message in the comments and I'll catch up with you shortly.

WOYWW Wanderlust Challenge

Wednesday's Workdesk comes to you courtesy of Julia over at The Stamping Ground  where every Wednesday you can catch up on what's happening on desks all over the world! And as usual, I have another Wanderlust 2017 monthly challenge to share with you. Of course, there's lots happening over at Wanderlust and I simply can't keep up with all the great lessons, but I make an effort to at least take part in the monthly challenge. This one was simple, in theory! Select four types of media, use them one after the other and then use all four again, in the same order. Sounds easy, right? Not so. I found myself overthinking the whole process, naturally. I used - 1. Mod Podge with paper serviettes, 2. spray mists, 3. archival ink pads with a few stamps and 4. acrylic paint. And then I used them all again. The second time around I used them all very sparingly but I'm happy with the result.

Here's a close-up ...

Hopefully, I will catch up with you, at your desk, over the next few days.

WOYWW total blackout ...

Torrential rain, thunder and lightning last Wednesday resulted in no power from 4pm to 4am. I'm tempted to give you last week's desk, on account of today's look like this ...

and that can't be of any interest to anyone, not even me. Ok, so I will give you last week's desk, which was definitely more exciting ...

Admittedly, I'm not actually doing anything here either, but at least you can admire a little bit of new stash, super bargains (60% off) from the bittersweet closing of the only local craft store.  Now, practically everything I "need" will have to come from online.

Here's the latest (unfinished) Wanderlust canvas. The yellow circles are removable because I'm not sure about any of that. What do you think?

Hope to catch up with your desk in the next few days. Let's all meet over at Julia's place.

WOYWW rainy days and Mondays ...

Well, it's Wednesday, but you get the picture, right? Relentless summer heat, now followed by (too much) rain every day. Which means blocked down pipes and unscheduled visits from the plumber. Oh well, the grass is growing nicely!

Anyway, this is what you came for ... and it will need to be a "2 pic panorama" to get the full effect :)

Working on last week's Wanderlust lesson by Alena Hennessey which was mainly using acrylic inks. Luckily, I just happened to have some :)  The background canvas (standing up) is waiting for some of those circle thingies to complete it. As yet, I am not satisfied with any arrangement of them :(  Alena just cut her circles with scissors. Fair enough, but I have these new CCDs just waiting to be used! And I felt like making perfect circles. So ... perfect! Anyway, I await further inspiration! Hopefully soon.

And if you'd like some inspiration, you can check out lots of arty/crafty desks courtesy of Julia's Stamping Ground a wonderful, worldwide, work desk wound round-up!

CCDs = cheap Chinese dies. SO cheap, I can't be bothered looking up how much they were for you. 

                 Just a couple of dollars. Really!

WOYWW - wheels keep turning

faster and faster, or so it seems!  And Wanderlust is my main creative distraction. There is so much happening there, not just fabulous guest teachers but all sorts of interesting art challenges, etc. You can check it out right here. (It's not too late to join and the videos are all downloadable!)

So, if I've been MIA, it's because I've been making art type stuff and it leaves little time for blogging. But, today I am making time to visit the lovely woywwers! The best world-wide desk round-up for the nosey curious :)  You can join in too! Just pop over and visit Julia at her Stamping Ground.

Early this morning ...

there was "nothing" to show, because I had tidied up!! Amazing, right? But you don't mind having a look at my latest purchases, do you? When the only nearby bricks and mortar craft shop is closing and everything is 40% off, well ... what can I say?

(That "designer" paper, the pale pink, red, etc, sells for about $3 a piece at a well known art shop! Here it was $1!) The Somerset Studios are old, but one is the Premier Edition and another features Australian arts and crafts! I've always wanted to get hold of this one :) (About $1.60 each!)

It's not just going to be stashed away. I have opened most of the packaging, and gessoed an "R"!  And then tidied up ... again! So, now I have a "real" desk to show you ...

I won some lovely stamps and matching dies a few weeks ago. See previous post for pretty pics!  (BTW, my Stampmaster is a winner!)
Over at Wanderlust, a recent challenge actually got me doing some "real" painting ... sort of :)

Oh, and here's something you've never seen before! My real, genuine, proper work desk ...

I was only inspired to show you, cos someone brought me some pretty flowers back from lunch, on account of it's "International Women's Day"! Fancy that!

Lovely new stamps and matching dies!

I think I've mentioned this before, but the new stamping trend to have matching stamps and dies, definitely meets with my approval! (And I only have just a couple so far.) Imagine my surprise when I won some, from the The Stencil Specialist, a nice blog that I came across recently. Aren't they gorgeous ...

The stamps and dies, from Stampendous, are a pleasure to use! So, I've made a few cards (so far), and I'm quite happy with them. I know, they're all sort of similar, but when I have an idea, I just need to run with it! There will be other ideas :)

Some close-ups :)

For what it's worth, here's a design tip - don't leave your vase floating in mid air, and don't cover the pretty flowers with the sentiment.

Wanderlust January Challenge

I thought I would take part in the January Challenge over at Wanderlust. (See side bar). The challenge was to look out your window and pick three colours (plus B & W), and use them to creatively describe January. Naturally, most of the entries, from the northern hemisphere involve Winter cold and snow and longing for Spring. Not so here down under! January (and now February), have brought nothing but extreme heat and humidity. Ah well, it is Summer, so it's to be expected, right? Yes, it is, but the heat has been of genuine heatwave proportions, with many days up around 47 C (118 F) and the major topic of conversation. Bring on Autumn.

So, my colours were bright blue, green and yellow. The sky really is that colour, and there's plenty of trees everywhere I look, but they are all a drab olive green at the moment. Ok, I don't actually see anything that's yellow, except sand at the beach (and I was there very recently), but there is something in the atmosphere which just feels yellow, (maybe it's the idea of the sun being portrayed as such, I don't know), but I just felt compelled to go with this feeling. Over everything though, is a "heat haze" phenomenon, which is actually visible. (It's most obvious where the horizon meets the sea and I've seen this quite often recently.) 

I slipped in a tiny bit of pink representing the only tree nearby (crepe myrtle), that I can see that's in flower at the moment. Very pretty! There's the odd wisp of clouds but they don't amount to much, (No rain, that is ... unfortunately.)

More info : acrylic paints on 300gsm watercolour paper, water soluble graphite pencil. 

Oh, and BTW, I'd rather draw faces than trees, and I'm not much good at faces, so these trees, or suggestions of trees, I should say, really stretched my artistic ability :)

WOYWW No. 400 a sneaky peeky desk

so called, because today you will only see peeks of stuff, which had to be ever so slightly arranged for this 400th occasion, or you would have seen nothing much of any interest ...

On the left, some super gorgeous Penny Black landscape stamps. On the right, some journal pages from the Wanderlust course (see side bar) and in the centre just the beginning of a challenge (also for Wanderlust).

Catch you over at Julia's to celebrate 400 weeks of WOYWW!

If you visited last week and I didn't manage to return your visit, it's because we are having a heatwave here and I barely have the energy to even press the "on" button for the computer. The weather is more acceptable today but there are predictions for more heatwave conditions in a few days time. Someone, please book me a flight to the northern hemisphere!

WOYWW it's time for a workdesk round-up

Any recent creativity has been directed via paints, inks and brushes, not words, hence the lack of a catchy title above. (I read a post on someone's blog recently, where they said they planned and wrote out their blog post, long hand, before actually going to the computer! Seriously, who has time for that?) So, short and sweet. I've been greatly enjoying Wanderlust 2017 (see side bar), and I expect any blog time I find will probably be mentioning said course.

Journal page on right is Week 3, from Wilna Furstenberg, at Wanderlust. It's not finished. It's waiting for some sort of text, but, as I mentioned above, I have nothing riveting to impart, at the moment. I have three art journals on the go, so there are many backgrounds waiting for inspiration, hence the pages on the left are also having something done to them :)

And, as promised, there is the January page from Sandra's calendar too. I think all the overhead lighting (eight strong down lights), has washed out the colour a bit. Hmm. 

Oh, and here's Week 2 (Wanderlust). A lesson from Mary Wangerin ...

There are a few layers here. Without going into the details, I'll just say that this was an exercise in not over thinking. It caused a degree of angst.

To join in with this worldwide desk sharing phenomena, pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground.  I'll catch you soon, but probably not tomorrow, because it's Australia Day and in the traditional Australian manner, I shall be seriously relaxing :)

Wanderlust 2017 "Focus"

The first lesson for Wanderlust 2017 (see side bar), was about "making a statement", something to keep in mind for our creative (and other?) endeavours for the year. Many have chosen themes such as "be brave" and "adventure" and similar. This doesn't quite work for me. Being brave suggests facing hazards or dangers or the unknown. I suppose a year long course could be considered an adventure. It just seems a bit vague and that could be the problem. Some serious ideas, which seemed appropriate, came to mind ... much concentration, patience and perseverance is required (on my part). However, I think this can all be distilled into one simple word ... focus.

Using just a few supplies, acrylics, gesso, stencil and images (my photos) ...

It was suggested that the images could be your favourite places. And they are. (From the coast to the mountains.)

woyww three hundred and ... ?

or No.1 (at least here on this space) for 2017.

So, hello and welcome to 2017! What's been happening? A flurry of activity? Or a little rest and relaxation? Actually, a bit of both, but today I have the first WOYWW desk of the year ...

Ok, so it doesn't look too exciting, but I am excited because it is the start of the first class on Wanderlust 2017 which promises to be just as good (if not better) than last year, with a fabulous line-up of teachers and techniques. (It's not too late to join.)

You might like to see some pretty things, right? Rewind to Christmas. It was only a couple of weeks ago, after all.

A lovely, glittery, snowy card from my lovely friend in the cold country! And two fabulous embossing folders both with a snowflake and snow scene theme! Perfect!

And ... look here ...

Regular woywwers will no doubt recognise the lovely watercolour - a limited edition calendar of Sandra's paintings! (Maybe I could show you one page each month?) And some very gorgeous, almost vintage, decorative braids etc, also from Sandra. Aren't they beautiful!

Ok, just one more. (Because I don't like scrolling through dozens of photos and maybe you don't either.) New Stash and we all like to see New Stash, don't we ...

The Sizzix dies have been on my hit list for ages and eventually I came across them at very good prices (here in Oz!) and a few more CCDs! I feel a die cutting session coming on :)

Have a good Woyww! Have a good week! Catch you soon! 


Note: CCDs = cheap Chinese dies. 
Enabling by: both the Shaz's, you know who they are -  Shazsilverwolf and Shaz in Oz

WOYWW clown canvas

No, the circus hasn't come to town. Not that I know of, anyway. (And if it did, I certainly haven't got time to go.) 
I took a quick pic this morning, just in case I had time to visit with all the lovely people over at WOYWW. So here I am. Yes, I know, what I really should be doing is sorting out all that chaos, which is barely hidden, as you can see. 
Now that Wanderlust has more or less finished for the year I feel the need to keep "creating". Hence the ugly, speckledy, clownish coloured blobs on those canvasses. 

Disclaimer : I've only just started them. They are nowhere near finished. They will look completely different when finished. Just wait and see :)

The messy page on the left is being used for wiping up leftover paint. And the two bottles are being painted with copper metallic paint on their way to being repurposed :)

What's on your desk? Hopefully, we can catch up in the next few days.

Recycled Oversprays ...

... turned into journals! The last guest tutorial over at Wanderlust was by Joanna Grant who had some great ideas about recycling various types of paper and card. So much inspiration that I just had to dive into my collection of A3 papers which I have used for a long time now as backing sheets when I use various sprays (mainly Glimmermist, because I can't resist those sparkly colours!) I just keep turning them around and catching more overspray. It doesn't matter what colours I'm using. Often these waste papers look better than whatever I was actually making :) Anyway, I finally got to put them to good use, along with a collection of smaller "shaving cream" backgrounds which were all experimental at the time and naturally, I just filed them away, with no purpose in mind.

Anyway, here's a few lot of pics ...  enjoy ...

That's the larger journal above. The pages keep folding out, getting smaller as you go.
There's about 22 pages in all.

The little journal (above) started out with the intention of being an accordion-fold booklet, but I just had to put a cover on it, didn't I? The closure is made from lingerie elastic, in case you wondered :)  And the pages are connected using ...

... washi tape, (Scotch) tape, and a "silk" tape 

(from the first aid section of the el cheapo shop!)