Friday smiles!

Hello my dear bloggy friends! 

Today I am joining in with the blog event that Wipso from A stitch in time has set up called Friday Smiles! I think I haven't participated yet - this will be my first time.....
Anyway I was looking through some photos of the past month. As some of you know me and my DBF went to visit my friend Jo from Jozart in Liverpool! We also went to a quilt shop where I had my quilt quilted . Of course they have a lovely shop there and girls wouldn't be girls if we wouldn't go and have a bit of look around the shop!
 The boys were very good - patiently waiting for us to come out (actually I think they had a little snooze he, he) Still ladies I don't recommend you leave your boys waiting too long because as you can see, one of the guys who had to wait a bit too long isn't looking very good! :-)!

Have a smile and a lovely day! 
Lots of hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, Paris........and life has to go on!

Good evening dear friends!

I am back after 2 weeks absence!  We had a lovely crop! I am sure everybody saw LLJ's post about it but if you didn't it is here. What a lovely gathering of friends! I have a few photos but really they are not as close as good as the ones Jan took! So have a look! 
Now I think nobody can avoid blogging about this past weekends horrible attacks in Paris! I didn't know about them until the following morning! And I was just sooo shocked! So many young lives lost! Oh I can not imagine all the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends grieving for their loved ones!
This evening BBC news showed a lovely message on facebook of a young man Antoine Leiris who lost his wife in the Bataclan Theatre attack saying: "I will not give you the gift of hating you" - food for thought!
I made a journal page about the Paris attacks .....a tribute to all 129 lives lost!

But as we all know life must go on........as much worrying this world is becoming! 
Soo.....I am starting with my desk as we do every Wednesday.....

I am making Christmas cards - I had a few days off having a bad cold but the production line is back in full force! The cold hasn't gone yet but my laid back ways have now made me panick - huh! 
Here are a few examples of my Christmas card attemps:

 
I did also make a couple of  birthday cards.... an autumn theme  as you can see....

and as last something I have been working on every evening watching television and sewing away - yes I am making a Christmas wreath out of Suffolk puffs! I just love how it is slowly coming together! It is not finished yet but I am getting there....I will have to think of some dangling bits now.....

Ok then - I think that is it for today, I want to stay up and do things but this cold wants me to go to bed - huh!
Lovely friends thank you for joining this lovely WOYWW group! You are such a lovely bunch! Peace and love to all of you!
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, It's all Halloween!

Good evening my dear friends!

I am late posting today! I am still busy making Halloween tags for the crop! It isn't an easy job for me as I am not into Halloween ( have I said that before?) and I am struggling with the ideas! I will show what I have come up with but first I will show my totally messy desk - actually I had to clean up a little bit to be able to do more work because it was just too messy!

Glues, scissors, Crop a dile, various markers and here are the 3 main distress inks I use for the Halloween tags - this years new colors are ideal - twisted citron, carved pumpkin and wilted violet!

Over the weekend my DBFs grandchildren were here and we did some crafting but for all of them I made little packages of treats.....

And here are some examples of the tags I am making for the crop....

and this one made with the stamp of our fellow WOYWWer Darcy - she now designs stamps for Paperartsy and this one was on the latest Craft Stamper.....

So there that is me done - I am really looking forward to the crop! It is always fun! I will take my quilt with me and try to get some ideas of how to finish it off! And well I will also chat a lot!!! He, he...:-)
Have a lovely week, get up to those Christmas cards after this Halloween nightmare is finally over!!!!!
Lots of hugs to all of you, the ones going to the crop - I will see you there!
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, Getting things ready for the crop!

Good morning my bloggy friends!

I am saying good morning but is it really? Very dark here today! It was lovely sunshine yesterday and this morning we wake up to this misery! Huh - I guess I haven't got used to English weather yet!
Ok then lets get up to some proper WOYWW business and show what is on my desk! Well I am getting ready for the Jan's and Julia's crop - they call it the WOYWW crop but really they do all the work so it is their crop! I am making halloween tags - I will be honest with you I am not really much into Halloween but it is a challenge and I like a challenge! So here is my desk with some of my Halloween tags! I bought a few stamps and other bits - spiders and stuff and well I hope the tags come out spooky! :-) By the way that heart doesn't have chocolate in it - just sequins! Wish there was chocolate!

I have also made a card using Brusho! As you know I went to the Happy Stampers Festival recently and I bought some Brusho crystal colors. I don't know many techniques so I just put water on some water color paper and then tapped my Brusho colors on top and watched the amazing effect! I die cut the leaves (Lil' inker dies) because the colors reminded me of autumn leaves! Used a bit of vellum, a lovely sentiment from Najlepši par, embossing powder,  some sequins and there you are a nice card for my 86 year old auntie!

On the quilting side of things I got back my quilt from the quilting place and it is really lovely - I have to bind it now and I will show it when it is finished! I have also joined a hand sewing quilting club - just to refresh my hand sewing skills! I have so many projects on the go, which you will hear about in due course!
  I will keep this short because last week was a really long post - he, he I don't want to upset our boss Julia :-) !
Have a lovely week! Last week I didn't get round to much of you but I will hopefully this week!
Lots of hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, Liverpool - lots if crafty pleasure!

Good morning lovely ladies and gentlemen (if there are any there)!

I hope you are having a good week, the weather doesn't seem to be too bad so that can usually cheer us all up! I have had another 2 lovely, busy weeks full of crafty indulging! 
So before I get on with telling you about all my crafty journeys here is a photo of my desk - taken just a few minutes ago! It is still quite dark so it is taken with light on! As you can see I am still taking over the table in the lounge where 95% of it is covered in crafty stuff and right at the end is my DBFs laptop - and if I put something on his 5% of the table he just says the word  "encrouching" which means I have to move my stuff off of his 5 % of the table....

 Now what you can see is all Halloween-ish stuff as I am preparing to make things for the crop which by the way I will be attending! No, I haven't told Julia or Jan yet but I will today! Halloween is not really my thing - I didn't even have any stamps to make these tags so I had to get out and buy a few bits! No, I haven't made anything yet but ideas are floating around in my head and hopefully I will make something soon - you will see what I make in due course!
The official WOYWW bit is over now so I can tell you about my crafty journey - as you know I went to visit my lovely friend Jo in Liverpool! The next day we went to the Happy stampers festival - oh what joy! I was in card making heaven! There was lots to see - not only new stamps but many demos. I have been to Ally Pally previous years which is really huge - this is a smaller event but still so big it is a real struggle to get round and see everything that is on offer! I must admit I bought a lot of stuff - I found some new stamping companies I didn't know before and of course there were some there that I know very well - like Paperartsy, Crafty Individuals... I knew about Lavinia stamps but I never bought any of their stamps - I have now :-)
Here are a few photos....Leandra from Paperartsy demoing....

Crafty Individuals stand.....

Lavinia stamps....

We met up with Pearshaped Chris and had a nice chat! Thank you Chris for finding us and taking time for a  chat!
Then came the busy time of finishing off my quilt! You see  the quilt was still in bits when I came to Jo...but with her help it was put together - the hardest bit was getting the center piece in - I think I couldn't have done it but Jo is a fantastic sewing expert and she did it - so here is a bit of the process....

And finally the finished quilt....I think it is really beautiful...I really enjoyed the process and I am so thankful that Jo encouraged me to do it! My daughter will be very happy!

It is a really big quilt! 84 X 84 inches square! When it was finally finished we took it to the Quilters trading post where it has been professionally quilted! It will be sent to me this week so hopefully by the end of the week I can start with the finishing act! Here is a photo of the place where they do the quilting - I have never seen this done before so it was very interesting....

All 3 layers of the quilt are stretched and sewn together! Amazing stuff...
Here I am all happy my quilt is being done....YIPEEEEEE!!!!

I have also been invited to Jo's Quilting club where I met these lovely ladies - thank you for having me for the day and letting me explore all your lovely quilting secrets.....

So there that was my Liverpool crafting journey....Thank you Jo and Dave  for a lovely time! Now all my travels are over I better get up to some work! Sorry to bother you with such a long post but there was really so much stuff going on! 
Have a lovely week and I will be around snooping on your desks!
Lots of hugs to all,
Cardarian

P.S. I still haven't made a single Christmas card! Huh!






 

WOYWW, back in England, a quilt show and HAPPY STAMPERS FESTIVAL !!!!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

I was away for 2 weeks as I was traveling over Europe back to England! I have put some photos on facebook along the way! The journey was smooth - not many problems on roads at all, just a few traffic jams here and there - most of them in Germany! This time we traveled through Innsbruck in Austria for a bit of change in the scenery! Then we went through a bit of Germany and then into France! France is a real pleasure to drive through! Not much traffic and never boring! Their streets and motorways are always full of these interesting things.....
Here is a little example....

And their trees in towns are never just put in the ground they have to be in a fancy pot.....

We stayed in this B&B and the front door was decorated with this........

So where ever you go you get some inspiration and ideas!

But of course I have gone a little bit off track we talk about WOYWW here so I better get up to that - this is what is on my desk - a card I made for a friend and will be sent off today....

I have to tell you that work on my quilting project has gone forward - I have made a 180 blocks and here they are all spread out with the center piece in the middle! I took this picture at home in Slovenia where my daughter and a friend helped put them all down and balance the colors! I am really proud I have got so far!

To boost my quilting enthusiasm I went to this lovely quilt show in the village Pluckley where the local quilters have shown their lovely quilts and also a very interesting exhibition of Canadian Red Cross quilts!

Here is a an over all picture of the village hall....

and here is what Canadian Red Cross quilts are about and a photo of one of the quilts made out of old pygamas......

 

The coming weekend will be all about crafting! I am going up to Liverpool to visit my lovely friend Jo from Jozart! On the Saturday we will be going to PORT SUNLIGHT to the HAPPY STAMPERS FESTIVAL!!

If any of you WOYWWers are going please come to the front door around 1pm for a little meeting! I would love to meet you there!

Then of course we will put together my quilt - the final act before it goes into quilting which I will have done professionaly as it is too big to be made by myself! I will also go with Jo to her quilting group! How much fun!

So there all the news I have and all I am doing is served to you on a ... blogpost!

I hope to see some of you at Port Sunlight, but if not I wish you all a lovely week! Enjoy crafting!

Lots of hugs to all,

CARDARIAN

P.S. I haven't made a single Christmas card yet how terrible is that???????

WOYWW, 3 workdesks and 3 cards!

Good morning my dear bloggy friends!

Another 2 weeks have past when I didn't appear on here! One reason was me and my DBF where both ill with a bad cold! How is that having a cold in summer? Well it was summer here still! Then we went to stay at my moms for a week ....Since I partly live in England I try to spend time with her when I am here - she is 81 and me now living so far away is not easy for her!
Anyway this is my last week in Slovenia, next week we are travelling back to England! I am a bit worried with all these borders closing because of the migrant crisis, but I guess we will have to put up with it if we want to get back! I feel sorry for these people but I think the EU should come to some solution and spread them out evenly, register them somehow and settle them in properly and humanly! I always think how would I feel if I had run for my life with my daughter when she was small! It is a horrible situation!
Ok then lets forget about all the horrible stuff around us for the moment and get up to what we always do on Wednesdays! Look and snoop around desks!
As you can see in the title of my blog I have three "workdesks" this week! Here is my first one, the one you see most Wednesdays.....

I am making a book for a friend - I should have finished it ages ago but there was so much stuff going on I just couldn't - I guess it will have to come back with me to England!
Next up my sewing desk! Very busy on that one as the making of the quilt for my daughter is in full swing!

So much to do and I only have a few more days! Pressure, pressure, pressure!
And here is my last "desk" - actually my garden that needed some work done to it.....

Now lets have a look at the cards I have made recently....Here is a card for a wedding, my brother went to a wedding and asked me to make a card for the newlyweds!

Then I made a cute card for my DBFs grandson.....a space - monster one! He absolutely loved it!

And the third card was for my 86 year old aunt who has the same name as I do so I send her a card for our nameday every year!

So thats my contribution to the nosing party! Enjoy your snooping and don't forget to link up tp our HQ at Stamping Ground where our captain Julia guides us every WOYWW!
Have a lovely week! I won't be here next week as I will be travelling over Europe trying to get to England but I will be back the week after to tell you how we got on!
Lots of hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, cards and sewing and goodies!

Good morning my dear bloggy friends!

I am back again can you believe it? Well I said I would be! I haven't responded to many of your comments but I hope I will get round to a lot of you today! 
How was your week? Did you have rubbish weather like we did? It wasn't cold - about 25 deg C but we had rain - still it looks like we will be back up to 28 - 30 deg C by tomorrow! That is about as much as I can take - the 38 - 40 does not suit me! :-)
Anyway moving on it is the desk and the crafty stuff you want to see (WOYWW!!!) so lets get right on the subject! I have been busy in all directions of craftiness this week! That is I made some cards and also did some sewing!
First up my desk....a messy desk...

and a desk full of goodies......

Not wanting to mention the C word but yes that is my first C purchase of this season . Huh! I guess I will have to start on those C cards.....
Next up a few things I have made this week... first up it was my daughters boyfriends birthday so I made a sort of  "man" card......

The background was made by using distress inks and stencils, then I used a few dies - I think they are both from Lil inker - my daughters boyfriend is an IT man so all that  "webbing" in the background seemed appropriate.
Next up another card for a friend - a young girl who used to work in the library with me....
Here I went more "happy" with the colors - I bought this Indigo Blue stamp called "ink splat butterfly" - love it! I paired it with butterfly dies and I think it is very useful....I also made a matching envelope...

No not finished yet.....I recently bought this lovely Janome sewing machine....what a joy......

I have been using it mostly for making the quilt for my daughter but a week or 2 ago one of my friends had a baby and I was thinking I could make something with my new sewing machine for her....So I made a little bag so she can put some of the baby stuff in it.....Jo from Jozart has shown me how to make various bags - I just made this one a bit bigger .....

I packed it full with cute little goodies.......

and sent it off with this card and matching envelope which I made using dies and stamps from Najlepši par - a Slovene company that makes lovely stuff!

You must be exhausted after all this reading and looking - I am, writing all this so I better say ta, ta for today...
Have a lovely week, enjoy making all your crafts and I will see you soon...
Lots of hugs to all of you....
Cardarian