WOYWW, Cards, cards and more cards!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

I missed out on last weeks action - guess why? Forgot it was Wednesday! The weeks just turn around sooo quick I simply can't keep up with what day it is! And as I am now retired and don't go to work it really doesn't matter except if I want to do WOYWW! So that is my excuse for last week! Back now and in full swing making cards! The mojo is up and down but I am cracking on....so here is my desk!

What you see there in the middle is a background I have just made for a card. Then there is my brand new PINK ATG gun! I have one at home in Slovenia but I decided to buy one here because I got fed up with messing about with double sided tape! Still I was messing about for an hour to load the tape into the ATG gun! Grrrrrr! At home I never had a problem but here I just couldn't get it right! Anyway it is now in use and okay! Behind the gun there is a pile of cards I have made! Still have to make around 30! And ATCs for the crop and well I would like to sew some decorations for Christmas! I see all sorts of ideas on blogs and pinterest but I just can't decide! 
Here are a few cards I have made recently.
Christmas cards first as tis' the season........ 

2 birthday cards.....

an last a sympathy card...

That is all I will show you for today! I am late posting as I was watching the gripping series Missing! Oh I wish they would show the whole series in one go - it is painful to wait a whole week to see the next episode!!! Huh! 
My dear friends have a lovely week, keep crafting and I will see you when I come to snoop around your blogs! And some of you I will see very soon at the crop - looking forward to that!!! 
Lots of hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW on Thursday! My first Christmas cards!

Hello my dear friends!

I am late, very, very late! Coming on WOYWW on Thursday instead of Wednesday???? So sorry but yesterday we had a busy day and come the evening I was so tired I just couldn't do the post! But I am here now and will link up if I still can!
My desk has finally come into the Christmas spirit! I was happy to start on the cards - it was hard at first as my mind was completely blank but eventually I got into the mood! I only have 50 more cards to make so hopefully the momentum carries on for a while....:-)

To start with 2 blue - snowy ones........

Crafty individuals lovely London Christmas stamp....

Background stamp is Hero Arts, snowflake is Simon Says Stamp die!
This is a religious one I made with one of the stamps I inherited from my friend Jo..... 

And this last one is a bit modern - background is a My Favorite Things stamp and the tree is a Papertray ink die!

Thats all folks for today - I will try to come round more this week - I have been a bit busy these last 2 weeks but by the end of the week all my busy times will be over!
Have a lovely week and see you as I snoop around your desk!
Lots of hugs,
CARDARIAN

Friday smiles with my daughter!

Hello and good morning to my bloggy friends!

I don't usually participate in Annie's Friday Smiles but I have some lovely smiles to share! Recently my daughter has been here visiting with her boyfriend! We had a lovely time - went up to Liverpool to see my friend Jo and after that they stayed with us her in Kent for a few days! Every morning when I turn on my computer I have a look at the photos we have taken and it puts a smile on my face so I thought this would be great to share on Annie's Friday Smiles!
This is my lovely daughter - she has recently finished her university studies and is a professor of Spanish language and History of Art! I am very proud!

Here she is with her boyfriend who is a really nice man very kind and always prepared to help....

We stayed at Jo's and had a lovely time - the young ones absolutely loved it in Liverpool so we will probably go back again if Jo will have us...:-)

We also met up with my partners daughters and family - we had a really nice time - it was the first time they have met....we had dinner in a restaurant and also took a big family photo outside - everybody was supposed to pull a face on that one...:-)

This is a selfie we took before they left and my daughter's boyfriend managed to get us all in even Alan - my partner who was sitting in the back....

So there - these are my lovely memories and they make me smile every time I look at them! I hope you will enjoy them too!
Have a lovely weekend and don't forget to smile! 
Lots of hugs,
Cardarian

WOYWW, a tidy desk sort of !

My dear bloggy friends!

Sorry I haven't visited many of you last week - we were busy cleaning the house and trying to sort out various things - not that we are very successful ! Our boiler isn't working so I am having cold showers! BRRRR! Can't get a plumber! The garden is in a big mess - everything overgrown - we can't get a gardener! We wanted to buy a new matress - that hasn't happened yet ! So although we are phoning up people going to shops and trying to sort things out nothing seems to happen! Huh so frustrating!
Still on the crafty side of things I have done quite a bit! Not actually making much stuff - just cleaning stamps! 
Here is a box full of mostly rubber cling stamps that are clean and sorted by theme in these plastic pochets.....

This basket is full of clean wood mounted stamps....

They are all clean and ready to use - at the moment they are in plastic bags sorted by whatever they are backgrounds, floral, faces, words.... I would like to put them on display but at the moment I have no space to do that so I am thinking...there will have to be another change in my craft room but I am not sure what to do yet! We shall see!
I have stopped doing the stamp cleaning for a while as other things are pressing! My desk looks a bit more tidy!

 
I haven't made anything for a while so I thought I would start with some ATCs to start me off - I should be doing Christmas cards like mad - I need to make 55 as I counted this morning and I haven't made 1 yet! Really worried but I guess once I start I will just carry on! 
So there that is me - a bit of a boring desk but hopefully next week I will be able to wow you with lots of stuff!
 Are you ladies watching the Great British Bake Off? So sad Selasi left - he was my favourite! Still what do you think who will win? We will find out tonight! 
Have a lovely week I will try to come round to you this week - last week was just too busy! Thank you to all that have kindly commented on my blog!
Lots of hugs to all of you!
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, more mess on my desk and 2 cards

Hello my dear friends!

I am a bit late coming on here - we have been out looking for a matress! Need a new one and ohh what a job! You go round shops laying on beds and thinking is this one softer or harder then the other one! Can't decide! And some shops have about 60 beds to try out! If you could have a sleep on there that would be ok! But you can't you just have to go from one to the other!!Huh! I hope we decide soon I am fed up with beds!!!!
Ok then I had my moan so  now  lets get up to serious WOYWW business! I have been in my craft room many hours this week but not doing any lovely crafty work - well I made 2 cards but most of the time I have been - you guessed - cleaning stamps! I am actually becoming really good at it - some of the stamps are being returned to their former glory!!! What is really bad is I haven't worked out a system of how to store them yet so they are piled on my desk with all the rest of the stuff I have been using this week sooo there is a biiiiig mess on there....have a look!

Carnige! And I had such a lovely clean and tidy new craft room! Look at it now!!!! OHHHHHHH!
Still it will be tidy again soon ! I hope!
Here are my two cards I managed to make - both birthday cards! These are not made with the stamps I am cleaning - they are Carabelle Studio stamps which I absolutely love! So modern! Lovely!

So there that is it from me! Have a lovely week! Have fun, stamp and craft!
Lots of hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW - A blogging break down, but I am back again!

Hello dear bloggy friends!

I have been away for a very long time! Lots of things were the reason - I think I had a blogging break down!
It was the Brexit vote that hit me hard and then it was other things and somehow I just couldn't get up to blogging! I did try - many Wednesday mornings I sat down to write something for the WOYWW post but I just couldn't do it! We also went back to Slovenia and it was busy times there and now we are finally back and I think I can start again! My daughter and her boyfriend has been here with us for two weeks which has made me really happy! They will be leaving tomorrow but I hope they will come again soon!
Even though I didn't blog I did do my crafts! I have made lots of cards, even did some art journaling and of course ATCs which seem to be my favourite lately!
Anyway it is Wednesday and the first thing to do is to show what you have on your desk! Bare with me for a little explanation... Last week we spent a few days with my lovely friend Jo and her husband Dave in Liverpool! She has given up making cards and stamping and is now more interested in sewing and making quilts! So I inherited a huge amount of stamps that she has been collecting over the years! They are lovely stamps - some brand new but lots of them lovely but very, very dirty! Anybody who knows me knows I am not one for dirty stamps so I now have this big task of cleaning all the dirty ones. I bought various stamp cleaners but as my dear friend Jo recommended Oil of Olbas is the best for the job! And it does work miraculasly! So here is the pile I have already managed to clean....

This is how the oil works....here is a before cleaning picture...

and this is  after cleaning.....

I still have a lot to do -  a big Boots bag full and also a big box of stamps that still need to be done! And there is another box that was left in Liverpool that I will get later as I couldn't get everything in the car! It is a privilege to have been given all these stamps and I am ever so grateful - I think I will never have to buy another stamp in my life! Or will I???? :-) 
Here is a couple of my recent cards...

a wedding card....

A card and a present  for my daughters boyfriend...

and another 2 birthday cards.....

So there that is me done for today! I am now back in blogging mood so you will see more of my blog posts! In fact the next one will be tomorrow about my daughter visiting England!
A big virtual hug to all of you, have a lovely day and keeeeep craftiiiiiing!
Cardarian
P. S. Don't forget to link up to our WOYWW HQ - Stamping Ground where our queen Julia resides!

What? 7 years? Huh! We have done well! Congrats to everybody on WOYWW!!!!!

My dear WOYWW friends! 

What a lovely anniversary! Thank you a million times to Julia who started this lovely thing - it initially started as just a desk surfing nosing around thing but turned into this amazing friendship and supportive gathering! Yes we still show our desks, yes we still nose around, look and admire each others work but we also listen to each others problems and support each other! Lets send a lot of positive energy to Julia our Queen who needs our support now! And lets say a big thank you to our stand in lovely host Jan! 
It seems appropriate  that my new craft room was finished just around the 7 year WOYWW festival! I have added new things since my last post - I keep on improving and tweeking trying to make the room as practical as possible...
So here is my desk......

I have been making ATCs to mark this occasion but I am not showing them as I did on the last post but it seems lots of other ladies kept them secret so I am doing that this time too! I will show you a card I made for my 82 year old auntie!

My new IKEA cupboard - it doesn't look big but it certainly takes a lot of stuff - all my cling and clear stamps have a new home in there.....

Buttons and washi tape in my jars.....

Here are my sprays, and all sorts of coloring mediums....

I will show more of the organisation of my stash in my next post - I don't want to keep you busy nosing too long as it is a special day and we need to visit each other on a massive scale!
My last photo is my little mate - it is a stray cat - she comes and goes but seems to have taken to our garden and as she had her meal I left out for her, I took a picture - she happily posed! Unfortunately you can't get close to her as she runs away......

Have a happy WOYWW 7 anniversary, keep on crafting, keep on posting when you can and thank you to everyone who visits my blog and comments - I try to get back to you but many times fail to do so...sorry I will try to get better! Many thanks again to our lovely Julia who started this madness - oh what fun it is!
Lots of love and hugs to all of you
CARDARIAN 
P.S. If you want an ATC leave a comment on my blog and I will contact you to ask you where you want it sent! I have made many extra ones so there is a lot to go around!

WOYWW, I am back with a new craft room and a pension! YIPEE!

Hello my lovely friends!

Sorry I have been away for such a long time - I have been at home in Slovenia to sort out my pension and from yesterday onwards I am a pensioner! YIPEEE! The other thing was we were doing up this room that used to be my DBFs office which he doesn't use anymore and it is now changed into my lovely new craftroom! The painting was done by my DBF, his daughter and her boyfriend where as the old cupboards which I wanted to use as they had good storage space, was painted by my DBF - ha, ha I just did the knobs - as you can see they are a pink and carribean blue color - one of my favourites! It took me a long time to sort out my stash as I got a lot of it from my friend Jo (Jozart) and also when you don't have a proper craft room stuff is all over the place in boxes and bags, so I had to sort everything out! 
I have now put it all in order and I am really happy with my new room! I am most happy as it is so light! It makes such a difference when your eyes are aging! I never thought of it before but it does make a difference!
So I will first show my desk - it is the first order of business on WOYWW so here we go!

What you can see there is all the most useful crafters tools and a few ATCs - I haven't been doing much crafting what with all the work kitting out the room, so I thought I should start small and what better to start with then an ATC! Here is a close up....

It is funny how things inspire you - the space ATC was inspired by something I heard on the radio about Tim Peake ( the UK space man) - I used the new Infusions from Paperartsy to make the background - they are very similar to Brushos just that the colors are not as vibrant, as they supposedly have some walnut oil in them and that makes them have a brown tinge. The houses are an Artistic Stamper stamp set which I love and sadly the fires in Canada inspired that one! For the other two the backgrounds where what started me off and then I just looked for things to go with them!
Oh yes here is another rather practical thing....

The people out there that wear glasses for reading must know how many times you put your glasses on the desk and you cover them with something and then spend ages looking for them although they are somewhere right in front of you! Well let me introduce you to the "nose glass holder" soooo practical! You can buy them in Tiger (3 pounds) and they are worth every penny!
That was my desk....and now let me show you my new room! Some of you have seen it on Facebook but the ones who didn't here it is.....

It is not perfect yet there will be a few new items after I have been to Ikea but not much change! I am very happy with it - it is spacious and light and all my bits and pieces are where I want them to be! I will open the the cupboards next week and show you what is behind those colorful knobs! :-)
Have a lovely week and thank you for stopping by!
Lots of hugs to all
CARDARIAN

WOYWW 355, A few cards and better health !

Hello my dear friends!

How are you today? I hope you are well and happy! I am finally over the cold but still fighting the cough! It is weird - I might not cough for a whole day but then I burst into this killer cough that leaves me well exhausted!Oh well what can you do?
Yesterdays horrible things going on in Belgium have made me really sad! Is this really what we will have to face every few months?? Is this the way of our life now? Will we ever have peaceful life and our Christian culture back? Sometimes I think that is gone forever! I can't imagine how our children and grand children and all the generations after will live! Lets hope there will be some change. Something that will eradicate this evil!
Anyway back to normal life - I have not done much but I have made a few last cards for Easter which I will show but first here is my desk!

This is my desk from another angle....in the front here you can see a little pile of Clearly besotted and Artistic Stamper stamps which I have recently used - washi tapes little jars with various crafty stuff a mug with water for water coloring  and lots of pens, markers,brushes, double sided tapes, scissors and my mobile....that is my not very interesting desk for today....
And here are my cards....This one is just a distress ink background and some reverse confetti dies - the sentiment is from the Slovene company that makes dies and stamps NAJLEPŠI PAR!

This next one is made with brushos...I love the richness of them and how they burst out...really fascinating...The dies I used are Memory box and Lil' inker.....

And then this last one I have stamped this Clearly Besotted stamp in black for the background and then I colored the stamp image as my focal point! I also used the egg die and sentiment from Lil' Inker...

So there 3 different cards with 3 different techniques! I never make two cards exactly the same! 
So there my dear friends! That is my contribution to the Stamping Ground WOYWW!
Have a lovely Easter 
Love and hugs to all of you!
CARDARIAN

WOYWW 354, A cold, Easter cards and a birthday card!

My dear friends!

How are you? I hope you are all ok, we all heard about Julia - our Queen and we wish her all well. May she soon have the operation and a quick and good recovery! Julia I am thinking of you!
I myself must apologise to everybody who has commented on my blog last week - I have been fighting a really bad cold which I just can't shake off! I thought this time I will take a photo of my awful self!

Of course there isn't much to show this week - my desk is more or less a dumping place for everything!
Here are a few photos....

Luckily I have a few Easter cards I made last week that I haven't shown yet so here is some for you...

I really like this one - just a little bit of water coloring and a nice die cut egg from Memory Box...a layered a few die cuts so it looks thicker...

Here is a spring -ish one....

and another one....

 
 And here is a birthday card I made for my DBFs granddaughter.....

That's all folks for today - I will be going back to bed now and try to get rid of this awful cold and hopefully next week get back to you on a happier note! I will also get back to all of you that have commented as soon as I feel up to it!
Love and hugs to everybody! Lets share a lot of kindness! I heard this week on the radio someone said KINDNESS TO EACH OTHER MAKES US HUMAN!
Have a lovely week!
CARDARIAN