WOYWW, A long time away!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

I have been away for such a long time ! I looked when I last posted and it was 3 months ago! I couldn't believe it! I must admit I have had a very busy year - well summer but when I look back it seems I haven't done much! I am in Slovenia at the moment but I will soon be traveling back to England!
I don't want to bore you with all the details but I have done some improvements to my flat here, I had visitors from England ( my DBFs children and grandchildren) for which I had to prepare and then we took them all around Slovenia with a couch! It was all on me to organize it! I also stayed with my mom for a week , met up with lots of friends and time just flies - 2 months went so fast!
On the crafty side of things I have made a few cards and journal pages which I will show, but first lets have a look at my desk! - I have a new computer so there is a bit of a change...the computer now sits on top of my desk - before it was under the desk....

What you see on my desk is my altered book - art journal, a bunch of oxide inks and all sorts of crafty stuff! This desk is a bit more crowded then the one in England but I love that I have all my stuff so close and handy!

Here are a few photos of things I have done over the summer!

Cards:

I have this art journal - altered book I always make a page or two when I am here at home - I managed to make 3 this summer!

This is my altered book...

 This page is ...under the sea - got inspired when I was at the seaside...

This one is a floral one - I just can't help it I love flowers...

 This is something different for me - I made a page with pictures of women - no I didn't draw them - I am not that good but  I bought a fabric that had these faces on it and this page just came to my mind! I did a lot to the background but you can't see much of it . Because the pictures are on fabric they give some nice texture to the page!

and an ATC

So that was all my summer crafting - well there was more cards but I forgot to take photos of them! Huh! How many times does that happen? 

Anyway I will be back in England soon and I am looking forward to the WOYWW Wales crop! We have booked Warners in a place a can not pronounce and I just can't wait to see all my lovely WOYWW crafty friends!

Love and hugs to all of you,

CARDARIAN

WOYWW 419, this time from my old desk!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

I have been out of action since our WOYWW anniversary due to a bit of holiday at Warners and now I am in Slovenia! I had some work done in my flat so I had to come and see what has been done and I must say I am happy with my new floor in the kitchen and hall. I am also at my old desk although I have taken on myself a big job of spring cleaning and decluttering so no actuall crafting has been done!
Still I will show you my old desk....some of you might remember it - it is still as messy as it used to be! :-)

Since the anniversary I have recieved and sent off several ATCs.....here are the ones I have recieved ....all lovely and different - thank you ladies - I love them!

I also recieved these cards....THANK YOU for them too.

And most recently this lovely card and ATC came all the way from Australia from Shaz in Oz....thank you Shaz! 

I have been making a lot of cards but I only managed to take a picture of one...

This was a card for my DBFs son in law who just turned 40. There were so many birthdays in June and I was just doing cards and sending them I actually forgot to take photos! Huh!
Anyway I can show you a photo of my new floor....it is some new material called vinyl tiles....here is my kitchen floor....

my terrace is in full summer mode.....

and here is my last photo - a lovely butterfly came to visit my flowers....

Thank you for putting up with my long chat - I hope you enjoyed my photos!
Lots of hugs to all you WOYWWers, have a lovely week!
CARDARIAN

8 years of WOYWW! Congrats!!!

My dear bloggy friends! 

HAPPY 8TH WOYWW ANNIVERSARY!!!! What a wonderful celebration! And how long it has lasted! And I hope it goes on for many, many years! Congrats to our Queen of desks Julia! Thank you for your idea and weekly gathering! It is amazing!
What I love about it most is the friendship that has happened over the years but also on the crafty side I have discovered many new things on the WOYWW desks over the years! It is just such a nice thing to be part of! I am also participating in the ATC  thinge! So besides the person who I have to contact - the next one linked after me, I will gladly send ATCs to anybody who would want them as I have quite a few! So write something in my comments and I will contact you and send the ATC! Last year I tried to contact a few ladies but they never got back to me with their addresses so where do I send them? 
Anyway even though it is a birthday party we still have to go about our regular business - that is showing our desk and what we have made this week!
Nothing that exciting on my desk today - a few ATCs and a other bits and pieces! I am very much into fountain pens! As you can see there are a few on my desk! I loved them at school but over the years stopped using them but my friend Jo gave me one as a present and I was hooked!!! I buy different color inks so it is fun to use them! Another crafty obsession! Huh!!!

 
 There is something new in my craft room and that is a new blind! I am not hiding from the people looking in ( the craft room is upstairs anyway)  but because my room is positioned on the southeast the sun is sometimes very strong and there is a strong reflection - also I think papers and other crafty stuff fades over time in the sun so I decided for a subtle blind ! I really like it - tell me what you think.

I have made a few cards - it seems to be birthday time so I am trying to keep on top of things...so here are a few of my latest makes!

 Last week I showed the Kiss Glitter that I bought at the Create it show I tried it out this week and I really liked it! First you don't have glitter all over you when you use it and what is really great you can sort of have different looks depending on how much of it you use - it can be quite a distressed look which I really liked - you can see it on the close up!!!

This card was made with the Concord and 9th Lily stamp - and an Altenew birthday die - I am not very happy with it because I think the sentiment has covered the flowers too much! What do you think?

Well that is it - my 8th WOYWW anniversary blog post! I will leave you with a photo of a lovely peony that has just come up in my garden! 

Have a lovely week - enjoy WOYWW - not just today but also in the future - it is a wonderful thing!
Hugs and love to all - we need a lot of love in this world don't we????
CARDARIAN

I am back with WOYWW!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

So sorry I have been away for such a long time! I had so much going on in my life! My DBF had a knee operation and I was caring for him, then we went to Slovenia and got some physio for his knee there and it seems I have been organising things, taking him to doctors appointments and generaly being very busy! He is finally okay now - been signed off by the doctors so maybe I will get some very much needed ME time now!! I have been trying to make cards and other stuff but not much - this last week I have been to the Create it! craft show in Kent and I think I will soon be back on track with my crafting....
So first my desk...actually I will show you all the stuff I bought at the show and has been dumped on my desk....

I bought stamps from various companies - Inkylicious now have some "Banksy" style ones which I really like! I bought some stencils and tools....

This product called Glitter Kiss was new to me I think it is really good for making glittery backgrounds and not getting too messy!

It has a spunge in the lid of the pot and that is for spreading the product! I haven't tried it yet, but I will try it and report!
Oh the good news is I have got a new camera! I have recently celebrated a round birthday and with having big problems with my old camera my DBF bought a new Nikon COOLPIX A900 for me! I am very happy with it - I haven't figured it all out yet but I am getting there!....

I have a good phone for taking pictures but I still love to take pictures with a proper camera!
Here is a photo of a flower in my garden I have taken a picture of with my new toy....

Here is a nice one of a little lamb that has posed for me....

I will end this post with a photo of a bit of mixed media art I have made recently after buying a Stampotique stamp...

So that is it for todays WOYWW...I haven't posted for more then 2 months but hopefully I am back for good! I will of course participate in next weeks ATC round robin! Yay! 8 years of WOYWW ! AMAZING!!!
Have a lovely week, lots of hugs to all
CARDARIAN

WOYWW, cards and new stuff and a knee operation done!

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

It has been 2 weeks that I have been missing from WOYWW but of course the reason was my dear DBF had a full knee replacement which we were waiting for for ages and I had to turn all my attention to that matter! It is over now he is doing okay except for the pain which we are trying to manage with painkillers! Thank you for all the well wishes - they help ! I will show a picture of the knee in a minute but first the usual business of WOYWW - my desk and what I have been making and buying ( ha, ha a bit of retail therapy is always nice! :-) )
So my desk is busy - I have cleared it a little bit but on the sides you can see stamps, inks, papers, glues and all sorts! 

I have been making various cards - a day before the operation my boy celebrated his 70th birthday so I made a card for that occasion...

then I made a get well card for him after he had the operation....

This week I made my first Easter card - still about 30 to go but it is a start - I better get on with that....

I used acrylic paints for the background and the egg is a memory box die!
My last card is a birthday card I made for my DBFs granddaughter....

I colored the background with Broken China distress ink and then stamped butterflies all over it! I also colored some card with metallic Prima and Pebeo acrylic paints and then cut the Wplus9 butterfly frame out of that card added the sentiment and a few gems! So there that is all I have done this week! I think it is more then enough considering I have to look after my patient, clean, cook, iron and do all the rest of the housework! Huh!
To keep me going I bought a few bits - some Hero Arts neon inks and a set of pinky ALTENEW inks...

  I also bought 2 sets of Eclectica Paperartsy stamps - everybody knows I love flowers and these stamps I just couldn't resist!

Finally here is a picture of my DBFs knee - he had the dressing changed yesterday but it is swollen and not very nice!

I hope you have a good week - I will try to get round to some of you but I can't promise much - I am quite busy with my patient!
Hugs to all
CARDARIAN

WOYWW 402, cards and a few new things....

Hello my dear bloggy friends!

Another dull day here in Kent - I really miss the sun can we please have a few days of it ? Or at least one whole day of bright sunshine!!! Please!!! That's my moan for the day!
Did you have a nice Valentines Day? We went out with our MG and had a lunch in a country side pub! Nice! At least I didn't have to cook!
Getting on with the usual stuff I have been busy up till yesterday with my Valentine's day cards and all sorts of other things.....my desk is as messy as ever - well I do tidy up almost every day but as soon as I make something we are back to square one! Huh!
So here is my messy desk...

Besides the usual mess there are a few novelties - I bought a few little bottles of enamel accents - I think they will be quite useful! Then there is a new sizzix wild flower die from TH. You must know by now that I am crazy about flowers so such dies grab my attention and end up in my stash...on the right hand side there is a pile of paper and on top of that are 2 new stamp sets - although I have lots of stamps I have virtualy non with bunnies, chicks and other stuff that would be handy for Easter cards so I got them and one is from Altenew and the other from Winnie and Walter! You will see them in detail when I make some cards with them!
Now here are 2 last cards from the Valentine's Day batch.....

I got some lovely mail art from Donna.....

I sent back a card in this colorful envelope.....I used distress inks to color the roses and then of course realised that if the postman carries it around in the rain it will turn into a big mess so I dried it properly and then put some glaze medium on it to protect it ! I did a test before hand as that could turn into a mess too but if you do it fast it works..... I know there is this TH micro glaze thing you can buy but a tiny container cost around 9 pounds so I think using the medium is cheaper!

 

And as last her is something I have been doing this morning .....just stamping and coloring but I don't know what it will end up being.....

I started here...

and ended here....

So there I think I am finished now - I have lots to do this week - 2 sympathy cards, 2 birthday cards and of course it is time to start on my Easter cards - busy times aye?

Have a lovely crafty week !
Hugs to all of you,
CARDARIAN

WOYWW 401, Operation date and beading!

My dear bloggy friends! 

I am so sorry I missed the 400 WOYWW! I did make stuff to show but when Wednesday came I was a bit down as my dear DBF got his operation date! Well we are very happy to have finally got there after almost 3 years waiting but is was a shock! To be honest we both sat in the lounge just quiet both thinking is it really going to happen or will we be sent home again but the next day after the call the letter did come and it is true! 
So that was that I will have to wait for the big 500 now !!! :-) Huh!
I must say Julia had this amazing idea - I wonder how she came up with it and it has brought together this wonderful group of ladies and we are not just crafters but we are proper friends! Thank you Julia for having this amazing idea 400 weeks ago!!!! It is lovely to be part of this gang!
Celebrations aside it is time to get back to business and that is showing our desks! I will start with my very messy desk - I am probably this weeks winner for messiness! Have a look.....

This week I made a few more cards....a less traditional Valentine's Day card....

and two more traditional cards with pink and red....

I also made some felt hearts! I started really enjoying sewing and BEADING!!!!

That is all from me this week ....I still have to visit people who visited me before but I will be going around to this weeks WOYWW gang too!
Have a lovely week and enjoy your crafting!
Hugs to all,
CARDARIAN