WOYWW, 27th October 2010

Good morning folks!

I am writing this at an early hour as I have a two day library conference and probably won't be able to blog or get round to you folks for the next few days....last week I managed to get back to all the ones that called in at my blog plus a few others but I am  swamped with work at work so no time for anything extra - next week I will be off work then I can relax and enjoy a few days and maybe even write a sensible post...:-)

So as for today I have a rather tidy desk - I haven't been crafting since Sunday (Monday and Tuesday I have been at work all day) but I have a few bits of my work to show....I have been making "clean" Christmas cards - what that means they don't have loads of embelishments although I have been heat embossing a lot and stamping of course....

So here is my desk with the cards....

And here are a few the cards I have been making - you will see what I mean with "clean" cards.....

I quite like these cards and I think I will be making more of this style - It still takes time even if it looks quite simple!

Well besides these cards a thought I would show you a detail of my crafty room....the shelf with my stickles, glitters, shimmers, mists and inks (big and small)

So there that is all folks for today - I better get into the shower and rush off! I am going by bus today as it is such a nightmare to park in the city!

Have a lovely snoop around and I will get to you eventually !

Hugs to all

Cardarian

WOYWW, 20th October 2010

Hello Everybody!

How are you all doing??? I am ashamed to say but I haven't been blogging and I didn't come around all the desks at WOYWW last week, actually I didn't even get around to those who came to visit me! So, so sorry! I promise to be better!!! I do have an excuse as I was busy at work and when I came home I had this order of cards to finish for my friend from Australia! She is now there ( in Australia) and so are my cards which ( silly as I am ) I didn't even take a photo of - I will ask her to do so and then show them to you....they were all Christmas cards just one was a wedding card - I struggled with that one - HOW do you make a card that is all white or off white???? Huh!!! I did put together something but it was a struggle! I messed about with embossing to sort of give the card some texture! Anyway after I gave away all those cards and my friend left I had 2 days of non - stop work at work ( and believe me if you look at a computer all day when you come home you are not keen on sitting down to a computer again). I had to make a birthday card and that is my only offering for today...oh and a bit of an update on my ATG....It works well - I can't believe the amount of tape it holds - I mean I have made a lot of cards these days and it doesn't look as if I used any of the tape yet ( I would have used at least 2 or 3 of those  little tape thingies)....the only downside of it is the size - if you have a desk that is already full of your stamps and papers and copics and whatever else rubbish you have on there you have nowhere to put that big monster! Still I like it and I do recommend it - especially for the ones out there who make a lot of cards - it is a good investment! 

So now onto my desk.... again the photos are not very good - it was dark in the morning ( 6am I took these photos) !

My  actual work space looks quite empty

Swing to the left  - all my Christmas stuff waiting for the next round of cards...I bought some pom pom wool - don't know what I will do with it yet but it might come in handy!

My card.....I did a bit of 2 color stamping....and I used glossy accents to actually make something glossy - I mostlly use it as a glue!

And as it is autumn - just a few colorful leaves - it is from a tree that is in the front garden of our institute - it is so amazing - every year the leaves ar just these amazing colors....on one tree you get all these colors....

Purples....

Yellows

Reds....

 And this is the lovely tree.....

Ok enough of my ramblings....go on rush off to other desks and have a lot of fun snooping around - I will be around no doubt....I have to redeem myself ....:-)

Have a lovely day,

hugs to all of you...

Cardarian

WOYWW, 13th October 2010

Good morning everybody!

I see some of you are already linked up and ready to go....I used to be early but I just can't make it as early as I used to anymore.I guess my work schedual gets in the way! 

Anyhow it is time for WOYWW and I have a few things to show off! I think considering all the cards I have been making lately my desk is rather tidy .....well I will be honest because I can't bung stuff on my couch at the moment ( I will be sleeping there for the next few days as my friend from Australia has come back to spend a few days with me before she flies off to Australia) I have to tidy up everytime I make something otherwise it might happen I won't even be able to get into the room!!!!! 

So lets have a look around....

Quite a few liked my couch with cushions the other week  - I had to clear all the stuff off so now you can actually see it   - pretty tidy - still a box with my embellies on it but that will go too!

Here is an overall look at my Christmas cardmaking set up.....I got out all the stuff I would possibly need for making Christmas cards....not a very good idea as I can hardly move now! :-)........

And here is my new stuff  - an ATG 700 !!!! Ha, ha sounds like something James Bond would have....I know a lot of you have it now and well I first bought the PRO - glider  which is smaller and more nice for a our "delicate" hands but getting the tape for it was a real struggle as it comes from the States the tax on it is as much as the tape cost so you are actually paying double for the tape - but I would be prepared to do that if I wouldn't always have to wait ages to get the thing! Plus the plastic bit that you have to through away when you finish using the tape is NOT environmentally friendly at all! Still the ATG is really BIG!!!!! But I guess that has a positive side to it - you definitly can't lose it! ( I better not tell you how many of those small dispensers of tape I have spent looking for for ages!!!!!!!) So I hope this James Bond ATG 700 will serve its purpose! (or should I say serve the queen - ME) It is tucked in the box with my stamps....I also put them both together so you can see the difference....see all that pinky bit is thrown away every time you finish using it!

 To finish off this is a card I made for my daughters friend - it is suppose to be a birthday card - my daughter chose the sentiment...rather then happy birthday .....I think it is quite apt! Sorry the photo is a bit wonky - ha, ha it was taken veeeeeeeery early in the morning! Probably I was as wonky as the photo!

Have a lovely day, enjoy all the snooping around and I will see you all later!

Hugs to all of you.....

Cardarian

Just a few cards!

Hi my dear friends!

How was your week??? Busy or did it look like it was busy but you didn't do much?? Well that was my week...still I managed to make a few cards I think I should show you today....

Last week on WOYWW I showed a TH style card I was doing but it wasn't finished yet - I was waiting for TH fragments to come in the post so I could put on the picture of this girl you can see on the now finished card - the card is long gone as I gave it to my friend for her birthday - she really liked it and it has a proud place in her office!

I made another birthday card but a bit of a different style...

My daughter was in France (Aix en Provance) last week and  she found a lovely shop with stamps and crafty stuff! So I got a nice surprise when she came home - some lovely stamps! They are different makes but really nice so I started using them straight away.....

I made 2 sympathy cards as last week my DBF sister died and I have made one for him and one for his brother in law.....I think the flower is really nice and will be used a lot....

Although I think the cards are nice these are the kind of cards I would rather not make as they are so sad....

And here is my last card - something I made for a lovely friend of mine who just had an operation on her knie and I wish her a quick recovery - these are sunflowers also a lovely stamp that was given to me by my daughter.....I stamped them with Versamark ink - sepia and I think they are very nice!

I also started on Christmas cards but I am not showing them yet - I actually only made 2 but I have about 3 more in the making ( colored the stamped images).

So there that was what I have been doing - I am always making cards or something but sometimes I give them away before I even take a photo so I can't show them then can I ???

Have a lovely day - the sun has just come out here! I will see you all tomorrow at WOYWW!

Hugs to all of you,

Cardarian
P.S . Sorry the pictures are a bit dull - it is the morning fog - I just can' t get a decent photo!

A right mess! WOYWW, 6th October 2010

Good morning folks!

How are all of you today? I hope you are having better weather then we have - rain, rain, dull, dull and more rain! It is getting right depressing now! I guess I should really live somewhere in the Mediterranean - I don't do well in bad weather!

Sooo onto the thing that is most important today - WOYWW! To be honest my whole craft room is one big mess - I haven't been at home much as you know ( I have done about 5000 km in the last few weeks wizzing around Europe) so all I have been doing is dumping stuff in my room and on my desk and well anywhere I cold find any room to dump something - I had to make a card the other day so I tidyed up enough space to make the card - it isn't finished yet because I need an extra bit which I hope to get today! 

I was thinking about Julias post the other day talking about Tim Holtzian style and how it is hard work! Well it certainly is if you want it to look really good! For this card I decided to take on the tag Linda Elbourne made for me at Ally Pally! Huh! It looked so easy when she was demoing it but when I was doing it it was a big job and takes aaaaaaaaaages!!!!!! Fafing around with all those inks and then the stamps ( and me being freaked out about not cleaning the stamps - I used about half a baby wipe packet! Gosh! Then I decided to make the flowers - they looked a bit dull just inked up so I thought ok I will spray some mica on them - yeh well I bought a lovely spray at Ally Pally from Dyan Reaveley called Dylusions - lovely stuff the only problem was the spraying thingy didn't work so I had mica all over the place, that not working I got a brush out and painted the flowers! Huh do you want me to go on??? Then I decided I wanted to put on a bit of metal so I fish out this heart and put some alcochol ink on it...guess what - that thing also seems to be brocken - the ink came out everwhere but at least some of it did get on the heart! So I am almost there! What a pelave!!! I love the style but again I must agree with Julia! IT IS BLOODY HARD WORK!!!!!!

Anyway have a look at my messy room - don't have a shock - aren't crafters desks suppose to be messy???? Well I am living proof!

So here is my card.....

And here is the rest of my messy room......turn to the right I have a new box where I have put all of my Hero Arts stamps and all my tags ( another box - less room on my desk huh!!)

......turn to the right....my other box is now home for all the rest of my stamps - also my new TH and Wendy Vecchi ones.... and as you can see I have got out my Christmas stuff.....

and here I am spread out all over the couch - I think nobody will be sitting on that one for a while! Also a big box of stamps - ready for Christmas cardmaking and a load of DP and allsorts....

So there now you have seen my shame! I hope you enjoy the snoop! I will try to get round to you this week - last week was just too busy for me - I will try to be better this week - especially as I am actually staying at HOME this weekend!

Have a lovely day, hugs to all of you....see ya soon!

Cardarian

Walnuts!

Hiya Everybody!

I am again apologising for not coming around much of your desks and in general not blogging but lately I am so busy - I do long hours at work because the new study year has just started - we had our "first graders" in on Friday so it was quite busy! I wonder how these "first day" students feel - I remember I was on one hand so proud of myself getting to the point were I was living on my own and being a "uni" student but I remember I was a bit worried the first day which bus should I take, what room is my class in?? What if I am late and the profesor sends me out?? Oh it was stressfull - working at a university library now for almost 33 years I think I was worried for nothing! All the staff here want to help the kids and make them feel as welcome as possible! Maybe it wasn't like that in those days??? Who knows?? Too far back for me to remember ha, ha...

Anyways I wanted to tell you that me and my daughter spent a lovely weekend at my moms ( another 400 km drive - I am not going anywhere for the next few weekends!!!!!!!) We had a load of chat and we did something most of you people probably don't do....you see where my mom lives there are lots and lots of walnut trees - I remember my grandma had 3 really big ones in her garden....my mom went to pick them at some relatives of ours and there was so much of them she gathered a car boot full of them! So all three of us got together - mom was cracking them and my daughter and I were getting them out of their shells and so I took home a big bag of them! What do we do with them? Well our most famous cake called "Potica" is made of walnuts and a lot of our other cakes and sweet stuff has walnuts in them so I will probably be making lots of "walnut poticas" . This took me back to evenings when I was a kid and we used to do this sort of stuff...these traditions are almost gone now but I am hoping they will come back.....

Here are a few photos.....

My mom cracking the walnuts.....

The cracked walnuts waiting to be deshelled.....

And the lovely walnuts ready to put into a cake.....

So there a snippet of my weekend and I hope this week I will finally get up to some nice cardmaking! I have to make 20 Christmas cards and a wedding card  till the 15th of October so I better get up to it - I actually have an order!! Well with all my lovely stuff from Ally Pally I guess I will be able to put something together!

Have a lovely week and I will be back soon with some cards!

Hugs to all of you lovely friends,

Cardarian

WOYWW, 29th September 2010

Good morning my dear friends!

The only day I seem to register is Wednesday - all the rest of the days of the week seem to go and I don't know when! Anyways it is WOYWW and I should show you my desk which is for once very tidy but as you know I have been to Ally Pally which was a bit shocking to me! I mean I have been to lots of fairs and stuff but this was just nothing I expected - the massive crowds of (mostly) women buying craft stuff, all the many companies (some of which I have never heard of ) selling amazing craft goodies! I think I was so surprised at the size of the whole thing I didn't know what to buy! Ha, ha noooo just kidding.....I bought a lot of stuff and that is what I will be showing you today! I had a nice chat with Linda Elbourne at LB Crafts and also a little hello with Jennie and Hels at the The Artistic Stamper....so here are the photos of my Ally Pally goodies...

I put them all down on the carpet in the lounge....

 Here are all my goodies in detail....

I finally nailed the Tattered florals and also bought the tattered leaves....I tried them on my cuttlebug last night ( although they are suppose to be for the sizzics) and it worked perfectly! YIPEEEEEE!!!!!!

 Also I have done very well buying stamps - I think I am all stocked up for the season of making Christmas cards!

This is a photo of the crowds waiting to get their crafty shopping on!

 Linda Elbourne made and gave me this lovely tag - it was very interesting looking how she made the tag - I have been given a few tips on how to do certain things and I am very greatful Linda! Thank you so much!

And here is Linda in her elemet! Making lovely stuff!.....

 Unfortunatly it was very crowded around Hels so I didn't get to chat much but I did get this lovely photo...As I shopped so well at The Artistic Stamper I earned a lovely flower that was made by Hels - you can see it up there with Lindas tag!

I also got to meet Helen ( the one that works on the floor) I could then see why she can do it and I couldn't ! Ha, ha....a big weight difference! But there you are - that is why I do my crafting on a comfortable chair at a my desk!!! Anyways Helen it was lovely meeting you!

I do have lots of photos from Ally Pally and I will blog them but for today I think this is enough otherwise all you snoopy girls and boys won't have time to snoop around other desks! 

Have a lovely day, an even better snoop  and I will see you soon!

Hugs to all of you!

Cardarian

WOYWW, 22. September 2010

Hiya Everbody!

I am very late posting....the reason???? Well I read Julia Dunnits post yesterday talking about going from plan A to plan C or D.....I am around plan Z now.....since I came home from Germany - yes I arrived safely, after driving 1500 km - it was just a nightmare getting to do anything crafty! Monday I went shopping after work, yesterday I worked till 6pm so that was Tuesday gone so here we are on Wednesday - yes and it it is WOYWW! And well I went into my little pink room this morning  and managed to mess it up even more then it was already and almost finished ONE card! It is a thank you card for the lady we visited in Germany....so my dear friends have a nose around my desk, where you can see the almost finished card , that black thing there is a new punch bought in Germany - a very interesting heart punch and the "Danke" ( Thank you) stamp I bought there too! To be honest I didn't find much crafty stuff at all - I was quite disapointed! The only thing I am really sad about is that I was about 35 km away from the factory KNORR PRANDEL where they make all the art paints and glitter and lots of stuff for card making but I didn't have enough time to go there! Shame! 

Also on the right hand side there you can see a few new bits of stash that came in the post while I was away....ha, ha did I mention I was on a stash diet?????? Well I ordered these things before I decided I would be on a stash diet so.....

Ok then I better get this posted.....

Have a lovely day and a really good snoop and I will be back with you later with a few photos from my journey to Germany!

Hugs to all of you,

Cardarian

P. S. If any of you are going to be at Ally Pally and would like to meet up leave a comment on my blog and I will try to find you there!!!!!!!!

WOYWW, 15th September 2010

Hi WOYWW-ers!

I was going to make a card and show it to you but last night I was too tired to do anything ( I finished work at 6pm where usually I finish at 3 or 4pm) and this morning I only got as far as stamping my image and (not) deciding what paper I was going to use....I won't be able to get round to much of you as I am off to Germany tomorrow at 4am ( early bird........) so I need to go to bed early! This will be short and sweet but I promise I will blog about my travel and also get up to crafting next week when I come back and show you a few things - when I finally ink up my new stash!

So here is my desk as of this morning.........initially it was quite tidy but then I started getting out all these papers and it got all messy again! Eh what can you do????

I can't decide on the paper - the darker or the lighter floral one????

And an overall look......

The card I have to make is for the lady we are visiting in Germany! She will be 87 so I must make a nice little card! Huh so much to do before I go!

Have a nice snoopy day, I will come around to as much of you as I can!

Hugs to all of you,

Cardarian

Hi my dear Friends!

Sorry I haven't been around much but it seems this month will be a very busy one for me! I had visitors since the middle of August, my friend from Australia left yesterday, but she will probably be back! This weekend my daughter and I will go for a "little" trip to Germany to visit some old family friend of ours! I am looking forward to this and will blog about it! The weekend after is Ally Pally so I will be flying to England - ha, ha it sounds like I am a right jetsetter but things seem to all come at once - I know I will be sitting on my own doing nothing all winter - well I will be doing cards - I see some of you have started with Christmas cards - I can't really wrap my mind around that yet but I think I should start because last year ( my head is down in shame) I was still doing them the day before Christmas! 

I see some of you will be going to see and learn from Tim Holtz - that must be a lovely experience! I watched him today on HSN  - very interesting man! This range of his has expanded to really unlimited proportions! You want to buy everything but it is all quite expensive so you have to choose carefully! I am trying to be on a stash diet till Ally Pally but I am not sure if I will be able to stick to it! 

Anyway I better go now and start on some cards, I only have today as tomorrow it will be packing the suitcase again! And of course WOYWW where I should show something before I am off for the rest of the week!

Have a lovely evening and I will see you all tomorrow!

Hugs to all of you,

Cardarian