WOYWW #523: Friends Journal Spread

Hello again everyone! Have you had enough of the rain yet? I'm still enjoying the fresh feel, though I'm getting a bit tired of getting soaked every time I go somewhere. Oreo's not a fan either, being cooped up at home when he could be outside looking for mice. Perfect opportunity to get my fingers inky though. Here's a look at my desk earlier this week:

I hadn't done a journal page in ages and it always feels great to go back to one of  my altered books. This particular one only has a couple of pages finished, so plenty of room to go forward. Here's the background I created after adding some colour over the collage and gesso layers - I stayed with my trusted Prussian Blue and Sepia acrylic inks:

Using some Tim Holtz imagery and other die-cuts and bits and bobs on my desk, I ended up with this Friends spread, inspired by our WOYWW meet-up last week. And as if by magic - the word "Julia's" appeared on one of the random book page scraps I used. I swear I did not look for it (what would be the chances of finding it in a book, anyway?) It's just a lucky coincidence - serendipity at its best! I didn't even notice it until after I'd stuck it down! 

Short and sweet this week (though photo-heavy). Just one one more photo to share of Oreo watching a video game with my son - these two are as thick as thieves! 

Happy #523! I'll be over visiting later today! I may have to skip next week as we have somewhere to go but I'll be back soon enough I promise! xx

WOYWW #522: ATC Galore (plus 10th Anniversary Meet-up)

So I made it to my first WOYWW crop on Saturday - if only for a flash visit. It was so lovely to meet my fellow deskers, many of whom I have known for years but had never met in person before. Thank you for all the big hugs - I felt so very welcome!

And now I can show you all the ATCs sent/given and received for the 10th anniversary swap, but not before I show you my messy desk, which is a requisite of being a desker. This was taken while I was working on my second round of ATCs. It helped that I was off work last week - a lucky coincidence!

Here are the ATCs I sent for the postal swap (at the time I wasn't sure if I could make it to the crop).

ATCs I sent in the post

Here are the ones that I received, along with some extras. It was so exciting opening the post and I admired the uniqueness of all of these creations!  

ATCs received in the post

I took lots of photos at the crop, but I had to put them on a separate page as I couldn't work out how to place an image slider in this post. After two hours of trying, I've concluded that it's not possible. Here's the main group photo that you'll probably see on lots of blogs this week, but for the rest of the crop photos and the photos I took afterwards around the beautiful town of Shrewsbury with my family, please visit THIS PAGE.

And now I can show you the ATCs I made the day before the crop when it became an actual possibility that I'd be able to attend. They're a bit different from my first lot. I never know how they will turn out!

Here are the ATCs and other bits I received at the crop (click on the photo to make it larger). Thank you so much, ladies! I was blown away by your generosity and ultimately, I think I received more than I gave, so please let me know if you didn't get one from me and I'll be happy to send one in the post!  

It was lovely meeting everyone - I'm sorry if I didn't recognise all of you - I'm sure I will next time! 

Looking forward to another 10 years of desking xx