WOYWW #637: More pages in my scrap journal and ugly art

Good morning, Deskers! I've just found some new comments on my blog post from last week - true to my word, I think I got back to everyone, but if I accidentally missed you, please let me know! A new week, a new messy desk - whatever I do, I don't seem to be able to keep on top of things! Since taking this photo a couple of days ago, I'm afraid the situation has got even worse.

Shoshi sent me down that proverbial "rabbit hole" when we got talking about laminators, so I got mine out to try a few things. Since then a fell into a few other rabbit holes - it's a mine field out there LOL, especially when you have a passion for experimenting like I do. Which explains the state of my desk to some extent. I got side tracked several times over the course of the week with "things to try" but I still managed to add a few pages to my scrap journal:

Then I moved into a completely different direction when I discovered The Ugly Art Club on Instagram and their 5-minute challenge (#tuac5minchallenge).  Admittedly, some of these took a bit longer than 5-minutes, but the idea is that you create without second guessing yourself, putting an end to all that faffing which drives me crazy! Just do it and don't worry about the end result - if it's ugly, it's ugly, it's still art! I'm still working on grasping and accepting the concept! This is what I came up with running a few days behind the daily challenge, but it doesn't matter:

I only used scraps that were lying around, some of them the by-products of my laminating attempts . For example, these moth prints in the last piece were smudged inkjet prints on tracing paper, which were laminated with a matte pouch (only on the top side), which gave them this hazy, distressed look. One of them even got wrinkled during the laminating process. The good thing about the #uglyart movement is that you can include all your trials and fails because it doesn't need to be perfect or pretty. Of course, ugly doesn't mean I don't like it - I still have to like what I do, otherwise what's the point? It's more about letting go of imperfections.  

Having a messy desk with lots of scraps can actually be beneficial, but there comes a point when it becomes a nuisance! I have already reached that point this week, so a tidy up will be in order! If not next week, then soon(ish)...one day, for sure! 

I might be a bit late visiting again this week - son needs a haircut to get rid of his lockdown curls, so we're off to the town soon. He doesn't let me cut it anymore LOL! Happy #637!

WOYWW #636: Plaster of Paris, tags, scrap journal and another old book

I almost didn't link up today, but here I am - totally addicted to WOYWW! I'll be quick because I plan to walk into town and check out some of the charity shops looking for old books either to alter or to add to my growing collection. Here's my desk earlier in the week when I was working on some tags.

The Slimfast container holds Plaster of Paris - I must remember that LOL! Also, an empty cat food tin - Sheba's Prime Cuts, very fancy stuff - Tesco sent it as a substitute for Oreo's already fancy treat that was out of stock - and now that he knows about it, I'll have to keep buying it - 90p a pop! Oreo loves it - he literally licks the bowl clean! This stuff is so fancy, I wouldn't mind putting it in my own sandwiches! The cat eats better than we do! At least the empty pot serves well for mixing the P of P. 

This is what I made with the plaster, following a tutorial by Jane Chipp on the Graphics Fairy premium site. I subscribed for a month, downloaded what I needed and cancelled it - but I will resub at a later date, I'm sure. The tutorial shows you how to coat a cardboard box with plaster - mine's matchbox sized.

And here's a closer look at the tags shown in my desk shot - just playing with oxides and my new TH  stamps  - they're so versatile! 

I incorporated some of these tags in my new journal, which I will just refer to as my "scrap" journal. It contains leftovers from other projects, trial pieces, fails, clean-up sheets - you name it - I just slap them in there! I very quickly made these first four spreads (last night I finished another five, but I will keep those for next week). These are literally 5-minute exercises and so enjoyable - just sticking and stamping! None of that faffing around I normally do! 

And last but not least, I snagged this lovely old book on Ebay. It was a bit more expensive than I would  normally allow myself to pay, but £20 is still very good value for an antique Victorian book in such good condition. I'll try to digitalise this as well and make it available as a download soon. 

I'm off now, I'll be late visiting but will get back to everyone who leaves a comment - promise! xx

Happy #636!

WOYWW #635: Junk Journal flip-through and old books

I was planning to tidy up my desk for this edition of WOYWW and I did it in the nick of time on Monday night (Tuesday being a work day not much chance then). It was getting so bad again with layers and layers of stuff - making it difficult to find anything. Here it is, in a more manageable form photographed last night. 

I picked up that letter holder on my way home from work yesterday - an impulse buy from TK Maxx, but it's perfect for holding my eco-dyed papers, which were just scattered on the floor.  Also on my desk is a handmade journal in the process - not sure where this is going yet. 

I've completed the final two spreads for the #junkjournaljuly challenge for days 28-31 with the prompts grow/stencil and doodle/reflections:

...and I even managed to shoot a quick flip-through last night! It's only 90 seconds long. (I think I missed a couple of pages in the middle where they stuck together, oh well...)

I now have a little collection of antique books from the late 1800s. I'm planning to expand this selection! 

I will never have the heart to destroy some of these, so the next best thing is to clone them, like I did with this one:

It's a bit tricky because you can't scan a 3D object with a flat-bed scanner (guess, how I know LOL!) - but I was able to take photos separately of the covers and the spine and stitch them together in Photoshop. It's not perfect but not bad for my first attempt. 

Here's the full-resolution file if anyone wants to download it for personal use. (4.59MB).

Now that I'm finished with my JJJ, I have so many other projects on my playlist, I don't know where to start! I was going to take a break, but there's just too much inspiration around! If I'm not back next week, it will be because I got overwhelmed! Happy #635! xx