#WOYWW #613: Lots of hearts

I'm still on a creative roll and been working with hearts this past week. It all started with those teabags for my 100-day project and since I had some leftover heart shapes and tea bags, I also made a journal page with them. Here's my desk shot taken on Saturday afternoon (I think):

You can just about make out my teabag collection building up in the little box in the back. Here are some close-ups - first, I coloured the backgrounds with distress oxides before adding some torn heart shapes: 

My journal layout features bits and pieces that were lying around my desk - these are usually trial pieces that unsuccessfully auditioned for other projects - but ended up in a better position in the end! The layout started out with this background that was made with book pages I used to mop up the excess distress oxides from the tea bag project. 

Then I added some elements: tea bags, heart shapes torn from coloured tea bags/book pages and printouts from a dictionary page that I scanned in and tinted with distress oxides. I've also added some stencilling with crackle paste and typed a quote directly on a teabag. The white crackle paste picked up some of the distress oxides from the background (even though I thought I had sealed it!), which gave me the idea to add some more subtle colour here and there. 

And then there was the new weekly challenge in the Mixed Media Emporium Facebook group. We had to create something with the collaged masterboard we did last week. Well, I got into a bit of a pickle with this one LOL - but I think I managed to bring it back from the brink of extinction - with some hearts, what else?!

That's it in a not-so-small nut shell. I hope everyone's copying well as life is slowly beginning to return back to normal.  Of course, Shaz is never far from our thoughts... xx

WOYWW #612: Mojo returned well and truly

I've been pretty productive this past week, so I think my theory was correct - my mojo does live on my desk and therefore I should keep it messy. Or at least, that's how I justify it. This will be a photo-heavy post, so I'll try to keep the blabber to a minimum. This shot of my desk was taken last night for WOYWW:

It shows the next batch of teabags for #the100dayproject in progress - but I still have to show you last week's produce for days 15-21. (I know it's a bit of a cheat working on them in batches rather than one a day, but it suits me better this way and no one will call me out on it!) 

The new batch will feature hearts - I've made a sample, though the real things will end up looking slightly different - they always do!  (This one's dedicated to Shaz...)

This idea actually came to me after an impulse spread I created in one of my journals using torn pieces of  scraps lying around (the very reason I need to keep my desk untidy!)

The photoshoot was hindered by a certain black and white cat: 

Wait, it got worse! 

I've also tried gelli printing with distress oxides and white acrylics - it produced some nice, soft prints. You might recognise the doily die-cut in my journal page above - I first used it on these gelli prints and then stuck it down on my journal page - I can always cut another one! 

I used these prints to decorate one of those die-cut folio journals lying on my desk last week - they're perfect for housing some cards I made years ago:

And if that wasn't enough, I've also joined The Mixed Media Emporium challenge group on Facebook. The challenge this week was to create a masterboard with just collaged elements. Mine included teabags, inked book pages and jelly prints. Everything foraged from my desk! 

OK, I won't keep you up any longer! Thanks for your visit. I hope you all have a good week! xx 

WOYWW #611: 100-day project week#2 and related stuff

Forgive me if I'm a little incoherent this morning - I've only just found out about our dear friend and fellow WOYWW-er, Shaz. I'm still in denial and refuse to believe that she's gone. I know I will still be looking for her name on the WOYWW list for months to come. I will miss her beautiful makes and endless enabling and 'Finally's - though we can always go back to her old posts to get our fix! 

But the show must go on, so here's my desk as it was over the weekend, working on my 100-day project teabags and other things. I've labelled the objects of interest on my desk to save you the full tour. 

In the background you can just about make out my box where I'm collecting my 100 altered teabags. Here's a closer look at # 008-014. My chosen theme for this batch was vintage washi tapes. 

I used some of my leftover teabags to make a sheet for 'collage fodder' as it's known on Instagram. Then I cut it up so the bits can be used as backgrounds or for collages. These sheets always look better when you cut them into random bits. 

While I was at it, I used two of the pieces to make some tags and a prototype for next week's batch of teabags which will feature foliage diecuts. 

I've also tried my hand at tinting some teabags - they came out a bit dark, but I'll experiment further. If you want to see something amazing, check out this link on Instagram. It's a vintage parasol covered in teabags! 

And Finally... (this one's for you, Shaz) xx

Thank you all who visit and leave a comment - I can't always visit everyone every week, but if you leave a comment I will always get back to you xx

WOYWW #610: The 100-day challenge and other things

I'm pretty sure my mojo lives on my desk and when I tidy up, I do away with my mojo as well. The exact same thing happened in January last year! However, I'm back today after a few weeks' absence to share my not-so-tidy desk on WOYWW. I'm sure it will now get progressively messier but if that's the price to pay for my mojo to return, so be it! Remember those inky bits I posted last time that I didn't know what to do with? I used them to make this little folder type thing: 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What really kicked me into action was The 100-day-project running on Instagram (#the100dayproject) that started on January 31st. I had pretty much decided NOT to do it (even though I'd been playing with the idea for the past couple of years) - but then I bumped into this blog post by Roben-Marie Smith which made me realise that it doesn't need to be a big thing and I CAN do it on my own terms, even if I joined in a bit late. 

So I got cracking last week and came up with a concept: I'm working on 100 teabags in weekly batches of 7 with a theme for each week. I even made a prototype to see how it might work! I chose the theme "colourful postage stamps" for my first weekly batch and numbered them 001-007. This will help keep track - and I even found a little box where I can collect them! So this will keep me occupied until at least May - and it also allows me to indulge in other projects at the same time if I feel like it. This is what I posted for the first week: 

In other news: I've finally finished the extremely fiendish circular puzzle. There was no way I would break it up after all the blood, sweat and tears, so I glued it together for eternity. (Now I don't know what to do with it LOL!) Interestingly, and inexplicably, I really missed it when it was finished - I can only liken the feeling to a kind of withdrawal syndrome! Here it is all glued together, just to prove that I did it:

I've also finished my second large diamond painting and I had to stop myself from starting another one. I call it my guilty pleasure! They're now both sealed and I'll have to find a way to hang them on the wall. They are quite pretty really when they twinkle, but it's hard to take a good photo. 

We haven't had much snow around here but on a clear day you can see the Malvern Hills from the back of the house. They're much further than the photo shows - zoomed in, they almost look like mountains!

That's it for today! Thanks for your visit. Sending much love to Shaz and Doug, who are going through a rough time. Get well Shaz! We all miss you on WOYWW! xx

WOYWW#607: More diamond painting and a circular puzzle

I took unauthorised leave of absence from blogging last week but I'm back today for WOYWW #607. I'm still on a sabbatical from my mixed media endeavours, though I did have a bit of inky play on my still relatively tidy desk, but it didn't progress anywhere. I'm sure these bits will come in handy one day though.

I'm still preoccupied with diamond painting. I've finished my first larger piece and started another one. I fell into the habit of working on them on the kitchen table in the evenings with the dishwasher humming in the background - what could be more relaxing? 

I've also started a circular puzzle - my first and probably the last one as it is an awkward size and doesn't quite fit on my puzzle board. I'll have to do it in two parts, which will make it even more challenging than it is already. It took me two weeks just to get to this stage - the process being hampered by the fact that I can only work on it during daylight hours as I can't see the nuances of shades in artificial lighting. I almost gave up at one point but then I thought I was literally (and figuratively) putting the world back together, so I had to carry on! Most of the land mass is now done - the oceans will be even more of a challenge! 

I was also delayed by Oreo having a snooze on top of my puzzle board. 

Thanks for your visit - I'll go see what you've all been up to and what I missed last week! xx

WOYWW #605: Happy New Year: Puzzle gluing and diamond painting

Happy New Year - or should that be Happy New Lockdown? I'm actually enjoying not having to get up early and go out at this time of year - January is always so depressing following the excitement of Christmas - now it almost feels like a continuation of the holidays - although we're back to work and it's quite a challenge to get my son out of bed by 9 o'clock for his online lessons - but I like the flexibility of working from home, instead of rushing out the door at a certain time. 

My desk is still tidy and that's because not much messy play has taken place. Instead, I've glued together a jigsaw I completed three years ago. This was necessary because I needed the puzzle board to start a new puzzle but I might have to put it on the back burner for now as I have other escapades in progress. 

When the glue dried on the puzzle, I was able to stick it to the wall in my craft room with double-sided sticky tape - it seems to hold quite well for now, but we'll see how it fares in the long run. It was a quick fix that came to me in a lightbulb moment (which I might regret at one point)! 

I've also been working on my first "full" diamond painting on the dining table little bits at a time. It's so relaxing - I guarantee you, if you hooked me up to a monitor, you would see my blood pressure drop dramatically! And it's right next to the radiator as well - bliss! 

We took down the Christmas decs yesterday - it was quite a sombre occasion. It took Oreo all of five seconds to claim one of the boxes, which somewhat hindered the proceedings.

That's it for now. I may or may not be back next week - we'll see. Last year I took a sabbatical around the same time - I'm sure it has to do with the tidy desk - I don't want to mess it up LOL! Stay safe everyone - I'm sure things will get better soon, we'll just have to ride it out. xx