WOYWW 153 and a busy desk!

Hi everyone, I've been quiet for a few weeks, been a bit chaotic here, and not much crafting being done at all
 :-(.................But this Bank Holiday weekend I managed to spend some time in the craft room, and this is how I left it...........messy, huh?

I know those lovely crafters who manage to tidy away after themselves will be looking at that and thinking OMG! I am a messy crafter, and even though I now have a lovely craft room and big desk, still end up with piles that threaten to overwhelm the desk.

Quick tour round my desk, bottom left some papers for a DT project I was finishing off, with my ultra sticky tape, and just above that a couple of older projects that I love and am trying to decide how to display. Above that to the left you can see my trusty heat tool peeking into the pic, and my DAB radio, cos I have to have music while I craft! I am often heard singing along to the Bee Gees....ssssssshhhh, don't tell anyone!!

then you ahve my craft caddy stuffed with essentials, behind that various shades of pink tissue paper for making paper carnations, my memento black inkpad, which never leaves my desk, a pile of paper with sketches and notes for cards (think back of a fag packet style!), my steel edge ruler, craft knife, reels of tape, and 2 pairs of scissors, one detail scissors, and one pair I use just for 'sticky stuff'.

That's my desk, if you're wondering why i;m sharing hop on over to Julia's stamping ground where she hosts the fab Whats on Your Workdesk Weds blog hop through craft land

happy crafting!!

Debs xx

TP Mini albums - made from loo rolls!

Hi blog hoppers, it's been a while since my last post, and my only excuse is work - and not the crafty kind!

Several people have commented on how quiet I've been lately, so I resolve to try to post more often :-)

This is a pic of a recently completed mini album. We made loo roll mini albums in class a few weeks ago, and we had so much fun!  You make them by squashing the inner tubes from loo rolls ( or kitchen roll if you don't want to use loo rolls!) I ran mine through my cuttlebug to squash them as flat as possible.

I covered mine in a range of co-ordinating papers by covering the loo roll in PVA glue and wrapping paper around then trimming. If you want a pocket just fold one end up on the second side and glue only the left and right edges on that page

You can slip tags inside the ends of the loo rolls, add pockets, mini envelopes, photo corners and embellishments and tags of all kinds. I used a cropa dile to punch and set eyelets and book rings to bind the pages.  It takes a while to stamp all the tags and mount all the photos, but the end result is so cute - I have another 2 part finished :-)

Last week's class in Chandlers Ford covered mica powders and we had a lovely sparkly time dusting, painting, spritzing and spraying! I feel like I owe all my ladies' other halves an apology as they all went away with plans to stock up on mica powders and masks :-)

Off now for a cuppa and kitty cuddle - happy crafting

Debs xx

WOYWW 148 -Easter Bunnies

hi blogland! Just a quick post from me tonight as I'm shattered, and there's nothing much happening on my craft desk so thought I would share some Easter cards I made for a feature in Making Cards magazine.

The stamp is from the Helz Cuppleditch bloom & grow range, and is so cute I couldn't resist! The panels are cut with a range of different Nestabilities, stamped and coloured with Pro Markers. I've picked colours out of the main pic and used those to colour the edges of a larger nestability die cut to create a perfect colour matched background.  I stamped the images a few times, and cut out parts of the image to layer up and to use as mini images on some of the panels. I think they look really spring-like!

Anyway, enough for now. If you came to this through WOYWW enjoy your trip around the crafty world via Julia's stamping ground!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

WOYWW 147 and Pro Markers

I've been absent from blogland for past couple of weeks - phenomenally busy and with new job taking up all my time, so not much crafting done in the Willis house :-(  Really missed my WOYWW fix last week, so will do my best to visit lots of crafty boltholes this week, spread over the next few days. If you want to see what other crafters are up to visit Julia's Stamping Ground and join in the blog hopping fun!

But I have the day off today and this is my desk today, batch stamping lots of images for a Pro Marker workshop this Saturday. Got to get it done today cos I'm working tomorrow and Friday, so today's my last chance!  Took a few mins to colour one of my favourite images, the little row of mice from Penny Black 'Micey Nice Day' - they are so cute I love these meeces!

Aren't they sweet? If we have enough time on Saturday this will be the 'challenge' image at the end of the class (which is focused on skin tones, hair and fur) to make each little mouse a different colour using only a few pens.

Well, that's me for today, hopefully I will get a bit more time soon, as I am missing my crafty play time

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

It's Friday, it's 5 to 5 , and time for.........................

Anyone remember this???? I used to love Crackerjack, and always wanted to win a Crackerjack Pen LoL!  This popped into my head as I was listening to the radio and the presenter said 'it's Friday and it's 5 to5' but I think he was too young to remember the rest :-)

There's a 'guess the year' programme on our local radio station in the mornings, and it's fun with all the memories the old songs generate, but so many of them have been used in ads, I now end up singing the ad jingle instead of the actual lyrics - those ad men must have been good at their jobs lol!

OK, so it IS Friday and I'm about to pack up crafting for the day and have a well deserved cuppa so I thougI would share some recent projects and a sneaky peek of a DT project I finished today!

This is a wedding card using pearl embossing powders and a brocade background stamp, so pretty to work with. Even embossed the background card behind the panel cos I got carried away with the lovely pearl effects!

These two are cute boxes I made recently, and all 3 projects will be on show at the NEC next week on the WOW embossing stand

Finally, the sneaky peek...............

These are easel drawer cards, and they are so much fun to make (showed some stamped versions in an old post). You can really go to town on the decoration, and there is a little drawer in the base that you can fit yummy chocs in (or something more boring if you are so inclined!). I got a bit carried away with decorating these two, feathers, leaves, flowers, butterflies - a cornucopia of embellishments!

OK, that's it for today, my feet are freezing so I'm off to put the heating on and hit the biccies!

Have a fab weekend, thanks for stopping by

Debs x

WOYWW 145 and cogs

This is my desk today, not too messy, just a little project in the middle half finished. On the left you can see the lead to my heat gun, a finished tag project, and my trusty digital radio. At the back we have my ice cream tub of acrylic blocks and a pot of brushes - must find new ways to store the blocks lol!! A jiffy bag full of new stamps as part of my WOW! Embossing Powder DT goodies, and a set of large oval dies.  Not too messy at all for me - you can see both table top AND craft mat!

Much easier to keep everything relatively tidy now everything has a home on a shelf behind me.  Although I still leave stuff out at the end of the day if I know I'm coming back to work on it again.

Last pic today is my cogs all ready to go! now I'm off to link this blog to Julia's at the Stamping Ground, and I will try to get round more desks than last week!

This is a close up of my die cut cogs - all embossed and ready to use on my next project - got some great old metal effects with a mix of Earth Tones and Verdigris embossing powders!

Inspiration Tag

Hi everyone, thought I would share with you my latest DT project for WOW! Embossing Powders - I had so much fun making this tag, and was so pleased with the results - love the colour scheme and the elegance of the design (I do like elegant projects, but elegant is not the real me at all, I'm a jeans and hoodie girl - lol!!)

The month of March is all about pastels, and I chose 'Inspiration' as my theme for this tag, as so much of my inspiration comes from nature, and I had a ball making this project!

For full details and a 'step by step' how to guide, click here to visit the WOW! blog

If you decide to give it a try, I hope you have as much fun making this tag as I did!

Debs xx

WOYWW 144 - and frustration with sticky stuff!

Happy WOYWW everyone, if you aren't sure what that means then click here to visit Julia's Stamping Ground for a peek into craft desks across the world!

I missed WOYWW last week, cos I was rather busy (see yesterday's post!) and didn't visit anyone, so will try to do better this week :-)

This is my desk - in my lovely new craft room [happy sigh]

I have everything I need in one place (on the shelves behind me that you can see in yesterday's post!), electrical sockets for my heat gun/glue gun etc, and s-p-a-c-e!! Of course, Deb's law of crafting states that 'you will expand to fill all available space' lol!

The frustration in the title of my post comes from the pile of dies you can see on the kitchen roll on my chair. I bought some lovely new cogs dies at Farnborough, and this is my first opportunity to try them out. They were stuck to the inside of the packaging with something akin to super glue, and the residue was stuck all over the dies, causing them in turn to stick to my Cuttlebug C plate. I had to use my craft knife to pry them off!  So they have been liberally bathed in Stick away, and rinsed in the sink, so that I can actually use the blasted things again!  Grrr......rant over!

And this is Barney investigating my new crafting space.....just cos he can!

Sorry for the cat butt in shot - he's not the best trained moggy and tends to flash everyone, witness his shameless sunbathing in the unseasonably warm weather this week.......and yes, he is fast asleep lol!!

Looking forward to seeing some of the goodies created by you lovely WOYWW'ers, probably take me a few days, but I will visit as many as I can before next week.

Also, if anyone is planning a visit to the NEC on Friday 23/3, come and say hi, I will be demo'ing on the WOW embossing stand all afternoon from 1pm and would love to meet some WOYWW'ers.

Thanks for stopping  by

Debs x

Craft Room at last!

I've been a bit absent from the blog for the past week or so, partly cos I've been busy with deadlines, and partly cos I've been converting one of my bedrooms into a Craft Room!  Yippee! :-)

I've worked from home for a long time, and had a bedroom as an office for years, but my crafting was always done in the dining room/kitchen/living room/floor etc etc! (As many of you will know from past pics on the blog :-)  I decided to tidy (ahem - use that word loosely) my office and get rid of all unnecessary paperwork/reference material etc. Vast quantities of shredding and about 6 wheelie bins of recycling later............................ ta daaaah!!!

I now have all of my crafting supplies in one room - huge improvement! And a dedicated desk where I can leave 'work in progress' and shut the door, no more working out how we are going to eat at the same table lol!  In the second pic you can just see the top shelf is full of files - 11 files of unmounted stamps to be precise [gulp!} and that doesn't include the 2 baskets of wooden stamps, the box of sentiment stamps, the box of Christmas stamps.....
But now my Cuttlebug is accessible without removing 3 layers of other stuff to get to it - hurrah! 

And this is the first project I made at my new desk using some of my new goodies.....

The card front is covered in dark red paper which is overstamped with dragonflies in dark orange ink - nice subtle effect. I clear embossed (WOW! clear gloss powder - of course!) the grasses and flowers (Artemio clear stamp set) at the bottom of the card, then used my gorgeous Inkylicious ink dusters with Big and Juicy 'Soothing Sunset', Distress Inks Wild Honey and Brushed Corduroy to shade the background.

I overstamped the grasses with the different shades of ink that I used on the backgound, and then used my new Inkylicious script stamp all over the background (it's only a small stamp, but you can repeat it over and over to create a whole page of script and it looks like a continuous stamp - magic!)

Finished the background by stamping a few dragonflies, then used a Marianne die to cut out a lacey frame, coloured the die with the same colours using my brushes, then stamped the verse on the die cut to finish, and mounted on the front of the card.  I haven't made anything 'just cos I wanted to' for a little while, and this gave me so much pleasure! Hope you like it, and sorry if I've rambled on a bit ;-)

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Butterfly stepper card

This is my DT project for the WOW! Feb colour challenge using fluorescent colours.  I wasn't too sure about the colours when I saw them in their jars - a bit brighter than my usual choices, but they are lovely when embossed, and I am a convert! also found I was able to emboss small panels and then punch shapes out of them without any cracking or flaking - brilliant! 

Went to Make it show at Farnborough last Friday, and spent way too much! Had a lot of fun though, and already started experimenting with my new stash. Strangely for me, didn't buy many stamps this time, but tons of card and paper, plus Flitter Glue (not tried that yet) embossing paste, punches and some fabulous dies.

Off now to get ready for this afternoons class

thanks for stopping by. Happy crafting!

Debs x

WOYWW 142 - an almost clear desk!

This is my desk today, almost clear! (For me lol!!)  A pile of paper ready to be sorted for my next class, at the back my little box of WOW! Stamps - an old washing tablet box covered in pretty paper and awaiting embellishments! 

(The WOW! Feb embossing challenge is still open til 29/2, with a nice prize for the winner or 12 embossing powders of your choice in a carry case - still time to enter!!)

 And this was my work table on Monday - lots of Pro Markers, finishing off my paper weaving projects, and with a special Helper!

My husband is keen on clocks and pocket watches, and is also a good photographer, so I asked him to take some pics of them last year, and set about turning them into toppers, backing papers and borders.  Not really done anything with them, but thought I would share them. My hubby isn't into the 'traditional' men's stuff of football/rugby etc (although if it has an engine and wheels he will watch it lol!) so I have to stretch the brain cells to come up with ideas for cards for him, and using his own photos was great.  I have also created sets of papers and toppers from pics of CD's, music tapes (!), fountain pens, DIY tools, beer, wine  etc - it's fun creating my own papers, so I really should get around to doing something more with them.

For those who are wondering why I am blathering on, take a look at Julia's blog where Weds is the day for world travel!  We get the chance to check out crafter's work across the world, and share pics of our work desks, tidy or messy, empty or full!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Here's to using up leftovers!

Many of you already know that I run regular craft classes, so I thought I would share the aftermath of my Weds night class.......

 This first pic is all the stamps and Distress Inks piled high on my table, ready for cleaning and sorting.  We always end up throwing everything in the crates at the end of the night, and I start my day with a cuppa and a sort out!  Well, this particular class used a lot of card pre-cut to size, and I had an awful lot of identical sized strips of card left afterwards.........................

Being a typical crafter, I didn't want to throw it away, lots of good quality card, what could I do with it...hmmmmm..............the craft brain went into overdrive and started thinking about weaving the strips together to make a decorative background, so out came a set of Penny Black stamps I've been wanting to play with, and my trusty Pro Markers, and I had so much fun!

I coloured some strips to match my main stamped image, and left some white, then wove them together in a basket weave pattern.  The main trick is to stick one end of each strip (just one direction to start with) in place with double sided, then to weave the strips thru from the other direction until you're happy with the layout, then attach double sided tape to the underside of the end of each strip and fix each one in place as you go.  I found using the lines on my craft mat invaluable to line up the strips evenly along both edges!

They looked a bit boring on a plain white background, so I stamped a quick background with one of the small flower stamps from the set (Micey Day) and quickly coloured the centre of the daisies to match and presto! Big improvement. See what you think.............

And as I had so many strips, I made quite a few cards, but can only give you a quick peek of one here, as they are now destined for Making Cards magazine, along with a set of tea bag folding cards I've been working on.  Again, I had a ball making these, not having tried tea bag folding before, so I made flowers, medallions and butterflies, and made a beaded body for my folded butterfly out of twisted wire, and it came out pretty good! But that's for another post......

For all those who asked, I will get around to a TP mini album soon, and show you how to make one from scratch, and the finished sample...it's on the crafty to do list!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fab crafty weekend

Debs x

WOYWW 141 and the Craft Room Workout!

It has been a really busy week, and I couldn't believe it when I realised that the last time I blogged was a whole week ago! And here I am again, wondering where that week went lol!!  I think I've learned my lesson about scheduling classes so close together.  I have run 4 classes in the last week, and what with packing kits, sorting the toolkits after each one ready for the next, and finishing my samples for the NEC trade show, I am pooped! 


So, I thought I would share with you what I've spent the last 45 mins doing................

 BEFORE...... this is the Cuttlebug work station, aka the kitchen counter (can you tell???? lol!) 


and you can just see at the bottom right of the pic, a big carrier bag full of......... loo rolls.


I needed to flatten these, and a pile of kitchen roll tubes, ready for a future class where we will be making TP mini albums. For those who have never seen them, these are cute little mini scrapbooks/brag albums made from.............you guessed it..... loo roll inner tubes!


Now for the AFTER............

A whole carrier bag full reduced to a few square inches! All neat and ready to go. 


Now for that workout bit, it took 45 mins of manual labour on the Cuttlebug to achieve this, and it was hot work! Who needs Zumba classes when you have a Cuttlebug and a bag full of loo rolls???  Doesn't sound that great, does it!!!??

An now for something completely different.........................  this is the men's Valentine's card I made for the WOW! Embossing Powders design team blog. Random hearts and sentiments stamped all over the inner pop out section and embossed in Platinum, and the sparkly heart dangling in the aperture is embossed in 2 different colours, one on each side of the heart so you get a really cool effect as it rotates.

OK,  I am off to load up the car for tonight's class, and when I get back, or possibly tomorrow morning, I will scoot round as many desks as I can in the weekly snoopathon hosted over at the Stamping Ground


Thanks for stopping by


debs x

WOYWW 140 - where did that week go??

 Where on earth did the past week go ? the last few days have just flown by, and there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done!

This is my desk/dining room table today, stacked with leftover matchbox easel cards from last week, my Pro Marker colour chart, as yesterday I was working on samples for Saturday's class. The pile of samples for the class being buried under the big roll of paper on the right of the desk.  Said roll having been used as backdrop to try to improve my photos for my DT samples - I am definitely no David Bailey!

The eagle-eyed amongst you might spot the tester pot of paint sitting in a little white box in the middle of the table - I am in the process of painting a papier mache box ready for decorating, only had to move it from the kitchen cos it was in the way of that important work aid - the kettle!!

Oh, did I mention that whopping great box on the left??? Full of other boxes hopefully awaiting altering and decorating - otherwise known as the place boxes in our house get dumped lovingly placed awaiting a makeover!

I thought I would share with you some of my DT work for the WOW! Embossing team, on the theme of Valentine's Day, as it's so close!  These 2 were made using WOW! stamps and Embossing powders, and are gloriously girlie in red and pink :-)  There is a men's Valentine's card too, but I will save that for another day :-)

  

Happy WOYWW everyone, and if you're not sure what I'm blathering about,hop on over to the wonderful Julia's blog, where you can snoop into lots of crafty desks around the world

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Matchbox Easel cards and Pro Marker Storage!

Hi everyone, my recent obsession with boxes has carried over into my classes, and I thought I would share with you a pic of the Matchbox Easel Cards we made last night.

I love these little boxes as they are so versatile. They are a basic square easel card, mounted on a square 'matchbox' in a sleeve. I can personally vouch for the fact that they hold up to 9 Lindor choccies - but only 3 left now! ;-)  They can be for any occasion, we made some for valentine's day, and birthdays. I decided to go with a contemporary black and white stamped design, adding a bold colour accent in the punched images - I think they look fab!

I am entering the one on the right of the pic (with the heart!) in the Oldie but Goodie Challenge cos I've had the cute heart with a birdie stamp for ages and this is the first time I've used it! Also the Allsorts Challenge with one or More Hearts as the theme.

I  also thought I'd share with you a 'tidy tip', as I am rather prone to showing my messy workspace onn my postings, so I thought I would show that I do have some semblance of organisation!  Also, Di over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop is on a mammoth stamps re-org, and inspired me to show some organisation!

One of my biggies with organising my stash is that I need to be able to cart it around to the classes that I run, and so I have several chests of drawers, with lots of organiser boxes holding inks, different paper and card etc.  I use my Pro Markers all the time, both at home and at workshops, so I needed something portable, but that would let me organise my pens into colour families - I have about 75 pens, and want them all in one place.  I wasn't keen on the Letraset storage wallets, and lots of other wallets are really pricey, so here is my solution:

 

This is a toiletries bag, with a number of separate see thru zipped compartments, all of which are attached to the main case by velcro strips and so can be pulled out of the case as required, or I can just unzip the relevant compartment. The middle compartment even has a small zipped mesh outer pocket that holds my ultra fnine nibs - perfect! And the whole thing zips closed and fits nicely into my drawer when not in use.  And the best bit??? This cost me £3 on Ebay!

  

So, that's me for Thurs night. I'm demo'ing this Sunday at Hobbycraft, with a Valentine's theme - by the time Valentine's Day actually arrives I will be heartily sick of hearts! 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs xx

Hide n Seek card

 The sun is shining today, but it's really cold here! I've not had much time to be creative this past week, but wanted to share my Sunday afternoon creation.

I love playing with paper mechanics, when a card does something other than simply 'open' which explains my recent obsession with boxes, and the Matchbox Easel card I have planned for classes this week!

This is a Hide n Seek card, where the card has a 'hidden' interior section.

This is the first thing you see when you open the card, a lovely series of stamped and layered panels. Then, if you close the card and push the outer edges back ,when you open the card again.........

Ta Da!!  A 'hidden' message, in this case, the panels say 'With Love'

this is actually a really easy card to make, but takes ages to decorate all the panels. It's great fun though, both to make and to receive.

Start with a piece of A4, crease and fold to an A5, then add further creases as though it is a gatefold card, mountain fold the centre crease, and valley fold the 2 outer creases.

On the centre fold, mark and cut 3 evenly spaced horizontal slits, cutting from the centre fold to the outer folds at 5.25, 10.5 & 15.75 cm.

Fold each panel you have created alternately left and right. Cut 4 panels of mirror board at 21cm x 7.2cm , sandwich them back to back in pairs. Slide one mirror strip through the 2 left hand panels, and the other through the 2 right hand panels.

fold the card open and closed a few times to make sure it folds smoothly, then decorate to your hearts content!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs

WOYWW 138 and more boxes!

This is today's crafty corner of the dining room, prepping samples for this Saturday's class making gift boxes.  Centre front we have a cute little butterfly hexagon box (templates from a CD by Payperbox) stamped and decorated with butterflies.  Behind that is a pyramid box decorated with hearts (yes, Valentine's Day soon dear, if you're reading this :-)

Then you have a small collection of my Stickles glitter glues, and just behind that a teeny tiny set of dragonfly and butterfly stamps that I've had for years and absolutely adore! They are tiddly tho, perfect for backgrounds!

I didn't dare take a pic of the whole table, cos anyone who read my blog last week might notice that most of the same stuff is still there! Have been super busy this last week, and lost a day yesterday after a visit to the osteopath (old war wound lol!) after which I felt like I'd been kicked by a mule (actually petite and blonde, but she still packs a punch!)

After doing a quick flick thru my Blogger reading list, has anyone seen the preview of the new Distress Ink Marker Pens???   Ooooooooh, I really NEED these!!!! 

I have deadlines coming at me all over the place, 3 classes in the next week, and samples to make for the trade show at the NEC, so forgive me if I don;t make it to your WOYWW entry this week.  I will do my best later today when I have a bit more time, so for now, I'm off to add my name to the list over at Julia's blog, then it's back to the inkpads :-0

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Sandown Craft show - new stash!

So I blew my New Year's resolution, which was to not buy any more stash in January!! went to the Sandown Stictch & Creative Crafts show, and bought some goodies........

The beautfiul Isabelle paper pack, lots of glittered and double sided papers in soft shades of green, brown and pink - yum! Packs of coloured card, 10 sheets per pack, £1 a pack - bargain! Got the Martha Stewart punch reduced cos there was no box - yay! And the set of Pro Markers incljudes 5 ultra fine nibs, so very happy with those.  Some extra Glossy Accents mini bottles - so useful for my classes, a leaf punch that I've been meaning to buy for a while, and was reduced, and a cute little Tina Wenke stamp of a book-reading hedgehog that I absolutely fell in love with! 

I was very restrained, kept picking up goodies,sighing over them and then putting them back on the shelf - there were sooooooooo many stamps I 'needed', but still I managed to resist - made of stern stuff, me! Also, the fact that all the credit card machines at the show were playing up helped, cos most stalls were only taking cash and that ran out really quick........ :-)

Been demo'ing at Hobbycraft all afternoon, showing the Papermania 'Blue Burleigh' Capsule Collection, and the Portobello Rd Collectiion.  This is one of the quickie makes using the Blue burleigh  Collection, which includes these great die cuts that you can use to layer up with the toning backing papers for really quick and easy cards.  This one is 2 die cuts, each with a hole punched in the centre of the scalloped edge and tied together with a ribbon bow, then fixed to the front of the card with foam pads.  I finished with sticky gems - super easy!

Thanks to the lovely ladies from my craft classes who stopped by to say hi, it was so nice to see you and have a chat, see you at the next class!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Woyww 137 - The West Wing!

 Ok, so this is the current workdesk pic - chaos as always! I am in awe of those crafters who can stay tidy. I think I'm doing well if i can see any table top at all!!

Working clockwise from centre front, on my craft mat is a concertina'd paper strip ready to turn into a rosette, going left my rubbish pile - usually put this in a box lid as I go, but the box lid was full of other crap lol!!

Left of that a set of Sizzix alpha dies I was going to use on my project but changed my mind, and precariously balanced on that my I-phone!

then one of the cards from my DT project - using Papermania Portobello Rd kit to make some patriotic British cards!Then my pile of stash, various sticky things, a 2nd card for the project partially finished.

and finally...............the West Wing of the crafting mansion!! 

Formerly known as the kitchen, and now in use as a stamping, embossing and die cutting station.  And......I have hit on a great way of saving on the heating bills!

I put my washing in the washer/dryer on the drying cycle when I am working in the kitchen - keeps me toasty!  In fact, if I'm using the heat gun, can get positively tropical lol!!

For those of you who are wondering why on earth I would post pics of such a disaster zone, pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground, where she hosts a weekly blog hop of crafters desks and works in progress from around the world. Great fun, hugely addictive, and I only managed to visit bout 25 blogs last week, so will try to see more this week, but not all today!! Got a class tonight and I still have some work to do - yikes!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

WOW! Embossing January Challenge!

So the first of our monthly Challenges is up and running! To be in with a chance of winning any 6 WOW! Embossing powders of your choice in a handy carry case, you need to check out the challenge details on the main WOW! blog here. 

The challenge is to create a project based on the theme of LOVE (well it is Valentine's Day in a few weeks lol!) and/or using the Colours above as your inspiration. You must use WOW! products on your project, post it on your blog, and then list it on Mr Linky's Magical Widget on the main WOW! blog. The Challenge closes on Jan 31, so jump on in! Do leave us a comment letting us know what you think of the Challenge, and the DT projects.

More DT projects coming soon, and I can't wait to see what ideas you crafty lot come up with!

Happy Crafting

Debs x