WOYWW crop - what a day!

Well it happened again - a bunch of blog hopping desk dashing ladies (and a few of gents in assistance) turned up in beautiful Burbage,Wiltshire for the 2nd crop organised by our fab leader Julia and our one and only LLJ (Jan).

Another success story, another day of eating oh so much and another day for hugging and for catching up with friends.

A spot of crafting was done too, of course.

Myself and Debs set off at 8 AM, technically the journey should only take about an hour & a half, but traffic could make it longer and I so don't like being late, but as always when you plan for these occurrences, they don't happen so we arrived promptly at 9.30AM!

Anyway photos is what you want not me rambling on so here are a selection from the day -

My ATC's I took to swap.

Looking across the hall from my seat.

Helen and Sam working away and Fergus sat there supervising.

Everyone busy it seems.

Laura, Donna and Kyla.

Me and Cindy.

With Sam and Fergus too.

Me and the lovely Dolores.

And here's what I brought home, beautiful ATC's and art work. Not to mention the gorgeous goody bag Julia and Jan gave us but I will keep the contents of that until Weds as it seems we have some homework to do!

I am hurting so much today, but who cares, it was worth it to enjoy yesterday!

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 208 Anniversary version!

Four years ago the wonderful lady Julia decided to share her desk for the world to see, and invited others to do so too. Now I confess I'm a late come-er to this party as I only started about a year and half ago. But now I love it - I do miss weeks, but I can always rely on the kindness and support from the ever growing WOYWW list. SO if you haven't braved the brashness of blatantly baring your desk/space/floor wherever I suggest you get that camera out and get snapping. It is rather cathartic you see, then pop over to 

The Stamping Ground

and join up, you won't regret it and who knows you may make a few friends, and they might actually become friends in real life too!

My desk today is a colouring heaven, pens everywhere and images too - 

I have so many June birthdays it's unreal and they are 'special' ones too, ones where I need and want to put the effort in to colour and create.

I will be at the Crop on Saturday along with my fab friend Debs (Deb's Pen Pot). Last year I took a Smash Book, this year I'm going to be colouring. So if you want any help with colouring I'll be happy to help, I'm no expert, well unless you count my Spectrum Noir Accreditation, but I know I've got a small amount of skill and I love to share how I colour. It's about the technique and finding the light and darks of an image. Doesn't matter what colour you use the principles will always be the same!!

Right that's it - oh before I forget I am not taking part in the ATC swap, purely because I have too much stuff to get sorted, but if anyone would like a little something from me, but are happy to wait for it then please ask!! 

Take care Zo xx

Finally I can share....

I've been bursting to tell you all this, but had to keep it quiet until the launch show had aired. Anyway last night on the German shopping channel HSE Extra, Hayley West launched the Butterfly digi kits with the Serif Craft Artist Pro software.  

A while ago Hayley asked if I'd like to be part of the Serif DT that she was organising and, of course, I said yes!

It's part of the reason I've been so quiet, I was busy designing and making up over 20 samples that had to be sent to Hayley to take over to Germany for the shows. It was great fun as I pushed myself and the kits to come up with samples that went from simple to advanced in terms of the CA tools I used.

Here are just a few pics of some the samples - 

A door hanging where I inked the blank hanger and printed the butterflies on to acetate. I think it looks fab in the sun!

Each of these started out as a blank page, I added backgrounds and textures, inks, splats etc all digitally to create the canvas, if you like, before layering images and adding texts.  I only added real ink to 2 makes, the door hanger & the hanging which I only inked the edges, the rest was digitally created.  It's a real mix, but I used the decoupage tool, glass, shadow and bevel styles as well as the stamp mode. Not that any of those names will mean much if you haven't used CA, but it's tools that allow the designer (You) to add effects to the basic images.

So there you go, another reason for my quietness, but a good one I think! 

Take care Zo xx

A catch up!

I know I've been quiet again, time just seems to slip by and before I know it another week has passed. Anyway I have been crafting as well as training Baxter who is doing well and has now been left for 20, 40 & 60 mins in his crate successfully. Well he barks when I go not matter what I do, he just knows I'm going out even if I keep the routine the same as training, he just knows. But he is quiet on return and clean and dry in his crate! SO for me, that's success!!

Okay, my makes recently - 

A Sheena Douglas Paint Fusion CD make - love the papers and toppers.

Another using the decoupage.

These pages are in my new Stampin'Up This and That journal. I bought the bundle so all the papers and embellishments match. I'm creating pages with photos from our holidays over the last 8 years or so.

I've been playing in my Dylusions journal too, I saw Dyan create a black background and use white pen so I thought I'd have a go and will fill it in with Zentangle I think. The purple page is just Dylusions ink After Midnight sprayed on and then I put sea salt onto it while wet and let it dry. Always love this technique and the results are fab!!

I'm having to pace myself so I have the energy to spend time with Baxter and also craft. I'm reading Cesar Millan's books, he's the Dog Whisperer/Leader of the Pack, and also have set the Sky plus to record his shows. I've already started implementing some of his ideas and found Baxter responds well!

Right I'm off for a nap, take care one and all!

Zo xx

WOYWW 206

Hello!

I confess I wasn't planning on linking up this week, too many things going on, but then I found myself taking photos of my desk and I thought it would be rude not to use them!

Not much changed this side, more stamps on that pile, pens out and radio on, not that you can hear it.........it's Talksport (Surprised? No, didn't think so!) in case you wanted to know!

More images, yep I'm still printing, but they are new images.

A tag, for me, because it was my birthday yesterday so I've made this to go in my Project 2013 Smash book  (It's on the window sill!) as a kind of book mark but also because I love this image, and in my head I think I look like her, complete with blue hair!!

Okay pop over to The Queen of all desks, Julia to link up, nose and make new friends.

May not get to many of you just yet, having a few issues with Baxter, so am crate training in the hope this will ease his Separation Anxiety, but it's taking baby steps to build his confidence. Any advice?

Take care Zo xx

A Pitcher!

Morning! 

Today I'm here to ask you to pop over to the Crafty Boots blog to see my latest DT make which can be seen HERE

Sneaky peek!

Pretty please pop over and have a look, leave a comment and follow if you would!

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 205

Good morning happy people!

Well I hope you all are despite the sun disappearing and being replaced by wet stuff. Ah well the socks are back on and the Fitflops are pushed aside once more, shame cos I got a pretty turquoise colour on my toes!!

Right desk, go to Julia's Stamping Ground get the idea and take part!

My desk - 

Right side is pretty standard, no new additions there.

So the window side, well it's colouring, I printed off (naughty as I have a huge folder full of printed images!) some of my favourite characters and for some I printed them pretty big. I saw Alyce from Kit and Clowder do a large A4 colouring and the detail she got was amazing, but then all her work is amazing so I thought I'm going to try and take my colouring to the next level. So big is the way to go, to get that detail perfected before I shrink them again!

That's me, sorry for lack of posts, I have been busy making lots of DT projects that I can't share just yet, but will do so when I'm able.

Take care Zo xx