Archives for October 2019

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – #543

on my desk…

Hello crafty ladies! It’s that time again! For those of you that aren’t familiar with WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday), head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and you will find desks from all around the world where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.

First I need to do some housekeeping. I apologize for not making my rounds last week. I visited exactly 2 desks last week. I just got consumed by life. But I promise to do better this week. Besides, I need to know what you ladies are up to. I also want to apologize for the dark photos. It has been crap weather hear since Sunday. Rainy, cloudy, dreary and chilly. So the lighting in my craft room is a bit funky.

Ok onto my desk. Well it is quite cluttered today with lots of transition stuff. I have lot’s started and none finished… <sigh> Really that’s a reoccuring thing for me as of late. I was inspired by the Paper Source flyer to create similar designs with my own stuff. One card had beautiful wreath with a sentiment on the inside. I really liked the simplicity of it. So I layed out the catalog and opened my Silhouette. I found a lovely Christmas Holly wreath in my library of files and sized it for an A6 cardfront. Then I tried two different cardstock until I found the right weight. This was a piece of Bazzill paper from way back that was nice and thick. Some of the cheaper cardstock are too thin and often have a white core. The only thing is I will need to carefully remove them from the sheet because my blade is starting to dull. Below you can see one that I successfully removed.

You can also see one of my new additions to my coloring book collection. Collection is the right word because boy do I have many. 🙂 Below you can see the first page I colored. It’s the title page.

I saw a crafter on Youtube use gold embossing power on black and had to try it with two of my new background stamps. See the picture below. I love the chic look. I will definitely doing this more often.

My final pictures is a pile on the floor beside my desk. It’s there because two days ago, I crossed the police tape and ventured into my craft closet a.k.a. Pandora’s box. I have been stumped trying to find some of my Christmas supplies and cards I worked on last year. I realized it had to be in the closet so I went for it. I didn’t want to go in there because I would be forced to clean and purge. (Neither are my favorite tasks.) Luckily they were not in too deep so I escaped without a rescue team! So that messy pile is actually some really cool stuff I will go through to begin my holiday card making process. So stay tuned for that.

Well enough from me, I need to stop typing so I can come visit you and snoop!

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday – #542

on my desk…

Hello crafty ladies! It’s that time again! For those of you that aren’t familiar with WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday), head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and you will find desks from all around the world where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.

Today I am in a rush. My boys have half day and get released at 12 so I am squeezing a post in before I head out to pick them up. My desk is exactly as I left it on Friday when I did my virtual craft hour with Ashley. You can see my smoothie, a cardfront I stamped up and began coloring with my copics. You can see the book sleeve of a new book I bought. I always take the covers off when I read them.

Copic coloring the cardfront.

I plan on coloring them and then adding a blue backgound then adding Nuvo drops to the centers. Will share when I complete it.

panel at Boston Book Festival
A panel I attended at the Boston Book Festival.

I have been wanting to attend this book festival for years and this year I finally made it happen. I had so much fun listening to the various authors speak and then chatting up close for pictures and book signings. It is so nice to be in rooms full of book nerds!

Meeting some amazing authors.

I’m not going to lie, I was fan girling hard. I couldn’t believe I was actually talking with the authors that wrote books I’ve read. It was a very special moment indeed.

My Mom’s 70th birthday celebration.

Today is my late mother’s birthday. She passed away in 2007 but I still think of her daily and hold her close in my heart. I thought I would share this photo from her 70th. I rented out a pottery place and we all made plates for her then headed home to celebrate with the fellas. It was a great time.

Have a blessed day my friends and I will make visits over the next few days.

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday – #541

on my desk…

Hello crafty ladies! It’s that time again! For those of you that aren’t familiar with WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday), head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and you will find desks from all around the world where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.

Coloring a sugar skull.

Well this week I thought I would share with you two things I have been working on – coloring and creating custom notepads.

Over the weekend, I was at my in-laws watching football and decided to color in one of my coloring books. I had a goal to color at least one page in all of my books by the end of the year. I have to confess it’s an epic fail!! I am a lot slower at completing pages so hitting this goal is quite a challenge. Anyway, I wanted to color something in Johanna Bassford’s Magical Jungle coloring book but I have also been craving coloring some fall scenes. But this coloring book does not really fit that theme. Be stubborn I decided to flip through it and I was pleasantly surprised to find this page and it reminded me of Sugar Skulls from Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Day of the Dead ( Día de los Muertos )is an interesting holiday celebrated in central and southern Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 & 2. Even though this coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul’s & All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones.
They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31, and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.

mexicansugarskull.com

The tradition of sugar skulls is for families to decorate their loved ones’ ofrendas with both large and small handmade sugar skulls.[4] Children who have died, represented by small sugar skulls, are celebrated on November 1. The larger sugar skulls represent the adults, whose celebration takes place on November 2. It is believed that the departed return home to enjoy the offering on the altar.[5]

Wikapedia

I was able to complete the skull while watching the game and plan to finish the background this week. I have some ideas and techniques I would like to try. I did pull out my gold gel pen to color in some areas which makes it pop but unfortunately it isn’t easy to capture in photos. So you will have to trust me.

Right side of my desk.

On the right side of my desk, I actually cleaned my inbox and came up with an idea of how to place items in it instead of piling things a mile high which hasn’t inspired me in the past. But as you can see I stood some items up and now when I look at it, I don’t get the feeling of dread I have had for months. I actually think I will get some things done. You can also see my boiled eggs, its morning hear and I am on a cleanse so boiled it is today. You can also see I snagged some more green, black and red cardstock packs in preperation for the holiday crafting.

My witch pen.

Have you ever been in a store and you see something that brings you back to your childhood. I was in the mall with my youngest this past weekend and I saw this witch pen that can box. It has two buttons to push on the back to make her punch each arm. It reminded me of that old Rock ’em Sock ’em game from my childhood. So I bought the witch for me and the pumpkin for my son. I told him whenever we disagree about something this week, we can have it out with our pens.

One more look because she is so cool!

My second craft project I wanted to share is the custom notepads. Remember I shared a notepad project with you about 5 weeks ago saying I wanted to make custom notepads from notepads from the dollar store?

Custom notepads I made.

One of my crafty friends that lives several hours away and I decided to return to a fun thing we used to do years ago. We decided to craft for an hour and a half on Fridays via video call. So that is when I worked on and completed these notepads. Unfortunately nearing the end of our session, my ATG gun ran out of tape so I didn’t complete them. But it was so much fun to catch up while tackling an overdue project.

Design 1

I used coordinating Nuvo drops on the covers. That was fun but they had to sit and dry for a few hours before I could put them away.

custom notepad with cover that says Good For the Soul.
Design 2
Design 3

Well I sure do feel like I am extra chatty this week so I am going to stop right here and thank you for sticking to the end of my ramble. That’s what I am up to. Now I need to come see what you are all doing.

Have a blessed day!

Belinda

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – #540

on my desk…

Hello crafty ladies! It’s that time again! For those of you that aren’t familiar with WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday), head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and you will find desks from all around the world where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.

laptop on desk
Planning out new projects.

Today I pushed aside crafting so that I can plan out my projects so that I won’t get that overwhelming feeling that tends to settle in around this time of year. I usually start stressing about making products for my shop, making christmas cards for friends and family etc. So I use an online app that syncs with my phone so I can see what needs to be done and when. First, I wrote out a list on paper of new projects, then broke them down into smaller tasks. Now that that is completed I am transcribing them into my app.

pile of craft projects
Pile of components for craft projects.

The very first thing I did was revisit some of my newer products some that have never been used before plus some old faithfuls and did some prep work of pairing items to use on projects. That way when it comes time to work on each, it will make it that much easier to begin. On the top you see the latest catalog from Paper Source. I rarely buy their pre-made craft items but I draw inspiration from them to create my own on my silhouette or with my stamping products. There is also an old Cocoa Daisy honeycomb stamp that will go well with some of my new project ideas so I added it to the pile.

A glass hummingbird.
Glass hummingbird.

I couldn’t help but share a picture of my little glass hummingbird that I purchased this summer while on family vacation. I love hummingbirds so much. They amaze me with their speed and exquisite colors. I didn’t know where I was going to put it and finally I thought I could hang it off my lamp on my desk so I can see it everyday. The cool part is that when the light is on, you can really appreciate the multicolored glass.

Nuvo Drops
Nuvo Drops.

Lastly, I wanted to share my newest color of Nuvo Drops. I have quite a collection now and these are some colors I felt were missing. I got them in the glossy version which dries with a brilliant shine. The red and green will come in handy for Christmas cards. I can’t wait to use them. Oh and the three books you saw on my desk are books I am trying to finish within the next two weeks because I am going to a bookfair and will have the opportunities to meet these authors and possibly get autographs!!

Well I am off but will pop around over the next few days to see what you ladies are up to.

Have a crafty day!

Belinda

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