Archives for June 2020

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday #577

on my desk…

Hello, my crafty friends! It’s Wednesday and I am am a bit late but you know what time it is. Time to snoop. 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.

This is my desk before I started working this morning. On the left is my journal. I have fallen off a little. I probably journal about 4 days a week but I would like to get back to daily writing. In the middle is some stickers and alphabet stamps and on the right are coloring books and nope, I have not finished the butterfly picture I shared two weeks ago!

I made these bee cards during my last zoom craft session with my girlfriends last Saturday. I love the little bees. Especially the one with the glasses.

I also began there prep work for another card design. I colored and fussy cut these beautiful Bird of Paradise but decided after cut number 3 that I will order the die. It’s just way too much to cut them all by hand. So hopefully it will arrive in a few days so I can continue working on those cards.

So very happy. Last weekend our landscaper came and pruned my shrubs and installed my mulch. It always looks so much more serene when they put it in. Those pesky weeds don’t get to steal the show.

A late birthday gift arrived later in the week. It’s a solar powered garden decor of a flower with dragonflies. It’s so pretty and so bright at night. I love it. I placed it near my deck so I can look at it when we are out in the evening.

Confession: I did buy myself some craft gifts for my birthday! Hee hee. A beautiful color by number coloring book. I will swatch it with my prismacolors this week so I can start coloring in it. I also bought a coloring book with black women in it. It’s so gorgeous and wonderful to see black women in a coloring book. Sooooo naturally I had to buy a set of dark tones colored pencils so that I could better color the images. 😉

Yesterday, I spent over an hour in the morning giving my houseplants some TLC. I bought new pots and mixed up potting soil and repotted plants. I even repotted some of my orchids. They require a different medium. I didn’t want to get bit by mosquitos so I did it right on my deck and swept up the mess (you can see it in the smaller photo on the bottom row) when I finished. Now I have fallen in love all over again with my plants after their transformation into their new homes. I love how the cactus plant matches the pot and the prayer plant pops in the porcelain white pot.

Ok enough of my babbling. It’s time to snoop. Stay well, my friends!

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday #576

on my desk…

Hello, my crafty friends! It’s Wednesday and I am am a bit late but you know what time it is. Time to snoop. 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.

My desk is messy because I left it after my last session and I have decided to work out on my deck today so it’s rather cluttered. I don’t remember if I talked to you about my renewed interest in scrapbooking. I decided to work on 2 big 12 x 12 albums, one on our trips to Hawaii and the other our trips to Martha’s Vineyard. I was surprised how hard page protectors are to come by now. I think the pandemic has restarted a lot of people’s interest to scrapbook. So I bought an aqua album since it makes me think of the sea. I loaded all of the page protectors I bought into the album. It will be easier to store them in there for easy access to use them.

Let’s face it, I have a lot of patterned paper but I thought a new paper collection would keep me interested so I found that Simple Stories has a new line that works perfectly for both albums. The colors are so gorgeous. I am fighting that hoarder voice that is trying to resurface to compel me to “save” them. Nope, I am going to use as much of this paper and embellishments as possible.

I had to buy the 6×6 paper pack because the 12×12 was out of stock. But I think it will be fine since I am working in page protectors with pockets. The washi tape was so pretty too. I also snagged another line that matched the theme and color quite lovely.

I searched the Silhouette design store for cutfiles that might go with the them and found several. I cut out two of them to see how they look. I am going to store the print out of all of these cutfiles with the paper packs so I have everything in one container for easy access.

peek in my fower beds.

I thought I would share a collage of photos taken in my garden this week. Flowers are blooming rather nicely. Lots of colors this year. The gazing ball has a lot of sentimental value since my mother bought it for me many years ago. I am so happy we have been able to keep it without it breaking. It contrasts nicely in the garden.

peek in my vegetable beds.

A peek into my veggie garden reveals some cool stuff. The broccoli is growing. I have not had success in the past so fingers crossed. I never grow strawberries for fear the squirrel may eat them. But this year, I decided to try. I also added canteloup to my garden this year. Let’s see what happens.

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to take a picture of me on my birthday with my gray hairs exposed during a pandemic. I have to learn to be more comfortable with them at least while I can’t go to the salon.

I spent my morning binge watching a TV show called, “Community” on Netflix with my youngest son, my husband bought yummy sushi for lunch on the deck and then I spent much of the day reading my books on my deck. I didn’t wash a dish, fold clothes or tidy anything for the whole day. I milked it for all it was worth. I had a lovely conversation with two of my sisters and my dear friend that lives in California. It was a really lovely day and our new stove was delivered on my birthday. Not planned, and nope, it is not a birthday gift. I continue to remind my husband that appliances are not birthday or anniversary gifts. So the coincidence of the date of it’s arrival does not change that fact. Hee hee.. I am so excited to use it. We owned our last stove for 15 years. I hope this one will last that long.

I hope you all have a blessed day and stay well. Now it is time for me to grab a cup of tea and begin my snooping!

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday #575

on my desk…

Hello, my crafty friends! It’s Wednesday and I am am a bit late but you know what time it is. Time to snoop. 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 is a cool but sunny day so I think this afternoon I will head out to do some weeding in my garden. The weeds grow so fast. I think when I go back inside they send a friend up to visit!!

Today I am working on a new card set. So first I am mass stamping up the images to be colored and cut out. I purchased the coordinating dies so the cutting will be a breeze. I can’t wait to color these adorable bees.

With this quarantine, I have been constantly trying to find new ways to keep it fun for my boys. One way is that every Friday, we get in the car, mask up and head over to Starbucks drive-thru for some chai. We have even begun to call it Friday Chai Day! It has become a new ritual that is fun and of course yummy.

A quick garden picture of my irises with wild phlox sprinkled around them. The purple is so intense in person and I always take picture of all the different stages.

I have been very cautious during this time and not going shopping with the exception of a couple runs to Lowe’s. The last time I went to Target was March 16th so last Thursday, I am pretty sure you ladies across the pond heard my squeal of joy as my husband pulled up to Target for my first return visit. One would think I was entering Disney’s park. I was that happy. It felt strange when I got inside but I walked around and looked at the current stock of items. It’s the little things that I miss like quick runs to Target to pick up items.

Like much of the world, this experience has made me want to capture time in a scrapbook. On our weekly, zoom craft session last Saturday, I worked on cards and this One Little Word album. A friend and I are working together for fun and accountability. We have fallen behind so our goal is to get all caught up by the end of June. I am really close to meeting this goal and it will be a major achievement that I will celebrate.

And finally, I have continued to work on that coloring page I showed you last week. I was hoping to have it completed but that didn’t stop me from sharing my progress. I am loving coloring this page and when I sit with it, I am finding it really comforting.

Please take care and stay well.

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday #574

on my desk…

Hello, my fellow crafters. It is Wednesday and I come to you in a somber mood. As most of you may know, the United States is embroiled in yet another string of horrific deadly crimes committed by police officers against African Americans. Last week, The combination of the suffocating pandemic and the on-going systemic racism that prevails in this country has led to nationwide protests that we haven’t seen since the 1960s. I oscillate between finding joy in my everyday life and the feeling of being crushed with enormous emotions of sadness and anger. But rather than re-hash the gloom that is upon us, I will focus on my desk and the crafting that is giving me a wonderful way to ease the weight of my emotions.

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.

On the left side of my desk, you can see the happy mail stamped up and ready to go to some friends. I have also begun to work some inventory for my shop (since one day I plan on re-opening it) and the colored up images need to be cut up and placed on cards. I also have some completed cards in the sleeve. The green stamps are some international stamps I bought for my son and I to resume our international post crossings.

On the right is the sleeves I keep blank card bases and believe it or not, after years of cardmaking I still have to write out conversion of the sizes so this system helps me a great deal. So I have begun cutting up more bases to add to the supply. Below it is the coloring book I chose to work on this week because I needed some stress relief.

Above the coloring book is a bunch of cards I started while back but our WOYWW challenge for our anniversary to work on UFOs has inspired me to complete them. I plan on working on them over the next few days.

Cleaning and organizing is a definite stress release for me so I had some cardstock in my travel bag for crops that needed to come out and be added to my drawer of paper.

My sweet son took this picture of me coloring at my desk yesterday. I didn’t take a picture of my newest purchase but I got some Stablio chalk pencils specifically to do backgrounds on my coloring pages and paper crafts. They create a beautiful soft look. It’s hard to see in the picture below but it looks like a real sky with some clouds. I am using my Prisma colors to color the butterflies. My good friends know that I love elephants, dragonflies, hummingbirds and butterflies. So this page of butterflies is bringing me so much joy. I will share the completed page.

I will leave you with a photo of my toes and nails on Sunday. Which I dedicate to Selfcare and Spiritual Sunday. I get up early so as not to be disturbed. I put all my nail tools and colors on the table in my living room. I do my pedi first and then I have these hand treatment gloves I place on my hand for 10 minutes that moisturizes them and then I paint my nails a different color every week. It’s little but it really makes my Sundays start off amazing. Then I read one of my spiritual books or watch a Super Soul Sunday.

I hope you all are well and stay safe. I will make my rounds over the course of the next few days to see what you are all up to.

Belinda

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