What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #529

my desk…

Hello my crafty friends! It’s me! I am sitting out on my deck on this lovely morning typing this post. I borrowed my son’s phone yesterday to take a picture of my desk. His phone takes the most amazing pictures. I still won’t cave and buy a new phone.

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.

So let’s take a look at my desk. I found this amazing coloring book on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. For any of you that are new to my site, I love nature and all that it entails. I grow a flower and vegetable garden on my property and am a lover of birds.

The beautiful cover.

I had taken my boys to the bookstore over the weekend to fight the heatwave we were experiencing and came across this lovely coloring book that simply had to come home with me. It includes 39 birds of paradise from the New Guinea region. The cover has gold foil accents with the most amazing images. I could not walk away from it.

A coloring page inside the book.

I was even more excited when I opened up the book because on the left side there is a small image of the bird and below it is listed the name of the bird and a little bit of information about them. In the back they list the birds and have a color photographs of all of the birds. The book is produced by The CornellLab of Onithology, who is the world leader in the study of conservation birds.

They also included a link to watch the birds that they filmed on YouTube. Grab a cup of tea and a snack and prepare to be amazed. I can’t believe how magnificent the male birds feathers are. My husband and I watched this and some more videos on these amazing creatures.

Birds-of-Paradise Project Introduction
The pages are also perforated so they can be easily removed.

One thing I notice about me, is that I get hyped up when I see a coloring book and then when I get it home, I usually set it aside for a while before I begin coloring in it. But this one, I really wanted to dive in. So yesterday, I spent a short time doing just that. I have some amazing glitter gel pens that I have really been eager to use in my coloring books. So I held my breath and went for it. Because many of the birds in this book have iridescent feathers so I thought I would try to incorporate my gel pens in the coloring. I am not sure how much I like it but will know when I finish. I am using my Prismacolors as my main source.

One thing I notice about me, is that I get hyped up when I see a coloring book and then when I get it home, I usually set it aside for a while before I begin coloring in it. But this one, I really wanted to dive in. So yesterday, I spent a short time doing just that. I have some amazing glitter gel pens that I have really been eager to use in my coloring books. So I held my breath and went for it. Because many of the birds in this book have iridescent feathers so I thought I would try to incorporate my gel pens in the coloring. I am not sure how much I like it but will know when I finish. I am using my Prismacolors as my main source.

I used the color picker to help me find the colors.

I am going to try and sneak up there today and continue coloring. I would like to get back to regular coloring sessions but with the construction still going on at our home, and all of my other things I need to do, it gets pushed aside. Well I think I will stop this chatter and go snoop on some desks! Have a crafty day!

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday – #514

Hello my creative friends! It’s been a little while since I posted my desk and snooped around yours. Hopefully I can get two in this month. Every other week seems to work better for me. Before I babble, let me explain for the newbies. 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.

What a clean desk you might ask. Well that is only because I went to my annual girlfriend creative weekend and took a whole bunch of stuff with me to play. It is usually between 10 – 15 of us that attend a weekend in a beautiful Inn up north. I stayed and played for 4 days! If you want to see some sights from my craft escape check it our here. So that is why my desk is exceptionally tidy.

The floral binder is my new garden journal. I couldn’t resist the beautiful color and the flowers oo la la!!  It’s smaller than I usually use but I will give it a try and see how it works. It being smaller might help me update it more regularly since it would be bulky and heavy to lug around. Front and center is my case with my Prismacolor colored pencils. To the right of it is my brand spankin’ new colored pencil sharpener. I saw a colorist on YouTube talk about it this past weekend and had to have it. I have two small sharpeners that I use but this one gets the sharpest point and it’s said prevents some of the breaking that occurs on occasion while sharpening the pencils. My hands also get tired using my other manual sharpeners. This one you only need to turn the handle 3-4 turns to get an amazing point. It has a self grip for the pencil so it’s easy to use on my desktop or I can also attach it to my desk with the supplies included. So I am going through my case and sharpening all of my pencils in preparation for my next coloring session. This could not happen with my old sharpeners because my hands would be killing me. So I am happy with this purchase.

Look how sharp the pencil is after I sharpen it. So excited. Well that is all I have today. But I will spend the next few days checking out what you ladies have been up to since I last visited!

Make it a crafty day!!

Belinda

What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday – #487

Good morning my crafty WOYWW friends! 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 for What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday where we get to snoop on other crafter’s desks.

Well, talk about crappy lighting this morning. It’s so gray outside and I don’t think my indoor lights made anything better so I apologize for the poor lighting today. I will make sure when I finish this page that I take a picture on a nice bright day.

Today I am trying to continue to work on this page from Kerby Rosanes book’ “Fantomorphia“. This is the second page I aim to complete in this gorgeous coloring book. I am trying out another technique I learned on YouTube. I am using matte acrylic paint to cover the background. I painted it black. I think it makes the image pop. I learned that if you use acrylic paint that is matte, then you can color over them with colored pencils rather easily. So instead of having to take hours and hours using a black colored pencil coloring the background, I used a variety of sized brushes to apply the acrylic paint. It’s very fast and dries fast. I am now going over the little areas I missed or that were too small for my brush with my black colored pencils.  I plan on using my colored pencils to color the gears next and then I will either use my Wink of Stella over the top or try out another technique painting a coat of some of my Nuvo crystal drops. I want the gears to sparkle.

On the right are my rulers, colored pencils and gel pens. I like using this little kitchen tray to hold colors I use in each project for easy access. You can also see the corner of a photo of some of my Hawaiian family and my family from our recent trip.

On the left of my desk, you can see a package that contains some new craft supplies I ordered from Simon Says Stamps.  I purchased some dies and more Nuvo drops.  You can also see some foam tape on the desk. I couldn’t find the one I had already purchased a long time ago. This, of course, is a side-effect of craft hoarding. I have a craft closet that holds many of my supplies. I think the door really should have police tape over it because it is quite dangerous to open the door without stuff falling out. Yup, it is in desperate need of cleaning. That is where I suspect my original foam tape is located. So, for now, it is in the crafting abyss.

Well enough of my yapping, so I can come snoop on some desks.

Belinda

Coloring page fun

Hello, my friend, I hope you are having a wonderful Friday.  The sun has finally come out again after some pretty gray days. I am grateful for the sun coming this weekend but not the humidity.  I mean really, we are a little over a week from the first day of fall and I really want to put away my shorts.

My whining aside, my thoughts are still with the devastating storm that has now settled in on the Carolinas. Most of the people don’t have flood insurance so it will be a long road to recovery once this storm moves on.

On a happy note, I just now confirmed that I will be spending some much needed time with my crafty crew this Saturday. I think it was last spring since I have seen some of them so I am way overdue.  Not sure what I will bring to play with while catching up but I am sure I will bring too much. It’s funny how excited I get when I know we will all get together. I have known these women, for so many years and it never gets old. So I will update you on my girlfriend time next week.  Today I included a couple of photos of a completed coloring page I colored this summer.  As many of you may know, I started playing around more seriously with my colored pencils after the new year and have been having a blast. I took the summer off from work so my Copics collected a little dust!

The cool thing about this page is that I pushed through my perfectionist ways to complete it. I didn’t want to sit paralyzed trying to select the perfect colors. Instead, I just picked colors and went for it. I even added some Wink of Stella to the bubbles so they sparkle a bit. This is one of my newer coloring books from a German artist, Rita Berman.

I have recently acquired a very lovely fall themed coloring book that I can’t wait to crack open. So I will share pages as I work and complete them.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend and please put others in need in your prayers.

See you next week!

Belinda

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