Workdesk Wednesday 108

Well I have been frantically trying to upload photos to blogger all day and have only just now got it to work. I know it wasn't the pictures or my pc again as I could load the same ones onto flickr with no problems so don't know what is up with blogger.
Having said all that I have nothing on my desk to show as it is either in the post or for swaps so can't be shown yet.
Not so on Monkeys desk though. He was really taken with the idea of taking your initials (in his case M) getting paint chips using the letters and then making an item with the chosen colours. Iv'e done this with a challenge I have entered and shown on a previous desk.
Monkey came back from the hardware store with eight colours all starting with M and finally narrowed his choice down to two, 'Moroccan Sands' and 'Morning Jewel but which one did he choose and what did we make?


He couldn't make up his mind so in the end went for multi choice and used both!! He also asked me to make him a suitcase for when he goes travelling. How could I refuse.


You can see more desks to prowl round on Julia's blog right Here.

All things Japanese.

This was not my best idea in showing on a black background as you can't see the dolls black hair! I made this little Japanese bag for Sherry. I ran a blog 1 yr anniversary and Sherry was one of my winners and got to choose an item to be made for her and she chose this bag. It is made from genuine Japanese silks from real kimono's that have been unstitched and the material cut up and then shipped from Japan.
Photos are much better on Sherry's blog.


I also made this minature kimono as a little extra gift.
This shows the front.


and this is the detailing on the back. It is all fully lined. Turned out rather cute I think and I had fun making it after I worked out how to turn the sleeves the right side out and attach them!!

I'm show casing these on 1st Unique Gifts: handmade Monday.

and making them my Monthly Make for June on The Felt Fairy:

Nasty Virus. Beware.

I interupt this blog to bring you a news bulletin.
I have just had a very nasty attack from a malicous spy ware. First if disables your anti virus soft ware (I have a very good one installed which it still managed to get past) and then poses as an XP Repair. It looks very authentic and you think you are looking at the real microsoft XP. This software then proceeds to tell you that you have some very dangerous issues and runs a diagnostics check the minute you switch on your pc. It then requests you to pay to upgrade to fix the problems . Don't!!! To make it look the real thing it then proceeds to hide all your programes and wipes everything off your desktop so that you cannot access anything. You also cannot close this programe down so you are well and truly stuck. Luckily I have an IT man round the corner and a phone call to him brought him around this afternoon. It took him 2 . 5hrs to debug my pc, reinstall my anti virus and rebuild my laptop. He said he has had to do this 4 times in the past month to other users and that this is a very malicious virus. If you say yes to the upgrade it takes your money but still leaves you with all your programes missing.
Whilst I was very happy to pay to have my pc back in operation (my IT man was very apologetic at charging me for his time) it is a cost I have not budgeted for this month. I would rather have had new stamps, papers, craft goodies, embellisher (yes it was that much)instead.
So please beware as this virus is going the rounds and can cause considerable damage, frustration and be costly to fix.
p.s. I have just had to consume a bottle of wine with The Doc to get over the trauma!

End of News flash.

Bowing Geisha

I made this tag to include with a prezzie that I sent this week which has now been received. The image is a free digital stamp called Bowing Geisha and I have coloured her using water colour pencils and baby oil. The butterfly is a clear stamp which came free with a magazine and the flower is made from several punched circles of coloured paper fringed to look like a carnation. I used T.H. distressed ink on both the flower and tag edges to match the butterfly and the japaneses silk material.

Entering into the following challenges.

One stitch at a time: Things with wings.

Creative Belli: The letter G. (Geisha Girl)

Do you Stack up: the colours Mustard (dress) Mauve (fan) and Pink (tassel).

Rainbow Lady's: Digi Day.

Card Mad Fairy's Digi: Taste of the Orient.

Make it Monday Party: Paper crafts.

Divas by Design: Anything but a card.

The Poodles Parlour: Come Fly with Me.

For Sue.

Flowers as Nature intended.

We have just been for a nice long walk along the country roads up to the church and the field with the gate where you can gaze for miles and watch the cows. These are the 'Wild Flowers' that I picked on the way home. Aren't they a picture!!!

The Doc and I then sat at this table and polished/sipped/guzzled nearly a whole bottle of rose with chunks of cheese and biscuits as an aperitif for Lasagne later. Perfick.

What are you doing for the longest night?

Look what I won and a card!

I can't believe it!! My little paper birdbox won the Get Funky May Challenge.
Haven't stopped jumping up and down yet.






Now I don't really do cards but this gorgeous paper and images by Kirsty Wiseman were on the May Complete Cardmaking CD-Rom and I fell in love with them so I decided to have a go and make my Dad a Fathers Day card. (I know that he will enjoy it for the few moments that he will remember why he received it.) He loves flowers and gardening was the great joy of his life.




I have mounted the flower paper onto beige card stock and just layered up using a blank frame (from the cd) printed onto white paper and more flowered paper inset plus green buttons that were a freebie from a magazine that just happened to match perfectly. The image was already printed in colour so I just cut out and added on top. I used a font from my pc to write the words and the verse (for inside) onto white paper and lastly used green distressed ink on the card edges. Pleased with the result so I'm entering into the following.

Cupcake Crafts: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy.

Peartree Designs: Fathers Day.

Papertake Weekly: Dads & Lads.

For Fun challenges: Pink,blue,yellow,purple,green colour challenge.

The plants have taken over (WOYWW 106)

No desk as such today and nearly no post as internet has been down all day and only just back on line now.

The craft pod has been invaded by the plants from downstairs plus all moveable furniture as the carpets are being cleaned tomorrow. (Just had a very nice phone call , Maurice is coming at 9am in the morning to do them). 'The Doc' has slowly been hemming us in at my desk as he has been busy all day clearing the decks . Monkey is on look out duty and is trying to work out the easiest route to the door. Hopefully we will be back next week fully functioning and no internet problems.

Off to have a snoop now at more crafty desks around the globe. Why not come and join me at

Julia's blog.

Bird House

The challenge at Get Funky this month is to follow the recipe and whip up a crafty creation.
The recipe called for
5 flowers
3 different papers
2 buttons
1 ribbon
A Sprinkle of gems or pearls to season.

So I got cooking and this is what came out of the oven!!! A nice little Bird House gift box. Just the right size to hold a cup cake or a muffin. I found this cute template on the web for $3.99 and altered it slightly by adding a base to it.

The 3 papers I used were:

The June freebie download paper for the house. Paper Blossom No 6. for the roof and base and Paper Blossom No 5. to make the centres of the five flowers.

Ribbon was used to make the hanging loop and also to close the lid of the roof with a bow on the side. Gems were used to finish off the flowers. A little extra seasoning was added in the shape of swirls, netting and the butterfly of course.

Entering this into the following:

Get Funky: Follow the recipe.
Make it Monday Party: Paper Crafts.
1st Unique Gifts: Handmade Mondays.
Totally Gorjuss: Flower Power.
Moving along with the Times: Anything but a card.
Pile it on: Whats your Angle.

Workdesk Wednesday 105

I have not been blogging much of late due to elderly parents needing care and it has taken much of our time travelling up and down the motorway to sort things out.
Hopefully blogger has settled down now as I have been commenting of an evening but a lot have gone into cyber space never to be seen or heard of again. Appoligies if it looked like I had been avoiding you. Honest I haven't!!!!!

Right so what is on my workdesk.Well I have cleared the desks so to speak to spread out some paint chip colours. Why? I have entered a challenge where you go to your local paint store and choose colours that each start with one of your initials. I managed to find enough colours to make up 3 complementary pallets using my 4 initials. You then take your selection off to the fabric store and choose colours to match your paint strips and then make an item in patchwork in those colours. The 'Vanilla Mist' strip is my wild card to throw in if I get stuck on a colour. Pretty cool challenge hey!!!!!

If you want to join in here are the details.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1641805@N24/

Monkey is looking a little agast as there is a rival tea bag box sitting on the corner of my desk but I have explained to him that it is all in the line of duty and we do have very hard water here. It is for the June Artful bag Challenge which is to take an everyday object( as long as it isn't a bag) and alter it to look like one. I will show the results on a later post.

Pop on over to Julia's blog to have a snoop around other peoples desks. Thats where I'm off to now.

Monet it's not.

The current challenge on the Art 'n' Soul flickr group is to make a 6" x 4" postcard and incorporate metal on it somewhere. Don't ask me how I managed to think this one up but an amazon lily made from a bottle top popped into my head. The plain postcard I used was slightly smaller than the size needed so I backed it onto green card stock and made it look like a picture frame. The pond and lilies were done using watercolour pencils and then blended with a wet paint brush. I stamped the reeds over the top using the Hero Arts stamp S5316.

Then came the fun part. A shrink plastic frog drawn on a rock and colured in (told you I was into shrink plastic) and the amazon lily made from the bottle top and painted green with a fabric flower in the middle. A completed picture but not quite up to Monet's standards!!