What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 94 Before - After/ Mrs A! see- MONKEY!!

Each week when you visit my desk it is in a state of tidiness which I can assure you is not always the case.. You see - cleaning day is Tuesday and that is the day before Wednesday in Oz : ) hence the tidy state..

So just for this week, I am going to do before and after…

Plus to Mrs A of it Its an Alien World I said I would post this week  - monkey…or Méchant (French for naughty) as I call him. 

Méchant is from Manchester but I kidnapped him when visiting rellies in 2009, and the deal was they were to come back to visit him, and they are due next month – Yay! Anyway, as I promised Mrs A. last week on her post here to do a post with monkey - just so the two monkeys could say:" Hi".

He has suction caps and rides around with me as a back seat driver on the car window!! Cheeky fellow!

 

Back to WOYWW –  

Photo 1: shows you the AFTER shot today... as I posted the cards pictured complete yesterday if you want more details on them, see details on this post here. (or the one before this!)

And also you will see in photo 1, I am starting on a Hedgie card which I hope to make into an easel card with Shazsilverwolf’s helpful tutorial, in the next few days, part of an order ( I hope and pray so anyway!).

Photo 2: Shows the BEFORE shot i.e. when was in the middle of all the mess at the weekend! So you can see I do get in a mess too just like all good crafters - we keep pulling out more stash and don’t put away as quickly till it becomes impossible and a clean up is required..

For those of you who are puzzled why we are looking at work desks... join in the fun take a trip over to the royal hostess, Queen Julia of WOYYW, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!

And may God bless your day wherever you might be,

Shaz in Oz.x

PS. re Cuttlebug issues of last week, Jude was right on the loose screw.. and not just me!! it is working better now with it tightened, however still ocassionally acting in its contortionist way, so I am lay-bying a Big Shot from a local seller in the interim, not able to afford an electric one ( and not sure they are available here).

Thanks every one for all your good wishes and kind thoughts - that's what I love about WOYWW! such lovely folk out there!

Fragrant friendship - House Mouse - we love them!

30.3.11 to all the WOYWW-ers for 30.3.11 

Silly me, I have put the wrong link on Julia's page! Click here is the right link please - sorry!

Ah!! House mouse stamps, don’t we just love them? These were on my workdesk last week and now have been transformed!

CARD 1:

I coloured the house mouse stamps (stamp is called Fragrant Friendship -Amanda and Mudpie) in a different way this time. The rose and stem were coloured first with my Dove craft Chalks which you can see on link of workdesk above, and then I coloured the whole image in my Promarkers and then again topped the rose with chalks .

I really liked the effect.

The card used the Ripe Razzleberry cardstock form Stampin’ Up and also used Spellbinder Curved Rectangles, and the Nellie Snellen Lace Border die.

 

Card 2:  I am entering this card in the House Mouse & Friends Spring Challenge as suggested by Sue from Oregon..Thanks Sue for the tip off!

Also a House Mouse; with same border at the bottom and card stock but different pattern and this time I  tried cutting outside the stamp method for the very fist time. 

And used my Petite Ovals in Spellbinders’ for the multiple mounting effect. A couple of hand-coloured roses were also added, with ribbon and my favourite pearls...and also Nellie Snellen lace border die.

CARD 3 : This card is a very poor spin off - it was triggered by the glorious post done here by a blogging buddy of mine - see Jocelyn's wonderful blog here!

The background print is one of Donna’s lovely papers which I have bought - Bearly Mine designs - BM Flower Delight 027 mounted on extended cardstock in plum, with D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.

The Print-blocks stamp of Lilies was bought in 1990’s and is a Brisbane firm; they may still make it.(# I- 2022). The lilies were coloured with my Promarkers and then sprayed with Diamond Dust Glimmer Mist as were the House Mouse images I rather like the frosted look it gives as well.

Then I use the Nesties Large Labels and Scallop punch for edge by Fiskars. One of few punches I can use, with Ribbon matching to finish.

This card was an order, and I do trust the lady loves it too. The greeting is Daily Bread one from Thinking of You Set.

Thanks very much for popping by and may God bless your day wherever you may be!

Shaz in Oz.x.

Help Japan! Buy a beaut stamp, folks.. and please pray!

"WOYWW-er's" please scroll down to next post after reading this post.. thanks all!   : )

From Brenda @  butlersabroad @ 8:13 am "I saw this over on Deb’s blog earlier in the week and thought it was such a great idea.  The wonderful and talented Mo Manning is offering this image for just $1 with all proceeds being donated to relief work in Japan.

I’ll be buying my copy this weekend.  You can click on the above photo for the details, over $500 has been raised already.  

Isn't she just the cutest? and so versatile.. .

I really would appreciate it ff you would read ALL this post please.. : )  ta!

Please spread the word to all your blogging and crafty mates, and also pray for the relief effort over there.

Prayer changes things..."ye have not because ye ask not .." James 3

My friends in Sapporo, north Japan are going along fairly well but much hardship is being suffered all over the land as chilly winter bites and they have so many shortages, so please pray for them too!

While we talk on the matter of prayer; I would like to ask for you to pray especially in next 24 hours of crital decision making in Egypt.

It has dropped off the agenda with all other news in Japan, the atomic and humanitarian disaster and Libya and the very sad stories there all warrant prayer. However the next 24 hour are very critical for Egypt:

This is an excerpt from a young Christian friend in Australia who writes of her troubled land:

“There is a very serious update at present that requires a LOT of prayer. Tomorrow (Saturday 19th) there is a referendum asking the Egyptian people to approve the changes they (the Army and the Muslim Brotherhood) have done to the constitution. All Christians, all educated and liberal-minded Muslims, and the youth of the Revolution are totally against these so called 'amendments'. If they go ahead, the revolution would have been in vain! It would favour the Muslim Brothers and the Muslim extremists only. It would be a disaster! What is concerning also is that it very likely that the army and the Muslim Brothers will 'cook' the results to suit its own agendas. The army has warned the media from discussing or analysing the contents of the referendum! We also believe that if these 'amendments' are 'agreed to', there will most likely be another revolution or protests of some sort by the Copts and secular Muslims.  

Please pray that God would intervene in this very crucial situation.

Prayer Changes Things, though!! “

May we take these burdens to the LORD Who hears all who truly call upon Him and where we find grace to help in time of need.

Love and God’s blessing on your day,

Shaz in oz.x

PS thanks everyone! : )
Update:
I guess folks may have heard the referendum passed and according our Aust.  ABC news there was only a bout 40% turn out. You see, a great percentage of the people in upper Egypt especially are poor and many are illiterate or have very little education and have no idea of the workings of politics or what is going on. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Muslim extremists took advantage of this and turned it into a religious thing. Telling Muslims that if they voted 'no' they would go to hell with the Christians, the infidels, and if they vote 'yes' they would go to paradise!  Also, in many areas Copts were forbidden from casting their vote. The Muslim Brothers also stopped and harassed several secular Muslims and media personal.As my Egyptian friends says:

Our eyes are on the Lord now. He is the only One who can help His people in this very, very dark and trying time.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 93 + Challenge + Freebie!

Well, another Wednesday is peeking into view!! And so is another WOYWW! Are the weeks getting shorter as the year of 2011 progresses?

So much happening too in the bigger picture of our world (sadly not all happy – and so I am in much prayer for Japan and Middle East) - let alone on our small work desks.

Mine is slightly tidy again - sorry will try to leave it messier - next time I will take  pickie on Tuesday before cleaning day! I have been working none the less as you will see I also have some more stash newly arrived. Two new Penny Black Stamps (they have come! two weeks ago saw one on Brenda of Butlers Abroad desk ) - yet to play with them, but have done some others.

Up the top left are the House Mouse stamps (have had this one for a while) and just coloured a rose-smelling mice twosome. I have a number of friends with birthdays who are rose lovers so they will be getting them; and tried it this time with combo of the Dovecraft pearly chalks and Promarkers. I just loved the look of it! yet to make it up... 

Oh and I have new storage for Promarkers, which I found at Spotlight. This is a DMC thread sorter roll –AND it has perfectly sized spaces for Promarkers - I wish I had two of these instead of the Letraset one I had already bought, as like it much better. And a third of the price!

The left hand middle card is detailed here. And it is made using the paper from free downloads of Glenda Waterworth two weeks ago on WOYWW! Do love her paper!

The Hedgie card is one I had stamped on last weeks WOYWW (someone commented on it?).

I have made it for a friend's newly born daughter. Brayered the Flower Cuttlebug (called Caramello) folder in baby pink dye ink, embossed then sprayed in Diamond Glimmer Mist, a Nestie mount and Sticky "Sweet" button at the top with pink checked ribbon to finish it off.

 Underneath it is the card I am entering in this weeks   Christmas challenge @

Hazels.   Go for Gold!

So it has used Victorine Originals Bauble stamps in gold plus pine tree stamp from Sheena Douglas (Little Sketchy 2 Faith set) with deep green (not black) corrugated mount and the Marianne Die Snowflakes in Mirri Card.

The other card done with the Penny Black Aspire stamp. The recipe & card is shown in detail - to see click here. 
Some very clever ones of you may recognise it as newbie stamp from last week. :D

For those of your puzzled why we are looking at work desks... join in the fun take a trip over to the queen of WOYYW, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground!

And may God bless your day wherever you might be,

Shaz in Oz.x

PS just looking around and found this gorgeous freebie so check it out folks from our very clever Donna at Bearly Mine Designs.. to get bigger resolution with Windows make sure after right clicking you select "Save Link as..." not "Save as..",  which is what I used to do till Glenda sorted me out..

PPS. CUTTLEBUG USERS - HELP!! any answers please? 
My cuttlebug is one year old, but it has had lots and lots of use with various cutting dies- not just embossing and I think it is going to die soon.. the last two weeks of use it seems to separate at the top side join near the handle (which is getting looser too)  and make funny noises. It goes back together it can be either embossing or cutting, but mainly with thicker folders. I am very weak in my hands due to my arthritis plus very poor manual skill in strength items. So I dont think I am forcing it, as dont have the oomph! 
I noticed in my Google search on this matter, the new bugs have green honeycomb plates for the A plate - so it has more give?

1.Does anyone know what may be happening here?

2.Are there maintenance things I should be doing with it? I always test shims/plates levels before cutting/ embossing. 

PPS. In answer to Jude - your comment on loose screw may not be entirely off the mark. I printed off pdf manual on assembling the bug and praise God I still had the Allen key used for assembly and tightened up the handle an awful lot and seems better - however time will tell!! (pray it all good now as not $ for Big Shot let alone Vagabond.. they are so dear, plus different power to Oz at present..)
Would you believe it is one year and 4 day sold! just out of warranty!
love Shaz in oz.x 

Penny Black Aspire stamp – Brayered Background in a Triptych

 

A big thanks for this card to Shaz Silverwolf and to Trish @ My Daily Dose Blogspot for this card…

You can see Shaz Silverwolf’s brilliant cards with this stamp here and here and here, and of course it was put in my wish list.

Method: a brayered background was made with a post note moon the Adironack Dye ink colours were applied gradually. It is done with the colours of Adirondack that Sandy HulsartYou-tube video (Purple Twilight, Mountain Rose and Peach Bellini), as seen on this post here..

 Like Shaz did in some of her cards, I decided to do it in triptych format, and stamped over the background in Sepia tones with new pad in Archival Ink.

As I did not have mounting card in the right colours I used a deep red and changed it into the right sepia tone by brayering the ink over it and allowing to dry. Mounted and finished the card while crafting with my new crafty friend Trish - she has a gorgeous Martha Stewart punch which she kindly used on the bottom of the card. -Martha Stewart Deep Double Edge Punch - Garden Gate Trim, can get here in Oz from Scrap dragon. I cant use them because of arthritis so only use die borders.
. 
We had so much fun crafting together here on Monday and I pray it will be the first of many such times together. I mounted the same sepia-toned card underneath to finish it off.

Please see Trish’s brilliant work here, My Daily Dose Blogspot…and a VERY big thanks to these two ladies!

Till next time,

May God be your Strength through each day,

Love Shaz in Oz.x

Thanks to Ikki and to Glenda! lovely paper here!!

In part this post was to have been for the Less is more challenge for the pastels but I ran out of time, and not sure it has enough white on it to fall into next criteria? and not one layer - ah well such is life!!

Not too worried at missing the boat... as challenges are not that high on my agenda. It is just fun, as my feeble attempt is showcased more widely and you learn and share ideas that way.

For those of you who follow WOYWW you will have seen this paper upon my work desk two weeks ago.(see here).

It is the free download from Glenda Waterworth’s new blog "Chocolate Baroque” which I found through following Ikki's blog.
This is simply scrumptious and if I had been better health wise, it would have been made up sooner but better later than never.( see here! look under Downloads tab.)

This card is dedicated to two wonderful ladies:

• to Ikki who inspired me into greater heights with card making than I ever thought possible (see here for her absolutely amazing blog if you don’t know it) 
• and to Glenda for her generosity in giving away such beautiful Digi paper for free. I love her stamps sets too and had planned to use my one and only but changed my mind as I went along! You can’t get them here.

Card recipe:

1.     I printed off two sheets of the Digi paper as you will see there are only two large squares on the free print out.  I cut them out carefully, edged them with the Nestie square scallop dies, mounted on two more lots of cardstock, Lively Lilac from Stampin up and black to match the sentiment with a very fine edge.

2.     I spent an age learning for the very first time how to print the sentiment on the card from the clever ladies at Less is More for the tutorial in Word see HERE . I have Word 2003 and had to make a quick phone call to my sister as it was slightly different but hey! we made it in the end, thanks Di! I still pinch myself over having conquered Word for once – answered prayer! (So a big thanks also to Chrissie and to Mandi @ Less is more!) Sentiment was printed on white Linen cardstock -looks a little mauve but it is not.

3.     Punched scallop edge and then grabbed a beautiful textured ribbon to border it and three pearls.. I do love my pearls!!

Hope you like it  - I am now on the mend. At last! YAY! mind you technically have at least week to go so better not rush too much here.

God bless, till next time,

Shaz in Oz.x
PS Entering this in the anything goes Die Cuts challenge see here !  :)

The Fragility of Life - A challenge!

Challenge #79 Stampin' Sisters in Christ.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever."

  This is a beautiful thought - life can become overwhelming at times, and "What is our life,  it is a vapour that appears for little time then vanishes away", as James said in his New testament letter.

James the Apostle was a wise man.. life will soon be past!

May we leave behind a pleasant and beautiful fragrance with all who may come across our path this day that the LORD has given us. Our God's word living in our lives will never fade or pass away!

Challenge: Use a stamped flower image on your card/project (note that patterned paper, embossing or paper flowers do not count as a stamped flower).

Recipe for these two cards:

1. Entry for the Challenge is the first card. . The two images on both cards are stamped with Stamp of Lily - Printblocks I-2022 (Brisbane, Qld firm, from 1990’s).

White cardstock mounted with Big W red cardstock, then, flower patterned from Ripe Razzle berry set by Stampin’ Up. It was edged with the Nellie Snellen Lace edge die.

Using Large labels I cut the Lily out, mounted on same red then on patterned paper from Stampin up Ripe Razzleberry. As stated on my last WOYWW post (see pictured here too) I used Primsa-watercolour pencils, and I enjoyed using them. Then sprayed it with Diamond dust Glimmer mist. I then stamped the ODB greeting at the base I like this as it covers many things. Birthday, encouragement, get well and even sympathy if you wished

I added the few pearl adornments.

2. Card with red embossed background, mounted on white cardstock. Background is Big W. red cardstock was cuttled with Moroccan screen, and the surface embossed with white chalk pad. The Taylor Eyelet Die was used to border it, along with the soft white cotton lace. Both background and edge were done with my extender method – see enlarging Cuttlebug folders here is one of them, check sidebar for more! and I do the same with border dies. I used Labels two for the stamp cut out this time and then the stamp treated the same as above, all the way down to pearls except lightly different.

For those of you who comment on my stones, this is stone mat at my courtyard door , a birthday present last year from my youngest sister. I started taking the shots there because mainly it has great natural light and thought the stones look okay. So it is something you could make yourself! If you want to know how just ask me by email click on my profile and email address is there...she is kind clever sister!

May Our God be with you through your day wherever you may be till next time,

love Shaz in Oz.x