A blissful crafting area

I'm here at last.  I seem to be continuously chasing my tail these days, will I ever catch up is the big question, well I'll try, but after 3/4 weeks off any work there's a lot of backlog to plough through.  It wouldn't be so bad if it was just home stuff or work, but both suffered badly and now I'm paying the price.  But it will all get done eventually, no good worrying about what you can't change because it just drives you crazy.  I learnt a long time ago that getting all stressed about things you can't change just shortens your life and makes you very unhappy.  It's just not worth it, enjoy what you can while you can, because you can't get it back once it's gone.

Right onto lighter and brighter things with Polka Doodles.  I've a couple of challenge cards for the last two weeks and a couple of other projects I made.  I'll start with the challenge for this week which is to follow a sketch and only use 3 colours, and has been set by Nikky.  I found came across a backing paper I had printed off and never used, it jumped out at me as it was bright and breezy which at the moment with this dismal August gloom was a breath of fresh air.  That was the starting point for my colours, blue, green and orange.  I used one of the new Stamp Doodles rubber stamps for my main image which I coloured in with AquaMarkers.  The papers are from Sugar Birdies and Candy Doodles cd's and the stamp is Butterfly House.  You can find them all on the Polka Doodles online shop along with so much more scrummy stash.

The challenge for last week was set by Fliss and we had to make a card with a vintage theme.  I used the Not For Girls cd as it has quite a bit of vintage style papers, images and ephemera.

Now for the 2 other projects I made for Nikky.  I wanted to use PD's lovely stamps for something other than cards, and this is what I came up with.  The candle uses the Christmas Doodles rubber stamp plate and the candle holder is silk paper decoupaged and uses one of the Fairy Flutterfly stamps.  I enjoyed doing these, it's always nice to do something different for a change.

Now don't forget about the fab comp on the Polka Doodles website to win the whole set of AquaMarkers.  You don't have to be a brilliant colourist to entre, it's not just being judged on colouring skills, but potential and effort.  So have a go, you may just be lucky.

I have been very busy with my workspace too, and after a lot of hard thinking and gentle persuading the dining room/workroom has now been transformed into my workroom/office/studio (posh eh).  The Dining table is now in the living room and we actually use it now for it's original purpose, the PC and desk is now in the workroom and I bought myself a nice new desk to craft/work on.  I cannot tell you how much it has improved how I work and feel.  It has made my working life so much easier and nicer.  The desk has storage areas either side of it, and I've put all the things I use on a regular basis in them so they are right at hand when you need them.  They hold oodles of boxes so it's made my big cupboard better too.  No more moving a layer of boxes just to get to my coloured card.  Pure bliss I can tell you.  The desk came from Staples and had 25% off. It's a nice deep one so no losing stuff that falls of the back, and while I wasn't keen on the shiny white surface or the curved sides it is a joy to work on and I really recommend it as an art and craft work area.  Just look at my room now, well then, I've updated the temporary file trays on the desk now so it does look a little different, but not that much really, just better.  There are still Colin's model Jags on the shelves but at some point when we redecorate the living room (don't hold your breath for anytime soon, lol) they will probably move in there, and then I will be able to organise things even better.  The chair makes the desk look quite small, but it's actually really big.

I'm doing this the night before tomorrow, so I'm off to bed and will post this then. Confused? me too lol.

Bad blogger!

Hello, what a bad blogger I am being at he moment!  I am however finally feeling a lot better, thank heavens, so hopefully I will get back to it on a more regular basis (well we can all live in hope).  I popped into see Marilyn (Colin's Mum) yesterday and she said that I finally have some colour back in my cheeks.  I have to admit I was getting a little sick of seeing the ghost looking back at me in the mirror, lol.

Now everyone, don't forget about the amazing competition to win a whole set of Letraset Aquamarkers on the Polka Doodles blog, you'll find details on my previous post and on the PD blog, plus Nikky is doing a tutorial on how to use them each week, so get yourself over there and check it out.

This weeks challenge over at Polka Doodles is to follow a sketch, and it was originally set by Kerry.  Sadly Kerry has made the decision to leave the Design Team.  Kerry has been on the team right from the beginning and we will all miss her lovely design projects and messages.  Anyway, getting back to the challenge which the lovely Jenny stepped in to oversee.  I decided to make an A4 card this week as an added challenge, I also wanted to use the Christmas Doodles rubber stamp plate.  One reason for making the large card was to show that you really don't have to have a large image just because you are making the card large.  I know a lot of crafters are wary of making these, but you really shouldn't be, don't let size put you off, it's really no different from making smaller cards.  Go wild and give it a go for the special people in your lives.  I used the juicy Aquamarkers for the stamped image, but I used them directly onto the stamps them bled out the reindeer and the tree trunk with a a damp paintbrush.  The backing papers are all from the Jingle Jangles cd, which I have to admit is one of my favourites.  Just add the brads, ribbon and stickles and hey presto, you've got yourself a lovely card.

Here is my card from last weeks challenge which was set by Nikky and we had to make something generic that could be given to a male or female.  I used one of Nikky's new templates, this one is called Dee's Double Diamond and it makes a really sweet little card that you can do all sorts with.  I first made this card a couple of years ago for one of the Making Cards special editions magazines and it proved to be very popular.  Nikky has produced 15 new fantastic templates.  There are pop-outs and shaped cards and they are really versatile, so why not pop over to the shop and have a look at them.  The decoupage owl and the backing papers are all from the Mr Twitty collection on the Paper Boutique Vol 1 cd.

Now for some card sets that I made for Making Cards.  I had great fun with this first set, and I was really pleased with how they turned out.  Sometimes you have what you think is a brilliant idea, and when you actually make them it turns into a nightmare and you wish you hadn't started.  I'm glad to say that wasn't the case with these.

 

And these are the cards I made with Dots and Spots decorative tape.  I just love her artistic style and as soon as I saw these tapes I had to have some and get creative with them.

And some more Polka Doodles products, This time the Fairy Flutterfly stamps which are just adorable.  \This set was all about paper piecing and I used some lovely Basic Grey papers and peach card for flesh areas.

 

Sammy hasn't made an appearance for a while so here's a quick couple of pics of him.  He's been so good with me while I was poorly, we had many a snugly cuddly hour in front of the telly.