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.