What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #416

"What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday" is celebrating eight happy years of crafting, fun and friendship today. Who'd have thought it? I've been joining in since 2011 and met some very lovely people over the course of those six years. Here's to many more. Big thanks to Julia for bringing us all together.

I did have time for a little bit of playing with pretty paper earlier. I'm finally cutting into this lovely stuff, having admired it for several months.

I also stamped a whole bunch of greetings ready to add to some cards.

When I kit for class I can get four card mats from an A4 sheet and I end up with two little pieces, like the one in the picture above, left over. They usually go straight into the recycling because I know, if I keep them, they'll most likely never see the light of day again. This time I had a purpose in mind and I've used them all. Very satisfying.

Happy Anniversary to all you Deskers out there and Happy Wednesday to everyone else. I hope you've enjoyed some glorious sunshine today, like we have.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #403

We're getting back into our term time routine here, which means the kitchen table has seen no crafty action this week. I've been doing a bit of hand sewing here and there, which doesn't require any setting up. Clearing away only involves throwing the hexies back in their bag and can be done at the drop of a hat.

Instead of a desk, I've got the remaining two cards from last week's class to share.

Sticking with the Lift Me Up stamp set, I paired it with Timeless Textures to build the background. I like the contrast between the clean white base and the balloons stamped on kraft card. Lifting them with foam pads for depth. I inked the sentiment stamp selectively, with a marker, to get the part of it I wanted for this card.

For the final card, I stamped in the same ink as the first. Using different card stock has changed the colour of the balloons quite dramatically. The background square is cut with a stitched framelit and stamped with the Watercolour Wash background. Another favourite of mine for a quick and effective result.

There you have it. Four quite different cards from the same stamp set. I like to show the versatility. Which is your favourite?

Linking up with Julia and the Deskers, before I head out in the dark. Hoping the lighter mornings are not far off now.

PS The card that I was working on last week is here for those that asked to see it.

Stampin' on Saturday

I've not written one of these posts in a while. A few things conspired to prompt me into it. Several people asked to see the finished card from Wednesday's post so I shared it on Instagram. It's quick and simple to do that and gets an instant reaction. I appreciate that not all my readers are fans and I'm putting it here for you.

It's also easy to respond to questions on IG. All too often I get asked something here and try to reply only to find the person is a "no reply blogger". Sometimes I will visit that person's blog to answer the question, but I don't always have the time and I don't like ignoring people. Instagram is a far more interactive experience I find.

Once I'd shared my card, I had a quick browse through my Insta feed and saw Sian's post about Clutter and White Space. It struck a chord with me as one of my class ladies was not keen on the card above. She didn't like "all that empty space" and proceeded to fill it with more clouds. That's fine with me. I want everyone to be happy with the cards they take home and White Space is not everyone's thing.

With that in mind, I try to make a variety of styles from any given stamp set. The layout of the balloons is exactly the same as in the previous card. Here I've paired them with Timeless Textures to build up the background and give a vintage look. We made four cards in this class and I'll share the other two on Wednesday.

As you can see I'm a fan of both "Clutter" and "White Space". How about you?

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #402

Things were happening at the kitchen table yesterday. Prepping for class this morning. Cutting and scoring blanks for 32 cards and packing all the supplies.

We'll be inking up a brand new set of stamps and I've chosen colours that I usually wouldn't put together. I think it worked. It's all too easy to reach for the tried and tested and get stuck in a rut. Here's to breaking out.

Linking up with Julia and the Deskers before I head out this morning. It's Half Term here so that means 9am instead of 7am, which is a bonus. Happy Wednesday.