WOYWW 4th Anniversary - No. 208!!!

Woo Hoo. It's here. For four years Miss Julia, she of the Stamp Ground fame, has hosted our little party, a world wide snoop onto the desk top of others. It's all harmless and can be lots of fun. In honor of the anniversary, Julia reflects a bit about deskers...I've been a kind of in and out desker over the last year and half, but have been pretty faithful the past several months. I look forward to it. Simple as that.

I've just returned for a week away with my sweetie in San Francisco which was green and sunny. Yay. I did a bit of shopping there as well.

I found those fun and colorful tab stickers on the left side of the desk at a place called the Container Store. What a plethora of stuff they have - my goodness. I couldn't resist all those colors! Moving around  the desk clockwise you'll see a Ranger Glue Stick. I point this out because unlike almost every other glue stick I have ever tried, this one actually works!! I used it on vacation to start a quick, down and dirty travel journal and was really impressed. Above that you can see a card from my friend Linda...I should have taken a close up of the flower -- it is beautifully shaded and shimmery. Gorgeous.  Moving around a bit more you can see the clear, plastic carry bag with the very pink zipper. Sadly what you can't see are the fun flamingos on it which is what caused me to purchase it in the first place.

But my favorite art score were these:

I feel in love immediately. I mean who doesn't love an elephant on a stripped beach ball wearing flowers in her hair and a doily on her posterior? All the stickers are fun and sparkly....I found this at a grocery store in Glenn Ellen, California. Can't wait to use them.

Also can't wait  to play on my prepped art journal page and in the Fun Room altogether.

In addition to the folks I've already committed to, and the next person in line, I do have one extra ATC I'd be happy to send ANYWHERE to the first person who comments they would like to swap and extra one.

Hope you have a glorious week!

Color in a White World

This, oh so sadly, is what we woke up to yesterday. Latest snowfall on record. Duh.

This was my response....well, after several choice words. 

It all started with this week's Simon Says Stamp challenge to use a little paper. As in little papers. As in 6 x 6 papers. That's how it started  - honest. 

I got out my Gel medium, tore a bunch of paper, applied it to the front and sides of a chunky 6 x 6 canvas and I was feeling pretty good. Small problem tho - it was really pumpy because I was pretty indiscriminate  about the size of the pieces and how they overlapped. So next I applied one piece of paper over the front. And I was off to races. 

I've really been drawn to warm colors after years in the jewel tones, so I started with some buff paint to set a background and then used oranges, red-oranges, pinks and turquoise paints, pencils, markers, etc.

I used some stencils, bubble wrap, background stamps, and even some molding paste. Just playing.

At the top of the side you can still see some of the paper I started with. playing with color and layers.

This phrase has been in playing in my mind this week, so I just went with. By now I figured this would be another of my "pay it forward" pieces, where I put out an offer on Facebook to make 5 original somethings for the first five people who commented and agreed to do the same. Up on my window sill was one of France Papillion's new stamps - the banner. I got out more paints, including some of those uber sparkly Silk Acrylic Glazes and painted them up. I also used some Tombow markers with them and the contrast helped bring out the sparkle.

If you look really closely you can still see the paper underneath (nothing like close-up photography to show you where you could use some touch-ups - lol.)

Lots of layers here...washi tape, paint, molding paste, stamps, rub-ons, paint and bubble wrap.

That's my process - today - with little paper. Who knows what it will be next time. That's what is so fun about it!!

Thanks for stopping by the Fun Room. Hope it's sunny and warm where you are. If not, I hope at least it's not snowing!!

Luscious, Luscious Color for WOYWW 206

Oh my. I am in love. Again. This time it's serious.

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day in the USA - a day of appreciate for all that Moms do. It can be pretty funny when your family tries to decide what you would really like to do. That's easy. Spend time in the Fun Room. Well, that kind of happened. I was taken out (along with every other Mom in the region) for breakfast...for blueberry pancakes. Yummo.

But instead of playing in the Fun Room, I ended up with a new storage unit from my daughter's room so I did some reorganizing. Haven't had a chance to get back in there yet. That's way my desk looks like this.

 Kind of empty. But wait. What's that in the middle?

More color for the Fun Room? Sparkly color for the Fun Room?

YES!!  A new little shipment of Silks Acrylic Glazes just waiting to be played with. I  got them today and I have to work tonight so I don't have an extra moment or they would be open and I would be ooooooing and aaaaaahhhhhhing over their lusciousness. They are just heaven to play with -  they are so smooth once you apply them to paper.

This, well let's call it a banana leaf, was the result of simply applying other silk glazes in my art journal. I've got it bad. I am in awe of these paints. They are glorious. 

Are wondering what WOYWW is? It stands for What's On Your Work Desk and this is the 206th edition hosted by our friend, the lovely Julia Dunnit. It's a grand thing. You take a picture. Link at Julia's site and take off for a trip around the world via work desks. 

I'll be traveling next week, so will miss a Wednesday.....I hope I'll be okay!! But I will be back for the big anniversary and exchange of ATC's. 

ATC once more, with Texture

One of the fun blogs I've been following of late is Alison's Words and Pictures. She has a wonderful artistic sense and is quite active in a lot of challenges! A couple times now I've seen her designs for the Fun with ATC's  challenges. The current challenge is #87 - Texture. Since it seems I've been doing quite a few of these lately and I am a BIG fan of texture, I decided to see what I could come up with.

I started with Neocolor watercolor crayons in green, a couple of shades of yellow, a blue, and fuscia. In 21 Secrets I am taking a great class with Terri Kahrs and she uses baby wipes to blend the crayons. With several layers you can get some intense color. Since I am still pining away for spring up here in Alaska I decided to take a summery approach to things.

I used the white Wendy Vecci's molding paste with some light green paint mixed into it, and applied it to a Crafter's Workshop bamboo stencil. I am a new convert to the molding paste - it's so much softer and fluffier than anything I've used before... pretty fun.

That was layer number two. The butterfly has been floating around my desk for sometime now - it needed a home - and a body. I used a variety of embossing powders on a Tim Holtz pen nib, with a final coat of Ranger Bridal Tinsel embossing power. I love this stuff! It has some glitter in it and it adds a nice sparkle to whatever you apply it to.

The final layer was this lovely sentiment I came across recently on something from Artchix Studio. And since texture was the name of the came, I layered on a little glossy accents on top just to make it stand out a little more.

ATC's are such a fun size to work with. They make great magnets, you can pop them on cards, or actually use them for trading. If you haven't given them a try - I highly recommend it. They're quick and fun. Enjoy!

Quirky Birds at WOYWW 205

UPDATE: For WOYWW 206 click HERE. Mr. Blinky and I didn't get along very well this week I'm afraid.

Zip. Zip. Zip. Time zips by and all of a sudden it's Wednesday again and time for What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday, hosted each week by the most talented apprentice EVER I'm sure, Ms. Dunnit. Our friend Ms. Julia has embarked on a new career of sorts and we're hoping it doesn't keep her away from her blog too much - because in addition to this Wednesday gig, she writes a great story!

My desk has the remnants of a card I made last evening for a family friend who's amazing 19 month old Great Dane Leo died of a heart attack running through the snow on Saturday. So sad. He was black and white so I made a black and white card -- well, it had a bit of color. If you look really hard underneath the letter stamps you can see the paper I used.

There are a few new things on the desk too - a prezzie package arrived in the mail today. From me. To me!! I am blown away by all the things you can do with these watercolor crayons. I wimped out and bought the 15 crayons assortment first -  I mean I didn't really know if I would like them or not....kinda of a mistake, cause now I want them ALL!! 

I've been working on a Lifebook 2013 project the past couple of days. This one was Quirky Birds. So much fun. A lot of Neocolor crayons, acrylic paints, and a collection of white and black pens

I learned so much working on these. Blending, techniques for making quirky creatures, and as always what I wouldn't do next time. The first two birds I essentially copied from Tam Lapor, Lifebook's founder and the teacher for this class. They are slightly different, but the concept was hers. The next two were a bit more my own. To me, they have a different look - a little looser. 

This guy is my athletic bird -- you can tell because he has knee pads on! What fun...I found myself doodling a bird during a meeting at work today...not sure that's a good sign, but it's all fun! 

Hope you have fun this week.  

Play Time with Tim's Tag

I hope Tim Holtz is a happy man because he just keeps doing the most AMAZING things and making so many people happy!! Including ME!

The 12 Tags of 2013 May version is a wonder. I saw it when I was traveling and it combines some of my favorite things. Film strip ribbon, word bars, and rub-ons and of course COLOR.

I am really having a blast with the rub-ons. They remind me of the rub-on letters we used one summer to put together a theatre program, except the ones on the market now are just so cool. Tim's especially!!

Check out his techniques here! Fabulous ideas. Here's my version.

Because my central image, the Eiffel Tower had less mass than than the original I embossed it with clear embossing powder, to give a bit more heft.

One of Tim's elements are the rub-on's on the enameled tags. Small problem. Don't have those yet. First I tried painting over a plaquette with white paint which worked pretty well until I put the alcohol ink on it. The paint reacted differently than the enamel. So I tried to correct that so much I ruined it.

Then I wondered about a Fragment. Love the fragments...and do have a bunch of those. Problem is they're transparent and with everything going on in the background of the tag it got kind of lost. AHA. Metal foil sheets to the rescue. I put some of that on the back and it adds a whole another element to the tag. Forgive me, but I love it. I see many of these in my future!

What a fun, colorful, inky mess I made tonight in the Fun Room. I'm a happy girl! Hope you are too. Thanks for visiting.