WOYWW 731 – challenges and whatnot

Happy desk hopping day! Well, not quite!an odd night before post from Julia so…

All my trades have been received and my mailbox is a bit mournful there will not be pretty ATCs flooding in. Ah well.

My desk is in chaos, after doing so much that has been only digital, as I am doing (hands up if you are too) Index Card A Day for the first time. I have seen it for years, but never in the right head space to take on another challenge. This is the year!! I have shared the first four over the last couple of posts and five (actually Monday’s card) here, and will hope to catch up so I am always sharing the previous day’s card by Friday. My desk reflects the chaos of actual rather than digital art LOL!

Yikes

Poppy is a sweetie. She has been happy enough being an inside cat, but it is a bit unfair for us to be out enjoying the sunshine and keeping her in. While I would love to let her roam free our garden is in no way secure and it is just too dangerous around here. We are working on a proper Catio for her but for now, she adores this little pen. She goes in to it every time she wants to go out, we zip up the door, put it on it’s side, and she walks out like she is in a huge hamster wheel! She sits, she sniffs the air, listens to the birds, and sometimes lays down for a little snooze in the sun. I can slip in a bowl of water for her without letting her escape – not that she tries.

None of that “Cats need to be free to roam” please. I would let her if there was a way to keep her safe. This is temporary, and better than never letting her outside. Compromise the the word!

So, enough of that – on to the Monday ICAD. I stumbled across the stencil I made with “mark making” designs on it and wanted to use it. I had mopped up the DO inks when making the previous card so I thought I would make it easy on myself and use that one.

But I also realized what had been bothering me about the cards – no words! I mean they are really mini art journal pages, right? And I struggle to think of a page I ever did that did not have at least a single word on it! Ta da!

Happy now…and Happy WOYWW!

WOYWW 730 – last of the ATCs

Happy WOYWW to all! The last few ATCs are here! Robyn’s from the USA (with the most perfect sentiment on it!) arrived in good time, and Spyder, my goodness she went all out, sending THREE! Sneaking in a last minute addition was from Susan in Australia! Whoop Whoop.

Lovin’ those cats. They perch on my desk at the moment, but they will soon reside in a binder, unless I make another display for them – where are those card sleeves?

My June (and July cover) daily journal is there, ready to move over on the 1st, and a little container of Watercolour Inks from Lidl. No idea why I bought them, they are just liquid watercolours, not water-proof or no run, not amazing colours, but mixable, and while they did come with a nice, quite fine waterbrush and a stack of paper, I am not sure I needed them. Maybe it was actually going shopping at a store with my Darling Daughter? She was all like “Mom, look, craft supplies! What are you gong to get…? Doh! My little enabler….

Poppy is still Poppy, and I have come to accept she just is not a cuddly cat. Weirdly, she is a lap cat if I let her. She will sit quite happily on me on the sofa, and even sometimes on DD, but very much when she wants to. She is never keen on being picked up. She allows it, but not for long.

That is one seriously unimpressed cat. Have you ever seen such a look of disdain? It’s withering! Ah well. We love her and are happy we can give her a good life – if only we could let her outside safely, her life would be enviable. Working on it.

Now I really must sort out my calendars for 2024. People will be asking and I want to be ready.

Have the happiest of WOYWW days and I will pop round as soon as I can.

WOYWW 729 – ATCs all round, I betcha!

Happy WOYWW y’all! What a fun week it has been as the ATCs from the swaps dribble in. I have heard back than a few of mine have arrived safely, and as I don’t have any more made, I hope they all DO arrive. I got a bunch – a few on the day, a few soon after.

Let’s see. From the top left, in rows, we have:

BJ, Lynne C, H, Angela R

Diana T, LLJ, Tracy E

Christine, Julia and Angela H

Plus two that came after the photo, from Cindy and Caro!

And the really lovely card is from Tracy:

You can also see my badges, the original and a new one, from Julia!

What a special week it was.

Poppy is still not impressed!

She’s a bit backlit, but from the right angle her middle white splotch looks quite like a heart! She is much sweeter than the hissing and bolting girl we brought home, but I suspect trying to pose her would be a step too far LOL!

I have been a bit all over the place craft-wise lately, but a couple of notable things:

1. I have barely touched my quirky old program and am feeling more comfortable with the Affinity Suite now.
2. I have not touched my gel plate since I made the Anniverary ATCs and I miss it a lot
3. I am running low on cards for birthdays in particular
4. I need to make my June journal, and for May (so far) I have truly done DAILY journaling!
5. Got an email about the ICAD … project? challenge? whatever! and am feeling sorely tempted.
6. Got notice that WordPress is no longer linking to Twitter. I mean, I’ve never really tweeted, but used to be when I posted on my blog a tweet was automatically tossed out into the universe. There is a like to Insta so maybe I should do that instead.

So who knows where things will head next week? Drop back by on Wednesday (or before, up to you) and see.

Off to hop…

WOYWW ATCs – finishing up.

I have shared this construction before but it still makes sense to share how it works with an ATC. In the past I mostly focused on the circle version, while this one is rectangular.

Taking eah ATC pair, I cut one in 1/2 short ways and one in 1/2 longways. I see these called hamburger and hot dog folds/cuts. I get it but still weird.

Each piece then gets folded ends in to the middle. I have to keep my wits about me so the colours appear where I want them to!

To create the flexagon, you need to place one set valley fold facing up, covered by the second set, valley fold facing down. I find it useful to match up the corners and use the little clamps to hole them in place. If you fold down the corner you can just see the little rectangle that is defined by the creases

That is the only bit that needs glue! I recommend Art Glitter Glue. It grabs fast and stick amazingly well. Once the glue is in place and the corner folded over, the clamp shifts to hold it in place.

I then just rotate the bundle around and do the same on each corner.

From there, it is just adding all the stamped and cut out bits and reinforcing the creases as I go

The bunnies and hoppy days blocks get added, the number stenciled and the WOYWW 14 stamped.

and the bunny needs to be folded, the the teeny circle added and the function checked.

Done!

The words should read, as the card gets flipped this way and that,

14 years of desk visits

Celebrating Inspiration

EVERY WEEK

Celebrating fun & friends

awe &

inspiration

WOYWW 14

728 Hoppy Days

I managed to cram all of that into a 2.5 x 3.5 inch card. Phew.

Really quite a bit of work but oh so worth doing for my crafty mates.

Roll on WOYWW 15!!

No surprises – WOYWW ATCs

I took like a gagillion photo to explain the making of my ATCs and was going to post them next week, but I might as well do it now, because there hasn’t been any secrecy this year. Lots of people shared the ATCs they received on the anniversary, and I only mailed mine that day! Oh well.

I’ll probably have to split it up cause there are loads of photos. I wanted to do something a bit special so yeah I actually made 20 flexagon ATCs for the swap.

I began with two pieces, gel printed simple gradients or mixes of Distress Oxide ink, then stamped with some Elizabeth St Hilaire stamps.

The tricky part was matching up all the pairs colour-wise without making them one at a time!

Then it was all about the stamping. Just a billion (seemingly) tiny little letters all needing to be arranged to create the words I wanted to say. Once I stamped them all from the edges of the cards and leftover bits, I sorted them into piles and pots

I printed my ATC backs and signed them but left the numbers blank till I knew how many I would create. As my card technically has no “back” free to stick it on, they will be loose in the sleeve.

I had to create a few other bits, like a stencil for the number of weeks and a tiny circle with my info (again, no actual back stuck on, so people might forget it was from me otherwise!)

and lastly for today I stamped and cut out a cute little bunny – I added the s to the end to make it Hoppy DayS so it reads 728 Hoppy Days.

There was no way I was going to try to cut out those feet and little arms, I while I thought I might draw them in, in the end I mostly didn’t. Don’t think it matters, they are still super cute. If you get one with feet and arms, it is the anomaly not the rule!

Enough for today. I’ll finish it up tomorrow!

Happy 14th Anniversary WOYWW!

Happy happy WOYWW! What anaccomplishment, to keep it going all these years.

My desk is as clean as a whistle, save two important things:

A pile o’ ATCs ready to trade, and the ancient WOYWW button!

While I am quite excited by it all, my Sweet Poppy in decidedly unimpressed!

I thought I would end by sharing a crop prize. The words are special, the art sublime, and it makes me think of WOYWWers we’ve lost.

Sharp-eyed old timers will perhaps note the small colourful coaster there at the right, a crop gift from FairyThoughts Janet back at WOYWW 311 (!) and having shared that I cannot help but share the tribute from Debbie for Shaz Silverwolf.

I have been so happy to join this amazing, talented, kind and supportive group of crafty women for so many years. I joined in in 2009, had a brief hiatus when I got stricken with my weird and rare version of myositis, but came back once my strength returned, a bit. I’ve stuck with it, even if I don’t always manage visits on the day. Thru it all, there you all have been, with lovely art to view, kind words of encouragement and support, a few tears and many, many laughs.

In celebration, and don’t faint, but I am even thinking I will sign in to Google to comment (just this once!) so I can actually leave a comment on all the desks, not just the Name/URL ones…

Thank you Julia, thank you WOYWWers and, as ever, I’ll see you round yours soon.

ARRGGGH! I have been trying to add comments while signed in to Google, just for the special week of the anniversary, and have commented on places I usually cannot (Bleubeard, Susan R, Twiglet, Wipso…) and now for Diana and Kelly Google is telling me I can’t comment even when I am signed in unless I change my browser setting to allow third-party cookies. Sorry guys. I did try, but that is a step too far 😦 I also note my other comments don’t seem to be appearing either so might have all been for naught…
waaahhhh!

WOYWW 727 – Seven more sleeps…

Ah the anniversary week is nearly upon us. I am panicking in case I don’t have enough ATCs to swap! Eek! I am also worried that I have lost track of who I asked to swap with! In tidying up, I fear I might have tossed the important piece of paper with my list in the bin. More about that in a minute, but first the desk shot:

The paper cat from last week has been sitting on my desk while I work on my computer, mostly. You can see my first ATC has already arrived, because the sender was off for a holiday. I also managed to unearth my WOYWW badge from … who knows how long ago!

SO. Here is the list of people who I have addresses for and who I THINK I said Shall we Swap? to. If you are not on the list and you see this and I agreed a swap, please, please comment. If you need my address, do the same!

• Angela (received!)
• Julia (Of course!)
• LLJ
• Helen (H)
• Susan R
• Cindy
• Ali W
• Tracy E
• Christine

With the official swap assigned by list position, that may mean I have 7 (or 8) unclaimed and three more that I can finish quickly if I need them! So I think I will be fine because not everyone who joins in wants to do a swap.

Cats. Finally, after maybe a month, we managed to get to Dear Son’s place for a visit. Of course it was nice to see him, and Pretty Partner, but I really wanted to have a lovely cuddle with Angelina the Cat. Yeah. No. After her literally being MY CAT every second of Dear Son’s absence, she ran and hid as soon as we arrived, and while she reluctantly allowed m to pet her a few times while she hid under the bed covers, she clearly totally forgot me. Poppy is generous with her affection – she will even cozy up to the cleaner, only very reluctantly moving when the Hoover gets too close. Angelina spent the entire time under the bed covers whenever anyone other than family was in the house. They are as different as..well, black

and white!

I shall be off for a hop later this morning. It is a week with a few Dr. related things going on but hopefully nothing that will keep me from my appointed rounds!

Happy WOYWW!

WOYWW 726, with not a lot going on…

Happy WOYWW all! I have, as I think I mentioned, 17 ATCs completely finished and ready to go for the swap. I know I have promised a few with agreed swaps made, and unless a ton of old Deskers pop back for the anniversary, I should be OK with that number. But I have three more that are done except the assembly. I don’ want to waste any so I won’t make those last three up unless I need them. My desk is as tidy as expected, after completing a big project and mostly clearing up. I still have to pick out all the tiny letters and re-store them, although there is one element with text I had to cannibalize to create the other bits and in order to finish those three I will have to re-create that. Another reason I am not pushing to do it.

Maybe I am giving away a few too many hints here, not sure, but I still think the final design will be enough of a surprise it’s fine.

So that’s it, really. Going quite minimal this week I guess. I did end up getting Poppy an actual bed. For the first day she would not go near it, preferring the old box she had been sleeping in when in my office. I moved the scrap of fleece from the box in there and for know that has made the difference. Darling Daughter is keen to get Poppy to go in to her bedroom at night so we’ve moved that into her room. In a day or two I’ll move the fleece bit back into that and then we will see what happens.

Tough life, humm? Sleep, eat, “hunt” (new feather toys too LOL!) poop and sleep some more. Terrifying yawn, that…. Once the brown fleece goes you will be able to see her a bit better.

Happy WOYWW!!

WOYWW 725. Getting there…

Happy WOYWW to all, as we inch ever closer to the 14th anniversary. When Tuesday began, my desk was pretty horrific.

There are the remnants of about five projects on there, including the ATCs. One of them was the cards I was determined to make from some printables that I love, but no one else seems to. Bah!

After a good tidy and finishing up a bunch of things, I was much happier. I went back to focusing on my ATCs.

Oh and you can see the ATC backs in place on most of them. I had a panic when I printed them and they were all too big – not 2.5 x 3.5 at all! Silly me. My printer I think reverted to factory settings and now always wants to print the image to fit the page, not the designed size. Annoying. I just had to remember to change the setting. hard to see, but the SCALE TO FIT is automatic, and results in a setting of 103%. I have to change it to SCALE and 100% then they are just right. Pop back here to grab them if you want them and if you want a set without the WOYWW info for your other ATC swaps, grab those here.

I found I needed to squeeze in something about me so I had to make a tiny little circle to punch, as there is so little room left for anything else!

I am not sure what to do with Poppy. She is still scratching and biting, not often, but with little warning. One minute it is all pets and purring and the next Yikes. I know enough to only do a couple of pets near her head, stay away from her back end, and know that she is not up for hours (minutes, even) of strokes and scritches. DD doesn’t really understand that. Check out her “resting bitch face.” She is clearly plotting her next attack. {sigh}

Happy WOYWW and I should manage visits today as there is no knitting!

WOYWW 724 – slow progress…

Happy WOYWW to all! I hate to jinx it but I have been doing well with my visits lately. Busy, but no longer so busy I can’t catch a breath. Having said that, it is off to knitting today so we shall see.

My desk is all a mess, and still full of the Anniversary swap ATC components. I hope the photos are small enough you can’t pick out any details! My saving grace might be that not everyone chooses to take part, so I may end up with enough for where I think I am right now but I do hope to be able to swap with anyone who asks. I am at about 17, although I may manage to get to 20 if I really crush it and don’t sacrifice too many that go bad in the making process!

Stamping is inherently risky, so I am doing some stamping on various bits to then add to the ATCs when the base is finished. Just removing one layer of possible disaster and too many sacrifices LOL!

You can see that my teeny tiny stamps are getting a work-out. And you can see a few elements, but the overall design is still a mystery.

Pretty Poppy spent all of two minutes up on her cat-tree. looking out the window at the birdies. If the time stamp were on those photos you would see they really were taken moments apart.

Haven’t had a chance to get to a pet store to look at cat beds for my office, so I made her one from a bit of an old box, the crocheted blanket that came with her from the cat rescue place, and a bit of fun fur. The fir is black too so honestly I almost lose sight of her when she is all curled up in it. Sweet girl. No clawing for nearly a week now, so hoping it was just her getting used to us and us getting used to her limits.

So as I mentioned, I am off to knitting. I have like four inches left on the Cursed Jumper, then unpicking and redoing the cast off edge. I’ll share it at some point but my goodness I will be happy to see the end to it. Maybe by next winter I’ll feel happy to actually wear the darn thing LOL!

Do pop back to grab the printable ATC backs I made for the swap and look out (maybe tomorrow) for a set that does not have the WOYWW branding, for your other ATC swaps.

And have a lovely desk hop!