WOYWW - 4th anniversary

Morning WOYWWers and happy anniversary! (If that's gibberish to you, hop on over to Stamping Ground and join in the fun)

So, on my desk are four pieces of art ready to be mailed off. I know the swap was supposed to be ATCs but I've done postcards. I normally work on A3 pages so small scale is a challenge. I hope I'll be forgiven :)

Anyway, one of these will be going to the designated person on the linky list. The other three are up for grabs. If you want one just let me know in the comments.

I'll be off to visit a few desks from around the world now. Have a great day!

WOYWW- letting go

Good morning WOYWWers (and if you don't know what that means, see the button in the bar to link to Stamping Ground where we get together on Wednesdays to peek at desks around the world).

You'll be glad to know that this bear does now have a head. I just couldn't resist the photo when my daughter set it down on my desk while she finished the head.

The other thing on my desk is this journal page which I took WIP photos of as it developed. 

A few bits of collage from various sources. I like using foreign language books as I find that they add great texture without my brain wanting to read them.

Then a layer of gesso and some acrylics applied with a wet-wipe. I had no idea where this page was going at this stage.

 A bit of random shape stamping. The pink was a bit more vibrant than I was happy with. A swish over with a wet-wipe helped a bit.

Some water-soluble oil pastel to deepen the colour in some places and a spray of a reddish-brown watercolour and I felt it was ready for some words.

The page sat for a day while I thought about what needed to be said; what was on my mind? I stencilled a few shapes while I pondered. The words 'let go' were running through my head, so I put them down.

A bit of shadow to give the lettering more depth and the rest of the thought.

And the finished page with ropes to represent the things that are holding me back or holding me in place. The birds are there to remind me that resting awhile is OK, but (most) birds are made to fly, not be tethered to the ground. 

So what's holding you back? Which ropes need to be loosened?

WOYWW - books, shirts, and patchwork

Hi there desk-snoopers. And if you haven't yet learned the thrill of snooping around other  people's desks, go straight to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com and join in the fun. 

I know for a lot of you it's still Tuesday, but here in sunny Australia it is already almost lunchtime on Wednesday, so here is my Wednesday morning desk. I'll link up when everyone else catches up :)

As you can see, I've been busy making books. The book on the left is in progress. It's being bound in leather and I'm working out how best to attach the book block. If I get it finished today I'll add another photo. The one on the right is covered in 'croc-skin' paper and made of all sorts of different papers. I've seen these referred to elsewhere as junque journals. Below are a couple of photos of the insides. 

And the sewing continues. I finished the tenth and last clerical shirt yesterday - the red one on the right. 

And finally, a king-size patchwork duvet cover that needs the border sewing on and a back attaching.

So, what's on your workdesk?

Update: Here is the finished leather notebook. I'm quite pleased with it :)

WOYWW

Hi there, everyone. It's time to snoop around looking at everyone else's desks again. Join in the fun over at Julia's blog. 

I thought I should share the full glory of my art room as I have stuff I'm working on all over the room, not just on my desk(s). 

Here you can see my filing cabinet that was a great rescue item found by my marvellous hubby. The drawers are just the right depth to store bottles of ink and suchlike in single layers. There are bits of leather, papers, inks, ink pads, punches, and tools in there. Then there's a bookcase with art and craft and inspirational books. The ironing board is still out because I've been doing a whole bunch of sewing in the last couple of weeks - shirts, jeans, and a dress. 

You can see the pile of fabric I'm still working my way through in the centre. The black shape on the desk is a jumper I've just finished sewing together in readiness for the approaching colder weather. 

This is the other side of my glass desk. The knitting is my daughter's. On the raised shelf are papers arranged by colour so I can find just what I want when I want it. 

This is my other workstation. I stand at this one and do my journalling. 

This is the corner where things get dumped - a bag full of wool that I'm working my way through, and a bunch of wrapping papers. The other bit of knitting behind the iron is also my daughter's - a cat that she is now sewing together. 

So there you go. My desks and the work in progress. I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to this week now. Thanks for visiting!

Z is for Zeal + WOYWW

Made it! Z is for Zeal - the end of the A to Z of Me challenge. 

Zeal is defined as having great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective. So what am I zealous about? Well, I love seeing people released into their gifting. People who are working in their 'sweet spot' just have something so appealing about them. You can listen to them talk about something that may not be at all in your area of interest, but they hold your interest anyway because of their passion.

I also love to see people released into their creativity. I remember one lady who came to a bookbinding evening that I was running. She told me that she didn't really know why she was there as she was not at all creative and everything she'd ever taken home from school her mother had put straight into the bin. At the end of the evening she went home with a finished hardbound book. Her face was shining. 

And that's the end of the challenge! It's been fun.

Now, what else is on my work-desk?

Let's see - here are the latest fabrics for shirts, a dress, a skirt, and some trousers. Also a pile of books I am looking through at the moment.

These are papers I'm making into a book for a friend.

This is my other desk at the end of the day. You can see the book block now sewn towards the right of the picture. On the left is a partially done journal page for the 'Colour This Quote' challenge on Artists in Blogland. 

I shall be linking this with WOYWW. Why not pop over and see what everyone else is up to?

WOYWW

Yes, my second What's on your Workdesk Wednesday. If you haven't already come across this you can find it here. It's great fun. I visited so many different desks last week. Can't say I made it to all of them, but I tried!

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of my desk as it is today:

This is the pile of books I am looking through at the moment

Here is a journal page in progress. Off to the right are some glossy papers I patterned last week and as you can see I've used one of them to do some punching. In the top right corner are the finished postcards for the swap going on over at Artists in Blogland (see the button in the sidebar). Those of you with sharp eyes and good memories will notice that one of the postcards is green whereas last week they were all blue. I didn't like the third one so ditched it and started again. 

For those of you who were interested last week, here are the shirts I made for hubby - all finished now - and samples of the alphabets I carved from the pile of erasers. I managed two alphabets, one set of  numbers, and still had some left to do some border-style stamps. What fun!

Looking forward to travelling the world via your desks when Wednesday arrives with the rest of you :)

What's on your workdesk Wednesday

After having been to look at these link-ups several times, I've finally got round to joining in :)

Here's what's on my desk at the moment:

I'm doing a batch of sewing at the moment - some clerical shirts for my husband who finds plain colours boring. 

Here are the postcards in progress for the postcard swap going on over at Artists in Blogland. Why not join in the fun? (see the button in the sidebar)

The stack of erasers on the right is waiting for me to carve another alphabet. Just need to decide on upper or lower case and what style...