Whats On Your Work Wednesday 124....its cold!

Hello everyone, its been quite a while since I joined in on WOYWW! For some reason time just runs away with me of late & before I know where I am its Wednesday night & I have no time to join in. So this week I HAVE MADE TIME! I think its something I must consciously do to keep my blogging going. As you can see by the state of my desk, not lots in the way of crafting going on, but more sorting out boxes of Christmas card stuff. I have about 6 boxes of papers & stamps & card kits & made cards from last year to sort out. I promised myself I was NOT going to buy anything festive this year & use what I had, alas Kanban brought out a Blockbuster on C&C last month and I ended up getting that, then some Vellums in The Range & so on & so on!......well there you go I suppose!

Here are a two cards I made recently!

This is a card I made using some of the Paper Cellar's Victorian Classic papers. I like the way it turned out colour wise, very muted but nice to look at! The peel off's are all stuck on to Acetate & cut out to give it some dimension and the Hydrangea rub on's are from La Blanch. I highlighted the paper with some Martha Stewart Glitter for a bit of extra sparkle. The made brad is from Papermainia.

The next one here was using Kanban's Kensington card stock & die cuts. I did use some Tim Holtz Distress ink on the card blanc inside & out and all the die cuts, just for that added aged look. I stamped the Papermainia banner first & embossed it using cosmic shimmer gold then cut out & coloured it & then stamped the sentiment & layered on to black card & cut out again.


Well as you can see my blog has changed a bit! Some of it NOT by choice, I though I would have a "Look" at different blogger templates, just a look!!!! but then discovered I had completely changed it, so until I figure out what's what, it will remain this way for now!

Might post a few pics from France again soon as I have just come back from the beautiful city of Carcassonne. I had a trip around some Cathar Castles & Wine Vineyard in the South and also went to visit Rennes Le Château to find out more about its mystery? Very pretty place, but at the top of a very very steep hill! Anyway till next time, take care everyone & thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Lavinia

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A look around the Ville Vieux!

Thought I would show you a little of the beautiful Ville Vieux in the city of Nice. I make sure I always visit on Monday as they have a fantastic Antique market. This little dog has been a constant for the past few years. I christened him Mutley aka Wacky Races cartoon from the 70's, dont try to touch him though as he nips!

This was a cheeky pic of a glimpse in to an apartment that was being renovated! Couldn't resist when I saw the Chandelier's & I love the look of the shabby shutters, mmm where I have heard that before...? Hope they kept the light-fittings in?

Most of the buildings are painted various colours normally Yellows or Oranges but you do get the odd Pink one here and there. Its nice to walk in the shadows of the tall buildings to escape the heat of summer, it was about 90 that day!

I always look up wherever I am! Street lights are always so ornate in France. These massive hanging lights looked amazing lit up at night.

This last pic is a quintessential French post light, typical of France. There are lots here on the Cours Saleya where they hold the Monday Market. Its a great place to go and visit if your ever near Nice. There are lots and lots Cafe's & Bistros as well as wonderful shops to brows around. Be sure to take plenty of Euro's with you though, believe me you WILL get through them!

Lavinia

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French Fever

Today's post will be nothing crafty! As my inspiration is at an all time low I thought I would share some Pictures I took of my last trip to the South Of France. I love Nice! Its look its smell & its weather! This is the part of the breakfast room in the Hotel we stayed in, loved the French decore!

On the French Riviera you get to see the odd nice car here and there. I was lovely to see this beautiful vintage E Type Jag parked outside a very swanky hotel, I had just popped out for Croissants.

I took these pictures at the Antique market in Antibes its the town before you get round the bay to Juan Le Pins. If I could have got those chairs & the set of drawers home on the plane with me I would, arn't they beautiful! And oh so very me!!!

This was our Hotel room all the walls were covered in Cerise coloured Toil Du Jouy fabric. Everything was beautiful in the room and we looked from our Juliet balcony in to a courtyard garden.

I will show more pictures on here through the week as there are still a few I would like to share & maybe it will inspire me to make something soon! But bare with me for now in my crafty lull! And pop back soon to see some more of my French Fever pics!

Lavinia

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Whats On Your Work Wednesday 116 Festive Cards!

Hello Wednesday Desk hoppers! I have been making my first lot of Christmas Cards, early for

me to be honest with you as I am normally a bit last minuet! I have been having a play with

some Kanban Elegance Christmas Cardstock & Die Cuts. I really love the colours in this set.

Warm pinks & rich turquoise with hints of shimmer & shine! Its something a bit different than

the normal colours of the season. Also been using my Pro Markers and some of my Grand

Nesties.

Both the Chandelier Cards were made form the same Kanban set. The backing paper is a

beautiful printed vellum. I blended round the edges of the die cut & sentiment with some Tim

Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen for a faded look. Also added some Liquid Pearls in Bisque

as well as some Stickles Glitter Glue in Diamond, as well as some shiny crunchy ribbon. One the

first card I also added some peel off corners that I colourd with Pro Markers to blend a bit better

with the style.

I really love this Reindeer Image! The first card I decided to use the Distress technique with Distress ink in Victorian Velvet. Then stamped with a snowflake stamp in Turquoise ink and

fished off with a few shiny sequins. And the last card is using the card stock as well as a die cut

and some punched out snowflakes. The mat was cut using a labels Nestie. I really like the colours in this kit as its a bit different from the usual Christmas colours. Although I will get in to green & red soon no doubt!

Lots to sort out at home this week so dont think I will get much time on here browsing desks & enjoying my snoops. Maybe after the weekend things will be less busy, So I will give my

apologies now for not visiting you all sooner till then! Take care everyone & keep well!

Lavinia

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Whats On Your Work Wednesday 115....This & That!

Hello Folks of desk snooping! Yes I do include myself too...not a whole lot going on here today on my desk. However I have just finished making this Banner for my Crafty Unit. I used my Slice electronic die cutter to cut everything out using the "Vintage Findings" MS+ card. I distressed around the die cuts a bit & put some faux stitching around the edges & then I layered them up & tied them on this thick twine with ribbon. Dont know if I like the twine or not though? Maybe would look better using ribbon or something, dont know yet??

The two Bird cards are made from some free decoupage papers I received with a magazine quite a while ago, but I cat remember what mag they came from, sorry! When I finished them both I though they lacked a bit of something? so I ended up glittering them. The glitter I used on this Cuckoo is from Hunkydory & Papermainia. The sentiment is a cut up Craftwork cards one & the cardstock is Textura Bling.

For this Starling I used Martha Stewart Glitters, think I used about 4 different ones? I have to say they are the most shiny & sparkly glitters I have used up to now. Think they both ended up looking a bit better in the end!

Finally a quick pic of the garden from my bedroom window looking very summery & flowery! Dont think its from all the sun, but think its mainly from all the Rain we have had! Haven't had much chance to sit out at all this year, shame really but hey ho its England for you!

Just want to say "Thank you" to Di over at Pixes Craft Workshop for the Pro-Market Nibs I won in her Candy givaway. They are brill & work a treat. I love them for adding the faux stitching look. Finally I have added my link to Twitter if anyone wants to follow me on there. Its a good place to post the odd pic here & there and keep up with some crafty mates! Have a great week everyone & thanks for all the comments you leave me & the new followers too!

Lavinia

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Whats On Your Work Wednesday 113

Hello WOYWW'ers.....erm for those of you thinking what heck is this woman on about? Then go now & have a look at Julia Dunnits Blog here http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ and discover how to join in this weekly Crafty Mega Snoopathon! All we want to do is have a look at your crafty workspace like mine here this week, come on join in and show us yer crafty goings on on your desk & what your keeping in those crafty drawers of yours? :) go on I have showed you mine!

Not much going on in the way of productivity this week, however I did make a discovery in Dunelm Mill. I am cheeky enough to use their car park every Friday while I do my Town trip, so I always feel obliged to have a check in the place to see what crafty goods may be on offer. Well this week to my surprise they had a big selection of Melissa Frances. I have never seen any of her stuff anywhere in any of my local craft shops. So this is what I got, I really like the quality & design, however I did think it was rather expensive!

This is what I came up with using the MF goodies. Its turned out to be a very Sugary Vintagey looking Card. From my craft stash I used some Angel Hair & some rustic ribbon & string & a mother of pearl button for the bow. A matt gold flourish sticker from a sheet bought in Country Books.

These other 3 cards I made in the week using various papers from my First Edition Papers stacks. I used them from Daydream & Birdsong. The sentiments came from Craftwork cards & The happy Birthday is a Papermainia stamp.

And finally just to show you I can do something a bit different now & again I made this Sea Shell card last night when I couldn't sleep as it was way too hot here! I got the inspiration from from Jo Firth-Young's article "Stain Removal" in this months (well September anyway) Craft Stamper. Its a brilliant master class on using bleach. Here I stamped the shell on a background on Tim Holtz's Weather Wood dragged across some watercolour paper. Once the imaged had dried I then used watered down bleach in a water-brush & painted out some of the colour in the shell. It left me with this lovely lilac colour! I then highlighted the shell image with a Sakura Gel pen & added the Sea Shell phrase from a Crafty Individuals stamp & matted it on a piece of lilac cardstock then on a bit of Kraft card. Once I placed it on the 6x6 card blanc I framed it with a couple of little corners, an Acrylic stamp strip I cut up to make smaller strips. I have done some other shell cards too but there not finished yet, but might be by next week!

Well I hope the weathers a bit better where you are in the world! Its muggy & hot here in Manchester but its looking like a storm & rain! Hope I sleep tonight early start tomorrow. Off for an NHS experience day with my sister, wish me luck! Take care everyone!

Lavinia

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WOYWW 112....Showing a little more!

Hello WOYWW'ers! I hope everyone has been enjoying the fine weather we have been having in the UK this past week! Its been great here in sunny old Manchester. Although yesterday was very humid it was still very sunny & the temp in my little sun trap garden was 80 degrees! Anyhow I digress....this week I though I would show you a bit more of my crafty space. As you can see the shelves are great for storage, and you can see my new crafty unit I showed you a few weeks back to the left of the pic on the back wall. Its a bit cramped when I get going & start pulling out this & that from here & their as the desks not that big, but its ok for now until more space becomes mine in the room....:)

Here on the desk I was having a mess with some Papermainia Daydream papers & some Cute pet die cuts. I was using some of the Hunkydory Angle Whispers Glitter on the images. Its very fine & great to use on images as its very iridescent. I have the usual crafty suspects ATG Tape gun (a must for me) X-Cut guillotine (my preference opposed to a paper trimmer) And of course where would us crafty souls be without Sticky Foam Pads!

Finally I have been delving on to my Kanban Chelsea Papers again this week, here I have embossed the backing paper with cosmic shimmers gold. The little white doily at the top of the card is Embossed Acetate used form the collection as is the Die cut Roses on the bottom right. I used Hunkdory glitter again on the Butterfly Image. I keep going back to this set for bits & bobs to go with other cardstock, its becoming a fave, I love the Shabbyness of it!

Well thanks for looking in on my little crafty desk on your travels around the Globe of crafty desks on offer. Thank you to everyone and my followers too for always leaving me wonderfully inspiring comments, I do enjoy reading them, they really help keep this blog going & spur me on! So now off to make a cup of tea & desk hop, have a great day everyone!

Lavinia

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WOYWW 111...and 111th Post!

Hello "Work Desk Wednesday'ers" I have been trying to get these cards finished. I like some I make so I keep them for me & then I select some to go in to the box for friends family ect. I tend to make a card then put it to one side to finish the inside, but then get side tracked with another idea & then before I know it I have a pile to finish inside & bag up....like this lot!

This is one I made last night with some of the elements from the Kanban "Chelsea" collection.

And these recent paper purchases have yet to be used. I really like "First Edition Papers" the quality is very good and the Glittered embossed paper in the is excellent! The top two A4 Paper pads are a new addition from Kanban to their range & are really pretty vintage papers, will I have the heart to use them? Or will I just get them out to look at every now & again???? :)

That's me for this week. I am now off to look at your wonderful workspaces & there probably more interesting then mine I expect. Have a good week everyone!

Lavinia

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WOYWW 110 & Full shelves!!!

Hello WOYWW'ers!....As you can see I have a ribbon issue going on at the moment! Up to now all this has been in a box on a shelf. However I find I dont seem to use ribbon much because of this. I like things to hand! It makes me use more of what I have as opposed to stuff being in boxes ect. Anyway I may have come up with an idea to hang them so they are easily accessible. I have looked at various methods of storage that are available but none seem to fit my needs, so hopefully that will be sorted soon! Also as you can see I have had a little Kanban shop fest from QVC. I used some Birthday cash to fund my Paper Obsession.

And after tell you last week about my super new storage unit I managed to get time this week to sort things out & fill it with my crafty wares! I am really suprized that it has been filled? Thought I might have a bit of room on it to add some new stuff perhaps!

All the little cubbys & nooks are full of glitters & embossing powders & stamp pads & rubber stamps. I liked the fact I can see everything & its easily to hand. Its also nice to see some of my wood stamp collection as they have been in a box for ages!

The lower half of the unit holds my 8x8 papers as well as A5 and Glitter pads as well as some A4 pads too. The middle bit is good for my tape box with all adhesives in it as well as my tin stamps and the plastic box holds all my Acrylic Cling stamps. Really happy with how it looks, but plan to have it painted eventually.

My last pic today is something I made using Cardstock from First Addition Papers " Love Letters" collection and a die cut sentiment & die cut flower & butterfly from Kanban using the "Chelsea" collection. The white doliey I used is stuck to a piece of white card using a double sided sheet of adhesive, cut around & then used "Martha Stewart" Verdilite Glitter to fill in with.

Right off to sort that ribbon! Take care everyone & thanks for all your comments I love to here your views & opinions they really cheer me up! "Hello" to my new follower Michelle ;)

Lavinia

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Whats On Your Work Wednesday 109......its been a while!!!

Well hello WOYWW'ers! I must say its been quite a few weeks if not months since I took part in the weekly super desk snoop. If anyone has stumbled on to my blog & is wondering what I am on about well! Its weekly blog hop were we all get to have a look around the web a various desks & crafty goings on. If you would like to join in or would like to know more about this weekly snoop-a-thon then get over to Julia's Blog http://stamping- ground.blogspot.com/

Last weekend Mr Lavinia & I decided to go "for a drive" and a have a Pub Lunch to celebrate my Birthday. The weather was Beautiful & we found a fantastic pub near Skipton. While eating lunch I realized that we must be near The Stampman craft shop. So I Googled it on my phone & found we were within a 10 minuet drive form the shop, so I informed Mr Lavinia "we should go as we are in the area"......well it would have been rude not to eh :-)

As we arrived I realized it was 3.45 & the shop closed at 4.00pm. So I asked was it ok to have a quick look around. As it happens the shop (that is on a small industrial estate ........look here for times & how to get there http://www.thestampman.co.uk/catalog/index.php ) was in the process of moving from one unit to another next door. The owners directed me to two great rooms full of crafty goodies!! At this point as all of us do I went in to craft haze & ooooo'd & aaaahhhh'd at all the wonderful stash on display! They have a really good choice of crafty stuff & do mail order too if you cant get there. So I purchased some items & went back next door to pay for them, as the till had not been moved yet. As I was paying for my goods I casually said to Mr Lavinia " Look at the amazing unit behind the till, go ask if you can have a look at it & see how its made? I could do with somthing like that that in my room at home" then the man at the till said "Do you like it......its for Sale" So craft haze descended again, " Really" was my reply! So we negotiated a price & next thing I remember we were loading it into the car & driving away! How chuffed am I & what an extra special unexpected birthday present!

So as you can see, my Ikea drawers have been moved & need to be emptied & all my stash needs to be put on the unit. I will need to have a change around & a re-organize of my space, but it fits a treat in to the room, love it & its really sturdy too, it will fit loads on!

Hope all you WOYWW'ers are well & I look forward to catching up with you & popping over to your desks this week! Take care all & pop back here to see my Unit filled with stuff soon :-)

Lavinia

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Bella Fiori....

Today its Bella Fiori.....today my cards are made using a really pretty Card Kit I bought from QVC by Kanban. The colours are so muted & pastel but so richly foiled! I really like this set of papers & card. I used a DL card blank as my base and stamped the script stamp over it in Whispers chestnut ink. I blended around the card using Distress ink in weathered wood. I cant remember where I got the die strip I used on Mirri card down the side?? The two designs of cardstock I used are from the kit as is the Dress form die cut. I just went around the edges again with some Distress ink and then added some Perfect Pearls to highlight the necklace. I layered up some flowers from, Prima, Toga & a Punch out flower from the card stock, added a brad & some thin string.

This card was also from the same Kanban collection using much the same methods as previously mentioned. I stapmped around the edge of the card with a Hot Off The Press stitch stamp & then heat embossed it using Cosmic Shimmers Bright Gold Metallic powder.

I can see myself using a lot of elements from this collection in my card making as they are so pretty & very usable with lots of other stamps & papers I have in my stash. Good value kit with lots of card stock, that's a real bonus with these kits you get a lot in them for a real good price & lets face it who dosent want to save a few quid here & there nowadays!

Lavinia

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Shiny Chandeliers

Hello! This is a card I made using a free stamp from the July Issue of Craft Stamper Magazine. I used papers from Craftwork Cards Little Boy Blue & Papermainias Regency papers. The flowers are also Papermaina. The Die is from Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Motifs. The Merci sentiment & the little fleur de lis stamp if from Hero Arts Paris clear stamp set. I quite like making Easel cards at the minuet , one of my fave shapes!

I have also used the same Chandelier stamp here too. I stamped the background paper in Grey Anna Griffin ink & finished with little stamped dots of gold ink. Then stamped & heat embossed the Impression Obsession Stamp with Pearl Gold Sparkle WOW embossing powder & die cut it using Nestabilities Petite Circles Die. Next I stamped the chandelier stamp again with Dew Drop Graphite Black Brilliance ink and layered them up to place on the background paper. I attached then to a 6x6 card. Added a small bow & button!

Hope your all well & enjoying the summer. Happy Solstice blessings to you all!

Lavinia

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