WOYWW #386

It's time again for me to take part in the inspiring desk hop that lovely Julia Dunnit has been hosting for 386 weeks now ;)

If you haven't heard of the "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday" weekly event so far, I recommend you hop over to her blog, Stamping Ground, to learn more about it (but only after having taken a look at my workdesk  of course...lol).

As you can see my desk is - once again - crammed with some of my favourite stuff to work with: a vintage wooden cigar box filled with dictionary page scraps to the left, my matte Decou-Page, my favourite tones from the DecoArt media fluid acrylics line, white Gesso, black archival stamping ink and my latest project I am working on - an altered book after an online workshop by wonderful Seth Apter. I have already shared my finished book cover and binding and the first pages yesterday (in this post over here).

My book is all about the magic of trees and I am using rubber stamps as well as image transfers from own tree photographs - and hopefully I will also take the courage and add some tree drawings or paintings as well...(at least that's the plan - creating a mixed media tree lovin' book with variations of techniques and trees).

Luckily I managed to finish another page to add to my book - combining Seth's "paper quilting" technique with my own idea on how to work on this background...

To save my single pages from sticking together I took apart a vintage photo album to use the protective sheets. These have not only fabulously yellowed over time, but also have some embossed texture - so these protective pages give additional texture to my book - which is something I love even more than the fact that now my pages are "safe". lol

The next two finished pages:

On the front I used part of a Crafty Individuals stamp...

...and on the back an image transfer using one of my own photographs. This tree stands in one of my most favourite places to go to - at Castle Bernstein in Burgenland.

Thanks for stopping by today! I (plan and) hope to meet you over at Julia's workdesk soon ;)

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia

xxx

WOYWW #384

Servus, dear readers and crafting friends!

You have stopped by just in time to see my what's on my workdesk this Wednesday - thanks to lovely Julia Dunnit who is hosting this nice and always inspiring desk-hop. If you want to know more about "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday" click HERE to get to Julia's blog where she explains what this is all about.

On my workdesk you can see my Calico Craft Parts box that I have just been rummaging through - in search of ...nah, let's keep that a secret for now. ;)

In the background are a lot of bits 'n bobs and stuff that I need to have close at hand - be it for use or for inspiration. You can also spot my newly bought Seth Apter Spellbinders die to the left...and some Tim Holtz stencils next to them. What else?....my Sizzix Big Shot of course (one of the best presents I have ever been given by my wonderful husband!) and that huge canister of matte Decou-Page (if I wouldn't need it for glueing and sealing - and I really mean NEED - I guess I would drink it. It surely is my most used and turned to medium. lol

The wooden box that holds my Calico Craft parts was just plain wood on the outside when I got it and I started altering it ages ago...and never really finished it up. I have no idea why.

Maybe I will add some finishing touches some day. Maybe not. Sometimes you reach a dead end with projects - but it is in good use now, so I am fine with it as it is.

I will try to visit some of your desks during the next days. I really enjoy seeing the desks (and studios) of others - no matter if they resemble my style or if they are completely different - they always match the style of the finished projects that come to life on these desks, don't they?

Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs and happy crafting

Claudia

xxx

WOYWW 378

Yay - it's "What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday" (hosted by lovely Julia Dunnit) again and I managed to not miss it this time (honestly I can hardly believe it myself). lol

To answer the WOYWW question in two short words - "pure chaos". lol

There's the content of my new DT goodie bag from my wonderful Calico Craft Parts boss, Helen, that arrived about an hour ago.
The Fixit Sculpt jars have arrived just in time before the start of Michael DeMeng's new online class "Skullduggery".
The paint bottles, sealants, inks, jars, rag and slowly dying brushes in the water jar (accidentally but well hidden behind the glue) are remnants of my latest project I just finished yesterday evening (which made me forget to put the spare ribs in the well heated oven...but I guess you know this certain urge to finish a piece off instead of putting it to the side ;).

To be honest - this is how my desk looks half of the time. I found that I have periods where I can be very tidy-ish and when my desk is rather empty...and then there are times when I only tidy up before I start a new project...sometimes I need empty space to not get distracted when figuring out how to start a new project and at other times the stuff lying around inspires a new project. Seems my mind isn't made for routine.

I hope you are all having a wonderful workdesk wednesday and are enjoying yourselves! I will try to visit some of your desks later. Thank you very much for all the lovely comments of those who visited my desk from the last workdesk wednesday event. :)

Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia xxx

WOYWW #222

Not much time for crafting or blogging but I definitely wanted to participate in Julia Dunnit's weekly wednesday workdesk meet 'n greet!

Back home again I still seem to have a bit of creative block. Even though I already proudly added my latest bargain that is meant to help with organizing my acrylic colours, colour mists and various "elixirs"...

See? I love that I have all my bottles and sprays (that were previously stored in boxes with lids (and an old shoes card board box...brrrr!)  right at hand now AND that I can put them out of the way with just one single grasp.

But as you can also see - my desk is rather empty. Not much going on at the moment - me, having the flu and still having to unpack some of the numerous bits 'n pieces that we had with us on our three weeks holiday... a lot of laundry to do as well...and my son starting school right now...all in all a lot of work to do but not too inspirational to be honest. BUT...

...I was sooo lucky to have kinda Christmas in the middle of summer when we visited my husband's uncle while on holidays, who is a genius when it comes to repairing old motorcycles and cars and shopping at flea markets!
He bought himself an old "Steyr" car from 1936 and made it all shiny and new (and working again of course) during the last six years. It's such a beauty! Sadly the weather was very wet and cold so we could not take a ride with it... I love that beautiful old fashioned design with the shiny wooden steering wheel, the tiny wind screen whipers, the shining red metal and the wonderful leather seats.

When you visit his garage, you feel like you have entered Ali Baba's fourty thieves' treasure cave! And he did not only show me around, but I got a lot of old aged timeworn stuff from him (after my husband had insisted on showing him my blog):

Awesome, isn't it? A lot of rusted beauties, old keys and cigar boxes... and they are all mine now! Thank you so much, Uncle Helmut, for giving away all those lovely things! :)

Can't promise to visit and comment on a lot of workdesks this wednesday, but I'll try! Promise!

Hugs,
Claudia - die amelie x

WOYWW #216

Wow, I made it again for this week's workdesk wednesday snoops...er... visits, hosted by lovely Julia Dunnit! :)

As there is not much going on today on my workdesk (honestly it is rather close to my best state of being tidied up ;), I decided to show you what is beside my workdesk this time. (Hope, this counts too ;).

The shelves to the left hold all the embellishments, ribbons and cords, idea-ology treasure boxes, colour sprays, ephemera and also my tools for wire, wood and metal work and for painting tin figures for tabletop strategie games. There you can also find my inspirations library (on top).

The shelf behind my desk holds the acrylic colours, mediums, crayons, felt tip pens, scraps and stuff like that.

One last look on my "empty" desk:

Well, yes, you are right - tidied up looks different *lol. But at least there's some space left for starting something new ;)

I hope you all enjoy a happy workdesk wednesday and I wish you a wonderful crafting week!

die amelie x

WOYWW #215

At last I found the time again to join the lovely community of WOYWW over at Julia Dunnit's place!

So it is my pleasure to show you my usual mess *lol

Well, what is actually on my wednesday workdesk? The most interesting object might be the soldering set from my husband, which I want to use for some first tries on soldering (I learned it during my arts studies, but that happens to be long, long ago I am afraid ;).
Then you can also see some of the remains from yesterday's play with my new stamp set and embossing folders (which led to this tag).
Aaaand one more time the often smiled asked about and mysterious sun blocker on a winter crafting desk - my blue and yellow spray bottle that once held a sun blocker, but is now used by me as a "XL-Mister" (as it sprays a very fine mist, which is perfect to work with when it comes to messing around with DIs and wrinkle free distress techniques ;)

Oh, and I can also see that I still haven't put back some of my acrylic colours... and the Gesso... sigh, seems I am a really messy crafter. My workdesk never looks all tidied up for longer than two or three minutes (as I mostly have it tidied up before I start a new project).

I hope you all have been enjoying the warm weather and a happy crafting week so far! See you at your Wednesday Workdesks then!

Hugs,

die amelie

WOYWW #201

Have to squeeze this one in but I just couldn't bear missing another WOYWW over at Julia Dunnit's blog hop visiting event!

Gladly the postman brought the three more Distress Paints I ordered two days ago just half an hour ago...so I could try them out before preparing to leave the house today.

Those who visit my blog regularly will know that I struggled a bit with the Distress Paints, not getting them to look like what I wanted them to. Well, today I guess I finally mastered this challenge: the secret to the paints working - as far as I see it -  is to use plenty of them and not be shy to water sufficiently...

So that's what I came up with today and what's on my workdesk this wednesday:

I found out that you have to have at least one darker colour of the Distress paints to get the marbelized look effectively looking. "Forest moss" did the job with my tags today.

I love how some of the spots of the backgrounds look like maps or satellite images. Don't they?

So I shout a short "Heureka!" (for finally mastering that technique) and have to hurry getting dressed and made up for today's photo shooting (for some new passport images for my son and me...grrr...I hate it to be photographed!)

Have a wonderful Workdesk Wednesday, dear followers, crafting friends and new visitors! I will try to come by your desks as soon as possible!

Hugs,

die amelie

WOYWW # 199

Another day here having us feel like in deepest winter... it snowed all the way through the last two days over here and it looks exactly the way you would wish it to look like for X-mas eve.... well, at least my dog cannot get enough of it!

What's on my workdesk today? Well, to be honest - not very much. I tidied it up after finishing my "metamorphosis"-configurations tray yesterday which you can see here.

To the left you can still see the scrap of paper where I noted the measurements of the compartments on - together with my latest purchase: a lovely Crafty Individuals stamp sheet!

You can also see the bowl holding my seaside findings and the remains of the paper I stamped the words for decorating the tray on. The opened slide film box in the left upper corner held the collected beetle who found a worthy home yesterday too. So nothing really exciting to see today.

So, What's On Your Workdesk this Wednesday ?

But a lovely occasion to wish you all a wonderful Workdesk Wednesday!!!

Hugs,
die amelie x

MOMWW = Mess On My Wednesday Workdesk

I am sure most of you know Julia Dunnit's lovely community desk hopping "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday". Well, and Wednesday it is again and I already missed the last two of them and didn't want to miss this one again even though I am in hurry today too (as it was with the last two Wednesdays...but getting a new kitchen is a good excuse I guess ;).

So here's me Wednesday Workdesk Mess - on the desk you can mainly see all the stuff I used yesterday to create this tag booklet:

(too see more pages please scroll to the previous post).

As I didn't find the time to clean up the desk it looks as it always looks after a visit from Mr. Mojo and some happy messy chaotic crafting:

I hope I will find the time to visit you and your workdesks in the afternoon! But now I have to head off to the kitchen studio for last details on the planning. Enjoy your Workdesk Wednesdays in the meantime!

Hugs,

die amelie x

WOYWW #195

I am a little late today, but  of course I love to join in the workdesk hopping tour over at Julia Dunnit's awesome "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday"!

Today I will join in being around workdesk No. 110...which indicates that it has to be around noon here ;) (who needs the sun for orientation any more! It hasn't been showing up for weeks anyway btw... still every day passes by being grey in grey...*sigh)

Well, what's on my workdesk today? As I had to leave the house early today there are still some traces of my latest projects to be found:

the Kappla blocks holding my selfmade word stamps for example or the empty glass with the chop stick in it from my drawing-gum-background-tag I made a few days ago. The leftovers from the glue dots I created another background with... but today at least my shears aren't crammed which means they are ready for use (which isn't often the case to be honest ;).

I bought two red plastic containers (to the right) recently to hold the stuff that's usually spread across my crafting table. I found out that the Tim Holtz stamp sheets fit in there just perfectly. So they are right in reach now and alltime ready for use, which made my crafting a lot more intuitive and spontaneous! (I usually have to fiddle the stamps out of two ring binders or some of my drawers... which isn't very inspiring, is it?).

I hope you had a wonderful (half) workdesk wednesday already or still will have a wonderful (half) workdesk wednesday ;)

Hugs,

die amelie

Another WOYWW is here!

(No. 193 already...wow!)
Which means that another week has flewn by. I missed last weeks WOYWW over at Julia Dunnit's as we spent a lovely skiing holiday but today I can at least submit an image of my workdesk as it looks at that very minute - and will be looking for at least the next four to five hours (because I have to leave after having written that post to get my son registered for grammar school (Gosh! How time flies!))....whoooeee! We will be celebrating that by having some yummy Sushi for lunch afterwards.

So here comes my desk:

There are still the things on the table I used for yesterday's bird wall hanging - wire and grippers, Distress ink pads, heat embossing tool, paint dabbers,.... well, the usual stuff mainly. And ....uh oh...I just see it now: a big No-Go: the brush head down in the water glass.... have to go get it out immediately. Just a sec...

...back again. I have been telling my pupils since ages not to do that as it bends the brushes tips which makes them useless for good painting. (Hope, none of them will see that *gg). Seems I am slacking off...

Hope I will find the time to visit your desks later today.

Hugs,
die amelie x

WOYWW # 191 (= #2 in amelie's timeline)

How quickly a week can pass...  it's Wednesday again, which means the perfect time to visit crafters all around the globe showing their working desks at WOYWW. Still think, this is the most brilliant idea in crafty blogland I have ever seen! Sooo well done, Julia, and thanks - this is so inspiring.



Well, not too much to see on my desk - I am having a period of aimlessly trying this and that with the supplies and materials I have...not always successful, when it comes to presentable results. To be honest - I hate it when it feels like this, left by Mr. Mojo, who even cannot be found among all the awesome stuff I own. Brrrrrr!

On the white plate you can see two panels (cut from corrugated card using one of my dies I got for X-mas and haven't used since), left for drying. I coated them with white Gesso but that is as far as my plan has gotten yet. Maybe I will do some spraying with  my colour sprays (in the box to the right) and afterwards I could cover some areas with stamped on tissue paper - a technique I really love. (Still on the search for a theme though...).

In the lid of the TH Cargo Case you can see a brown booklet (right beside my painting frazzle). This is, where I keep track of my online orders in and of how much money I have already been spending during the month on stamping and crafting supplies (quite helpful to give you some short thought of "Ooops, already that much? Well, I should postpone that purchase then..." - this is often followed by calculating the latest purchases again, heavily rounding down the sum, which often leaves the lovely opportunity for that one last buy for this month...*giggle. I really know it's enough, when I do not even try calculating. That works brilliantly with me).

I wish you all a wonderful workdesk wednesday!!! Hope, I will find the opportunity to visit as many as possible this week!

Hugs,

die amelie x

WOYWW # 199

Rather new to the WOYWW-family over at Julia Dunnit's fab weekly workdesk-event, I am already a WVA (= workdesk-visiting-addictive), I have to admit. *lol

Today I tried to take a picture from a point of view that showed a little more of my workdesk's surroundings. Which means two of my three and a half crammed shelves, that hold a lot of stash I even don't remember owning any more ;)

On my desk you can see the last traces of yesterday's APD - acrylic paints day: a lot of mixing paints and washes, coating and dry brushing that was... and a lot of fun. Only problem was: during drying periods there was plenty of time to sneek around and through online shops, hunting for urgently needed (that's what they always are, aren't they?) crafting supplies - maybe even on sale?!!!! (Darn your coats and washes, Andy Skinner! *giggle). Of course the hunters stalk was successful... :D

The felt tip pen case to the right is my son's, who often joins in crafting, mostly creating fantasy playing cards with self invented creatures and loads of complicated data, indicating their powers for battle.  (LOVE them!!!)

Well, have to hurry on (and have to go visiting your work desks later). My dog girlie needs to be walked and my son to be picked up from school today. Have a wonderful WW ye all!!!

Hugs,

Claudia - aka die amelie x

WOYWW 189

Tadaaaah! I finally managed to join in the friendliest sneak-peek-event of the planet: Julia Dunnit's "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday"!

So love the idea of getting to know other crafters a little better by having a look at their workdesks. So here comes mine:

Usually at this time of the week my desk is cleaned up, as on Wednesdays my son returns home from school rather early and then we use to do some working together at this desk: he does his homework and I join in with some stamping or browsing through my stash sometimes...but most of the time I support him when he gets stuck (as he is dealing with dyslexia, he sometimes has problems on concentrating and most of the time it already helps when I am around and he knows he could ask for help ;)

But today I am freed of this "duty" (a duty I love to be honest) as I had a tooth extracted yesterday (in the hope that this tooth may be the source of my facial pain problems I have been dealing with for the last three months at least) and am off duty today (which means my caring husband fills in for me where it is necessary).

On my desk you can see the goodies spread (and tried out) that came with the post yesterday: some new stamps from 100 proof press and some bargains from the Craft Barn's sale (mainly embellishments for some future projects I have in mind).

My beloved Tim Holtz Cargo Case on the right, which really helps me not getting too much chaos at my working space (best thing I ever bought to be honest!), which makes crafting a lot more effective to be honest.

To the left you can see that little "pile" (a little chaos just HAS to be) with the awesome metallic rub ons I got from great Sandra and which I have only recently started to use and love. (Thank you so much again, Sandra!)
In the box with the American flag design I treasure some of my idea-ologie and other embellishment stuff.

Well - that's it for now and for my first WOYWW entry. Hope, you liked it.

Hugs,

die amelie xxx