Friday Fun Day with Smiles.

     Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

Angela here again to show you what I've been up to this week.

This has been another hot week here and it's been difficult to do much.

We were at the Vet's on Thursday just for Daisy's check up and today they are going for a haircut but I'll get round to seeing you all when I get back.

Last week I mentioned that we have a giraffe in the conservatory well here he is and we've named him 

George or even Georgina!

When hubby was visiting schools one of the Art departments were throwing him away and of course we can't have that so he has found a new home. 

He needed some work doing as his ears as they were falling off and one leg was bent but he's feeling better now. 

Someone had started applying decoupage paper and then stopped but for now he will stay as he is until I decide how to finish him off.

If you have any ideas let me know.

 

I thought these plants had finished earlier in the year but they've come back again and looking pretty.

Been doing some more felting with the Fungi Club and this one is called Devils Fingers.

This week we made a picture of this mushroom too but not quite finished it yet.

Despite the hot weather most of the garden is managing with help.

These were some pieces that Alfie managed to break off the original plant and after two years of care in the raised bed they have grown and are covered in flowers.

We have grapes too though it's unlikely they will develop into anything edible.

This could be me right now as I think the heat is shrivelling my brain but I need to think of something soon.

I am going to the Craft Show at Doncaster on Saturday so hoping I might come back with some ideas.

Have a great weekend everyone and

 thanks for stopping by.

And if you would like some more smiles you just need to pop over to see what our other friends have been doing this week at Annie's for
"This Week's Smiles" and you can also share your  smiles too.

Angela x

WOYWW - 840 - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

     Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

Hi Workdesk friends. 
We are here for another Wednesday at the Workdesk and here is:
"What's on my Workdesk this Wednesday".

If you don't know what this is all about then please visit Sarah's Craft Shed and our host Sarah will explain.

So here is my desk for today!

I make no apologies, I'm still making cloud Masterboards.

Playing with some old stamps which were freebies from a magazine but no idea which.

I thought they would work with the clouds.

I have a moth stamp (also from a magazine) on the left and underneath some star stencils so we'll see.

New cloud Masterboard and you can find one of the cards that I did this week too - here:

So that's me done for today.

 Thanks for stopping by and hope you will pop over and join in the visits around the other desks.

 I'm off now to see what everyone else is up to.

Have a great woyww 

and 
happy crafting,

Angela x

Masterboard Monday.

     Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

I am here today to show you a card made with this Masterboard:

I may be getting obsessed with these!

If you were around last Monday you might have seen the instructions for making these masterboards here.

More clouds today and Hot air balloons too.

Sentiment was from a magazine and the embossing folder is by Spellbinders. The balloon is by IndigoBlu and the clouds were finished with Stickles Glitter Glue.

I've used the swivel die by Lawn Fawn on the inside and more magazine stamps for the balloons.

The die works so well with the Balloons and clouds.

The round Birthday stamp is an old one from my stash.

I'm sure this die will appear again soon.

I would love to hear your comments.

Many thanks for stopping by and happy crafting,

Angela x

I am entering this project in the folowing challenges:

Inkspirational Challenge #345 - Three of the Same.

Allsorts Challenge - 827 - For a Child.

Friday Fun day with Smiles.

     Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

Angela here again to show you what I've been up to this week.

Daisy and Alfie have decided it's just too hot to do anything but they are keeping an eye on each other just in case.

These two belong to my friend, they are artists in the making.

Hubby sent me these photos while he was away so I know he is eating healthy. This is lamb and sweet potato.

He is not a lover of vegetables but has ordered extras to make me happy Lol!

Whether he eats it all or not I cannot be sure.

Then apple pie and blackcurrant icecream.

Hope he doesn't expect this now he's back home.

The next thing is a bit worrying.

I haven't seen the stream in the park look like this before, it's so dry. Even the bushes on the sides look dry too.

It normally looks like this.

Lots of water and bright green bushes.

Praying for rain!

And the grass looks like this!

We had a tiny amount of rain but it's made little difference.

When we moved here from Lancashire it was the first time I had seen grass like this and thought it was Global Warming but when I saw the weather forcast I realised it was still raining in Wigan.

Linconshire is definitely a warmer part of the country.

We have been for early walks before it got too hot for the dogs.

Just to finish here are Schnauzers on the beach.

It's probably better if our two don't see any of that.

Stay cool and have a great weekend,

 thanks for stopping by.

And if you would like some more smiles you just need to pop over to see what our other friends have been doing this week at Annie's for
"This Week's Smiles" and you can also share your  smiles too.

Angela x

WOYWW -839- What's On your Workdesk Wednesday.

     Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

Hi Workdesk friends. 
We are here for another Wednesday at the Workdesk and here is:
"What's on my Workdesk this Wednesday".

If you don't know what this is all about then please visit Sarah's Craft Shed and our host Sarah will explain.

So here is my desk for today! but before I start I've posted the instructions for making the cloud Masterboards that so many of you were asking about.

If you would like to see how they are done you can find them here as I didn't want to fill Wednesday with instructions that you don't need. 

If you are interested I hope you find them useful.

And I'm using some of them again here to make a new card.

I fear the exploding box is getting bigger again!

I shall have to watch that one.

So that's me done for today.

 Thanks for stopping by and hope you will pop over and join in the visits around the other desks.

 I'm off now to see what everyone else is up to.

Have a great woyww 

and 
happy crafting,

Angela x

Masterboard Monday.

    Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

I am here today to show you how I make my cloud Masterboards:

Lots of people have been asking about them so I'll do my best to explain how I do this but it is easy.

So lets get started.

Choose your colours. 

I usually have two blues and some pale pink, yellow, lilac, maybe.

I also find it easier to blend the inks with these brushes rather than sponges but that's just my choice.

There are lots of companies that sell these masks, Lawn Fawn, Altenew, My Favourite Things and Waffle Flower are a few. 

You don't want a stencil that wont work for this.

I've used an A4 sheet of card but you might want to use a smaller piece until you get used to the technique. The weight of the card is up to you.

I work from the top down but I know some people start from the bottom and work upwards.

I like to use a plastic mat to smooth the ink onto before adding it to the card so it's applied lightly.

It's better not to have too much ink on the brush when you start.

Apply the brush lightly from the mask in an upward direction.

Some of the ink will stay on the mask and you can continue to push that upwards until you are satisfied with the depth of colour.

And then move to a different colour. 

I'm using yellow here and pushing the colour over the edge of the mask, blending it lightly with the blue.

Take a look at the real clouds and you will see that there can be a variety of colours mixed in, sometimes these can be very bright or just lightly visible.

When I move to the next cloud I try to match the shapes as near as possible where they join though it doesn't always work exactly.

Maybe it's just me being fussy! but it gives a cleaner finish to the design.

Continue to add your clouds, arranging them as you go making some clouds narrow, some long, some short and round and rotate the mask as the edges are different.

Keep adding your chosen colours and adding blue in between which reminds us that we are looking at the sky.

Keep going until you reach the bottom.

And you end with something like this.

All you need to do now is push the brush up from the bottom edge to colour the blank space.

And you have it.

The centre one here I have just completed and the other two I made earlier. 

I'm showing you these as they are slightly different but I've gone for quite bright colours.

This one had Glitter glue added to it.

And I sprayed it with drops of water, lifting some of the colour off.

It would look good with splashes of ink or stamped rain drops. 

You could even add the sun in there too.

This is one that I'm working on at the moment and it's noticeably lighter.

Because of how I wanted to use this I turned the A4 sheet so that I was working on the long side.

Hope you give it a go. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I would love to hear your comments about these instructions too.

Many thanks for stopping by and happy crafting,

Angela x