A Madonna and Child ATC and a Giveaway

Another two post week for me!  Here is the Madonna and Child ATC I was making in my previous post. The gold halo and details don't show very well in the picture and I think it looks much better in person.

 And Lulu is having a giveaway for her followers!  To join it, you have to make a post mentioning her giveaway, so here's my post.  I'm hoping I win.  Ah well, hope springs eternal!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday?

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday? That's the question a bunch of us ask each other every Wednesday. Well, since I did a bit of organizing last weekend, I regained control in the never ending challenge to have a workspace to work on.  Ahh, how nice to have some space again!  The WOYWW neat team would be proud of me!

I decided to organize my magazine clippings and assorted papers to make it easier for me to find what I need so I put them in two bins under the bed (which is right across my desk).  The plan is to pull out the bins when I'm looking for just the right image or paper color for the collage I'm making.  We'll see if it works.

On my desk is a work in progress, another Madonna and child ATC (which I owe someone).  I made the sketch, covered it in wall putty (something you buy in a construction supply store which you can use as a gesso substitute), used some watercolor and copic markers to color in, and now will add shading with colored pencils...

For my Altered book on "Words to Live by", I finished a page with one of my favorite bible verses,

 "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you", Matthew 6:33

 

I wanted to try a different style so I decided to make a colorful collage with all sorts of layers and swirls and all sorts. I didn't know how it would turn out as I searched for images and pasted and painted, but then, Life is like that too, isn't it?  You never know how it will turn out and it's full of layers and swirls and all sorts.   Making this collage has reminded me that come what may, I will continue to try to live by these words and even now, I feel that I am living an amazingly blessed life and "all these things have been added to me."  

For more desks, and lots of  creativity, inspiration, all sorts of information,  thoughts and ramblings from all over the world, see The WOYWW List here.

ATC Collages with Gift Wrapper

I promised myself I would post some time else other than a Wednesday, so here is a post that I made some time ago which I realized I hadn't posted yet.

Here is a gift wrapper I designed for our shop Papemelroti (I am the "pe" in the name)...

and here are some Artist Trading Card collages that I made using the extra prints.

 

Yay! I got to post today! 

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: Altered Book Page

Uh oh, for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, hosted by Julia over at Stamping Ground, I have joined the messy team this week.  I even had to open the drawer to put some papers since there wasn't enough desk!  Just when I thought I could stay on the neat team!

I did another page in my Altered Book and all I need to do to finish it is to put the verse.  I haven't decided how to do that.  Hand letter? Shall I print it out and paste it on?  See, I'm trying out some letters I cut out from a magazine. 

I gave this page a layer of wall putty, and did the drawing with colored pencils.  Then I pasted on some bible verses around the lamp, and covered them with some wall putty (maybe a little too much since you can hardly see them). Here's a close up...

Then I used watercolor, a bit of pen, and my brand new copic markers (love them!) to add more colors.  Ramona, from Create with Joy guessed the verse right for my AB's previous page.  Can you guess what verse I will put on this page?

And, you ask, if those were the materials you used, how come your desk is all a mess and filled with paper?  Well, I want to do more collaging in the next pages, but wow, I realized that I can't be neat when making a collage!  But then, I am so enjoying myself, I am sure you will excuse the mess.

What's on your workdesk?  It's a Wednesday, so come and show us!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday: New Stuff and a Winner!

 

My hubby surprised me with a new printer some weeks ago and I finally found a place to put it!    There it is way down on the bottom shelf.  It fit in with barely a millimeter of space to spare.  Of course I am still looking for places to put the stuff it displaced.

Then, my hubby just came home from a conference in Japan and he brought home some Copic markers!  I told him I wanted some flesh and brown tones and here is an ATC I made using the markers he brought.

The first page of my Altered Book.  It is going to be about some of my favorite verses.  I drew a profile of myself that I am quite pleased with.  It is actually recognizable as me, at least I think so.  She is going to says "WORDS to live by".

The second page is one in which I experimented on using wall putty to glue on a patterned napkin.  The pretty rose border on the right side is part of the book's design.  The big rose is a magazine cutout that I glued on, put wall putty over, and colored with colored pencils. I am going to use this background for a bible verse which says something about grass and flowers.  Can you guess what it is?

And because I got tired of looking at the plain white wall putty jar, I decided to cover it with book paper and wall putty.  Who knows how it will look next week!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit a lot of other desks for the What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday link party.  I have been having the usual problems with my internet connection and in fact for a while I thought I would only be able to post one picture on my post today.  Hopefully, I will get to visit more desks this week.

And finally, I picked a winner for my 200th follower giveaway.  I know, it's taken me so long to do it, sorry about that.  Anyway, the winner is....

Hillbilly Handiworks!

Hillbilly Handiworks makes some wonderful quilts and  I think my giveaway "A Mother's Masterpiece" is perfect for someone who homeschools her children! Send me an email with your address, Hillbilly Handiworks, and I will send you your prize!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday: ATCs and the start of an AB

I keep telling myself I will make posts between my What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday posts but obviously I didn't get to do that this week. Again.  But at least,with WOYWW, I get to post at least once a week!

I've been busy!  Getting my desk in order inspired me to do more organizing, and would you believe it?  I changed the drawer guides in the drawers in my desk.  I put in full extension drawer guides so now, the drawer opens out all the way til the end.  I am sooo pleased!  Move over, Mr. Handyman!

Then, I finished some ATCs.  Some of them had been lying around half finished for weeks, like these two Mother and Child pieces... 

And the ones I made by special request for trades in ATCs for All...

I also looked up the info that Elizabeth sent me about Altered books (ABs) and there were instructions to pick a book with at least 300 pages so that we could make a "niche book".  Uh oh, I had already picked the book with the least number of pages before I read this so I guess the niche book will have to wait.  Besides, Elizabeth says, "you are always free to break the rules, because there are none."  Wonderful!

So far, I have done a page, experimenting on using wall putty to glue some patterned paper napkin on.  More on that next time.


For now, it's off to visit some of the desks joining WOYWW in Julia's site.