I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Wednesday 24 October 2012

WOYWW 177

Hello and happy Wednesday to you... It's time to go bloghopping around the craft desks of the world again, courtesy of our lovely hostess Julia Dunnit at the Stamping Ground, where you can show us What's On Your Workdesk this Wednesday... I'll show you mine, if you show me yours!

Here it is... and I have cleared the decks a little since last week, but there's a whole lot of experimenting going on.




So the main thing you can see is lots of tags... I've been taking a leaf out of the book of the wonderful Lynne over at Adorn, who does lots of staining with tea and coffee with the most beautiful results, and that's what I've been up to - just to see.  It took me back to a school project from more than 30 years ago!

Overall the coffee gives less interesting results than the tea(s), I think.  We'll see how I feel once I've got some stamping on them.





One set of results I'm absolutely delighted with is the seam binding though... these range from coffee to tea to a winter fruit tea.  Still quite wet here...













... and now nearly dry (and by flash light, I'm afraid).  Gorgeous, I think, and I'm looking forward to putting them into action.





Then there are some steps towards catching up with some of the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas (I'm so behind, but hope to be back later today with a step in the right direction - yup, done now!).

Also in the background here, there's a leftover Permanent Ghost, and my skull mask on an old book page which I've used in a few projects recently.

Great having it on an old book page if you're stamping rather than blending, as it gives a really thin layer so that the stamp can lie as flat as possible, and so get closer to the edge of whatever you're masking - tissue paper might be even better... another experiment to try!

Wouldn't work for blending, probably, as it would just crease up unless you were very careful.


Here's my little £1 alphabet I'm always talking about, sitting on top of the £6 one I hardly use - though it's vital if I want capital letters, and it is beautiful. It pleases me just having it there!  

Now that I'm better at stamping in a straight line, I could probably make more use of it - lots more experimenting to be done, then.








And finally, I clearly needed some greens!  Some wrinkle-free distress backgrounds and a little "watercolour" stamping experiment all using Distress Stains.  

We'll see if they go any further...







Thanks so much for stopping by; it's always great to have some company.  I think I managed nearly three-quarters of the desks last week; still haven't completed a full house, but I'm trying!!  See you soon...

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make, the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

52 comments:

Krisha said...

Great pics. a day of expermenting is fun and kicks in the mojo for some reason. LOL
Krisha #40

RosA said...

Really great tags! Love the colours on the seam binding. I usually only use coffee but must have a go with tea. Thanks for your kind comments too.
RosA # 31

Inkypinkycraft said...

Sme great pieces being created and explored on your desk, lve the colours! Soft and gentle, have a great and creative week, hugs trace x 46

Neet said...

Hi Alison, just grabbing a quick peek around WOYWW whilst I have Internet connection. Love the dyeing you have been doing. Try dominoes too. I used to do them a lot In natural dyes - a favourite being onion skins!

The green is gorgeous and I love that stamp.

Hugs, Neet 54 x
Ps where do you buy your seam binding?

kay said...

lots of fun in the experimenting,love the green tags
have a fab woyww
kay #57

Jenny Marples said...

So much fun stuff going on here. That skull looks superb in particular. I need to do this sort of thing today for two emergency cards and you've given me more of an idea about what to do, so thank you for that:) Looking forward to seeing what becomes of him and your other 'in progress' items. Happy WOYWW, hugs Buttons #6

Amy E said...

I love the tea and coffee staining Alison!! I've used tea to color things for YEARS...since way before I started paper crafting. I remember tea staining a whole bolt of fabric in my bathtub once to make curtains with it!! And I have tea stained and framed sheet music hanging in my living room right now.

Your "greens" are BEAUTIFUL!! Would love to know more about how you accomplished that look!!

Happy WOYWW!

Amy E. #1
scrapthissavethat.blogspot.com

Jules said...

Its great to try new things! I love the seam binding you have done. Especially the winter fruit tea one. It gives a lovely soft pinky colour.
Jules 61

Minxy said...

My My you have been a little worker bee haven't you Alison, wish I can say i've been that productive lately, all your 'play time' looks well spent, love the 'greens' selection, so pretty.
I have about 17 of those mini alpha's there awesome aren't and so handy for so many projects.
Happy Wednesday
Hugz Minxy #7

House of Bears said...

By our powers of deduction, we guess you may be making a tag or two?? Can't wait to see what you make out of them all. You've made us feel all arty and inspired (again)

okienurse said...


great looking desk and projects in the works. I remember dieing the lace on my sisters wedding veil with tea back in 1976 and her complaining she smelled like tea time! love all the colors you are getting. Great looking tags too! Hope you have a great week. Vickie #91

Francesca said...

My word you have been busy, all looks great. Francesca #94

Ann B said...

Love what's on your desk today, so much to see and the colours on your tags are beautiful.

Just back from walking the dog and catching up on a few desks.
Ann B #70

Anonymous said...

Jiminy! those seam binding look so gorgeous - and all from TEA. Fab. I also love the tags, and have a gazillion (ok maybe 15) of those little stamp sets and they are something I use over and over again. Def value for money!

Happy WOYWW

MA (15)

Nan G said...

Lovely experiments! The seam binding turned fab! Nan 27

Cestina said...

Seam bindings are what exactly please?

Did you test out the make-up case as a craft-stash-carrier yet?

Belinda said...

Alison,
I think I need to run and go dig up those distress stains I bought on a craft binge a while back and never even used them. I love tags too. Yours look so pretty. I think you are inspiring me to give it a try. My favorite color is green and I love the green one you made. Thank you for sharing and thank you for visiting me last week.

Belinda (28)

Anonymous said...

Very interesting experiments on your desk this week, but does the coffee not leave an odor? I like your boxes of alpha stamps too, especially the ones in the wooden box. Love the greens at the bottom, my favourite colour.

Hugs
Brenda 3

betsy (pharmgirl) said...

Wow! So much going on in your space! I love the dyed seam binding. and the green card is just magical!

http://toucanscraps.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Ooh lovely to see lots of expimenting going on with the tea and coffee. Its amazing what they come out as. Never done coffee before only tea. Love the piccies.
Happy WOYWW
Tricia 105

Karen McAlpine said...

So many lovely things to look at!!! Love how the seam binding turned out. What type of seam binding is this...the old sewing kind or the new paper crafting kind? Love the stain stamping.
Karen 129

Lou said...

What gorgeous projects, love it all, Ive got one of those little £1 alphabets, they are great but I'm not the best at stamping in a straight line so must practice! lol

Good luck finishing off your tags.

Lou #75

belldoubleyou said...

Aha! Thank you for confirming my suspicion that dyeing with tea is less red than the Tea Dye Distress Ink wants me to think it is. Although, to be fair, the fruit tea is very pink.

But you must be kidding about stamping in a straight line, right? Lie to me -- I want to hear that it's impossible so I don't feel so frustrated when I fail!

Erika said...

Oooh Alison love all your different pictures you look like you are having bundles of fun at your desk....I'd like to play!
I've only done one of the tags from 2012 tags, so guess I'm further behind than you, LOL.
Happy WOYWW and thanks for the visit, Erika.
Room 101 this week.

JoZart Designs said...

Super crafting going on and plenty of it. Lovely snoop, thank you Trace....
Lv Jo x

MaggieC (Silvercrafter) said...

How great to have a day of playing with effects. I love those bias tapes. They look like little blousy roses ready to put on cards, but I bet you have a different idea. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them. Thank you for your visit, Alison and you kind comments. xx Maggie #33

Chloe grice said...

Great to see so many photos! And I agree with lots of other commenters - those green cards and tags are really fantastic. My girls and I have had great fun stamping with a lovely set of alphabet blocks we found in a charity shop recently - hindered slightly by a few missing letters but still good fun though!! Have a lovely week x Chloe 85

Nicky said...

Wow lots going on and all so interesting - as I have only just got in I also nosed at the above post love the effect on the tag you have done its stunning - thanks for sharing and visiting me - Nicky 53

Barb King said...

Love all the tea shades, I've never thought to do that on tags, only on lace. THe green ones at the end are so pretty. Thanks for stopping by my space. Barb

fairy thoughts said...

love all the experimental tags, I hadn't thought of using tea and coffee, I must put it on my 'must do' list
thanks for sharing
janet #58

Anonymous said...

Alison
It is absolutely wonderful to see you playing with tea/coffee. I was interested to read that you did not find the coffee to be so satisfactory as I've found it to be quite the opposite. Tea has a more subtle effect. I love the seam binding you have dyed. If you add some regular tea with the fruit teas it provides even more colour choice.
My little stock is running low so I will be brewing up shortly.
It was kind of you to give me a shout out :)
Wishes
Lynne
P.S. Did you use inexpensive coffee granules? That is what I use.

Anonymous said...

Me Again
To say I also have those alpha sets (Studio G) - they are so useful but unfortunately I tend to forget about them as I have them stored in a box.
Wishes
Lynne

Katie said...

Can't wait to see what you do with those seam binding thingies.


Katie 34

Gillian .... said...

Hi Alison

Wow you are having a creative week by the looks of it, love the effect of the tea staining, your tags look fab too. Gillian #9

Kezzy said...

Hi Alison, sorry I haven't been around, but starting to feel a bit more normal and thank you so much for supporting me through this rough time. I saw you on a blog the other day talking about yourself, sorry I can't remember it was on my phone, it was so nice to learn all about you. Wow you really have been experimenting, I bet those ribbons smell nice, well the fruity ones I mean. I find tea is better than coffee, I don't drink coffee just tea, but once I made some coffee to do some craft with, in the end I had to through the tag away, I had definitely used too much coffee I had to open the windows lol. Love what your doing with the distress inks, I'm itching to get some inkyness going lol. Happy Woyww :-) lots of hugs Kerry xxx

Anne said...

All wonderful stuff going on there, I really like the dyed seam binding. Anne x #146

BJ said...

Thanks for stopping by. Great tea/coffee experiments, best thing to do with them if you ask me as I drink neither - LOL. Oh and your greens are superb. BJ#8

Sandi McLean said...

Wow what a little experimental production line you have set up! I too adore those seam bindings...and sometimes use my Glimmer sprays and such on top of the tea. Tks for coming my way! Sandi #42

Unknown said...

Wow! Great experiments! And love the "greens"!! Thanks for visiting my space and Happy WOYWW!
Carol n #30

Angie said...

Lovely tags, I mean just absolutely lovely!
Angie #114

Shoshi said...

I love what you've done with the tea and coffee! What soft, subtle colours. Just gorgeous.

Thank you for your comment, and I'm glad you like my effort this week! If you haven't already, do hop back and see the subsequent post, with the finished page.

Happy WOYWW,
Shoshi

VonnyK said...

That looks like so much fun, if I tried it I would be the one stained and not the materials. Love the stamping at the end of your post, looks just like a watercolour painting.
Have a great week.
Von #45

Unknown said...

Lots of experimenting you've done there, reminds me I should buck up and do the same. I found your tags very inspiring as I'm just getting into those now. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Elaine #32

scrappymo! said...

What a beautiful desk with all those tags drying and that gorgeous seam binding rumpled up beside.
I will have to give this a try as I have almost used up all the dyed tags I have in!

Darnell said...

You truly are a butterfly aren't you, flitting and flying from one creative endeavor to the next, all done beautifully! You are also a crafting "scientist" with all your ongoing experiments!!

Thanks for coming by to visit me already and have a great week!! Darnell #59

pearshapedcrafting said...

Loving all those ribbon colours - what a range! Love 'watercolour' stamping - not done any for a while! Chrisx

Hettie said...

Another busy desk there....busy being the new messy! Hee Hee!
What a lot of tags you have created there. I remember doing tea and coffee staining at school...a while ago!
xx

Emily said...

the tags look fantastic and I really love the green creations at the end (my fav colour). The dyed seam binding is just genious and I will be trying that later today.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs
Emily #80

Unknown said...

Hi Alison thank you for popping by. I am definitely going to try dying the seam bindings - those colours are yummy. Cant wait to see what you do with them. Belated Happy WOYWW Helen 16

Robin said...

Oh I love your tea and coffee stained seam binding! I just dyed some with reinkers, and I love the softness of your colors! Can't wait to give this a try...can you share your technique? I am guessing you soak for a while to get the deep color.

Unknown said...

I'm late again! I love the muted colours of the seam binding. X

Sue from Oregon said...

oh my...while scrolling down to your WOYWW and spied some gorgeous creations. All totally wonderful! Sorry to be so late this week...Happy WOYWW!