Statistically speaking...a photo less post.

I'm not hugely into numbers. I think numbers are too logical for me.  They always have an answer that is either right, or wrong.  And let's face it, if it's wrong, you have to do it all again and I hate that! See, too emotional...not using the correct side of my brain...I can't even remember which side is the emotional and which the logical!  However, the people at Blogger are all about statistics aren't they? You can just tell how much they love it...you can almost imagine the glee on their lovely nerdy faces when they decided to include a stats page on each blog (yeah, I'm down with the short speak..). A stats page that shows the numbers in numerical and graph form...oh my.  I bet it's like new stash for them.   So, while Mr D crunches some numbers involving our domestic bliss, I  thought to browse this rarely visited page. It's full of surprises actually. Not least that this will be the 661st post. Gracious, I knew I had a lot to say, but that was a surprise...because I've stuck with my original promise which was not to blog if I couldn't think of anything to say.  You may have noticed that the 660 previous posts weren't regularly placed...apart of course from Wednesdays. So I thought, to celebrate the first post here on January 6th 2009, I'd offer some blog candy. But of course, it's unqualified, there are no photos of it and no particular following criteria or such. And you have to work for it. Please answer the following question in the comments:  Which part of my domestic bliss will be restored if Mr D makes the numbers work?  Here's a weak clue...I have whined about it previously! And....this offer has two conditions: you must leave your answer as a comment in this post and, you've only got till Wednesday 22nd. That's something to do with the side of my brain that doesn't like waiting.

Just doing' some 'boarding, dude

So remember as you read this, that I'm a follower when it comes to crafts... I like the techniques to have been invented by someone else so that I can just make stuff.  I'm all about the result, that's why it's stamping for me..instant gratification.  So when several people commented on the papers on my WOYWW desk this week, I though I could elaborate..I actually made them!..they're 'masterboards'.  Take a bunch of inks, cut n dry foam, 3 or 4 stamps and one colour of embossing powder, and a scary blank sheet of smooth card.   Emboss one stamp image randomly and repeatedly all over, then add light or dark swirls of ink, other images, stamped in the same ink family.  Obviously the embossing acts as resist, so you need to choose the image carefully because it will be dominant! Then you have a fab sheet of paper to use for backgrounds and the like for your cards etc.  

These photos are hideous - I took them whilst

making the sheets up and was actually just going to take photos of the finished cards, but haven't quite got there yet...wanna do a couple more sheets with different stamp emphasis before I stop/get bored!  All the stamps are by Magenta, all the inks are Versafine, (the same four colours of ink, unbelievably, just applied in different weight/mix - clearer photos will show that better!)  and you may just be able to see blobs of splattered Pearl-Ex paint across the top sheet..I can, but I know what I'm looking for!

I sincerely hope to carve out some time at the weekend to finish this project, my boredom threshold might let me down if I don't!  

Have a lovely weekend.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 141

WOYWW Housekeeping: If you read nothing else, please read the first paragraph!

Really, now the numbers are as fabulously high as they are, I have to insist that your blog post includes WOYWW in the title and is in some way relevant to your working area; this is particularly important if you link late...paging through loads of posts without knowing where to stop is enough to cause the reader to click away.

Likewise, when I get to links that are totally irrelevant (such as another Wednesday Meme courting for exposure), I'll remove it.  I don't want to do too much policing and have stacks of rules, but its not unfair to expect a workdesk related post if it's linked here is it!

Mary Anne has found this:

http://xxxtglxxx.blogspot.com/2012/01/blogger-issues-white-screen-no- comments.html

This will take you to a blog called The Great Leveller and talks about how to make a fix that allows people that currently can't, to comment on your blog.  A lot of us find if the comment box is at the foot of your post, that 'embed' prevents commenting...but where the blog provides a new page with comments and comment box, all is possible!  So if you wanna get a few more comments, this may well be worth the two minutes and two tabs it takes.  It is a temporary fix....Blogger itself has to come up with a permanent one...so no growling at The Great Leveller, huh!! 

And here's one I've resisted, because I don't think it's actually any of my business: 

I've had several requests to ask for word verification to be turned off.  Its a personal thing; in 4 years I think I've had two spam comments and never an 'attack', but you must be the judge. It's not difficult to turn off...if you want to do it but need help, please ask..there are a lot of closet geeks on WOYWW!

Oh my desk is a mess. In fact from this, it doesn't look too bad, but the left side is piled and 'push back' is in serious overtime.  But it has to be, I'm working on something that I'm finding a bit taxing.  See the old Pearl-Ex palette?  Had it about 8 years...still love it.  See the rainbow of a mug? Of course, a present from LLJ who knew I can't be uncheered in the presence of such things.  See the master board I made that's in the process of being cut up and turned into cards? Sheez...anyone would think I was busy!
Show us yours then, we wanna see what you're making this week.  And we're not scared by mess.  OK, I'M NOT.  Read the 'rules', abide by 'em, and we'll see you at your place for a jolly good look around.  Abyssinia, as my dear Papa shouted at me as I left his house this morning! Oh and PS..I've scheduled this...had a long day and can't stay up till the small hours....no really.  I have.  It may have involved that white van again!

Busy? Moi?

There is  a price to pay for being able to stay at home and craft all day.  I'm officially a partner in the business.  I know, grown up, right?  Well, I do ordering, and all the book-keeping and VAT and stuff, and I try to control the production schedule so that I see something of Mr Dunnit, and very frequently, I do the deliveries.  Until recently, that has been the deliveries that will fit in the tiny green rocket. I drive a Toyota Yaris...it's bigger than it looks, but be serious, I can't get a staircase in it!

So the solution...a white van.  Here he is, collecting it.  The photo was taken through the window of my car. I'm no fool, it was very cold.  The grin on his sweet face is about how excited we were to be in a position to buy a van, and the hand in his pocket is holding tight to his wallet...the next move was to pay for it!
So since Wednesday, I've had a couple of lessons for driving in bad weather.  Scarey.  But the guys on site think its very funny to see a middle aged fat woman jump awkwardly from the driver's seat, so they feel compelled to help with unloading.  Thank goodness.   I've also had a lesson in how to 'diesel up'.  This, gentle reader, is 'whitevanman' speak.  I suspect rather deeply that at some stage it was meant to impress us non-hunter gatherer types. It means putting fuel in.  It's strangely the same as putting fuel in your car, they just dont want you to know that.  Although you may need physical help to get across the forecourt to pay for the fuel...my goodness, these vans have HUGE tanks. Ow.  FYI our American friends...we buy fuel in litres.  It's £1.44  ($2.28) per litre for diesel(locally) and there are 4.54 litres to a gallon.  I know the cost of fuel is an election issue in some States, but not here! 
So I've been out and about. I've learned a lot about driving a bigger vehicle too, and I erm, forgive some of the white van men I've cursed in the past...now I know why you pull into the wrong lane when turning left..and why you get angry if people cross the road behind you while you're trying to reverse...oh em gee, the all round vision isn't good!  The best part, and remember, I'm a WOYWWer, so this is in character: You can see so much more from the elevated position.  I'm loving that! 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 140

Another grainy shot from my phone.  Because it's rather too early to fiddle about with the card reader section of the PC which for some reason won't work right now.  OH well, you're used to rubbish pictures.  Now, the section of my desk that you can see shows that I have actually been making some cards.  Oh yeah.  Can't say 'I'm back' particularly, but at least I'm doing something!  Loads of rolls of glue dots at back...funny how favourites come around and go around. The button jar is being used illegaly to store a glue pen...or more correctly, a tube of PVA glue that is impossible to squeeze glue out of unless it's right in the tip.  And for a change, I can honestly say that the presence of the stapler has nothing to do with me.  When I left the house for a fun night with The Coven, it wasn't there.  So I can safely surmise that Mr D or Miss D has done something paper related this evening.  I'm posting at a ridiculous time today, to see if it helps or hinders you..please let me know!  
So, share your space..desk, floor, tray, arm of chair, kitchen worktop..wherever and whatever you are creating, we like to see.  Use WOYWW in your post title so we can find it easily, and link your post here....we'll visit if we can.  But you have to visit too...reciprocal nosiness is very much a part of this thing! 

The free lunch...

I'm not in the habit of highlighting give-aways and blog candy and the like because, well, to be honest, I don't always feel that a give-away that comes with conditions about linking and widgets and stuff is really up to me to promote.  This isn't a personal rule though...I think it's probably more about being bone idle.  But there are always things that motivate me more than others.  And I want to tell you about two give-aways that are really just gifts.  Of course, because I found them and am telling you, I'm going to claim a whole lot of credit.  'Specially if you enjoy them!  
First, Stephanie and Dori over at Luscious Life Studios have, for the second month, produced free wallpaper to download..as you can see. There's 3 colours to choose from and even instructions!!  (Which is why I'm using them on my itoys!) 


And then, Elizabeth, WOYWW friend and Altered Book Lover is offering a completely free Altered Book course.  Using a real stitched book, altering it properly.  It's going to appear as a lesson on her blog, so there's no extra linking or finding.  You won't have to join a group. You aren't asked to put a badge in your sidebar. You don't have to commit.  Hell, you don't even have to admit that you're taking part.  And already, following that link, you'll learn something about books and about the quality of the course that Elizabeth is offering.  For free.  It's free.  And now you're going to learn something about the commitment phobic keeper of this blog. The one that pays for a class, downloads it over the weeks, files it and never looks at it again.  I'm doing this Altered Book course.  Elizabeth makes me feel like I can, and has promised not to laugh.  See, there are so few conditions attached to taking part in her course, that I imposed my own condition..no laughing at my attempts.  And so, and so, in the broad daylight, I'm choosing my book.  It was going to be a Delia Smith recipe book (really, that woman, that sainted woman gets right on my nerves!)..but there are too many pictures.  So now I'm going to look upstairs in my vast boxed collection. Don't come and get me..I'm going to enjoy this! 

This Valentine thing

http://www.imagehousing.com/image/370217

So they say, this Roman priest defied the Emperor and continued to conduct marriages for couples in love.  The Emperor, see, felt that the best soldiers were unmarried men.  A lot of the new grooms and Valentine himself were martyred for their defiance.  And so the world turns, Valentine is beatified and we attach great importance to his work of putting love first. The romantic heart shape gets involved and somehow we end up with a day celebrating this saint.  Don't misunderstand me, I'm perfectly happy about it.  
I've visited about half of the WOYWW desks so far.  What struck me is the number of our American friends who are making gifts for friends and family, kids are making cards for classmates, wreaths and decorations are being hung and there is an air of preparation and 'holiday' about it all.
How does it go here?  Well,  really only restaurants and card shops do all the decorating...I've never seen a Valentine's wreath on a domestic front door for example. Sometime in the next week I will make one card.  For Mr D.  If he remembers to swing by the nearest card selling shop en route to work, I will get a card from him.  I realise that other couples will make more of an effort.  But I'm not aware that normally these plans extend to giving others gifts or baking a cake or having a party.  Generally, it's a bouquet and or a nice meal.....or am I so totally embedded in the safety of my old and lovely marriage that I've missed something?!  I don't know.  Is it that famous British reserve?  Is it too soon after Christmas - the weather can be foul and the bank account may be a bit wobbly.  Or are we just lazy and can't face another 'holiday'?  Have we just got to let it evolve like Hallowe'en has?  Is it because it's one 'holiday' that we British girls would really like the boys to step up and take charge of, so we do nothing, and are eternally disappointed?  I don't know.  But tell me:    Have you made loads of Valentine cards? Are they to sell or to give to friends and family?  Have you decorated?  Have you got plans?  
Are you horrified by my 'one card' effort!
Won't it be amazing when the world turns again and we have a day of giving and helping to celebrate the life and saint hood of Mother Theresa.