What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 852

If you're on Facebook,   You might have seen my post about the fire that destroyed our workshop, paint shop and timber store. Our business. For two or three days, it was devastating and we did not know which way was up, let alone forward. Some sleep and the need to face insurance and utitlty companies and daily life have brought us back to reality. The arrival of your support in the shape of this beautiful autumnal bouquet is so appreciated. We are both buoyed and enabled by knowing that so many people wish us well in the next part of our lives and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it.

Plans are afoot now. Mr Dunnit doesn't want to completely retire, so we instantly have a way forward. We still have each other and we have our home which really means that we have everything still.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 850

 850..that's a lot isn't it! Nice big roundy number. Still grateful to Sarah for carrying us on.

We've been away on holiday and so my desk is not looking any different after I last did the show and tell. So, have a view of Sardinia..

It was an 'activities' holiday. There was a lot to do and Mr Dunnit totally made the most. I (we] did some kayaking, and I took a couple of swimming lessons...to improve my breathing in front crawl and racing breast stroke, and we did some walking. The tennis, 730am fun run, windsurfing and such were done by himself. Apart from the fun run, I went along and sat courtside or beach side to support....just as he did when I was in the pool trying to breathe without ingesting litres of water! It was a fun and as Jan put it, a 'wet' holiday.

There were two evenings that we moved off resort to try some local food. We were encouraged to try Paolo's, a pizza house run by Paola and his wife, now in their 70s, who only serve pizza and local beer, wine and Fanta. So, we set off, a mile or so of a stroll, some uphill and all rather charming. Old buildings, lovely faded stucco, very narrow roads and no paths. Caused Mr Dunnit some stress that did, specially when you could see a car on the horizon, apparently heading straight for us. Meanwhile though, it was hot and humid and...it started to thunder. And then the rain came, big heavy drops that we were reasonably pleased about, refreshing and just a shower. Not so. Within a minute we were soaked through with absolutely nowhere to shelter and nothing in the way of a coat of course; it was so hot we hadn't even thought about bringing an extra layer for later when the sun went down. (One of Sardinia's things that, the temperature difference between day and night is often no more than five degrees). I was as you can see, in a pink linen dress that very quickly became see through (blue bra) but hey -  my knickers were skin colour so nobody knew what style they were at least!

The patrons, when we finally made it to their house, didn't blink. The old man asked if we had a reservation and led us into an empty room. Then he fetched a plastic table and chairs from outside and indicated we should sit. So we did, and gently steamed in what had clearly been their front room at one point. 

There were 40 odd pizza choices on the handwritten menu and the two that we had were just lovely. It didn't rain again and when we left, the front garden was full of pizza enjoying patrons, enjoying less humid air under the fairy lights and magnificent trailing jasmine. We squelched back to a hot shower and a large medicinal gin, because you don't want to catch a cold whilst you're on holiday, huh!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 848

I don't know if this will work. If you're reading it, it has worked so three cheers for me. And boo to all the hoops I've had to jump through, not least to just understand the prompts that kept popping up to apparently help me. 

Now where was I? Oh yeah, I had a bit of a purge on wood mounted stamps. So I decided to do the same with the clear stamps. As you can see, I emptied them drawer by drawer onto my desk. I cleaned and sorted into 'keep' and 'sell' piles boxes and again, spent a long time listing them on Vinted for about a quid each. Not a lot, but I've got rid of the majority without throwing them into landfill, and those that are left are now loosely categorised and only take up 3 drawers! The Christmas collection is last but not least but it will be a good ten days before I've got time to do that lot! 

I've also also done some scrapbooking which I don't often do at home - a couple of Mr Dunnit's baby pictures that came to us after his Mum died last summer. I haven't done much to them except to make sure they're on acid free etc...they really aren't mine to over mess with. He likes the results and that they'll be a bit better preserved, so that's a win!

They are so of their time aren't they. 

And this is the chubbiest his face has ever been! 

I know I'm not exactly a regular Desker these days, but I know that I won't be around next week already....something to do with a water sports holiday....so help me, I would appreciate your thoughts....those thoughts that don't have us in a kayak with Mr Dunnit at the front, high out of the water because of his lumpy wife behind him! I fear....!! Check everyone else's desks out over at Sarah's, much more inspiring I can tell you. 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 846

Gosh aren't we clattering through the weeks. My desk is largely neglected, I've been sorting out wood mounted stamps and listing them for sale (for next to nothing) and that has kept me pretty busy. Clear stamps next. That will be much easier because I'm not so attached! Meanwhile, here's a slightly staged desk shot...

I HAD to order a bunch of foolish stuff from Temu, and these gift tags struck me as funny - maybe true, so I added them to my basket...here's the close up to save your eyes:

The eagle eyed will have notice a change in typeface and possibly really wobbly layout, the App I use to allow me to access Blogger on my iPad is doing me wrong, so I'm attempting this post direct to Blogger - it could be that since I started using the App that things have changed and I no longer need to. We'll see. Either way, it's now nearly 4pm and if I'm going to get this post up, it's sort of now or never!

The link for joining in is over at Sarah's. Please enjoy!

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 844

 I don't know if I should be worried or grateful that I'm not sure why the weeks fly by as they do! I know Sarah's  easing in to a relaxing life, and I can't say my life is difficult, but be aware Sarah, it will get fuller and fuller!

So a combination of other stuff, sunshine (which always calls me outside) and having Miss Dunnit home has prevented me from spending any time at my desk over the last week, literally, it's the same as was..

Actually it shows some push back. The lunchtime sun means you can't see the purple wheelbarrow through the doors. BJ is amused by it as I am...I won it in a charity raffle at a garden centre! It's been very useful and I'm still very chuffed about it!

One of my former customers and now a Stampin Up! Demo is having a summer craft party next week and put a call out for volunteers to make a card and kit it for 12. Well, that's sort of up my street so I put my name forward imagining I'd be trampled in the rush. Not so, last night came the message...so I really have a great excuse to tidy up and get on. Panic seems to be a default setting these days! 

So please show and tell, I know you'll have been doing far more interesting things! The link to Sarah's blog is at the top of this post, leave your blog link and let us call in! 

Actually it shows some pushback back. The lunchtime sun means you can't see the purple wheelbarrow through the doors. BJ is amused by it as I am...I won it in a charity raffle at a garden centre! It's been very useful and I'm still very chuffed about it!

One of my former customers and now a Stampin Up! Demo is having a summer craft party next week and put a call out for volunteers to make a card and kit it for 12. Well, that's sort of up my street so I put my name forward imagining I'd be trampled in the rush. Not so, last night came the message...so I really have a great excuse to tidy up and get on. Panic seems to be a default setting these days! 

So please show and tell, I know you'll have been doing far more interesting things! The link to Sarah's blog is at the top of this post, leave your blog link and let us call in! 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 843

Well I blinked and last week disappeared. This week I'm due to be out all day and so I'm posting earlier than I would normally do. There's plenty of mess on the desk...

Long story short, I needed to make some gift boxes that were too big to cut out on my little Cricut Joy. So I turned to my new resource library and found a sample I liked and married it to the template and pencil drew it and cut it out by hand.Seriously old fashioned really, but golly, so easy! You can see my old faithful score board, and you can see the faed shape where it's tucked into a bookshelf arrangement! The acid yellow files are slowly being filled with ATCs that are going to be another resource....here's my whole library. 

It's a thing by Crafter's Companion...the little books have finished project photos and instructions, the large are templates and die pages. I've referred to it a few times already for reasons of having no clue as to what to make.....ironically, I tried this  stepper card from one of the books...I've done the bare bones and can't decide how to finish it now!

join in and show us what you're up to. The place to park you desk link is over at

Sarah's. 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 841

Back to the old layers and general neglect, that's what's on my desk and evident from this two-fer. 

It's not gloomy today, just that my desk is facing the side of the house that doesn't get sunshine till later in the day. Recently of course, that has turned it into a little hot box, but it's OK, as you can see, I've managed anyway! Our WI branch had a stall at the town's Party in the Park last weekend and in terms of homemade items to sell, I could only offer cards, so I had beetled away to put together a few of varying appeal. Then as you can see, I had presents to wrap, which naturally I left till the last minute. I had to go back to check out the shiny thing at left...it's a pack of cellophane bags catching the light! Very attention seeking.

And here's a swing to the right....I suddenly took the fancy to clear and tidy the shelving. By which I mean unpacking the stuff I haul to Crop once a month and ridding the floor of the boxes and carry-all that I use. That inevitably led to other ideas and so now I'm mid flow on quite a lot of sorting. Largely this 'fancy' was prompted by the imminent arrival of a large new resource which will need a flat, accessible space. Consider this a 'before' shot and if it goes anywhere, I'll do a braggy 'after'. That white basket at the right is almost overflowing with ATCS now, so they're going in an album for bookshelf storage and easier access. I find them an inspiring resource too, when I'm looking for styles or ideas, they're like the scaled down samples that travelling salesmen used to present! 

On top of all that self imposed work, it's still sunny and warm (but not indecently hot) so there's still a lot of outside to be in too. Sarah, you're going to love retirement, the days are busy but oh boy the choices are better!

Please join in by linking over at Sarah's, there's calm and sanity there and you may need it after this!