Pip Pip!

Had a long weekend in Spain, (at the villa that I periodically advertise for rent). It sounds so luxurious doesn't it - a long weekend, and abroad too - get her! Well if it'll help, we had legal work to do concerning banks and solicitors, so the two working days were taken up by that; and I do want to give a big shout out for the inventor of office air conditioning. It was a blazing 42 on Thursday and not conducive to me concentrating on anything expect the thought of Miss Dunnit back at the villa by the pool. But we played over the weekend - had to stay off the beach until late Saturday afternoon - too hot for fat English women. So I suffered the hardship of sitting in the shade, eating ice cream and drinking Granizados. And so here we are, back to real life.. - I have a comments and questions to answer and I think it's fair to say that I won't get to last week's desks before tomorrow! I know it's hard to feel sorry for me, but spare a thought for me as I get back to work - VAT today and Health And Safety meetings tomorrow. That's quite a high price, huh!!

Thinking of You

...is this week's Dare over at Daring Cardmakers. It's a charity thing this week too. Joanna, our Darer, would like you to send your card to PostPals (or a similar charity worldwide). But please, not before you've shown us! I've returned to my comfort zone for this - a bit of DP and some lovely stamps, can't beat it! The paper is K & CO, and the stamps are Hero Arts (the text), SU! (the truck) and Magenta (the stars on stalks). I've noticed as I go around the WOYWW desks that people work in incredibly different ways....I thought I might briefly outline my Modus Operandi for this particular card:

1. Push back stuff that you saw on the desk from Wednesday. No point tidying, I'm coming back to it very soon.

2. Rummage on stamp shelves for 'Thinking of You' appropriate stamps. Nothing that strikes as appropriate, but find the truck stamp and decide it would be a nice one to use.

3. Spend aaaaaaggggges rummaging for the SU! stamp that is a pile of love hearts, designed specifically to fit in the back of the truck. Fail miserably and swear a bit when the rummaging causes a stamp collapse of the front row and they have to be rescued from the bin. Who put that there?

4. Decide that love heart idea is a bit girly really, so settle for shooting star idea.

5. Hurrah - use a piece of square white card from scrap box. Stamp truck in black ink and emboss with clear powder. So far, quite quick!

6. Decide that it's better to pick DP before colouring the truck...one should inform the other. Hurrah - find huge scrap of cloud paper in pattern scrap box. Cut so size and stick to card front.

7. Trim white card and mount to nice (hurrah) scrap of blue card. Trim to create narrow frame. Put glasses on and trim again.

8. Find another pattern scrap piece and add to the card front, the artsy belief that it will focus the eye in the 'business third' .

9. Use 1mm foam pads to attach the mounted image to the card front. Realise that was a mistake. Peel it off, successfully, for once. Feel like intrepid card maker woman for being so brave.

10. Mask the truck, stamp and emboss the shooting stars. Wrestle to get the foam pads off the back at the top so that I have a surface that's flat to stamp the text on.

11. Replace foam pads and stick the image on the card front. Give up trying to match the blue and settle for silver with some not very good white gel pen highlighting.

So interweb - is that a creative process? I dunno - in writing it's a bit of a shocker....please no-one tell DCM or Postpals!

Rocket Science it ain't

See, I was in Marks & Spencer a couple of weeks ago, looking wistfully at the fridge full of banana, coffee and chocolate milk. Or buying new knickers. Could so easily have been either. In the food section - it was the Andover branch, therefore can't call it the Food Hall - there was a slightly hidden display of shopping bags. The usual ones - bright green, covered with their logo, and the one that conveniently folds down into a little purse size. And this beauty. Obviously there was a slightly more sensible colour, but as a gift, this has 'lovely colour' written all over it, huh! It feels like a felted fabric and is apparently made from 10 recycled plastic bottles. It was a bit less than £4. It's gotta thick piece of something plastic and recycled looking to place in the bottom and make it square and stand alone and oh joy - it stays on my shoulder! So then I wanted to decorate it to give to a friend who suits pink. Big time. The buttons in my collection were desperately small and the proportion was shot, no matter if I used all of 'em, they weren't obvious enough - know what I mean? Then I was browsing at the LSS and telling Shopkeeper Gal who pointed me in the direction of these felted, die cut flowers. A whole bag for £3. Throw in a few nice epoxy type brads from the stash, half a tube of super glue and - *kaploooie* - nice bag, happy giver, hopefully happy receiver! We (that's you and me, friend) are definitely getting better at using proper shopping bags, so I'm going to try to find some nice big buttons that don't push the cost into the ridiculous and 'make' a couple more. Oh man, I'm not ahead, but at least I'm making a dent in the 'ideas for Christmas list' list! I know. Sorry, not quite September and I'm scarey. But then, dear interweb, that is really nothing to do with the month.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 64

Ha! Told you it wouldn't last. Or did I? Probably not - but you knew anyway! So here it is, back to being a glory surface. The Copics are out - all those shades are for a Christmas card that I had finished working on. The pack of Artemio stamps are the top of a pile of clear stamps in the Christmas theme.....I am trying to fulfil a promise, made here, very publicly. There's a cold cup of coffee - because I moved it to the left which is out of my 'favoured hand' line. Apparently. I say it's more to do with getting engrossed and forgetting it. The jar of buttons is teetering on the left front edge - I know not why. At a guess I'd say they were standing on top of my Copics box so had to be moved. There are the makings of a proper card on the desk though, so even though I've worked myself into about 6 square inches of space, I'm functioning. And look - a baby wipe - gosh everyone, I must have cleaned a stamp!

If this sight doesn't make you feel better about your own space, I fear that we are related and you'll just have to live with that bombshell. Meanwhile though, please show your work space and what you're up to....we love seeing it. Post a pic on your blog, come back here and add your link to the ever helpful Mr Linky. Lots of people visit lots of people, some people will visit everyone, some in one day, others over a bunch of days. No matter - this is about the showing and the sharing. Do you have any idea how many tips and ideas we've shared by doing this? I estimate about sixtyninetykerjillion by now. Priceless!

Personally I will be operating remotely this week, this post has been scheduled (I hope). This is not only my desk as at Tuesday evening, it's pretty much how I will leave it! My visiting you may well be erm, patchy or non existent. Don't take it personally, and don't worry - it's all good!

Oh, this turned into a review!

Some time ago on a Wednesday, a few readers spotted this material on my desk; some thought it printed paper or vellum. It's actually a really rigid acetate (by Kanban) and it's very pretty. Also lends itself to be being left pretty much to itself, which is a gift for a quick or unusual card, huh! I used a DO Crafts foil starter kit - traced some of the pattern with the glue and foiled that and then used their 'Bonding Powder' to stamp and foil the image. (the Bonding Powder isn't part of the kit). Whatcha do is stamp the image in a pigment ink and emboss it with the Bonding Powder. Then you lay the foil over it and rub gently, lift the foil and *pouf* foiled image. It worked really well for me (even though it doesn't photograph brilliantly.) However in the Workshop where this was being repeated, it became obvious that my technique was a bit lucky. Should I wait for the embossed image to cool or hurry and get the foil on whilst still warm? If you aren't using black card, how easy would it be to tell that the powder was embossed? Because it went right for me first time, I didn't do the usual fiddling about and 'trials' that a new product usually causes me. Anyway, because it's £4.50 a pot and because at that price you want to know it'll work well, I've done what any normal person would do. I put on my glasses and read the label. Of course there isn't much room on the label, so I immediately did what it suggested and visited DO Crafts' website for more information. There wasn't any. It's listed as a new product. Helpful. No 'how to' information or hints and tips nor nothing. I am a bit surprised by that, but also I'm not. Now see, I'm more than happy to road test products (aren't we all) and review them, but you kinda need to know what to do with them first, huh! The best tip I can give you is this: it doesn't 'emboss' to a shiny raised surface....the white of the powder simply melts under the heat. It works most effectively if it's warm when you apply the foil...and we discovered in the workshop that re-heating a spot that may not have taken much foil initially is often all that's needed. Not a bad product, but I can see it being tossed to the back of a cupboard in disgust - and at that price, it shouldn't be!

Anyone from DO reading? You're welcome!

You learn a lot about yourself..

I know one or two of you will have picked up on my modest declaration that this month I'm a Guest Designer for the Daring Cardmakers Design Team. I love a title! Well, this week's Dare is set by Jane and the card shown is my attempt. The Dare reads thus:
'Material girl' I would love you all to design a card inspired by a design on clothing - I know we have done inspired by clothing before but I was thinking more about being inspired by the pictures/textures/slogans/quotes on tshirts - not just limited to the colours/patterns on materials.(although, of course, they are perfectly acceptable too!')

Well, I walked around this in a panic for three days. Finally, I 'drew inspiration' from fabrics that I've worn in the past and of course, an iconic (if you're old enough, and British) tee shirt slogan. See,.....Jane set no boundaries , but made suggestions. And so I learned that I had to interpret and come up with something and oh boy, I learned that I do like a narrow boundary! So I just know that you can do better - be tempted please and enter, show me what you think of Jane's dare. I dare you too!

Thanks for your interesting and helpful comments about yesterday's posts...my word some good ideas. I will of course, fill you in on my progress. The bump at the edge is already looking ike a gonner thanks to advice.
Have a nice weekend!

The big tape gun thingy..

So, I've had it a while now - well, nearly a month. That's longevity in double sided tape use isn't it? I haven't thrown it against a door, window, or even at Mr Dunnit. I brandished it at a crop and come home unblemished. So I thought you may like to have my thoughts so far.

I'm pleased with it. It does lay down a very aggressive tape though, so if you're a bit commitment phobic or tend to 'hover' over the piece trying to get things really square...it may cause swearing; somehow the tape magically attracts the work in progress piece to it, which is sometimes very un-funny. But that may well be the work woman blaming the tools.

Willowy Blonde pointed out that the 'guys' who made it into a tape dispenser after it was a successful shop pricing gun were surely only in it for another use - coz it still looks like a

gun and hell, it ain't pretty. However, this has a couple of advantages. Lots of people think it will be heavy and cumbersome and so wouldn't dream of borrowing it - unlike a roll of tape that gets passed back and forth during a 'session'. Us big girl crafters who own the ATG gun know that it's not heavy.

The advantage to the magnificent over-the-top casing has to be that it keeps the tape edges clean. You know - how many times have you laid a neat strip of tape against the edge of something and then stuck it down, only to realise that the edge is now peppered with fluff and/or glitter that has stuck to the roll of tape. Oh. Just me then?

I'm a bit anal about getting tape onto the edges and into corners, I can't bear a peeling corner - it's a bit too home-made, even for me. I'm just about down with the where to start and where to stop the dispensing of the glue tape...but still can't deliver it to card or paper in a straight line! Nor can I work out how to avoid creating a small ridge of the glue when I stop, and that sometimes shows, especially when using paper and not card - that is an annoyance for me, but I think it may be a technique that I'm lacking. It so usually is!

I made the mistake of buying very wide tape (in my excitement I think, I would never usually use 19mm wide). I have since topped up with (although not yet using) a more standard 12mm width and I have also brought a reel converter to enable me to use 6mm tape which is quite narrow. I don't have any yet - by the time I ordered they were out of stock! I got mine and the tapes from a site recommended by Jo of JoZart; it's www.3m.co.uk - sign up for the email news and then you'll see quickly when they have it and/or the tapes on special offer. I bought the gun at offer time and paid about £15 for it....tapes extra - it doesn't come with one. But interestingly, Shopkeeper Gal and I were discussing this article and she discovered that she can supply the tapes - at much less than the 3m website is offering.....the gun is about the same price. This is worth knowing people, we aren't talking pence here.

No doubt the first couple times it will be a fiddle to load - but you won't waste tape - they put a good couple of metres of film on the end of the roll to help you. Clever stuff. Do I recommend it? I can't yet tell if it's cost effective, but it's looking that way. If you habitually use glue to stick card and paper because you like the increased 'handling' time, the ATG is not for you. But if you're a committed tape user, I'd say it's worth investigating. If you come to Ludgershall Crop or we ever meet, I'll let you test run it. For about 2 minutes. This is not a sponsored review - and I'm still not in LOVE with it, but we're definitely friends....not least because I can't lose it on my shambles of a desk!

WOYWW 2 - just under the wire!

Here's Becky's desk....there was an er, transmission error yesterday. Which is why there is a picture today....I didn't publish it yesterday, it wouldn'tbe the same without a picture, huh! And Becky also wants you to know that the basket she describes is not the one you can see..she was having a basket moment; this one contains Crackle Paint and shimmery SU! products. It's OK Becky, we all have basket moments. Well, for 'all', read 'I'.
So here is the glorious mess called my desk this week. We have... some cases filled with Distress Ink, a basket with glue dots and other sticky items, some coupons, yah!, an open box of stamps from where I just stamped a birthday card, and a pile of no longer working watches that are soon to be taken apart for the neat gears and cogs inside. Yeah, there are rather a lot of broken watches, fro some weird reason, once the original battery in a watch has run out, even with replacing it with a brand, spanking new battery... the watch will not work. My Grandmother had the same problem. Weird. But gives me a bunch of great gears and such!
Happy WOWW and I will get to desks this week, I will get to desks this week, I will.... :)

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 63

Well mine looks relatively calm and ordered for a change. This isn't an illusion, but it also means that I haven't done much since Friday. I had a hissy fit and tidied absolutely. Except I didn't quite get to the basket of stamps waiting to be cleaned. Which as you can see, is becoming a heaped basket. I do not know what the motivation to sort it will be. Obviously, exposure via WOYWW isn't enough. Don't you love that - when some people think that weekly exposure will force them to be tidy. Last week's subtly placed card hiding my project for Daring Cardmakers is missing.....because I haven't done this week's yet...still walking around the idea in a blind panic. Really. You can see that my previous desk bin is now a holder for a bunch of wooden shapes that Mr D has cut - all part of our slow programme to cut a load and sell 'em...but they need road testing first...I'm getting there, honestly!

Join us then - show us your desk, what you're working on, where you're doing it - doesn't have to be a craft, doesn't have to be a desk, we're just fascinated by your everyday. Upload a pic to your blog and link it here to Mr Linky....we'll swing by and visit. Some of us will visit days later, it takes a while!

And notes:

Sorry Jenny, have to post early now, otherwise I'm late to work and don't catch up all day!

Thanks Jo, for the Mad House logo, will be using it, for sure.....oh it's a whole other post!!

Skiving..

Today, I'm off down Memory Lane. I left school after Sixth form and A Levels in 1982. *cough* It hurts to type that now. By which time, my school chum Debbie was half way around the world, running from a broken heart and moving towards banana picking in Australia. Back in those dark ages, there was no email, internet Facebook or text messaging; we vaguely communicated by phone and postcard. It was, like our school friendship, just fine. Pick up and put down at ease, and carry on where we left off whenever we made the effort. We both had our first child in 1993, although at the time we didn't know about each other's pregnancies. We introduced our partners and shared some special fun days together....once a year at the most, I'd say; twice if we made huge effort. It was ever thus. Nowadays, we have email, Facebook, and text messaging. But we don't use them. We communicate through our children when they message each other. You get it. I haven't been a 'there for her' friend. But it is an enduring friendship, there is no pretence, no guilt and no whipping - when we get together, we are pleased. And today is such a day. And wait for it..this is the second time this year. Of course, the first time was brought about by a car journey that necessitated a route right in front of my house, so it was a good chance for a bathroom break and a quick natter. So, really looking forward - not to catching up, but to hearing about the next stage and talking about our children - who have an equally good friendship. Nice huh. I cherish each and every one of my friendships - five minutes or thirty years old, and each for a different reason. Debbie and I are friends because we like each other. And part of that is because she's a week older than me.

Scrapbook LO is completely unrelated, but thought I'd better credit Basic Grey for the fab paper. The pic of my baby and her Auntie is a treasure found in an attic clearing attempt.

I was a punter...

..at a workshop at my local store where sometimes I conduct workshops. This idea of me sitting at the desk doing the stuff is relatively new to me and I can't tell you how much I enjoy it. I now understand that the work I put in is so worth it - to cut things to size and generally make the tedium of the construction part of the card easier means the pleasure of just having everything there and ready in front of you is huge. If you ask me. And as you're still reading, you might as well have asked.

So this week it's been the turn of Mrs Precision to conduct a class showing us 4 techniques for effectively using Cosmic Shimmer products. What a cracking good workshop it was. Fabulous samples, great ideas, wonderful, precise and considered preparation and bags of help and patience for those who wanted it. Loved it. And even with pants photography, you can tell from my cards that I spritzed, sprayed and powdered with abandon.

There's a technique here that I've never tried which instantly doubles the value of a workshop for me. I had to leave early, but hey, no regrets. And plans to buy yet more bottles. Once I've washed lime green out of my frock

- the DCM Challenge card caused spritzing and swearing this week!! See the phtography is squffy because I was trying to be arty and show you the shimmer effect of the Cosmic Shimmer products. But you'll have to take my word for it - the mica is gorgeous!

I hereby undertake....

...to make a start on the cards I should be presenting to Scrap Lady Ally as part of my contributory share of the cards to be made at our Christmas Card Marathon. This is a public announcement for two reasons: Poor Ally probably thinks I've left town to avoid doing anything and it's not exactly a partnership if you feel on your own, huh. And the other reason is the fault of you WOYWWers. I haven't visited every desk yet, but the majority of those that I have are exhibiting signs of Christmas crafting. 2011 Calendars in some cases! Good grief, I feel battered and bruised by the realisation that I need to get on with it. So take my many words for it; I will.

And meanwhile, here's my entry for the Daring Cardmakers Challenge - I don't know how enlightened you are about me, but I'm part of their DT as a GD this month. News to you? Modesty has prevented me from being too braggy, I must admit. *Grin*

The Challenge is 'Trees' - any variety, any reason or season, we wanna see a tree on your card. This particular card features a tree shape cut out by Mr D....he was all smiley when he saw what I'd done with it - and that makes me smiley! And of course the BG paper ain't shabby! The text reads 'Friendship is a Sheltering Tree' (Coleridge, no less) - I typed it on my portable typewriter which made Miss D very smiley!

Now there are a lot of you out there already making cards with trees on, so join us why don't you?

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 62

Well for a change and because the poor photography this morning is inescapable, I offer you two views! First my desk at home, it includes a strategically placed piece of card (!) which ironically you can't really tell is strategically placed at all, so I wrote on it. For your info and my self-importance, of course! There are some products on there that sit out of my comfort zone too, but as you can see, I'm having a go, making a mess and generally trying.

In the working part of my life, I'm quite tidy and have the appearance of organisation...sort of. One of the reasons for this is that my colleague is away and so I'm sitting behind the Reception desk, greeting visitors and scaring Reps. Always a bonus to working in a Reception! You may be able to see that I'm mugging up on Health and Safety Policy. We have some tweaking to do and apparently it's part of my job. Well it would be really. The Policies job was clearly allocated to the person who wasn't even working there at the time! I was at the point of offering to sleep with the boss to see if I can get out of it. But, once we were home and having supper this evening he said I was doing a great job and I should press on. And y'all know how I like to be flattered!

We're waiting to see your work space please - photo it, upload it to your blog and use Mr Linky here to show us where - easy. Doesn't have to be papercrafts and it doesn't have to be a desk - just show us where and what you're working on, it's fascinating!

It's me, big head, again

Interweb, you are lovely; I truly thank you for your considered input after yesterday's post. Here's the result of my long and thoughtful rambling; I've deleted the inbox enquiries. If they aren't craft related there's no point, and actually, although I'm not and never set out to be some sort of consumer's champion, I do love the freedom of opinion that blogging (responsibly) allows me. And it'll be less work!

The completely unexpected part of my scientific survey was the nice things you said about the blog - Cardarian considers it a 'friendship' blog, which has to be a top compliment to all of you reading, commenting and visiting each other. NicandAlfie doesn't have a blog (yet) but took the time to leave a comment implying that she enjoys coming round for a read and Sheila at SD Crafts really was guru-esque. Mostly though, you were flattering, and so I need to express thanks for that. And honestly, that's not what the post was for - hell you know me - if I wanna be flattered, I'll make up a post about how great I am. After all, I think you'll find I'm a whole bunch of pointless acronyms and that's very successful! WOYWW doer/DCMDTGD/BIGHEAD. Works for me!

Ooh and the card that looks like it's floating - Inkadinkado bird stamp, Hero Arts branch stamp (again) TH ticket die and DO foil kit. Can't remember the DP, sorry.

We have sunshine - a rarity these last couple of weeks - it's been warm, hot sometimes, but utterly dull. So today is a lovely change. And of course, I'm indoors! Ya gotta do what ya wanna do, huh!

I wanna talk about this here blog a bit and it involves you, so please don't leave just now. See, WOYWW makes the hit rate over here quite high. And a short browse will show you that I also signed up for the Crafty Blogs 'chart' when I started the blog. This for two reasons, curiosity and experiment. Probably like everyone who blogs, I really enjoyed watching the hit counter turn over and was always delighted to find someone else had asked blogger to let them know when I posted. I'd be lying if I said that has worn off, but I don't think to check it very often anymore - you kinda grow out of that and instead just want to hone your writing skills and keep your posts interesting.

Any of you with successful business blogs, those of you who are 'personalities' in the craft industry and so on, will be completely au fait with the 'behind the scenes' part of being a blogger.

As your blog becomes statistically more popular, so you're approached by a number of individuals and companies who want to take advantage of your 'exposure' to do some marketing. Do not be flattered by the individuals who tell you that you.are.fabulous - it really is all about your statistics; honestly I've had approaches from Etsy based shopkeepers who quite clearly have never read a word of my blog, but they see the Wednesday stats pushing up and assume that it's worth trying to get me to endorse and expose their......whatever. Panty liners in one instance. I know, my life is all glamour.

But I'm really interested in what you think - there's currently a couple of things in my inbox offering really generous give-aways, but not remotely craft related. Now at the risk of being pompous to the point of laughter....does my accepting and 'doing' give-aways compromise my freedom to say what I like about any product do you think? Some of the companies offer me a gift or voucher of some sort as a 'fee', others think the give-away itself will attract more readers for me. I dunno . Would you as an intelligent reader, assume that I was endorsing these companies and their products? I already know that I'm not about to start displaying their badges and widgets...I'm a bit touchy about free advertising - after all, I put in all the work and they get the benefit. Nope. They can do the WOYWW thing - that would have the same ultimate exposure! And of course, I'm not technically savvy enough to do it properly and also as I have pointed out to several of them - how many of us scroll down to the bottom of every blog we click on to....I rarely go further than the bottom of the article I'm reading.....and they ain't having front and centre. No sir.

And here's something that a lot of people ask me - how do you build up your statistics? I don't know. Be interesting and honest and don't consider it a competition. And how do you get people to comment? That's like being a friend isn't it - to get a comment, a commenter you must be. It's a two way street.

So with all that rambling - what do you think about sponsored and unconnected give-aways on blogs? Be honest...really, some of the emails I get that could be deemed to be 'hate mail' have made me very much less afraid of the truth!

And the card is made form K & Co papers, MS punch and a Nestability die, stamp by Hero Arts: this is an endorsement!!

There I was, tinkering around in the kitchen, deciding what to take for lunch when the thought occurred to me that as it's Friday, Daring Cardmakers (we call it 'DCM,don't ya know) will be posting their new challenge. And I panicked a bit - I'm actually involved - did I happen to mention that? I already know what the challenge is because I'm so important that I'm the GD this month. Do not roll your eyes; you have three more weeks to get used to my exalted position before I magically *pouf* turn back into the DCM janitor, visiting merely to sweep up and re-use the terrific DT ideas. You've all met Kathy who joins us for WOYWW quite often, she's DCM DT, obviously, and so that gives you an idea of the calibre of stuff you can go see. Marvellous.
This week's challenge is to make a card reflecting the birthstone for August. It is Peridot. A greeny yellow stone that has depth and character. Amazing really, I thought it was only people and wine that carried those sort of attributes! So my card is shown here; you can tell I'm going all out, I;ve used a precious badge from Paperchase for the flower centre! For genuinely careful and lovely ideas, visit Daring Cardmakers, you will not be disappointed, I promise - and hey, join the challenge, bet you can do sooooo much better than me.

Tomorrow is Ludgershall Crop. Naturally I've been using Kirsty's method of getting LOs ready as the idea strikes, so that by the time the Crop date arrives you've got a stack of stuff to do, use and be smug about. I've got one. So I have to skive off early this afternoon, because I need daylight for colour matching! The Willowy Blonde said that she'd bring the home-made goodies, so if you've ever considered joining us and have felt too shy - this would be a good week. Ask me for details if you're interested, huh.

Tribute to the desk...

At the shop where I conduct the odd workshop, there's a big old table. It's sturdy and chunky and over the years it's seen endless cards, projects, products and oh my, if it had ears! As lots of us are WOYWWing regularly (and if you're not, that's OK, by the way - it's only for fun) - we've come to love looking at what's on the surface and rarely do we refer to it as anything but a desk...except maybe Helen, who works on her floor - kneeling all the time (she is actually Elasticgirl from the Incredibles, and blood flow isn't an issue...). We have literally seen big spaces and little spaces and storage has become the second hobby of every crafter, no doubt. The table at Craft Krazy is no exception except that it's big enough to seat nine (9), count them, NINE people to craft. So you won't be surprised to know that this late entry WOYWW is from Shopkeeper Gal, of that very desk. She and The Colonial had a craft session. Impressive for an afternoon, impressive that she can make time, the shop is so busy. Most impressive of all though dear Interweb, is that when I get there this morning to set out today's Summer Brights card workshop, it will be clean and tidy and you will never know that this happened. It's all about motivation!
I love that - especially that they had the presence of mind not to sit on opposite sides of the desk...they'd have lost sight of each other! Viva the work desk!!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 61

OK interweb, here's Becky's workdesk....we (she) got the time difference down and so you get a full day to study and admire!

Hello WOYWWers! I tried really hard, but could only get to the first 46 of you last week... maybe this week I won't be distracted by having car stereos installed, or grocery shopping.On my desk starting on the left is the beginnings of a circle pop up mini scrapbook, two owls for a card, and chicken stamps to be scanned into the computer and promptly blown up. Well, not the exploding kind of blown up, just made larger. I will start at 47 this week and hopefully be able to circle back around to the beginning. Thanks for showing your work spaces and projects, I've gotten some good ideas so far!

As for mine..mess again! Photos taken early; today is really going to be a day that counts! *sounds familiar* Anyway, pride of place is the lovely lovely hanging bin that Lunch Lady Jan made for me. The cherry fabric is just fab, huh. But she hated making it and even used a 'B' word. A very unusual occurrence. If you knew her, you would think she were sitting next to a saint, see. So I'm lucky huh - I have the bin. Thanks hugely to Josephine T who has her own version on her WOYWW from a couple of weeks ago - I used it to beat Jan into 'sewing just for me' mode - worked a treat! The rest of my desk is a bit of a disgrace really, but my word, I'm definitely happy about having found some time to make the mess!

So there we are - show us your desk too; link and leave a comment here and we'll all visit. Please forgive me for being slow to visit; I will do it, but at snail's pace!

A minor collection

Well, August; the back to school month for retailers. It is one of the most amazing marketing tools - and I love it; such a great opportunity to browse aisles stuffed with matching stationery items. I started a fresh new notebook this week, and had a minor panic when I saw that my collection was down to about five! Really, I could have enough nice notebooks to last my lifetime and still want more. I favour the ring bound, easy to lie flat, A6 versions, with lines or squares. The bonus of the odd plastic pocket or tabbed marker page makes me swoon. Or of course, the traveller's Moleskine. Just because they're reminiscent of an era I didn't experience and like a journal, full of blank paged potential. This is why I bought a Bind It All - I couldn't believe the possibilities. And then I sold the Bind It All because I didn't manage to create anything from the possibilities; turns out a browse round Paperchase, WH Smith, The Range - anywhere - could save me hours of faffing and swearing over hole punch alignment! Ok, but the hours part is true - I decide really quickly! Each of these notebooks is currently in use; the actual collection of unuseds are dotted around - mostly so Mr D doesn't recognise another obsessive tendency in me! I really am such a 'one job at a time' person that I like a notebook for each job too......weird huh! The one with the black rings contains notes and ingredients lists for cards I've made for workshops - that way I can photo the cards, deliver originals to the shop for display and a couple weeks later turn up with all the right stuff. It works, mostly, but there have been some spectacular near misses. Like the time I was 3 hours into a five hour journey to Aberystwyth to demonstrate at Abercardabra and had to ring Bethan; I'd left the cuttlebug plates behind. It was a cuttlebug demo. Saved by Bethan's customer and some adrenaline!

The big silver wire book is actually my first attempt at Journal Your Christmas - Shimelle's famous and fab online class. It is unfinished. It was a month of discovery for me; that as much as I like the medium, I'm not a journaller. One of the smaller books is full of domestic nonsense, stupid passwords for online shops and things that you can never remember, another is for recording the challenges and finances for Ludgershall Crop and another records bookings and details for the 2 Scrap Ladies events. So you see, it is a madness, but I need notebooks. And even at this great age, I therefore need a back to school month to appear on the high street. The most silly part of this shelf is the narrow silver ring bound and the red leather spine you can just see - two previous year's diaries. I like them too much to ditch them. I'll be over them soon.

Wanna share your mild madnesses? Do you even recognise them?

And so we move on dear Interweb. *cue all my normal noises about how fast the year is going and how quickly the summer is moving and blah blah*
Turns out that I have a new job for this month, and for a month. Love that long term temporary thing...a commitment without commitment. Although the people involved need committing. And you, dear interweb, will never hear the end of it. If any of you are moved to make a blue tack model of me, please be advised to make it with a V E R Y big head. You will want to stick a pin in it daily, to see if it is deflatable. I doubt it will work. See, for the WHOLE of August, I'm the GD at DCM. Do you know what that is exactly? Guest Designer at Daring Cardmakers. You know, they run a cardmaking challenge weekly from a Friday and post a Design Team's samples as inspiration. My card will be included on that inspiration post. I know I know, but it's rude to withdraw an invitation after it's been accepted, huh. Ask that bloke from the BNP - his invitation to the Palace Garden Party was withdrawn - a tad humiliating (I hope)! Anyway, so there it is...less talk and more walk from me then this month. Now, where did I put my modesty and my mojo?
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