What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 334

The clocks have turned - we moved back an hour into Greenwich Mean Time last weekend. Which means it's dark at 5pm and already I hate it! I took the photo yesterday in the late afternoon - oddly, it wasn't as pitch black outside as it suggests. My desk remains cluttered with unpacked stuff after being away for a crafty retreat with some girlfriends.

I haven't even managed to put away the LOs I made, let alone all the stash. Or move some of the stuff actually across the threshold into my workroom. I mean, why clutter up my desk area when I can leave it all to languish in the lounge! 

This is a scheduled post this morning - up and at it a bit sooner than I'd like to be really, but hope that bodes well for an early finish! If you're coming to the Crop at the weekend - we're looking forward to seeing you! Please welcome Marcie to your blogs will ya? She doesn't (yet) blog, but reads here regularly and that makes her a desker, donchafink?

Join in do....put WOYWW in your post title please, link here and we'll busy ourselves with a little visiting. Mine's without sugar, thanks.

Result!

Had a fantastic weekend at our now Annual Crop Retreat. We hire a lovely large house in Tolpuddle (famous for its Martyrs); close the front door, unpack food, drink and stash. And then we craft. No different to other retreats; I love hearing that people are off to them, knowing how nice it will be. 

The five minutes here and there that had me matching papers to photos really paid off for me. It put me on a right old roll! I did loads of Layouts by comparison to my normal output, and so now I have a good load to show off. You could say I was smug. And you'd be right.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 333

333. All the threes! That seemed a lot to me, I had to go back and check!
Join us if you'd like to, it's harmless and easy - there are pages at the top of this post that tell you the why and the how. 
My desk today is looking like the desk of a crafter who knows what she's doing. And I do.

I'm doing the five minutes here and there thing to get ahead with some preparations for a workshop next week. Oh yes dear Desker, I am actually trying to get ahead. You can see the unused Hallowe'een paper on the iPad stand which means it's not actually working, but hey, I get points for trying huh! Basket is still full of stamps with intention and acrylic blocks that just will not put themselves away. See I have a Layer Perfect tool too. I've had it for ages. I watched a good demo. Bought the tool. Obviously between demo and desk I totally forgot how to do it, and do you know, I cannot for the life of me make sense of the instructions. It's there to remind me to get the left brained in this household to interpret it for me. It makes me tired and emotional when I can't understand words.
So please show your desks and your progress or otherwise. Most of you achieve far more interesting stuff than I, it is a pleasure to call in!

A bit of housekeeping while I have your attention:
We could do with hearing from you if you are thinking of coming to the WOYWW Crop2...if you have declared intent already, don't worry, but final numbers are useful for catering. If you're undecided, visit the page (above) and perhaps contact someone who is coming for an opinion. Know that you're welcome and you won't be the only person who doesn't know anyone...not many of us have actually met!
And lastly - the seashells...nail varnish consumption not too great, I think the biggest shell was about 4cm long and probably the widest was 3cm!

Shepaintsseashells

Remember that Baker Ross sent me a bunch of bits form their 'naturals' range? Well, I've been walking around one or two of them, trying to get into the head of someone who lives by the sea. Seashells, see, were part of the treasure. I've done the obvious, I'm nothing if not predictable, and I shall show that some other time. 

What I really wanted to do was use the Shells for Christmas, and therefore make them easy to use. In my free non-crafting time, I've been doing a bit of life laundry and discovered that my lovely Miss Dunnit has left her massive nail varnish collection at home. Ooh err, cue an idea! Christmas tree decorations!

So easy. Of course, this is me. I painted each shell with one or two coats of brightly coloured nail varnish. I put them on wax paper so that I could pick 'em up without getting the colour every where. One of the advantages of using Nail Varnish is the drying time - most satisfactory for a gal that uses tape over glue because of the drying time!

And you can see, the detail wasn't lost either, which is fab. A glue gun and a bit of twine and they were fixed as hangers. Really very satisfying. I shall enjoy these jewel bright shells on my Christmas tree. I may even make up stories about which beaches I was lucky enough to find them on. They really do look like treasure don't they!

Me and Charles Dickens....

Now THIS makes me smile like a lunatic. I love it. It will go on the wall in my workroom at some point, but for now it's on my pseudo worktable by my chair. I keep looking at it and liking it. There's a story - of course, and this story proves two things. One - it never hurts to ask, and two - how the world benefits from independent traders who will adapt to your whims to make you happy.

I followed a bunch of Facebook links one night, from an original post about supporting refugees in Europe. It was a post telling me that an amount had been raised thanks to the support of...and there was this bunch of links to independent shops. I had to go look. And there was Bookishly Ltd. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was like porn for font junkies! So I paged and paged through the library of quotes printed on actual book pages (don't start me on the jewellery) and of course this one jumped out. I placed my order (don't even think about saying I should have asked for it for Christmas. I had to have it, NOW. And yes, that probably is what's wrong with my generation and the world. 

In the 'order comments', I asked if this print could be made for me without a comma...in the book, the great Mr Charles Dickens has a comma after the first word. Louise, the bookish gal who owns Bookishly and therefore does all the work, emailed me to say that the comma wasn't her mistake, and went to the trouble of photographing the page it was on to show me, but if I didn't like it, of course she could remove it/leave it out. Oh joy, the best quote ever and no grammar issues to make my teeth itch. Now, Mr Dickens probably wasn't wrong, in context. Although I'm still not sure. Anyway, the point is, I'm incredibly happy. And I might have just stuck one to Charles Dickens!

And if that isn't enough...check out how it was wrapped. That girl has some style!

This reads like a review...I guess it is; but it is entirely, utterly unsolicited. I was just bragging. You know. And if you'd like to read of a bunch of other things making people happy, visit Annie, at her Friday Smiles meme.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 332

You can read all about it HERE. And then you can join in, if you need instructions, they are HERE. If you want details of the WOYWW Crop2, look HERE. Gosh, that's a lot of here. And whoosh....there's another one: here's my desk:

I had some minutes yesterday, and some palpitations. In that order. I'd had to have a look at the calendar to work some date or other out and it occurred to me that I need to put some photos and papers together if I'm going to achieve anything at our retreat in a couple of weeks. So this was an attempt at that 'take five minutes here and there thing', which was abandoned when it started to get messy. In this morning's blue light I think it all looks most unexciting. The bat paper (not holly, so many of you made me smile with that) remains, untouched. The basket is piled with acrylic blocks and stamps that I intend to use, sometime. Sorry about the apple core, it's part of my slovenliness.

So you just have to be doing more interesting, better lit and more inspiring things at your desk today. You just have to be. So show and tell please! Put WOYWW in your desk post title and link it here - please and er, thank you!

Back to the future, then.

I've been spending some time here and there doing other stuff. I have yet to photograph my works of art..as in, I keep forgetting.

I've pretty much got my Christmas head back on. In as much as I've done a lot of shopping already - thanks I think, to the Rugby World Cup. On-line shopping was preferable to snoozing and dribbling in my armchair! This excited kind of smugness doesn't extend to wrapping the gifts as they arrive; that is too much, even for me.

Woodware Robin stamps. Scrapbook paper, red foil and a postage stamp die.

I've also made a Christmas Cake. Last year, I didn't bother because there was little enthusiasm for one, and knowing myself as I do, knew that I'd only eat it. And then of course, more people than just I regretted the absence. So this year's is done. And all of the above is frankly, remarkable. 
So the cards then? How is the stash of cards? Well....workshop cards are OK..I'm not ahead really, but am not in a panic (yet) Personal cards? Completely absent. I have ideas and indeed, have even bought specific dies and card. But I'm not ready. I fear that I need some pressure. And it's coming, the end of this month and next month are already looking ridiculous in terms of desk time. But it's OK. It was ever thus.

Friday Smiles

Last Saturday morning, after doing a few chores, I decided that we needed a bacon buttie for lunch. Which meant I had to buy bread and bacon fairly sharpish! I grabbed my purse and set off for a sunshine stroll into the village; here's a very convenient short cut that means it only takes about five minutes. As I rounded the corner at the end of our little road, here was this lovely car, all ready and waiting to contribute some fun and splendour to somebody's happy day. Glorious.
Not sure at this stage if I'll get a chance to link over at Annie's, but do go visit and see what's making the world a little more smiley for us this week!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 331

Just in case you feel the need to know why, try this page. And then of course, you'll want to join us, so there are some instructions for linking if you've never done so, at this page.
Meanwhile, here's mine - taken in very wet and dull light after work on Tuesday evening. Still the same this morning because in the end, I couldn't face it - a sure sign that I'm not really convinced by my idea! All you Deskers that have experienced discomfort over my ultra early Christmas card makes can breathe easy...not even a flake of glitter today!

I've made a been a small change in the arrangement of permanent fixtures which gives my working space an extra ten inches or so, but am not sure yet - we'll see. The basket that has moved from right edge to right back may well just become stacked up against the glass and that's not a good thing. Still, if I'm aware, it shouldn't happen, right?

So you can see, I'm playing with sea shells from the box of Naturals that Baker Ross sent. Well, I will be. You can also see a sheet of scrapbook paper suitable for Hallowe'en. This is a lucky piece. I ordered a grab bag and this was in it. I pulled it out as the only sheet in 20 that I wouldn't use. And then I remembered some fool making a plan for the WOYWW Crop to include a Tag trade on such a theme. By the way, if you're planning on joining us at the Crop, please let me know...that Lunch Lady needs to think about how many eyes of newt etc, for lunch.  Now I need to think on these seashells, getting withdrawals from Christmas! Consider linking here and sharing your desk today, we'd love to visit.

No hiding, it's Autumn...

 It IS Autumn. We've had the most wonderful week of sunshine and crisping of leaves and cool-in-the-shade warm days. It doesn't get much better, as seasonal changes go. My friends at Baker Ross sent me a box of 'Naturals' products to play with and this came out of my head first.

Twigs, pine cones, burlap and skeleton leaves all came from their NATURALS pages and I really like them! The burlap (which actually here in the UK, we call hessian)  comes in a pack of mixed colours, A4 ish sheets. As you can see, the colours are lovely. 

I used some long forgotten wire to 'tie' the twigs together to make the frame. Not because it would look more rustic or because it would add to the overall 'vignette' I was creating. *ahem*.No. None of that. Because I can't find my glue gun. I wonder if it's gone to live by the sea with a certain child o'mine. Anyway, it worked out OK. The 'stand' for the frame is another twig from the bag of twigs..it has a big enough knot in it to act as a sort of easel leg. Lucked out there then! The message is just die cut from an Alpha and stuck across the frame with real old fashioned glue dots. I'm sort of pleased with this one, it's sitting on the piano and doesn't look out of place at all, which is very possibly more than can be said of a lot of my dimensional crafting!