Scrapbook Times

It seemed appropriate to at last make some Layouts of last year’s WOYWW Crop. I have had the photos for months; I don’t scrapbook chronologically, I leaf through my photos until one or more ‘speak’ to me. It sounds very arty and pompous - perhaps I should say that I leaf through them and find the photo that I’m in the mood to make a LO with! Anyway, I had the Crop on my mind, after all having to postpone Crop11 this June was, however inevitable, a bit disappointing.
So I had some fun with some of my bad photography. Now, if you were at that Crop and don’t appear here, don’t be offended. I’m a rubbish photographer and combine that with all the moving and chatting going on - many of my pics are not good. And if there’s one thing I always try to stick to is the rule that if I think you won’t like the picture I took of you, I won’t publish it on here - or elsewhere for that matter. It could also be that I have a nice photo of you that I haven’t actually used on a LO yet! 

These were done as a result of challenges set by the Artful Angels Crop team - obviously we couldn’t crop together last weekend so we did it all over Facebook. There is a clear format to my scrapbooking...I like a single photo LO and a cluster of embellishments. I cant help myself.

I have a thing for colour too. As you already know really. I can just about do creams and vaguely ‘heritage’ layouts, but I default to bright. Some say kitsch. I won’t say who (LLJ), but I dont think I have actually mastered that yet. Don’t mind if I do!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 564

Well, it’s been a week hasn’t it, gentle desker.  I hope that you’re staying at home and keeping well. If you’re a key worker, my word a lot of people I know would like to shake your hand and tell you how fab you are. For now, will you just take my word for it...we’ll do hugs and handshakes in a few months, huh. 

Me and my desk have been friends this week. Saturday was the usual Crop day, and it was held online instead of having to miss it. So I properly carted stash out of my workroom and into the daylight of the newly located desk. Inevitably, I haven’t properly carted it back yet. I give you a sunny afternoon shot:

I had finished another LO and was enjoying a cuppa with Mr Dunnit when it occurred to me to take the photo for today. And schedule this post. Because I’m not going to the workshop at all,  I might have a later start than normal on a Wednesday!  You will be completely unsurprised to hear that we’ve taken the decision to CANCEL the WOYWW CROP in June. Hopefully this ‘early’ decision will enable you to unmake any plans you had. Don’t be disappointed; as soon as we’re all able, we’ll set another date. Making this decision put me in the mood to scrapbook last year’s photos. I will blog the LOs over the next few days; the pictures continue to make me smile, which is as good a reason as any to look forward to whenever we can meet again. Keep well, and please, report in here!  

Pigs might fly....

Some people couldn’t clearly see the coloured image on my WOYWW post. It was another Pink Ink stamp and die set, that I had used for the first time. It’s all sponged Distress Oxides, tri-blend felt tips and a white pen. Which I may well have over used. I’ve left this question on a few desker’s blogs this week....how do you know when to stop? For me, it appears mostly to be when I’ve overdone it or 

made a mistake!

I quite like this piggy. Wings are optional. So he could easily be made into a wallower. Which is two things about now isn’t it. Some of this world situation would have made me laugh and say ‘and pigs might fly’ a year ago. And judging from the people I was forced to listen to whilst stuck in a queue this morning, there’s a lot of wallowing going on. Mostly in a self important and inconvenienced way. Seriously, argh. Pigs!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 563

Apologies for the interruption in my posting late and not visiting last week. We had internet, intermittently, and the speed was about 0.001% - waiting for anything to load was ridiculous, so I gave up. Several phone calls to the provider. And then a hint that we’d change provider before we put up with any more (or rather, less) and pouf! Continuous service once again. I reckon someone’s chair was on the wire at their end. And so gentle Desker, what did I do whilst I had next to no digital distraction? I made a mess!

I took this on Tuesday afternoon because I’m supposed to be rushing about this morning. The card that caused me to use my notebook as a backing sheet is safely in the envelope for delivery today. It was made using the Pink Ink stamp and die set that you can see at left. The rest is the usual detritus and GKW. There are tickets on the iPad deckchair waiting for me to put them with my Lanzarote scrapbook pages - they gave us entrance to the house/studio (now museum) of Cesar Manrique. V interesting, and the reason why my notebook was out in the first place...it has some erm, notes about our visit in it!

And now an inevitable note about the Corona Virus. Well, about the potential isolation that we all may potentially feel. Blogging and social media will keep us in touch, we’ll take one day at a time and be here for each other...you don’t have to be alone - if you’re feeling it, ask for some digital company; somewhere round the world someone will be up and happy to chat. Hey, this may be the brave time when we start to use video messaging so we can actually meet! Keep as well as you can. One day at a time. 

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 561

Chez Dunnit has acquired an internet problem, so I’m not sure what time of the day this will appear! It’s scheduled, and my picture was taken at the weekend. Anyhoo, I’ll press on because I’m reasonably confident that the gremlin that caused the problem will be defeated overnight by the re-connection elves.  

I got a box of plastic eggs from a large online retailer. The eggs are by craft and stamp company, Artemio. They were good value and it wasn’t until they arrived that I realised that to paint them, they would first need gesso. Good lord they were slippery. So then of course.....,they need to dry. Cue feather duster re-employment. I’ve done them in batches and as soon as they were touch dry they went into a basket on the floor to let the heating do the rest!  They will, I hope, be painted various spring colours and decorated beautifully by now; they were to take to the Craft Bee yesterday. The reason I can’t show yo anything as current as today is because there is nothing to show you. Lunch Lady Jan came to stay and utterly distracted me! She and her G are touring Sussex for a variety of reasons and a number of days, so she may not get a chance to join in today. And....we were so busy catching up that neither of us took a single photo! Ah well, just as well we’ll be getting together in June for the WOYWW crop!

Show me your desks then, please try to put me back into card making mode, I could do with it. Forgive me if the post is late showing and Mr kinky is delayed, I genuinely have no idea why our internet should suddenly drop off, but at the time of writing, it really has gone pffft!

Crafting away

To get to the ‘retreat’ location, I had to go past Stonehenge. I actually do this quite often, but rarely have the presence of mind to actually photograph it. I guess because it’s always there, and sometimes I can actually drive past without sitting in a long queue. 

Until quite recently, there was a right turn in that dip and you could drive past the monument within a couple of hundred feet. It’s taken decades to get that road removed. Similarly, there is a decades old campaign to re-route this major road through a tunnel or further away so that the Henge can sit in its original setting. Can’t see it happening in my lifetime. 

On a timeline somewhere between the building of Stonehenge and now, I had a craft shop called Stamping Ground. I met the girls (and we were girls then) that have become The Coven; either in the shop or as a result of work I did relating to paper crafts. Over the scrapbooking years I’ve probably done a couple of LOs featuring them as individuals - big birthdays or our afternoon tea treats at Christmas for example. It’s not that we don’t take group selfies, it’s just that we can’t collectively agree that it’s a decent pic every time! We went out for a pizza and to see a film last December and - colour me happy - there was a photo that no one objected to! So a LO of the Coven whilst with the Coven was a necessity. At last I could use the brilliant bespoke perspextive!

Of course, my photo of the photo is pitiful, but at least you can see the erm, paper crafting involved! 

I’m still scrapping on a completely random timeline. There is little order in the albums either. The LOs are filed in the order I scrap ‘em, and a lot of you will know that the mermaid in this LO is now 26! My method is simple...I go through a huge wedge of photos and pull out the ones that speak to me. Using current trends to scrapbook older photos can actually be a bit tricky for some. Not me. Just slap ‘em on some papers and get on with it. Pretty sure that if you read here relatively regularly,  you would recognise this thought process as applicable to my whole life!

What’s on your Workdesk? Wednesday 561

Gosh, I need to dust off the cobwebs! it’s been a week already and although I can account for it, it went far too fast. It must be the same for you as well. Please don’t disabuse me of this if it’s not the case. Someone will blame my age, or weight, or my ability to time travel. Whatever. So, the desk......Taken last night. After a looong session of making cards for a workshop. I enjoyed it. But really, it took rather too much longer than it should have. But it was warm and bright sitting in the big window and Mr Dunnit was working at the kitchen end, so we were sort of together. He was huffing from effort and I was puffing from erm, inspirational exertion. He made and fitted worktops. 

Makes me swoon. I can’t compete really, but I was sort of pleased with the cards. Here’s one, to show Oxides off without being scared grungy. 

So, exciting for me, productive for me. Quite a good week then! A day in the life of a desk, who knew it could be so satisfying! let me and the others in on yours will ya, promise I only judge my own! Put WOYWW in your post title and link it here. Easy. Immensley easy and oh so satisfying. Apparently.