Tuesday 24 October 2023

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 751

Well gentle desker, I've decided to share the desk I've been working at since last Friday, came home Tuesday evening. I know it's called a 'retreat', but really, it's inaccurately named. I live a charmed life and have no need to retreat from it in order to make scrapbook pages. It is however, fab to get away with girlfriends. Previous years have been no different of course: we eat, sleep late, stay up late, eat, chat, and scrapbook. But each year it's just fab. American Kathy joined us via FaceTime for an hour of chat...she got up at 5am to see our mess, imagine! 
Now, here's another version of that picture, with some notation....it's important that you see that when I'm away, I don't take up all the space!
The red area is mine. The green area is Lolly's and it was much reduced within about an hour of this photo. She has been watching organisation videos on You Tube and spent a good couple of hours sorting through her large collection of ephemera. She wasn't brutal, but my word, the logic she applied was fab. She had pre-sorted her scraps (bear in mind they are from 12 x 12 papers, largely). Anything bigger than a quarter page was sorted into colour matched bundles. Enough pieces to make a page; patterns and plains that could be used together to make a LO. Not to think too hard about it, just gather some pieces that look good together. Separate them with a sheet of copier paper or some such and then do something similar with the embellies and ephemera. So you can take 3 boxes to crop and hey presto, your scraps and older stuff are being used. Genius to me, and I shall be attempting it before I put my weekend stuff away. 
I made up a good lump of LOs and really had a great time, polishing my mojo...here's one straightforward page
Hope the mojo hangs around to help during the upcoming silly season! Show and tell yourselves please, it may be a great help to me if you want to write some motivational words about getting on with the upcoming seasonal stuff. Elizabeth, hope you're benefitting from some down time. 

20 comments:

Neet said...

Gosh Lolly has certainly got it all organised. Good for her. And you have been taking note! Super idea to get organised before you even put away - then yu are ready at the drop of a hat, or pencil, or piece of paper, or whatever to take off again.
Love the LO did you stitch all the pieces on the page before you went off? Or did you drag a sewing machine with you? I remember once taking mum's old Singer (metal inside and out) on the train when going to a retreat. Gosh it took some carrying with all the other stuff. Was much younger and sillier then.
Came on here to do the copying of the link and here I am. Can roll over in the morning.
Hugs, Neet 1 xx

Helen said...

Great to see a different desk and groups of "mess". How organised is Lolly!. Love the layout. Glad you had a good time at the retreat and got some scrapping done. Happy WOYWW. Helen xx

Mary Anne said...

Oh my but sometimes I miss scrapbooking quite a lot. Well done you for keeping it fresh and alive and not just about the kids. I just lost my passion once mine grew up. Don’t get me wrong, I do love doing all the arty farty stuff, but when I see lovely pages I do feel the pull. Maybe one day there will be a grand baby and I’ll magically become passionate about it again… and you speak of the other great joy of scrapping-getting away with girlie friends! Lovely.
Happy WOYWW!
Mary Anne

Susan Renshaw said...

Love the picture of the sorting! Great to get away too...Happy Crafting!

Sarah Brennan said...

Sounds like a great way to organise things so you can use older stash Jan. Love the layout you shared. Glad you had a good time. Stay safe and Happy WOYWW. Sarah #5

Kyla said...

Oooh fabulous, thats so well organised and fair play to Kathy for dialling in so early too! I do miss scrap booking maybe i need to think about that as the memories in a book is lovely
Kyla #6

Lunch Lady Jan said...

Nice to go away with friends, you obviously had a great time. Looks like everyone took everything by the state of the table! The LO of you and Sally is fun x
Hugs LLJ 2 xx

Annie said...

Looks like a fun time was had by all…so lovely to spend time with like minded folk.
Hugs,
Annie x

Christine said...

Hi
Can't link as I'm using my phone and there's only so much technology a girl can do first thing in the morning!!!!
Sounds like you had a super weekend....so pleased.
Enjoy your week

My name is Cindy said...

At first glance I thought you had a second kitchen we knew nothing about! Oh what fun, I am sure you had a great time. I am off to a craft 'retreat' myself this week but apart from my sis they will all be strangers and it is a big group and the social preswsures may overshadow the fun of it all - except that generally speaking crafters are a jolly nice bunch. Might even make some new friends. I like the way Lolly is thinking. I am constantly striving to make some sense of this hoard and actually use stuff. I do think I'm getting better as time goes on but success has it's own problemsstorage wise. Unfortunately I can't stop buying completely. I am aware this is probably some kind of emotional issue but I haven't got to the bottom of it yet. Still, there are worse compulsions. Lovely LO and photo with your sis. Have a good week and make sure you do some batching!!
Love n hugs, Cindyxx

Felix the Crafty Cat said...

Oh my now how much fun is that! There is nothing better than sharing crafting time with friends but I must say I'm impressed you got so much done. I'm too easily distracted at those things. Have a great week and a very happy woyww, Angela x10x

Twiglet said...

Now that looks like a crafty table where folks mean business. Hope you had a fab time. I can just imagine the laughter and utter craftiness of the whole weekend. Lovely! xx Jo

Lynnecrafts said...

Lolly’s sorting logic was excellent. Glad you’re taking note. It’s a wee weakness of mine not to sort thing out well once I’ve finished. Your LO looks fun and the whole weekend sounded great.
Take care and happy WOYWW
Hugs
Lynnecrafts 12 x

BJ said...

Oh thanks for the demarcation of the table space, that certainly put it into perspective. So glad you got some scrapping done, mine has been put away since the conference but it came to mind yesterday so maybe next week I'll have done some again. Love your page. I did take on board your comment the other week of "allowing" myself to do a single photo page and not dropping the single photo I had left over from January.... I did reassess it with February's photos and well a came to a compromise. Looks like a super time away was had. Hugs BJ#13

Ali Wade Designs said...

Happy WOYWW. Wonderful to see the photos from your crop. I love that pop-up bin on the table. Ali x #14

Crafting With Jack said...

My word Julia, did you sew those tiny shapes? Amazing! Glad you enjoyed your time away. Lovely to be with like minded people. Every time I try and organize stuff, I forget where I put things 🤣 Have a great week. Happy WOYWW. Angela # 15

Sylvia/LittleTreasures said...

What a fun post, looks like lots of fun. The space you share is actually about all I have when I create. And I love that bottom photo, the colors and row of diamond cuts are so fun. Thanks for keeping us together and ENJOY a fantastic weekend.

Kelly said...

Wow... Sounds like Lolly has a plan. I'm not as strict. I follow Tim Holtz' philosophy. You Do You. LOL.
Love that you got away for a bit. Like you, I have space to do what I need to do but it's nice to get away from the 'every day stuff' that can pull us out of our creative zone. That's why I take a ME day once a week to go sit in a coffee shop with my planners.
Happy Hugs & Creative Blessings!
~Kelly
#16

Lindart said...

Looks like a wonderful time! I grew up without a sister, always wanted one, but I have made do with "chosen" sisters along the way! Not quite the same I know...but brothers just don't fill that gap! HAve a wonderful week, Lindart #18

rose AKA Walk in the Woods - she/her said...

By any name, it looks 'n' sounds like a great time. And I loved hearing about Lolly's organization... that may inspire me to sort through some of my fodder!