WOYWW 804

I had to double check the number, four weeks since I last posted. Good grief, my life is so chaotic. No Workdesk from me, it's actually looking its usual mess but there's no craft working going on. Instead, I offer you the dining table and the hall floor. 

Im clearing out my sweet, late Mother In Law's house and obviously trying really hard to re-home stuff before having to give in and dump it. It's a chore, to be honest. Yesterday I ended up refereeing a fight over an item I'd put up for sale on FB and I start today wondering if anyone of the three scheduled to collect what they wanted will actually turn up. If you've ever done similar, you'll know that it's not about making money, it's about getting rid of whatever! So that's me, in amongst the day to day I have this little voice in the back of my head talking about the things I want to make for Christmas and I'm trying to keep it quiet and low, if it's just another job, there will be no pleasure in it, and at this point, anything I don't have to do isn't being done! I think that makes me a housework rebel! I also know that trotting around your desks will fill me awe and longing so I need to get on with this clearing lark!

WOYWW 800

Buried at the bottom of a random blog post on Wednesday 3rd June 2009, I found this:

I hit on an idea last night that I thought may be fun - particularly in view of the cathartic nature of sharing. I thought we (that's you interweb, and me) could do a 'what's on my work table this wednesday' feature thingy. Yep. From me, a sort of down market and probably badly photographed version of the sort of thing that real big celeb scrappers do - but theirs involve finished items, links, articles and sponsor giveaways....none of which will happen here. I just wanna see what you're all doing that I'm not...I really like the idea of seeing your work in progress; specially as your finished stuff is always fab.

The down market and badly photographed comment was very far sighted of me! The greatest change has been that my desk is in a different position in my workroom following some building work, rather than my attitude to clearing up or learning lighting skills for photos. Ah well. 

So we formed a community via looking at our work spaces;  we've celebrated with each other and we've mourned the loss of friends. Such a strong community; when I announced that it was time for me to step back, instead of moaning and pulling away, you brought me a present and celebrated my time. That is one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me. 

And now we continue under Sarah's much more organised watch, and I love that too, that WOYWW meant enough to the collective contributors to 'move' rather than finish. 

The trawl through my old blog posts has caused me embarrassment and hilarity, but it brought to mind so many of you lovely Deskers, maybe we don't regularly see so many people any more, but the beauty and grace of this community is that it doesn't matter, once a year, or never again, you are running through my mind on this of all days. 

Gaslighting myself. Yep.

See these ridiculous pink trainers? I bought them about six weeks ago at a craft show, oddly enough. It was on a Saturday. I wore them all day the following Tuesday, and that included the evening at WI. Which was, incidentally, our branch's first birthday. We did belly dancing and celebrated with cake and jelly and ice cream. Details schmetails, huh. There's more. 

As is my slovenly manner, when I got home, I kicked off the trainers and reclined for the rest of the evening. Three weeks later, I was preparing for an evening out with my Coven. It was a post gym workout evening, so I had a shower and then made the mistake of answering my phone whilst I dressed. The caller was a chap who was responding to an enquiry I had made, so perfectly legitimate. I put him on loudspeaker and carried on dressing. He was, well, a  slow speaker and quite determined to explain in detail the procedure of the oven cleaning I was trying to book him for. I didn't need the detail, I just wanted to book him. But believe it or not, I'm polite and let him carry on. I've donned the undies, decided on the pink jeans and a matching pink and red top and started to look for the pink trainers. 

Greg The Oven finally got his diary out and suggested a couple of dates whilst I unloaded every shoe from the shoe shelf section of my wardrobe onto the floor,  Naturally this involves effort, grovelling and I'm pretty sure some heavy breathing. Poor Greg!  No sign of the pink trainers. I settled on Greg The Oven's first available date, got rid of him. Dried my hair, put some tennis shoes on and went out. Didn't give it a second thought until I got home and had to tidy up the shoes, blaming Greg The Oven for distracting me. Wondered vaguely where the trainers were, brushed my teeth and went to bed. 

I have since checked every room, under beds. Every cupboard, even in the utility room. No sign of these damn pink trainers. Asked my Mr Dunnit. Actually, I even asked him if he'd hidden them because he felt they were inappropriate, embarrassing, didn't suit me. Any or all. He laughed and said he wasn't gaslighting me. I just could not find them and when Miss Dunnit and the Squeeze came home, I accused them of absentee gaslighting and made them look everywhere I already had. Fresh eyes and all that. Nada. Joking aside, I was a bit worried about myself. And the shoes.

So, I woke up yesterday and decide that the day had arrived to change my wardrobe from summer to something resembling autumn and wet weather clothes. Literally...I didn't even get dressed, just made a start. I picked every thing off the shelves in their piles and started to separate 'layer' type tops from genuine summer tops, shorts from leggings, put the jumpers back onto shelves and remove flimsy stuff generally. It went well and apart from needing breakfast rather badly, I felt smug. In the room that I do ironing, I knew there was a pile to done, but largely it was summer stuff, so I fetched it. After all, if they're going to be squashed into vacuum bags, no point ironing them is there. Two t shirts down, I found a hand towel. I probably stuck it in the pile to feel good that there was some non-iron stuff to skim over! Moved the towel and hey presto, there were the trainers.

I must have put them on top of the pile of clothes to take them upstairs, and then like a fool, put another pile of stuff on top of that! It's all I can think  of for them being there. So today I'm wearing pink trainers because I can. And the oven at my late Mother in Law's is sparkling. And no one needs to come up with a plan to gaslight me. Turns out I can do it myself. 

Dusting off the previous...

I was looking for a self healing cutting mat yesterday. It took an unnecessarily long time and I confess that I looked in the same place more than once, convinced that it was where I last saw it. It wasn't, of course. This small search caused me to think that I ought to blog about that phenomenon. You know, the one where everything has a place until it doesn't. And so, here I am, figuratively dusting the blog off and literally as always, in a state of untidy. 

Not my desk, but the 'swing right' view. That'll do for now!

For three months, my desk has been Miss Dunnit's workspace, all screen and keyboard, even headsets. I think if my desk could talk, it would be welcoming back the old paper, scissors glue and ink! I didn't miss it. A sabbatical has been had, I think. I can't claim to be refreshed and raring to go, full of ideas and intentions, good grief no. I am more than happy that I enjoyed the stamp-colour-cut-stick process though, and as for finding everything where it should be, well....I suspect the more time I spend at my desk, the better my memory for where I last saw things will become, for as proven by the cutting mat, a lot of things aren't where I thought I last put them!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 785

My desk resembles a control centre. Our lovely daughter is at home and working remotely. She has two screens and a keyboard and a mouse and .....drum roll.....a notepad and pen. Although, I suspect it's more a homage to working at a desk than an actual working tool. I can't photograph it because both screens are open and contain information that is not pertinent to WOYWW! 

I want to show you this

It's a Swatch. I bought it with part of the massively generous gift you Deskers gave me when I retired.  I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a collector and Swatches are one of my collections. However, I'm not a collector for display and investment purposes. I wear them. And this one I thought, is a perfect arty/ATC type that will remind me of WOYWW every time I look at it. It does and I love it. Thank you so much. The crown on the face is a tad embarrassing but I loved the overall design enough to think I could overlook it, and I'm hugely amused that it's in 'seven shades of wee wee' which I once (and in many cases will continue) to observe about lots of Tim Holtz style work - in fairness though, that was in the early Distress Ink years and he has since 'found' colour! 
The rest of 'that' gift voucher is waiting. I could accuse of it of burning a hole in my pocket, but it's more about me parting with it..so final;  a great deal of the pleasure of such things is in the anticipation and browsing. The idea that 'I can afford that treat' makes me giddy when I look at something I'd like. As it happens, so I shall brag!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 781. Or 1.

WOYWW is not stopping... Sarah is taking up the mantle! The hosting will go on at a different blog, is all! Delighted to point you in the direction of Sarah Brennan's blog. It's www.sarahscraftshed.co.uk just in case that link in that horrible blue link fails for any reason.

I don't know if Sarah intends to change the week numbers or anything else for that matter, but you will find it all going on at her very tidy, very organised and very comfortable place. We talked a lot about all sorts of things but naturally left out the important stuff until it was too late to talk anymore!

Your responses to my decision to step back have been so kind, positive and complimentary that I've been dazed and quite overwhelmed. Classic British speak...I've been in tears and absolutely lost for words at more than one point. Our fifteenth anniversary Crop, hosted by Sarah and Eva was great. We managed, with some pixelating and signal probs to talk to Jan and to Kathy. We had freshly made sandwiches and Oatcakes for lunch, more cake and biscuits than are sensible and a lot of chat. A lot. We exchanged ATCS. 

And then there was a fuss and a presentation of an extraordinary gift to me. I can't express my thanks in a blanket term for that; you will hear from me separately, probably not till my good eye stops leaking whenever I think about it. That beautiful Twiglet, she seems to possess the sort of organising skills that a government needs. 

I can't thank you enough for the enjoyment, knowledge and inspiration from the last 780 weeks of being invited into your space. Im still around, I still intend to blog and I'll participate in WOYWW when life lets me. Why wouldn't I? You amazing people are a huge chunk of my social life. Thanks.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 780

Fifteen years! The community that this desk show has unwittingly created is like an iceberg; lots of the activity goes on beneath the surface of the weekly desk show. At the desk, we have a lot in common. Under the desk, we've connected, chatted, got to know each other and met. Not all of us, not all the time. I know that friendships have been struck and have stuck, and even if the parties aren't joining in with WOYWW any more, the friendships persist. It's delightful.

So gentle Desker, this is a perfect time for me to bow out. Doubtless you will have noticed that I've struggled for the past couple of months to keep up, keep my act together and play a full on part. That isn't going to change in a jiffy, so I'm going to stop. I would be delighted to pass the WOYWW 'home page' to someone else. If you're able, let's talk!

Meanwhile, lots of us are so looking forward to our day in Stoke on Trent with Sarah and Eva as our hosts for this anniversary's Crop. If you can't come, please tune in at some point to see pics and read about it, we'll assemble between 10am and 4pm BST. If you can work that out and would like to, let's use Messenger to visit! 

So here's a hurrah type picture. No changes or surprises about the state of it all!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 779

I’m not home yet. Internet is almost impossible today for some reason, so this will be a link for WOYWW without preamble or photo, sorry! As soon as I can, I’ll drop in with a proper post. 

What's On Your Workdesk? wednesday 778

I'm not actually here, so this is scheduled. Please bear with as I travel and erm, sunbathe...the internet test will not happen before Wednesday evening, Euro time!

This is how I left it. Not too untidy really! The Coven bag contains old fashioned sticks of wax with wicks for making seals. I've caved in and joined the current wave by buying a little crucible to melt the wax. No more the lighting of a wick and letting the suddenly molten wax drip all over the place, no! Now I just have to scrabble about and find a genuine tea light (I seem to only use the false flame battery variety these days) and the seals are as good as done. Huh. I use small stamps instead of expensive seals, just ink them with an embossing ink first, the glycerine protects them and the set wax residue just pulls off. Very satisfying. Knowing how long to leave the wax before stamping into it in the intaglio style is the skill. Obviously, I haven't acquired it fully and so I've been trying. Cliche alert...very trying! I had thought that it might be fun to get the workshoppers to make their own seals for a card that's currently in development, but that's a big fat no at this point....too many variables; real flame, hot burny equipment and someone else's premises. I mean, what could possibly go wrong!

I'm still filling in the makes on the journal pages, although it has only had 2 cards added to it in the last week or so. I won't be creating a page to keep track of the wax seals.....

I would be insanely grateful if you would take the time to read my last post, it's about WOYWW, Crop, ATCS. It's just 

HERE and is untypically short and to the point. Ish.

I hope you find inspiration on the desks this week, I'll be searching for mine at the bottom of a glass of Sangria! See you at your place!

Dropping the ball...

I read Mary Anne's WOYWW 777. She mentioned ATCS and the Crop in the same sentence. I commented that I hadn't suggested a theme for ATCS because the ones we do for Crop are often separate from the ones we make for our WOYWW Anniversary. And then I went about my week. Thoughts bloomed and then I remembered...Sarah planned the date of the Crop to be as close as it could be to the fifteenth anniversary. Which is WOYWW week number 780, May 15th. Makes a lot of sense then, that Sarah and Eva have the Crop planned for Saturday 18th, huh!

I feel like I've really dropped the ball on the timeline of this, but, if you're able and want to, please prepare for an ATC swap to mark the anniversary. We'll do the thing that's become our 'normal' thing - make one ATC, no specific theme, to swap with one person on the WOYWW list on week 780. Make more if you'd like to, and arrange to swap. It's really nice to have a few happy mails that week, so do join in if you possibly can! Likewise, because of Sarah's amazing forethought, you can save postal costs if you're going to plan to give away more than one ATC and bring them to the Crop! Seamless! Well it would be if I weren't so late to tell you about it. Sorry. 

Here's a card I've made, does it it distract from my calendar shortcomings?

If you haven't joined us in an ATC swap before, please don't fret about it, ask any questions. There's even a page about it all - accessible from the home page of this blog. (That's the top of this page then!)

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 777

My desk is as much of a blur as the days have been!

There have been a couple of sunny but cold days, cold because of some wind or other...so windy that I had to put the ladder on top of the outside storage box to stop the lid lifting and banging and lifting and banging and lifting and....argh. You can just work it out through the window. Good distraction technique huh, you'd almost forgotten about the desk! The ugly box on the right with scrap paper on top of it (which really should be protecting the glass mat) is full of acrylic paints..odds and sods really, I don't have any newer than a few years old and the colour selection is pretty random! I was painting a tin (once containing kidney beans). I'm going to crackle glaze it and then decoupage the hen on to it. The hen is on the napkin at left. For no reason, except I had the medium on my desk and it's a great way to put off working on that workshop which has got me a bit scared!  You can't really tell but the bottle of decoupage stuff is in the centre of the glass mat, hidden under a souvenir baseball hat from Salt Lake Bees. In order to buy it, I had to have it filled with ice cream. Now that is taking one for the team is it not! I still use it as a bowl, but for paint and such now. 

Sarah has declared that WOYWW Crop is on, so please do consider joining us; it will be great to see Sarah and offer her our ongoing support in person, and of course, it will be great to see each other for real! Challenge number 1 - it may be an old chestnut, but please will you make yourself a name badge that also shows your blog name...in case the two aren't the same!

So that's me, how about you? Do show and tell, send me some card making vibes because I haven't a single one! 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 776

I've captured myself in reflection! This was Tuesday night, I was wearing a fleece lap blanket because I had the shivers and felt quite unwell. I am fine though; think I was just super tired. There hasn't been much let up in the old schedule, but im happy to say that the untidy ness of my desk is not representative throughout my life!

I've committed to doing a workshop in May and so you see the beginnings of trying to make some samples. Trying. Golly, the odd half hours that I've snatched aren't the ideal way for me to work, I don't like unfinished! So...the jar actually has water in it, but I try to screw the lid on when I think I've finished with it. Because usually I haven't. Honestly, I've made a background for one image four times and I still don't like what I've done...I think the gap between brain and finger is too big. I shall mull it over a while! The mess is a bit worse than it looks I'm afraid...the journal and pad beneath it were moved to allow me access to the wet wipes in the green lidded box. There's   Umber of discarded stamps, ink pads and erm, GKW under the journal now...time for a clear and re-start. I don't know when though, this week is against me already! Please be sure to visit Sarah's blog if you want news of the WOYWW Crop next month. Meanwhile, enjoy some browsing amongst the inspiring and the tidy!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 775

This week's edition brought to you by some sun and almost relentless heavy showers, and on a Tuesday afternoon, which isn't very Wednesday at all is it! I have to be up and at it on Wednesday morning so this is scheduled. There is a silver lining, I think. Whilst I was waiting for month end paperwork to sync and print, I tidied a bit! I made a few LOs at the Crop over the weekend. I've stopped dragging my file full of alphabets to every crop. It's a ridiculous number of alpha stickers, most of which don't have enough vowels for matching font words, so I gave myself permission to bring untitled LOs home and decide if they need a title or not when I unpack. So that's what I do now, and it hasn't bothered anyone and my scrapbook world hasn't caved in. Amazing what 'rules' you set yourself isn't it. So and anyway, that accounts for the middle pile. At left of the LO is a pile of mismatched paper napkins. Waiting for some decoupage action. Don't hold your breath....am fairly sure that they'll be re-homed reasonably soon, not sure my desk can take many more 'pending' projects! And at the right is the result of bit of a splurge last week...some projects to contemplate and a couple new stamps and some new coloured embossing powders. Nice. 

Please also be super impressed that the gold foil of Easter egg chomping is still in the tray at the back...and it still has some chocolate in it! 

Share and tell please, make my lunch break less work and more craft!

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 774

Doesn't a long weekend make the week very short! I hope your Easter was lovely; uplifting, a break, a chance for some quiet, a chance for some noise! Ours was a bit of everything and a lot of rain. Now we have altered our clocks and have lighter evenings, so I would very much like some drier evenings to go with! Here's a little summary of my work surfaces this weekend.

We are calling these Hot Rock buns. I made the dough for Hot Cross buns and totally forgot to smooth them into bun shapes (distracted by the arrival of my baby gal and her Squeeze). I had already planned to omit the 'cross' part of the bake because last year they were blobby and not crossy, so I didn't think anyone would mind. But there was surprise at the erm, rocky effect....still, they tasted good!

Miss Dunnit and I ventured into our small town for a lovely couple of hours of pottery painting. I painted a Unicorn for my new Great Neice. Of course I did.  You can see the sun was wonderful, it was warm under glass and really quite glorious for about an hour. And then it rained so hard I thought we were going to have to stay all night, but it happened, and cleared and we walked home in more glorious sun. Weird. 

....and, I made a Layout! It's for a Chinese Whispers swap amongst the Coven so there's a Post It note attached to it with some notes to help me remember where it comes in the chain. There's gold foil at the back of the desk which evidences Easter egg noshing...and just a lot of detritus from the scrapbooking. I really would like to do a couple more now, I'm in the mood. We'll see. Since the 'children' have left us, I've had a sore throat, so am hoping that it goes and causes no time wasting or temperatures. Or tantrums!

Show and tell then, gentle Desker, we need post holiday inspiration to keep going!  Well, I do! 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 773

The last week has been quite overwhelming, not for any bad or sad reasons, just tiring and ridiculously busy. Amongst other things, it's been lovely but emotional to move my sweet Mother In Law into her new home. Partial other thing...the process for advising change of address is absolutely a nightmare in some cases and swift, easy and almost a pleasure in others. I've spent over three hours on the phone to a single utility company this week. Arrrrgh. So what you find on my desk...even more images to go on change of address cards. Another 10 needed and a lovely way to ignore the neglected housework and do some cutting and colouring! The desk is almost at the point of being unusable it's so untidy, but that won't last, some very real deadlines for an ATC and a scrapbook page for a Chinese Whispers round means that I need to focus. See that lovely ATC just above the birdhouse images? that's the swap I've received for this month....now you get the motivation, it is somehow embarrassing to get the swap before I've made the swap if you see what I mean! 

I neglected visits last week and I'm very sorry and feel that I missed out, this week will not be so; if you have already forgiven me, can I have my share of last week's biscuits as well as today's? I plan to make some Easter biscuits before Miss Dunnit and the Current Squeeze come home, but so far my plan is already a bit, well, falling apart! I hope you all enjoy a spring warm and comfortable Easter weekend.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 772

This 'ere is a scheduled post...I'm going to be up and at it in the morning, hopefully to give me some afternoon at home! So, on Tuesday evening, the mess looks like this...

Last week I stamped a few sleeping ducks (I really did, no euphemism here!). They sat untouched until the weekend, and on Sunday I turned them into cards. Cute - it's an old image but I do like it. The card you can see is one of four the same, the other two are new baby cards. 

I don't know if you can see well enough but the card has little cups stamped all over as a background, and that, in a roundabout way explains the presence of the two SU! Stamp set cases. They often have little and very useful stamps in them, and I use them a lot. Probably more often than the main image that originally sold me the set! The beautiful hard back journal with the teapot pouring me a cup of love was a gift from my Kathy #1. I'm not journaling, but recording my 2024 projects, card making, scrapbooking, gift making and embroidery. I've never done it before, but my Coven friend Lolly did it last year and I really enjoyed looking through hers and seeing all her achievements. It'll be interesting to compare year on year too. If I get that far! 

The best part of my rubbish photography is that at 5.30pm, it's still light outside. We're getting there, Deskers. I hope that longer, brighter days will add some happy to your days. 

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday 771

It's been a week already. Good gracious. 

My nephew and his wife have announced the arrival of their second daughter, Penny. All safe and well. Really emotional, Penny was my late sweet Mama's name. Wow. Doesn't matter, it's just love poking through.

I decided to make a welcome to the world card for Penny, and guess what - I've only got about three stamps that are anywhere near qualifying as 'baby'! 

Whilst I was having post lunch coffee, I bashed out a few of these little sleepy duck images, painted them with the glittery paint pen things (can't remember what they're actually called) and left them to dry while I went out to paint. I hope that each is slightly different, the bottom left image is really quite paint heavy so have pretty much already ruled that out for use.  So this is yesterday's desk, but totally untouched this morning, and will be till much later!  You can see the Paper pad in all its glory....I've rifled through it at least twice now. One day I might use something from it!

Join in then if you will, and if you're just here to read that's fine! You're welcome here, to contribute or not. Sometimes we just don't have the puff!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 770

I've managed some time at my desk, and I have to say that I really enjoyed a bit of messing about!

There's detritus from various things, including at far right a gift from my Mother in Law which was a lovely gesture. It's a book of die cuts, labels and papers all on a theme, should make for some easy quick cards which will be a welcome thing to make in times of erm, being short of time!

I've stopped ignoring them and had a bit of sticky fun with the cookie cutter hangy decorations. Not enough to make a mobile but each will hang sweetly from door or cabinet handles. This is how I left them late yesterday afternoon, drying time if not time to rummage and find some other bits to stick in or on. Turns out that I have no mini Easter embellishments at all, and I don't have it in me to make any, so I'm just casting about for nice little things!

I'm sincerely hoping to get my desk/life balance a little more equal in the coming week, we shall see. Meanwhile, if I didn't make it to you last week, apologies. I'm hoping it means double biscuits with the coffee this week!

Spring; come on!

I know that Spring is around the corner, but I really would like to see more of it, NOW. Impatient, much? It's been a long and wet winter and I'm very over it. So, I got myself on a mission. A bit of colour please, and maybe use a stamp or two that I don't naturally turn to. Can't fail with flowers, huh. These two cards are made with a Basic Grey stamp set and the vertical text stamp is a wood mount from Magenta. Both I've had for years and never used. I'm not a huge fan of vertical messages because they aren't, to my eyes, immediately readable. Nonsense probably, but I can't get over it now, I'm too old. In order to layer all these images, I used Distress Oxides. They do not like being used to ink stamps, especially the clear stamps. To stop the ink beading on the stamp I used an emery board to rough up the stamp surface a bit, particularly as they were 'new'.  (Cough, I've only had them about ten years). I stamped birds in three colours and in the end chose to use the purple ones, feeling that they needed to be a strong-ish colour to sit apart from the flowers. You can just see the large text stamp in the right bottom corner of the pic- that's an old Hero Arts stamps. Simply says 'enjoy' in about 1" high letters. I stamped it inside both cards. Keep it simple, to kind of reflect the style of the front. The thing I like about a single word greeting in the Oxide ink particularly is that I can let my big sprawls writing go over it if I get carried away, it'll still be visible. So that's two for the finished drawer, an old set of stamps finally used - and enjoyed and a quick test of my collection of Distress Oxides which thankfully don't need re-inking or discarding. Not a bad session! 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 769

My desk is neglected but for an hour yesterday, so this photo is taken as an aftermath of that slight activity.

As I was running about with the hoover and some clean bed linen this morning, I realised that I hadn't even got around to making my single monthly commitment- one ATC! Karen chose 'Red' as the theme . I wanted it to be a bit Spring like because it might hasten the arrival - you never know! So, I pulled out every red ink pad I won, red embossing powder and set to. I was going to make a complicated background of layered coloured images which is why the stamp set on the left is open. I put myself off that quite quickly when I discovered that actually, a lot of my red ink pads are similar and don't offer much contrast.  The tulips stamp is a solid one that I've had for years. So many years that it benefits from a time when I used to varnish the wood on the rubber side to protect it from ink staining. I did get over that quite quickly, but the few of that era that I still have really do still look as good as new!  I only used two reds in the end, and the embossing powder, and if you look closely, you can see that they aren't on the desk. Gentle desker, I had already put them away when I thought to take this photo. I know. I'm not I'll, but when pressed for time, even I recognise good housekeeping will help!  It was nearly lunch time, so the inevitable cup of coffee joined me at the desk, and then turned into a glue stick holder. It's not still there, promise! The Easter decs are still unfinished and shoved, not even pushed back. Luckily for me, Easter isn't till the end of March.  So that's me, off early to collect paint and wallpaper today, so bear with me if I don't show up just as the first need for mid morning coffee strikes!

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 768

I've swept the Easter decorations aside; half finished, obviously. 

I collected a couple of second hand stamp sets over the weekend and actually moved them from dining room to Workdesk last night. That's it, the full extent of this weeks creativity at my desk! The highlighter pen is a remnant from sitting there to read through some legal paperwork. The purchase of Ma In Law's new bungalow has at last completed, and so I've been wallpaper stripping, masking, painting, dismantling fitted wardrobes...all sorts. Still a way to go; todays delights will include filling about a million screw holes in the wall from which I dismantled a fitted wardrobe (we're changing that bedroom into a lounge), and having a little go at the skirting boards. I figure I'm Ok for basic Do It Yourself chores, but don't want to have to rebuild the wardrobe in the new bedroom, way beyond my skill set! So while I'm painting on a large scale, please make me envious of your desk size creativity!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 767

 Already, my weekend of indulgence is over and it is from there that I thought you may like to see my desk. A share of the kitchen table, actually. Vey comfortable cottage and lots of space for us five. 

My space is actually clear! I'd just finished a page and was tidying up in between so that my mess didn't encroach on other spaces. My trusty cutter is at left of my space, in a sharing position. As always, we had a lot of fun and I made a goodly bunch of LOs which is very pleasing. We all did, actually. Also, of pleasing-ness to me is that I am using up stash, and because LollyScrapper shared her YouTube find about using up patterned scraps, I'm actually working through that lot too, and that is satisfying! 

My at-home desk isn't quite empty - I still have the easter decorations awaiting attention, but if it continues to rain and be grizzly, then completion is likely! However, I have a morning out of the house first, so please don't eat all the biscuits before I get back!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 766

This is yesterday afternoon, but it doesn't look any different this morning.

Oh, that's not true. I've moved the tub of pens and the box of little wooden houses to the dining table because I'm corralling stuff again. This time all the bits and boxes and stash and equipment that I'll be taking away at the weekend. This week I've cleared out a couple of cupboards and found these unused pastry cutters; so decided to make hanging decorations out of them for Easter, starting with sticking them to some seasonally spring like paper. Tricky but not impossible, getting silicone glue on the cutting edges!  I had to cut the top edge off the silicone glue because the nozzle end is solid. Makes me cross that it goes off so quickly, but can't banish it from my collection of glues, too useful! 

So, as is routine, please join in and link .... we need to see each other!

Routine can be a useful distraction and even a comfort. Zoe is a long time friend of WOYWW and those of us that know her are reeling from the shocking news that her son, Keagan, died last weekend after an horse racing accident. He was a professional jockey. I hadn't met him, but felt a little bit as if I knew him. He was a youngster when we first met Zoe and she told of us his caring nature and  his ambition to ride and we've followed his maturing and working so hard ever since to realise his ambition. His dream. He was a special son and we all feel his loss in a tiny way, and wish Zoe nothing but peace and comfort as she faces this new reality. I wish her routine and distraction and love and hugs and a safe place to howl and vent; I'm quite sure we all do.  

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 765n

I printed the new address onto post card sized pieces of card, stamped a few dozen wonky houses onto patterned paper and cut them out. Stuck them in a row across the bottom of the postcard and slowly realised that my Ma In Law (hereafter called Grandma) won't like them. They're wonky, not in number order, different sizes and stamped on floral papers. She won't get it, it's not real enough. So I've set to, and am mid making another set.

I think these will do the trick. The house purchase completes on Friday so I need to just get on with them really. Not a scary deadline because Grandma isn't actually moving in on Friday, but nevertheless, they'll make a good start!  I'm using a Stampin' Up! Set and keeping it relatively simple. I've plonked my coffee mug on the desk and from this angle it looks empty, ( the mug, not the desk,) but fear not, I'll recharge it and settle in to visit your desk. Please forgive me for tardiness and not getting to you last week...it went a bit pear shaped for a couple of days!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 764

Gosh, we've nearly done January! Well done everyone! A month closer to the Crop on 18th May. Sarah was right, having something like this to look forward to is a right old tonic! We're going to be in Penkhull Village Hall, Stoke On Trent. I will repeat this and other info, just don't want any of you to forget!

Meanwhile, I'm making some postcard type change of address cards. My tremendous and lovely Mother In Law is downsizing very soon and can you believe it, we couldn't find a pad or box of such things in town last week, so I thought I'd make a couple dozen before we start getting frantic with de-cluttering and packing! 

You can see a row of houses stamped on about 6 different papers. I shall cut these out and stick 'em on in an incredible creative way to draw attention to the new address that I've printed onto the coloured card. Just poking out from under the papers there's a wood mounted stamp. It's an ornate key image and I think it'll appear on the cards too. We'll see; I might not have done a dummy run and the style of the houses and the style of the key are not exactly matching. This is what happens when you just pull stamps that fit a theme...silver lining though..it's not exactly an untidy desk yet is it!

Join me do then please, show us how real life is affecting your work desk. Except Neet...don't even think about trying to stagger to your desk...rest that bad leg and keep us informed!

One Scrapper's treasure

As usual, next month, I{m going away for a long weekend of scrapbooking and girly company. I know it's mostly referred to as a 'retreat', but I hesitate to use that word-  I live a life from which I don't actually need to retreat, these weekends away in the company of friends is more of an 'indulgence'!  Anyway, in getting ready for a weekend of scrapbooking - and I am, in a slow, back of my mind way, - I think it's inevitable that a little bit of a sort out takes place. Instead of scratching the surface and throwing supplies in a bag and winging it for a few hours, this is packing for a sustained effort! 

We've fallen into the habit of sharing the unwanted stash before it's donated. That way, we get to cherry pick each other's cast offs. And there's nothing like a bit of something 'new' to play with if you're inspiration needs a kick start. And little pieces that you don't own and didn't know you wanted are doubly so, it's nice when you can use them straight away, if for no other reason that they don't become part of your own stash for an unspecified time!

This might be just me, but there's also a small element of challenge involved in all this cherry picking. After all, being able to effectively include a piece of ephemera or paper that someone else has passed over is satisfying; even more so when its admired as though you planned it! One of the things I really like about it though, is that your old stuff, in other peoples hands most always turned back into a really effective treasure. I look at pages made with some of my of cast off pieces and wonder how on earth I didn't think to use them in such a way. I think it may actually be because we all have so much that we overlook and stop really seeing what we've got. But that's a deep and scary theory that touches on the hoarder element of this hobby, and I don't want to discuss that!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 763

Well, gentle desker, there's no door lining but the cavity work is done. And I must say, it's a lot warmer in here than I'm used to. I always thought that it was sitting still that made me feel a chill...not so - missing insulation! So a few days without the desk has really paid off, and I return in excellent form...

So...new to me Stampin' Up set at far right...wood mounted...bliss! Above that, my file full of black alphabets. I don't buy any stick on alphas anymore, so it takes a lot of going through each file to make up a word, vowels are very thin on the ground. I'll use them all up in one way or another. The pizza box contains my Coven Secret Santa gift, some scrapbook paper and ephemera that I am thrilled to have. I haven't treated myself to anything new for ages, so this is a lovely treat. I've transferred my most used colour pens into a pot to sit on the desk...I have a collection of coloured rollerballs and chisel tips that I like to journal with and they are so much easier to access in a pot than rummage through them lying flat in a basket. Little wins! At left you can see the word 'masks', which is a set of alphabet sticky masks, most excellent but not often used. They are sitting on the file they came out of...stencils. I don't have many. They were out because I was making this month's lone ATC for my swap with Karen after finishing off some LOs that needed this and that after last weeks crop. This week is a bit quiet on the desk front so far, but never say never!

The puzzle was finished and there's a piece missing...have looked all over and all under, but no luck! If anyone would like to try it, let me know, happy to post it to you. I should point out that usually, doing a puzzle with the image upside down isn't a great idea, but in this case it made no difference at all! 98% credit to Mr Dunnit too. Way too taxing for me.

This week I have to differentiate between being shocked that it's been a week already, and being shocked that it's Wednesday already, honestly, the first is bad enough, but I'm really worried about Monday and Tuesday, where did they go?

So that's me, show and tell about your good self please!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 762

By virtue of the time of year and the current stinging cold weather, Mr Dunnit is home by about 2pm. He is easily bored...have I ever mentioned that? He keeps finding jobs to do. I'm very grateful and some of them have been on the list for a cotton-picking age, but there's one that has kept me from my desk this week. Something to do with the cavity and door lining in my workroom.  So rather than fighting for space, I've done some more clearing out and, well, not crafted....exactly...

This is vey possibly the hardest puzzle I've ever attempted, and I don't mind telling you, I'm not enjoying it! It was a Christmas gift from my sissy who takes a mean photo....and then turns them into mean puzzles. I expect she thinks it's hilarious! Here's the beautiful pic that inspired her to create this monster...

It's no help, to be honest, and I'm sort of gently achieving a couple of pieces a day. Mr Dunnit has done the majority, his patience for colour matching is incredible! It's harDDD! So, I'm being very enthusiastic and encouraging of the door liner work in my workroom, I very badly need some desk time. And I won't be using purples and lilacs on anything very soon! 

How's your desk then?

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 761

Well I very much hope that 2024 will be kind to you all. Things will go on much the same as before for me. And that makes me happy!

Two of several work surfaces to show you today, I've been multitasking!

I'm de-decorating and at the same time, doing a bit of de-cluttering. In a bid to avoid 8 kerjillion unnecessary steps, I corral everything onto the dining table. This really helps avoid that moment in a March when I notice notice a stray decoration hanging from a door handle or on a window cill!  We have two Christmas trees up and there is a plastic toy box standing next to each one, waiting to receive the baubles and doodads. It's not a brilliant system, but it gets everything back into storage as quickly as I like. The decluttering at back right of the table is cupboard emptying of stuff we haven't used in the last two years, so it's not staying. Man I'm tough. And then, there's the desk....

I have had desk time over the holiday which has been lovely, I made some thank you cards and did some scrapbooking. No longer evident now because regretfully, I'm now in the process of making sympathy cards. There's evidence of a Christmas gift from my gal and the current squeeze..a little tower of Washi tape. And you may just be able to see my bargains from Hobbycraft at far right - two pads of card inserts for a pound each and a packet of gobbly eyes because you never know when the need will arise! 

So that's me, gentle desker. How about you? 

A slight retrospective..

Apart from the WOYWW Anniversary ATCS, I make one a month to swap with a friend I've made through selling on eBay, of all places. Not a huge annual number, but I'm a bit frightened to commit to a regular swap in case I let a group down. So, Karen and I take it in turns to choose a monthly theme. Karen is adventurous and frankly, fearless with her choice. She is secure about her skills.Computer imagery, manipulation of images, drawing, stamping, you name it.

And as is my luck in meeting people, Karen has a fab sense of humour which often finds its way onto her ATCs. And we don't stick to obvious monthly themes either. These are in month order from top left...yes, Frankenstein was drawn for August! Huge thanks to Karen. There have been a couple of occasions in 2023 when an ATC is all that my desk has produced in a week. It's lovely to have the concentration of mind, theme and desk time. Try it.....it's a little gift every month!