850..that's a lot isn't it! Nice big roundy number. Still grateful to Sarah for carrying us on.
We've been away on holiday and so my desk is not looking any different after I last did the show and tell. So, have a view of Sardinia..
It was an 'activities' holiday. There was a lot to do and Mr Dunnit totally made the most. I (we] did some kayaking, and I took a couple of swimming lessons...to improve my breathing in front crawl and racing breast stroke, and we did some walking. The tennis, 730am fun run, windsurfing and such were done by himself. Apart from the fun run, I went along and sat courtside or beach side to support....just as he did when I was in the pool trying to breathe without ingesting litres of water! It was a fun and as Jan put it, a 'wet' holiday.
There were two evenings that we moved off resort to try some local food. We were encouraged to try Paolo's, a pizza house run by Paola and his wife, now in their 70s, who only serve pizza and local beer, wine and Fanta. So, we set off, a mile or so of a stroll, some uphill and all rather charming. Old buildings, lovely faded stucco, very narrow roads and no paths. Caused Mr Dunnit some stress that did, specially when you could see a car on the horizon, apparently heading straight for us. Meanwhile though, it was hot and humid and...it started to thunder. And then the rain came, big heavy drops that we were reasonably pleased about, refreshing and just a shower. Not so. Within a minute we were soaked through with absolutely nowhere to shelter and nothing in the way of a coat of course; it was so hot we hadn't even thought about bringing an extra layer for later when the sun went down. (One of Sardinia's things that, the temperature difference between day and night is often no more than five degrees). I was as you can see, in a pink linen dress that very quickly became see through (blue bra) but hey - my knickers were skin colour so nobody knew what style they were at least!
The patrons, when we finally made it to their house, didn't blink. The old man asked if we had a reservation and led us into an empty room. Then he fetched a plastic table and chairs from outside and indicated we should sit. So we did, and gently steamed in what had clearly been their front room at one point. 
There were 40 odd pizza choices on the handwritten menu and the two that we had were just lovely. It didn't rain again and when we left, the front garden was full of pizza enjoying patrons, enjoying less humid air under the fairy lights and magnificent trailing jasmine. We squelched back to a hot shower and a large medicinal gin, because you don't want to catch a cold whilst you're on holiday, huh!
Long story short, I needed to make some gift boxes that were too big to cut out on my little Cricut Joy. So I turned to my new resource library and found a sample I liked and married it to the template and pencil drew it and cut it out by hand.S
I had to make an ATC for a monthly swap; themed 'plants'...not exactly my most ambitious interpretation! The good thing about ATC making is that I need to clear off whatever is on the desk because otherwise I get lost in my mess. See above my ATC there's Neet's anniversary ATC to me. I didn't show it last time because it was *of course* moved off the desk in a pile of stuff. My sweet great neice has also given it the seal of approval, we had to go through all my ATCs to see if there were any other mice...it was fun! And made me splash out on a couple of proper storage binders. Now to sit in the sun and fill them.
Look at that - the tomato tins are getting the treatment! My inside desk looks as it did two weeks ago but with more space because the tins are missing. I'm using a very cheap acrylic to base coat them and the drying is patchy to say the least. Not too concerned because the napkins I'm going to use for the actual decoupage surface are quite patterned. I'll second coat and possibly even third - just to be sitting in the warm shade really! I have a ton of cards to make over the next few days; Mr Dunnit is working away till the end of the week so am going to try to make hay; I keep odd hours when I'm on my own so assuming the mojo is up and running, it should be a productive week for both of us!
Weird isn't it, how I needed to leave a tidy desk! The big tins are waiting for a coat of paint in advance of a bit of napkin decoupage. I did one at a workshop some time last year and wanted to do some more but couldn't source the catering pack size tins. Me and Mr Dunnit were taking advantage of a wood fired pizza 'kitchen' that turns up in our little town once or twice a month and I remarked to the chef that the tin he had on the counter with a basil plant in it was just the size I'd like to get my hands on. He laughed and said on an average night he got through three of four tins and I could have time whenever I liked! Happily walked home with a carrier bag full of dirty tomato tins. And after washing and drying, that's where they were put. And have stayed. It'll be another 'don't hold your breath' I think.....but I'll show you when I've done something with at least one of them! 
Obviously, the sheet will divide into 9, so if anybody would like an actual ATC, please let me know, happy to post. Here's a close up:
As usual, the link for viewing all the blogs that participate in showing us your work space is at Sarah's. There's no better time to join in!
So. I've been card making and testing my patience I can tell you. Last week Mr Dunnit had an online meeting at home so I sat at my desk as quiet as a mouse whilst he erm, meetinged. I bought this die set for no other reason than I liked the picture on the packet and spent bloomin' ages cutting out the relevant parts. I cut out enough to make six cards and set to whilst listening to a client and his joiner discuss cabinets and worktops. This is the last card which I finally put together yesterday; I had to get it off my desk, I need to move on. It was all a bit painstaking! The teeny tiny flower heads are cut from one of the Pixie dust
The flowers are as big as dinner plates and that hint of pink blush has arrived in the last five years or so and we put it down the fact that we planted a red bush peony right next to it about ten years ago. Well, we would want to claim credit over such beauty, huh!
This was Tuesday afternoon at cuppa time. I didn't go back to it, so it's waiting. More patiently than I am, frankly. I'm doing a scrapbook 'workshop', so although the desk is cluttered, it's all stuff that's relevant to the layout I'm making. I splashed out last year and bought a 12 Days of Christmas set of kits and instructions from Bramble Fox. Beautifully put together kits and great instructions, and styles that I usually wouldn't make, so it's very enjoyable. But, it's not for just chucking in the rolling tote and taking to crop (which is kinda what I thought - save me having to think and pack for a couple of months) - each kit needs extras like paint or punches, that I have but wouldn't normally take to crop. Or indeed, think to use. So this LO doesn't look much at the mo, but I'm keeping on. The instruction said to paint or ink three stripes which will ground the multiple photos I'm going to use. Here's a blast from the past...I used Twinkling H2Os! 
Real work in progress! I started last evening by clearing up a bit, and then had an idea for the monthly ATC I swap with Karen. Her choice of theme this month was ' Vintage Lady'. You can just see her ATC poking out from under the ink pad at right; I was so surprised at the speed of its arrival that I felt the need to not put off what can be done today.... Mr Dunnit has gone to the East for the day (Kent!) and had an early start so I did too and here we are. You can't tell, but I've just stamped the big foliage stamp in white onto the layered papers of the ATC and I've embossed it with clear powder. I'll photo it more closely in a minute because it made a really nice but not white image on the printed 
I'm very into paper piecing it at the moment, and was totally inspired by Shaz in Oz to pull out some scraps and then by Helen to use a stencil...I mean, I often say in their comment sections how I'd like to do more with scraps or use one of my handful of stencils. So I did. At last you yell,not just talking the talk!
My desk and mojo have benefitted from a recent holiday. I've tidied up a bit and set to making. First of all an ATC for my monthly swap with Karen. How's this for seriously worrying....I made an ATC based on the theme of 'sunshine' and was pretty pleased with myself..done and dusted and ready to post before the end of the month. Hurrah! Well, it would be a hurrah, except when I checked through my 'to do' list this morning, it says...ATC Chicken....a theme that I chose for February because before I went on holiday I had a great idea. Obviously that's gone. As for making up an entirely different theme - absolutely no defence! This was taken last evening, am ashamed that I don't have a mug of anything with a biscuit on my lovely board, and depressed that the box of creme eggs at the back there is actually a container for receipts - my aunt and I have been collaborating on selling some of her fabulous clothes on Vinted and the receipts for the postage/delivery companies live in there till I receive confirmation of delivery. It's a system, and it works for me, which is more than I can say for my memory!
We had a late week in Portugal, The Algarve. I don't speak the language and believe me, the Spanish I do speak is absolutely nowhere near the Portuguese language at all. I'm taking a liberty then, by saying that 'The Algarve' translates roughly as 'the beaches are under the steep cliffs and if you want to access them, you have to walk down the steep cliffs and then back up the steep cliffs because your resort is at the top of the steep cliff so you can enjoy the magnificent view'. I think that adequately describes everything about our stay.
What a great menu! Love the blue and white anyway, reflecting so much of the patterns and tiles everywhere, but just look at those tabbed pages, neatly organised and labelled for ease of use. I loved it.When Kelly returned with my 'Elliott's G&T', I asked her "so you've got a Cinch then?". She sat down in her excitement and we chatted paper crafts, laminating, Cinch versus Bind It All, good glues for hot weather - supply chains...all sorts. We had a lovely meal and when we left, I picked up her business card and introduced myself to Kevin,a character that she's created for her stationery biz.
Actually, go me...I did remove the coffee mug for washing and refilling! I've been playing with birds and scraps. A continuation of what I was doing last week really, in ten minute snatches. It's not ideal but it does ensure that I get something done, excluding tidying up of course!
Actually, the desk looks worse than it is, but if you haven't been here before, that may be hard to believe! The alphabet covered case at left is full of pens and paint pens. I was using it to colour some images that I then put in the bin...when I came back to them I was very unhappy with my chosen colour combinations! There's a rolled up tshirt next to it, safe to tell you that it's for Mr Dunnit as a gesture towards his birthday which is next week. I'll show you and no doubt tell you the story when he's received it! So those items are on top of the crafty bits I was playing with, my journal and yogurt pot filled with foam sticky pads have been pushed over by the tshirt; just straightening those would create a much less disorganised look. But it's nearly 16 years too late to start worrying about public exposure of an untidy desk! 
Whilst chatting to our LLJ on FaceTime I stamped and coloured and I tidied up. Then later in the day, I went back to it and started some more...and didn't tidy up. This is how it looks this morning and that's how I know the new year hasn't changed my mindset! 
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