What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 729

The brilliance of our 14th anniversary goes on gentle desker, it was a lovely occasion and I thank you wholeheartedly for joining in, linking up, being around, making an ATC or two and commenting. Any, one or all of those things, it was lovely. 

And oh my, your ATC art is so clever!

I didn’t notice the glare on Lyn’s when I took this, sorry. I cleared and tidied so that I could lay them out and wallow in them, as you can see, there’s a lot to examine and in the case of Mary Anne’s, to work out! You are all so clever, and I see joy in our differences as much as in our likenesses. Thank you. I say that a lot on this blog, but I do always mean it!

I’ve had absolutely zero time at my desk to do anything other than gloat over ATCs this week; and to be honest, if the sun continues to shine I will be spending more time in the garden. Not working on the garden necessarily… we now have a fully oiled and lacquered garden table to sit at…yep, I’ve been productive if not creative! Anyway….here we go into another year of WOYWW, at your place by way of a link, please!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 728- the 14th Anniversary

 

ooh look,  a new but old fashioned logo thingy!

Blogs seem to be becoming the old fashioned part of social media . Soundbites, pithily worded tweets, or Insta moments are much more popular now. Its all a bit fast moving and momentary really. So, with a fourteenth anniversary for this particular blog activity, I think we are allowed to feel like stalwarts of the old guard! 

Of course, WOYWW has become far more than just showing us your work desk, it's a link to our like minds, a short route to the sharing of individual creativity. It's become a porous community; you don't have to turn up weekly - life isn't straightforward enough for that -  but you can be assured that it will be here if you want to join in. It's a bit of background creativity in busy weeks, it is so nice to look on other inky, stitchy, painty desks if yours isn't!  And it's unwavering support in busy, noisy, quiet, lonely and sometimes difficult lives. Please never under-estimate the power of a few words left as a comment. We blog to reach out, so knowing that others are there is a bit priceless. Finding out what you're doing on your craft desk, away from your domestic normal is the cherry on the cake!

If you're joining in with the ATC swap to mark this anniversary, please put an asterisk* on your name as you link. Your ATC recipient will be the nearest person underneath you on the list to have an asterisk* against their name. If you need to, message your recipient for an address and post the ATC. That's it, in essence. The last *name on the list will send to the first *name on the list. I believe this is a friendship circle by name...or it was when I was in the Brownies!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 727

Last week I had an explanation by way of an excuse for it. This week, not so much, it’s just a bit of a pushed back dumping ground and I can’t go on with it like this, it is seriously getting on my nerves!

The china plate is still waiting to be traced onto. At least I move it to the top of each pile for fear of breakage. I’m actually at the point of doing it; honestly, I need to get it out of the way! There’s a bunch of coronation memorabilia and GB/Union Jack stuff for scrapbooking purposes. Our little town had a great street party and I collected some fab bits to help tell the story in my scrapbook.
**time to wallow…the Coronation was the greatest pageant I’ve ever seen…the little moments, the crowds, the inclusiveness, the palpable national pride. Loved every minute of it.**

I doctored this picture slightly…see the new stamp in its packet at left? It’s actually three packets of stamps and I have laid them artfully over the ATCs I’ve made for next week. Good grief gentle desker, next week is a WOYWW anniversary and we’re doing an ATC swap. I’m jolly nearly ready! Please contact me if you want to join in but don’t know how, and remember, if you haven’t got time, are too shy, hate the idea…then don’t join in, it’s absolutely NOT obligatory! Meanwhile, let’s get this weeks desks into the open. I’ll be late again…early start to get the car to Salisbury for a ‘sit and wait’ service. Glamorous, huh.

When it isn’t a workshop…

Despite the closure of her bricks and mortar shop, Shopkeeper Gal is able to drip feed the obsessive amongst us with workshop kits and access to some new stamps. It’s delicious, but….when I buy a kit, it often sits on my desk for ages. I’ve resolved to not let that happen again, because I really do enjoy making up cards as you probably know by now! So, when the latest kit was announced (with samples so you know whether you’d like it or not!) I offered my dining table as a venue for an afternoon of kit making up. 

It was an entirely selfish gesture, an afternoon off to do some crafting, with lovely company and a lovely kit. It worked too. We ate biscuits, drank coffee and coloured in, cut out, made cards and chatted. Perfect. I have no idea why, but I am a sucker for bird images, so this was the obvious and perfect workshop for me, and I’m also now the proud owner of three new stamps sets. Oh, somebody stop me! No, really, don’t.

Seems this year that I’m all about birds and teacups. It’ll wear off in a couple of millennia, I’m sure.

I’ve missed it. I crop with my Coven and so the recesses of my mind equate scrapbooking with company; but largely, card making I’ve been doing on my own. I don’t need the company, I’m perfectly happy at my desk, listening to an audiobook or birdsong or heaven help me, the voices in my head. But I had forgotten how nice is to work on something together, and the Shopkeeper Gal went to the trouble of bringing supplies so that we could copy her samples faithfully. Which I did. Except for the fourth card which I didn’t get round to, and when I did, I went off track with the colouring and totally ruined it! 
So when is a workshop not a workshop? Oh I don’t know, but I’m delighted tone involved in dining table creating!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 726

Let me explain. The ATC backs and scissor sharpener have migrated to lie on top of the plastic wet wipe container so that I could stand the little Cricut on top of the 12” cutter that always sits at right edge of my desk. The little a Cricut only needs the iPad to make it work, so there you see the gap on the glass mat where it was sitting before I picked it up and moved it onto my lap in the lounge to write this.  Another view of the the AT  blanks storage box that Debbie made for me. And another view of the file and carbon paper etc for the painting of a plate to commemorate the Coronation. There’s a plate in the file, just s there was a couple of weeks ago. It’s a second one; I actually managed to get the first done in one sitting last week. Lucky I don’t want to serve food on them this weekend, huh! What you can’t actually see or feel, (although I wish you could) is my shredded patience and quiet fury. because the little Cricut has a lot to do this week, and every time I use it, the App freezes on my iPad and I have to delete it, download it again and start again. There’s a lot to be said for this little machine, but at the moment, because of the software experience, I’m not calling it by it’s proper name. JOY. It is not. Me, the iPad and the app will work it out, I’m sure, but meantime….argh.

Distract me do, show and tell of your desks and even your ATC intentions for the anniversary on week 728. Coming up!

This is a scheduled start today, I’ve got an appointment at 9am which is a bit rude!

Plunking the steam

Or steaming the punk. I don’t know. It’s another craft style or genre that I look at with admiration. I love the ‘insides on the outsides’ look of the style, and the mixture of dark and light, fabric and metal, it’s a lovely eclecticism. 

Cue my monthly ATC swap partner choosing Steampunk as the theme for April. Made me gulp a bit, but not panic. As you know, I’ve got plenty of stash, so I gently started going through it and pulling out anything that I might be able to use. It wasn’t much, to be honest. A couple of dies, an embossing folder with cogs and clocks on it and a handful of metal embellishments. It didn’t add up to much, I can tell you! But it was a positive too, it meant it wouldn’t take long to try combinations of what I’ve got until I hit on something that fit the bill. 

Took blooming ages! I looked at Pinterest. Changed my mind a lot. Then remembered that the best I can do is the best I can do. I used all I’ve got. I could have gone digital I know, but I’ve got all this stuff, it deserves to be used. Especially the alcohol inks that I don’t think have seen the light of day for over four years!

Gosh, I spend a lot of words explaining things that aren’t my style, and this another! I need to take a couple of workshops I think, although to be completely honest, I’m not sure I want to get into this style - I’d have to acquire quite a lot of new stuff to be able to pull it off, and I’m not up for that anymore, good grief, where would it go?! The stockists may be unimpressed by this decision, but I reckon if he knew, Mr Dunnit would be hanging out the flags! 

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 725

OK, lovely Desker, three weeks to go until we hit the 14th anniversary of this ‘ere WOYWW, on week 728. I’ve had a few questions, so here are a few answers….we’re going to do the roundy ATC swap that we’ve always done. Make one to swap with your swap partner on the day, or make more and swap with others too. There isn’t a specific theme this year. I thought it would make it easier if I simply suggested that your ATC(s) somehow reflect what being a desker means to you. Sorry; now I’ve started working on my ATCs, I’ve realised that it’s so much easier to have a specific theme. And colour. And words. And image. I hope that answers the questions that have been asked thus far. Any others…? Ask in the comments or email me, find me on Facebook and message me…however it suits you.

Meanwhile, I’ve been at my desk for several sessions this week already. A lovely long screen chat with LLJ on Monday gave me time for cutting out, and in between things yesterday I managed some sticking, trimming and inking. So far so good!

All of this activity is secret though. Last Wednesday you lot set of the panic train in my brain, so I just had to start on my ATCs, especially as I had a vague idea!  What you can see on my desk is the arc of pushback, it’s amazing how I can make it look tidy but the back and edges are a bit precarious! Great ATC backs made by Mary Anne are printed and ready to be cut up. My lovely blank ATC storage box back on centre stage - made for me by the beautiful and missed Debbie Rock, such a pleasure to own. You can just see two rulers in the foreground - funny, I used one, pushed it to the side, and then when I needed to use it again, I reached up to where I should have put it back, and used the spare. And then pushed that to the side as well. And that black and grey thing right in the front of the pic is a Fiskars scissor sharpener. Useful bit of plastic and metal, actually. 

That’s me then, now you please! Put WOYWW in your post title please, then link here as usual! See you later!