What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 152

I am attempting to schedule this post....if it doesn't appear much before 8am...the scheduling thingy hasn't been fixed yet.  Sorry. Or YAY, depending on your time zone!


First of all, understand gentle WOYWWer, that the grass is too long and so green and all looks sun drenched and lovely because it hasn't stopped raining for the last oh, sixteen weeks or something.  Serioulsy....I have, for reasons I cannot share, an 8" deep plastic tub on my patio and it is overflowing.  Because I work *cough* at home, I simply snap a pic of the old desk top as soon as there's any decent light...and this afternoon was dry for over 3 hours - so unusual that it caused my neighbour to speak to me.  And look - the rain has shrunk my ipad! You can see a couple of cards in preparation for a 'Cards for Men' workshop.  Argh.  You can see an A4 sheet which is actually the workshop schedule with my name on it more than once.  Argh.  Glasses..of course.  Lidded gesso..(under the ATG tape runner thingy baby, tool of my trade, apple of my eye). Now the temperature is a bit better, the gesso will be unlidded: to answer a few Q's...yeah, it does get a skin if you dont stir it now and then...it's acrylic based gesso see....but it is evaporating some water, but taking an age.  But be careful, if your gesso is genuine plaster based, it won't need to be lid-less for long (maybe a couple of hours) before you get a result. 
So there's a basket at the right edge which once was full of dirty stamps.  Well I had a fit of OCD and cleaned and put away and now the basket is full of acrylic blocks and tidy tray.  And workshop notebook.  Deeply interesting, huh.  
So, the WOYWW third anniversary is week 156.  If you want to join the ACT-it-forward thingy, details can be found at this post.  If you missed out on a WOYWW badge and are feeling deprived, email me: juliadunnit@me.com and I'll send you one.  But I will need your postal address.   If you don't wanna do any of that nonsense, just show us what you're working on and where you're doing it.  Upload a pic of your desk to your blog.  Put WOYWW in the title.  Link here.  When you visit others and comment, tell them what number you are on the link list.  Easy. Unless you don't know how.  Help is at hand. If I don't know, there's a kerjillion who do and will share the knowledge, that I do know.  

Lemme take your picture?

I hit on this brilliant idea, at a crop.  I would photograph my crop friends one by one and do a LO about them.  After all, they feature large in my life, I see most of them at least that once a month and when I tragically and years too early shuffle off this mortal coil, my daughter will be able to look back in awe at these women; they will doubtless have been significant role models.  Or horrible warnings.  I know which I'd rather be.   
Thing is, of the 12 or 13 regular croppers, this lovely Laura LO is only the second.  I can't easily get my modest crop friends to pose for me.  Actually, first problem is that originally I wanted candid, scrap-in-motion shots.  But I felt furtive and couldn't keep quiet about my brilliant idea.  So I came clean.  The Enthusiastic Educator was my first target and I love the photos I have of her.  For some reason, I have no photo of the LO.  And I can't show you without her permission. Or without getting off the chair and crossing the room.   I do understand any reluctance.  I arrive at crop having packed (you've heard masses about the angst of packing), sorted out my contribution to lunch and staggered around too early on a Saturday morning than is generally good for me.  All this adds up to a fat forty-blah woman with no make up.  Now I can't say I'd want you to take a picture of me like that really. And certainly not a candid one.  This would involve glasses balanced so that I can look down and see through them and look up without seeing through them - if you know the action, you'll picture the look.  And then there's the persistent chatting.  It means my mouth is always open.  Unless I'm eating.  I do have one or two manners intact.  My Sissy Stephanie who lives in California has developed a 'pause' type pose for cameras - whenever one is pointed at her: Eyes open, mouth shut.  It's ingrained in her now and I can't remember the last time she was caught out.  And I can't remember the last time I wasn't.  Laura has youth on her side, hasn't she...so when I pointed my phone at her (yes, phone...my packing skills just cannot accommodate a real camera as well), she simply leaned toward me and smiled.  Confident, huh.  I wonder who will display such confidence this Saturday?  Luckily, this isn't a group project or a circle journal, so it remains that I'll be safely behind the phone.  Camera.  And my crop friends will as always, be  v e r y  tolerant of my self assumed brilliance. 

What's The Word, Bird?

Well, I haven't quite finished visiting WOYWWers, but I'm beginning to think the most common word is ARGH! and it's about Blogger!  I changed to the new 'Interface' some months ago.  Because I was scared that if they forced me to take it and I didn't know what I was doing, I'd be all over the place.  So far, not so bad. I've become used to the fact that you have to click on words that are no longer designed to look like buttons to navigate.  I've become used to the teeny icon of a cog for letting me in to make changes.  I even got used to the fact that certain things were clearly going to change and not be 'get round-able'...I mean, word verification for example, could only be turned off by switching back to the old 'Dashboard' first.  This may have been an oversight and not carried forward to the new style, I don't know. 
I gather from comments and visits this week that the new 'Interface' has been forced on to people now, and of course, in the switch over, loads of stuff has been omitted or not moved or however it works.  So thanks all, for the advice about how to schedule a post, that part of it I can do.  It would seem that blogger isn't yet able to recognise time zones and changes, so I'll have to be patient.  
What I really want to know now is this - if Google have deemed the 'Dashboard' to now be an 'Interface'...are the car manufacturers going to go all 21st Centruy on us and follow suit? Do we need a campaign to save the humble Dashboard?

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 151

Is there any one can help with why my scheduled posts suddenly don't post?  It says BST in scheduling time zone, but there's no BST listed in format time zones.....and using GMT plus one doesn't work.....any ideas?

It's not getting any better, huh!  
Button jar, by some miracle is closed.  So instead, the lid isn't on the gesso.  Actually, this is on purpose...Elizabeth suggests that allowing some of the water in the mix to evaporate will make the gesso more opaque.  She's right.  I'm being uncharacteristically patient about it too. Because it allows genuine procrastination!  You can just see my glasses, not safely stowed; my open glasses case is currently home to an ink pad.  Does it make ya wince?  Does it, does it? The red basket contains stamps, die cuts and other schtuff for a workshop on Thursday morning.  There's the plastic ziplock envelope containing a set of keys that have been bubble wrapped for postal purposes.  It looks a lot more interesting than the reality, huh.  Of course there's the finished ink cartridge from the printer - I could have sworn I had a recycling envelope....somewhere.  There's my phone and a can of fizz....it's staged to add to the casual ambience I'm aiming for in this photo.  The best thing about my desk on Tuesday afternoon.....SUNSHINE.  Can't argue with that, huh!  One last thing..THIS POST talks about WOYWWer Sarah's Mum who has had a nasty accident....if you'd like to send her a get well card, Sarah thinks she'd love it - check the post for details please!


So Week 156 will be the third anniversary of WOYWW and we're going to do a one on one on one on one ATC swap.  For ATC explanation and swap details, read the previous post.  CLICK THIS  it will take you there without the need to scroll.... I know how busy you are.  If you read it yesterday, please re-read it...there was a typo and wouldn't you just know it...it was an IMPORTANT detail type mistake....only the size of the ATC!!  


So meantime, please show us your desk.  Frankly, if I can show mine, you've no excuse.
Post to your blog, PLEASE put WOYWW in the title. Then,  link here and visit others to your heART's content.  If you comment anywhere, please add your Link list number to your comment..makes visiting you a lot easier.  

An ATC for WOYWW

ATC: Artist' Trading Card.  3.5" x 2.5" and traditionally made of card stamped, coloured, collaged, blah embellished to suit the maker.  Recently, 'chunky' ATCs have become popular, these are the same dimension but thicker - often pieces of wood, sometime up to a couple of inches thick and decorated on all surfaces. And fabric/felt ATCs are increasingly popular, and why not, it's meant to showcase your creativity after all. The idea was born in Switzerland; to make other artist's work accessible, which is why the purists agree that you should meet to trade the cards.  Obviously, for WOYWW, that is't going to work..but it matters not..your ATC will be a nice greeting to a fellow WOYWWer. Nice and simple as that. 

Here's a link to some frighteningly arty ATCs from an e-zine , and here's a picture of some of the ATCs that I've collected by taking part in postal swaps etc...sorry that I haven't taken them from their plastic sleeves.  I couldn't be bothered.  

You can see that the reverse is important...you must sign and date your mini work of art!

Now, here's how simple it needs to be for the WOYWW anniversary ATC swap.
1.  Make an ATC . (BEFORE THE DAY...it's no fun to keep your recipient waiting)
2.  On the day (week 156) when you add your name to Mr Linky, add an * asterisk to the end of your name if you're participating.  
3.  Contact the next participating person on the list - they'll be showing * with their name too.  Leave a comment or email them via their blog to get their postal address.
4.  When you've got an address, trot out and post your ATC to them.

And here are the 'what if's'
1. If you want to make a load of ATCs and share them with your regular WOYWW friends, then please do...in addition to honouring the commitment to send to whomever turns out to be your sendee on the link list.
2. Postage costs are an issue for some.   It is up to you how bumpy/layered your ATC is.
3. Participation is entirely up to you - there is no obligation to be involved; if you can't or don't want to, that's just fine.  It's a bit of fun; not a rule, not necessary to cement your WOYWW 'membership' or anything at all, actually.  
4. If you want to participate but can't because the day/date is all wrong for you, send an ATC to me..Ill swap out others in the same situation or trade directly with you.

Hormone-ity...again!

Here's another LO from this month's crop.  And I mean that in both respects...it was a Crop, and I made five,which I think is a good crop - smug and clever...but maybe not so funny when in print?! I slay myself.  These photos were taken back in 1982.  They've been in my drawer of photos 'to do' since I became a scrapbooker, and finally, because I got sick of seeing them in there, I did something with them.  Not the best motivation huh?  The first thing I did really was to square the hideously old fashioned rounded corners...that made them feel more useable, I must say. And now I've said that about rounded corners, you want to know why I have a WRMK corner chomper which I often use with abandon

and of course, the answer is - I have no idea. Vanity?  Maybe. To me, it looks OK on everything except photos that fairly accurately give away my age. Not sure.  Enigma? I'd like to think so. Hormone-ity? Certainly. (or as Mr Dunnit would say...typical woman-ness, but as so many of you understand, I'm not going to allow that...).

Actually, here's something that's typical woman-ness in a good way...would you help cheer up a bruised and injured WOYWWers Mum?  I was nearly finished visitng WOYWWers when I got to Sarah Cooper's entry which was late and rushed...she'd been at the hospital all day with her dear Mum who had been knocked over by a car; the driver had missed the pedestrian crossing light...horrible. Read about Sarah's account here and see Sarah's jagged and hopeful Journal page here.  I offered to send her a 'feel better' card; there's nothing more cheering than knowing other people are thinking of you, huh.  If you'd like to do the same, contact Sarah via her blog or Facebook and she'll give you an address.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend!

A card, for stamping's sake

As you know from yesterday's WOYWW, I spent much time at my desk on Tuesday afternoon making a mess. After I'd finished with the Union flag stuff and bits that had to be done, I was still in the mood to play. (And not to tidy up!).  The thing about 'play' for me is that it has to be productive.  I am hopeless at sitting at my desk for three valuable hours and coming away knowing a bit more about a product but nothing in the way of any sort of completed project.  It's a skill, this sort of impatient patience! So I cast around the web a bit, looking for something to spark my  interest and sort of match what I had on the desk....lazy, huh!  
I found a challenge at Woodware that suited my criteria and excited me enough to make me stand up, take the necessary one pace to my stamp shelves and pull out just what I needed.  Funny when things come together in your head so fast, huh!  Anyway, the challenge is to make a card using Turquoise and Brown.  So I did.  It features stamps by Stampendous and Magenta (and an Ippity gingham background) and a bit of MR bling and a wooden button.  So I think it qualifies for the challenge.  Either way, win win for me.  Broke in a new stamp, played a bit and produced something viable!


We have two WOYWWers who live in the path of those terrifying tornadoes that we've seen on TV news this week - Elizabeth and Vickie.  I know both are safe, but there's scarey beating hearts and clearing up to be dealt with.....sending you love girlfriends, and coping and calm and safety vibes.