Get a ticket...

..to my self-publicity circus!  I'm involved in two upcoming events that I will inevitably talk about - my desk will be covered in ideas and makings for them, so you may as well have the full gratuitous self publicity thing all at once.  
First, on 24th March I'm going to be one of the 'very experienced crafters and tutors' at the Big Event run and hosted by Janet Caudrelier of Japonica, in Exmouth.  Here's the rest of her blurb:
'It includes three card making workshops, home made lunch, refreshments, 10% off voucher to use in Japonica, and lots of fun and friendship as you craft together.  This season's workshops will include stamping and using inks with many techniques. The day costs £42 and is great value - it would make a great Mother's Day Gift!  If you need any more info or would like to book your place, please call the shop - Japonica, Exmouth, on 01395 271739, or email janetcaudrelier@msn.com'.

This is actually for a Workshop at Kraft Crazy this week, but I've done a very similar one for Janet!

The third 'experienced crafter and tutor in this scenario will be Francoise Read.  It's worth the fee just to meet her and get an injection of her warm good humoured and gentle skills.  She is a stamp designer - for Woodware, and Stampendous...and wears her skills so modestly.  I should learn from her.  I could.  If i had any skills that were worth touting.  To be honest, the skill I bring as a 'tutor' is probably bossy good humour...and I hope, making everyone leave with a finished something....because I hate going home with UFOs.  They NEVER get finished!

And then, me and Scrap Lady Ally are doing a Card Marathon on April 12th.  Yep, a Marathon.  We supply samples, kits and tools to make 20 or so different cards, different themes, styles and sizes.  You make cards, we feed you with cakes and lunch made by Lunch Lady Jan herself, and then you make more cards.  It's gruelling.  It's to be held in a Church Hall in Amesbury and booking is essential, the kit numbers and catering mean that we need numbers in advance!  There is a separate page to view the flyer and booking form, a clickaway at the top of my blog, or you can visit www.2scrapladies.blogspot.co.uk just as soon as it's been updated.  Please give us a chance, it's all a bit erm, argh!

This is the decoy photo.  It's one of the LOs that I did for Luscious Life Studios.  It features my 1980-something perm.  I kinda thought you may like to see it.  More to the point, an alternative colour way set of papers is available as a freebie download if you follow that link.  
I think that's it.  For now.  Really, this 'all about me' way of living is becoming a bit exhausting.  And, to finish where I started....I'd like to HOPE and THINK that my desk will betray signs of preparation for these events.  If you don't notice, would you please prod my conscience?  

Like waiting for the glue to dry...

I like a fast result, once I've made up my mind to do something.  Perversely, I can put off actually doing it for ages.  And, whilst doing it, I'm pretty patient with myself.  A good example of this will be the blanket I made from 9956,248 six inch crocheted squares. Which I'm going to unpick and re-do because parts of it really bother me;  I want the squares to be smaller and also one of the colours is wrong and I don't want it to be included and...well there we are.  
So...when double sided tape became acid free, I started to use it in preference to glue. Wet glue that is.  I had previously given up using the stick glues..after a 'front-dropping-off-the-card' incident at my parents home one Christmas.  Pritt stick and dry central heating - lesson learned.  I don't really have the patience for wet glue..all the drying and paper ribbling.  So I stopped using it. 
I did develop a passion for the glazes.  And the first in my line of vision was Diamond Glaze.  I guess that market is thoroughly cornered by Glossy Accents now, but the DG (as we used to call it) remains a fab product.  
Yesterday, I finished a bottle of Diamond Glaze.  it was a 14oz bottle, so quite large.  And it has worked its magic on spots and dots for over 5 years.  It was a white plastic bottle. To protect and prevent it from discolouring in daylight I expect.  Which of course meant I couldn't tell how much I had left.  
So I drizzled it over my newly decorated box, expecting to have to reach for the spatula and do some frantic spreading, just to get a protective glaze all over.  

And I drizzled.  And I squeezed.  It's hard work.  The bottle kept giving, so I kept drizzling.  It was running slower than I remembered Diamond Glaze to do, and I cheerfully put that down to thickening -  it has been on my shelf for so many years.

The part I neglected to think about was the possibility of accelerated drying time in such an 'old' product.  And so, as drizzle faded to splatter, I discovered that the original 'lines' were too set to work into a smooth, dimensional, superb gloss coating.  So now I have an artful drizzle topped box.  Am quite liking it actually, and will very possibly do something else to it.  After much procrastinating of course.

Meanwhile, I have a home for the unruly tapes, I have finished the old Diamond Glaze and the biggest bonus of all time - I didn't have to wait for it all to dry. 
That's a result!
This box was a Bratz doll wardrobe I believe.  I bought it for £2 from a Charity shop.  The lady was mystified, and asked if I had dolls.  I admitted that no, I did not, but I had lots of tapes waiting for a home.


Obviously, the lady was yet more mystified, but hey - she shouldn't have asked.  It's like trying to explain scrapbooking  - eyes glaze over and frankly, I just didn't have the patience!

Have a lovely weekend!

245 :What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Welcome, welcome.  If you wanna play but need directions, there are links at the top of this page to transport you to some instructions and such.  So, my week, illustrated by my desk...

Sum it  up - a lot of everything...lots of stuff cleared off it - which is a good thing.  And lots remaining.  Not great, but not too onerous.  My ipad poised toplay part of a crime drama I've been listening to.  The black box at left is awaiting a cover or a lick of decent paint or something...it's to house my ridiculous washi and other tape collection which is frankly getting out of hand. It was once a wardrobe/case for Bratz dolls. Glasses case on top of that.  You can still see some of the Luscious Valentine papers waiting to be put away...I'm not quite over them yet, so haven't stored them...or that's what I'm telling myself.  And there's a new addition this week...indeed, just yesterday..

Jan and I were in a lovely kitchen shop in Salisbury.  She on a mission, me browsing.  She caught up with me in a section of the shop that was unstaffed and gave me this mug.  I had strolled past the rack of mugs and not even noticed it.  We howled.  So much so that staff came to see what was so funny.  And then of course, they didn't get it.  And so we howled some more! Honestly, my face was aching.  And now, in an effort to make my desk tidy....I'm using it for pens.  Ta Na! You have to be in it to get it, huh!

Be in it then please, link your WOYWW post here and we'll trot round to visit. And can I add - word verification is incredibly difficult to negotiate for this old woman with an iPad that hates Google..it really makes it so hard to comment.  And also...why do I have to tell every wordpress blog who I am, what my email address is and what my website is?  It drives me nuts and causes heart sinking delays in getting a comment typed!  And don't try to stop me being cross by telling me about auto fill.  That is so not the point!

And on that happy note....

Oh and PS...I've put a few stamps for sale on my erm, for sale blog.

A rose, by any other name.....

Quite innocently, I mentioned that I blog under half an assumed name.  Dunnit.  As a surname.  Because back in the day when I used to sell my cards, I used to 'sign' the back of them with a stamped 'hand made by' and so I started adding Julia Dunnit.  Because I did do it.  
So what about the first name?  The one I didn't make up or choose?  Julia. I've no doubt a quick leap about Google will reveal it as descended from the Roman Julius in a female derivative.  I cannot tell you why my parents chose it from the panoply of girls' names - I'm not aware that it was a particular trend at the time, and every now and then, I suspect it was a teeny rebellion against the name Julie.  Because of course, the one letter difference has caused me a little irritation and some confusion over the years.  But it's all good.  
Until your dearest friends start defining it.

I've no doubt, gentle reader, that this was written with affection.  But I've been considering it a lot.  And I'm still walking around it.  Because you see, although it was attached to a gift at Christmas, I'm not at all sure that the implication was innocent.  And when I asked her, Jan just laughed hysterically. 

So be careful.  It's not how you choose the name, but how it comes to mean something that counts.  Please, live your lives without blemish so that your friends can't write your epitaph on a gift tag.  

..emerging from the horrible mess

Today I've moved on.  I'll be conducting a workshop, the fixings for which you saw on my desk yesterday.  So that's tidied that lot up.  Underneath were the Valentine's papers that my clever Sissy designed. She is Stephanie of Luscious Life Studios.   I appointed myself the Luscious Life Design Team member and it all kinda came home to roost and I had to put my money where my mouth is.  So I've been playing, and how I've enjoyed just doing it for the sake of doing it.   

Here is Kate.  She's my niece.  The little journaling cards are actually reduced PL cards that I downloaded from Luscious Life Studios - there's a 'freebies' tab.....

I've tried to use the papers for non-valentinsey stuff in my scrapbook.  Mainly because in 29 years, I don't have a Valentine story to tell yet.  Hmm.  But at least my deprivation proves that you can buy a set of something seasonal and not be trapped in the season.  I think, anyway!

And here is my other sister, Sally, and her son, my only nephew.  

Being very patriotic.  I love this picture!

And then I sort of felt obliged to make some cards because - well, I can.  And you know what - I decorated the inside too, and totally forgot to photograph it!

All the papers and embellishments are by Luscious.  Here's another:

Quite busy, non!  Well, it's only once a year and there's a message to be got across!

There's a couple more I could show you but I think Steph is planning to put them on the Luscious Life website or blog, so I'll leave you to go visit in the next few days if you're fascinated by the papers, the story, my family,or the perm I had in the early 1990s.  

I know I've over linked, over abused and overdone the publicity, but hey - it's family. And also, this doesn't break my oh so up myself rule about endorsing something that I don't think is up to it.  I'm loving the Luscious Life!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 244

If mess makes your teeth itch - look away fast!
Oh my.  I thought that I was a bit pushed for crafting time this week.....and I was certainly too pushed to clear up, apparently.

The lovely bright Valentines papers at left are from my sister's digital website, Luscious Life Studios...I've done some LOs and cards, will show 'em soon.  The alpha stickers are slung there because they are slung there.  I've no idea.  There's even a receipt from Tesco supermarket promising me some pence off my next shop.  Which will not come to pass if the receipt stays on the desk.  The plastic bag is full of card kits for my first workshop of the year on Thursday and the yellow basket is one of four filled with the 'ingredients' for the cards.  So my life...a clear up is in order..and strangely, because I'm at the end of 'making do' in this mess, I'm in the mood to do it!

Share with us do - what are you up to on your workspace this Wednesday?  Put WOYWW in your post title, link your post here and we'll trot round for a visit. If you'd like to take part and can't fathom how, please click on the links at the top of the page.  Don't be scared.  It's easy and we're friendly.  

T is for Tuesday

Actually, it's Coffee.  It always is if it's before 1pm.  Oh the things you didn't know about me!

This little vignette set itself up last night actually; the mug of fresh coffee is this morning's addition..I come downstairs, make a cup  of coffee and immediately throw myself into my comfy armchair to contemplate life whilst I drink the coffee.  I'm bedraggled and usually chilly, and still in bedclothes and a charming fleece dressing gown (robe) that would do any woman of my age proud.  It has a tassle on the zip...my daughter thinks this is the last resort in my becoming an old woman.  And she's probably right.  I did consider removing it when first I bought it, but that only lasted as long as it took me to do the zip up.  A practical and attractive embellishment to a zip, I now think! Now that's a real digression folks, just in case you ever thought me incapable of such a thing! I'm linking to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's very civilised Tuesday sharing of cups and tea.  It's so nice to join others with a brew.

I was going to try to answer some of the wonderful comments that were made following my post 'Please Sit, there will be questions'.  But it's all a bit self evident really, as one reads the Comments.  We are a bunch of internet users who, having searched a bit, found a community to be a part of, and we like it that way.  And for validation of course.  One of the big things that came out of it was some general surprise at my revelation that Julia Dunnit is not my real name.  Well, your surprise surprised me!  Julia is my name.  Given at birth, of course, and chosen as a 'we like it...' type of name because I was the third daughter and they had already used up the two names they assumed they'd need.  But Dunnit is made up.  And not made up for security or even for reasons of big headedness. Just because it was a fun thing to write on the back of cards I'd made.  And so when I started to blog, apparently about my crafting, it seemed sensible to use my craft name. See.  Even my interesting parts are dull.

So fuelled by my first coffee, I'm off to face the day.  Have a good one.  Come back tomorrow to be amazed and erm, horrified by the desk, huh?!