Crop 1, Stash busting 5

It's not just my photos that aren't used in any order when I scrapbook. I have made a concerted effort this year, to use old stash. To rummage further than the top layer and to not rush to the new stuff that I've bought or been given as gifts. This applies especially to embellishments in my case. None of this stuff is cheap, so to buy it and just store it is ridiculous. I'm one of many that often succumbs to trends and great ideas, so I always seem to have a 'top layer' of really up to date bits and pieces. 

The alphabet stickers I used to title this LO for example, have been in my possession for over 12 years. I can be this specific because I know it was stock that came home with me when I closed my shop, Stamping Ground (which explains the blog name, huh). And in those 12 years, I swear, this memory and these photos are the only ones that I have ever felt were made for each other. Other pieces are definitely younger. The metal sign shape that I've used to highlight the date is from a trip to a craft shop in Spain when I was there with some crafter girlfriends. Ten years ago. 

The brads, photo corner and 'glass' tabs on this LO are from my demonstrating days when shaped brads were really new and exciting. I have to admit to a frisson of thrill when I finally used them!

All the layouts I've completed this year so far include some element or other from the bottom of the box. Don't get me wrong, I've used new stuff too, and they sit beside each other very happily. Which is another reason to get on and use them, innit. And here's another - unused in the bottom of the box or used and on a LO, it's stuff you can keep. Stick it on a card and you give it away! There is one drawback though. Four brads on a layout or 9 letters from an alphabet sheet don't make a huge dent in the piles and boxes. However good it feels, it's sort of just tickling the surface. Lucky for me then, that there's still about a trillion photos to be given the treatment. I may need to go away for a weekend of cropping every weekend for the rest of my life....

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 454

Blimey. I left for a weekend Crop (it was lovely, thank you) and appear to have been totally in mid flow. And so, when I got home, I just dumped everything on top of and around the desk. You aren't surprised!

I HAD been making some cards to send with the new badges. That accounts for the small white pieces of card. Each has two images on which I painted briefly with the radiant pearls, in the basket at left. There's a snowflake hanging on the door handle. It was on my desk for mending purposes after Christmas. It's just about ready to be put away! My usual ATG and other tapes are missing because they're in the bag on my stool, waiting to be unpacked and put away. It's definitely a job for this morning. Note the complete lack of anything vaguely valentine related...it's too late now. Ho Hum.
Show me up then - let's see your desks, mid flow or not, it's all good!

Sightseeing

Here are some pictures of Bath. A lovely, largely Georgian city built with local sandstone. So it's all a nice colour. In the sunshine, it's warm and golden. In February in the wet, it's grand, if nothing else! I'm posting them because so many of you, like me, love to see 'travel' photos. 

Cobbled streets were typical. These look fairly modern to me, they probably replaced some two or three hundred year old stones. The modern ones are at least not worn shiny and smooth by the use of horses, carts, peasants and noblemen. In the wet or icy cold, they are lethal to walk on. I wonder how any broken bones are attributable to shiny cobbles. For this wonky balanced woman, they are quite difficult to walk on, even rough and 'modern' looking. Luckily, we avoided them in the main. And when we couldn't, I was able to dramatically grab my chum for physical support when the inevitable nearly happened.

LLJ and I were in Bath together. We walked, shopped and talked. We started with coffee and talking and talked through sightseeing, market shopping and walking a big circle back to our beginning. Didn't notice breath being drawn or awkward pauses. Well, actually there were two moments...hovering, pressure saleswoman thinking it OK to join our conversations in the glass shop, assuming we'd buy more if she was our tour guide/glass officiando/chum. She did cause us to pause and exchange looks. More than once. And then, the tannoy announcement welcoming us to Debenhams and reminding us to buy such and such. We paused..to laugh. It was the most unenthusiastic and badly read, scripted announcement we'd ever heard. 

For those of you living in countries where distances are measured in hours of driving rather than miles, I know you'll be fascinated to know that Bath is only 41 miles from my home. Because there's no better route though..it takes an hour and a half to get there. Worth every minute, but seriously!

Knowing when to stop...

I am a big believer in the power of the written word to tell a story. In scrapbooks in particular, I love to see handwritten notes or journaling.  I made this LO at last month's Artful Angels crop. I had packed light and was amazed at myself. By the end of putting the first LO together, I realised that 'packed light' actually meant that I had forgotten two boxes of alphabet stickers. So my LOs were without titles. It's OK. I could retro-add them, or indeed, they would be fine as they are!

Not so it turns out. For me, a title is a part of the story, is a part of the journaling, however brief. So when I finally unpacked my Crop stash (two weeks later), I had to sort this LO properly. It felt unfinished. It only took a few minutes and I'm happy with it now. 

Interesting isn't it. How do you do it? Am I stuck in the rule rut or does this title help....? I know the journaling is a bit difficult to read..it explains that this particular child has to go through two degree courses (because he's studying medicine) and it must surely be a relief to have graduated successfully at least once! Or is it not explanatory enough? Should titles be just that..mini explanations. Are my Layouts going to cause historical hysteria because sometimes the title is just a play on word or a coupe of initials rather than an introduction to the story? Whaddya think? 

Meanwhile James, keep your head down darling boy; your coolest, youngest, funniest, best ever not-really Aunt and not-really Uncle are immensely proud of you.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 453

Here's a magical twofer for you. It's what I did on Tuesday, because I wont be near my desk on Wednesday - this is scheduled so that I can get going without side-tracking myself!

First thing on Tuesday, it all looked like this, and I have to admit, I could have sat at this and carried on without hesitation.

The necklace looking thing is actually a floral die and I didn't use it. It slid from the over- full die file at left. The glasses are sitting on a card I was working on; trying to use some scraps, nothing major! Then it was all change and this is the last of the book work that I intend to do this week! It took an act of will to tidy and re-arrange to get the books out...month end, VAT quarter and here you see some work I was doing on my lovely Mama's file after I'd tortured myself over our business stuff. 

The blue thing is a Bluetooth speaker and the clear tubes at right are from a haberdasher's - they usually hold buttons for individual sale, and will make carting stuff like buttons and brads etc to a workshop very much easier.

If you've read the post about a new badge, then thanks for asking, it will be on it's way very soon! Meanwhile, link your desk and explanation here. I hope we aren't all doing the books. Yawn!

Show Off

It is entirely appropriate that my rubbish photography has caused a light flare on the machine, as if it's a twinkle of halo-esque proportions. Its like the Colgate smile sparkle. If you can't remember that far back, just ignore that comparison! 
So in the pic you can see the fab shelf thing that Mr Dunnit made for me in order to house my Scan&Cut Christmas present. It needs to be within reach for use and to remind me that I HAVE to learn how to use it. The Scan&Cut that is. It's actually called a ScanNCut, but I don't like that name, I hate the N. I feel it should have apostrophes around it and that's a pain to type. And the N sound is also part of the punchline of a joke about constipation, and I can never get that out of my mind. 
Oh there, sorry, I seem to have drifted. The appropriate light flare is my point. It's to reward me. I have actually read the manual, I have actually done some of the practice exercises and am slowly working my way through others. I need to be able to use this machine to its maximum potential instead of dithering about with the top 10% of its functions. Pretty much what I do with my phone, ipad and such. Ridiculous. So I'm feeling a bit good about this fraction of my craft life at the moment. I should say that it's quite computer based and I would very much prefer not to spend valuable crafting time learning to computer. But it's a means to an end...the ability to do all the Scan&Cut says it can outweighs the time investment at this point. Ask me again in a couple of months when I hope, I'll be picking it up and creating without a second thought. Meanwhile, if nothing else, I'm learning the page numbers of the manual!

The not-so-secret-handshake thingy

On the whole, WOYWW is a virtual thing. It happens, in the main, on the internet. But every now and then, some people are brave enough to make it a reality thing and meet. What if you were at a craft fair, watching a demo or standing quietly in a queue for something. You might be wondering if any of the other attendees were Deskers. And unless you were brave enough to shout out, there's no way of knowing.
Well of course there is really. You can ask me to send you the WOYWW badge and wear it at these events, see if anyone else recognises it! Beats a red carnation between your teeth. I think! Seriously, all desks or lapels need adorning with a badge of identity, and you may want to add it to a collection. *cough*.
So please, if you're a Desker and would like one, please ask me. It might be a good idea to contact me through the email link in the sidebar, because then you can give me your address at the same time. Now please, sit back from the edge of your seat and do not, I repeat, do not, hold your breath.