What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 737

The Jumbo jet version, eh? (737). I know, but someone was going to say it! 

Lookie lookie right here

Rather a mess, but that's not news is it; I've actually made three cards (on the right near the pink tray) and spent a happy hour yesterday doing some classic stamping and colouring in. I'm trying to always work in multiples, and also to only use scraps. It isn't laborious, but sometimes challenging to make patterns and colours work. But when I can make it work, I'm disproportionately delighted. That is entirely because if I stopped producing scraps today, I reckon I could could continue to make cards from them for at least another year. It's not a challenge I'm about to take on to be honest...every time I make a scrapbook page it produces some amount of scrap, so it's a bit of a cyclical problem. As I'm typing, I wonder if I ought to make a LLJ strip quilt style mega masterboard.  I may actually have to walk around that idea, it's not a bad one for a change! The lovely African gal and her pots are waiting to be cut out and stuck onto as yet undetermined backgrounds. I love her and her colourfulness, she cheers me.  You can't quite see my felt tips in two baskets balanced on top of one another at left, but you can I think quite clearly see the layers at right, the cards and powder tray are on top of the stamps I used, and so it goes. Probably by the time I get to the desk this afternoon, I'll be fed up and horrified by the mess and will be forced to tidy. Another cycle. Ah well, it's not hurting anyone. Although that now very flat coke might cause you to grimace. Sorry!

Share and tell then, it's high time!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 736

Good golly Miss Desker, there's been some genuine action!

Admittedly, this scene is a few days old, but the photo is fresh! I haven't got back to my desk since making a start on a couple of ATCS to swap. (And one to replace- Helen, I've assembled the parts...) I was having a chat with LLJ which is a great way to force me to sit still and do a bit of multi tasking. Obviously Jan was doing something with yarn, she never misses an opportunity to have busy hands. We touched briefly on the fact that I have cut up a Union Jack postcard to make the ATC background for my British bulldog. Is it treason? I hope not. I shall claim it's all in the name of art. And hope theres WiFi in the Tower! I'm not being a craft slacker, I'm working away from my desk, largely in the evenings, doing the thread journal and another time waster - the NYTimes mini and full size daily crosswords. My sister and her husband do the mini everyday and we now compete over the time it takes. On days where none of the answers rely on real American knowledge, I'm pretty reasonable, but where brands, politicians and different spellings are needed...epic fails! Nice bit of brain training though. To be honest, if you wanted to help me get back to my desk, you could consider a face time conversation!

All that aside though, really enjoying your summer desks, carry on with the showing and the telling please!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 735

Well, it's not looking overly productive because I've staged it a bit...but it has at least been prepped for use....

I cleared it of rubbish and GKW whilst cooking some supper yesterday, which revealed theses anniversary ATCs that arrived from all corners, Kelly, Neet, Susan and Elizabeth. Despite my tardiness at acknowledging, I am truly grateful that you took the time and effort...honestly June has just been such a flurry of a month that I'm still revelling in it rather than catching up. I still blame my Sissy; coming over here and requiring a stringent re-Anglicising - it was a punishing schedule! Very far left is the Order of Service from the family wedding which was one of the reasons my sister was here. Of course it's on the desk now waiting to be cut up to accompany the bazillion photos that we have amassed. So now there's cards and lovely current up-to-date scrapbooking to do....all I need is time! 

Please share and tell, help me ground myself in good crafty stuff that I can relax and enjoy!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 734

In the blink of an eye my American sister is on her way home and some administrative work is suddenly in order. Thing is, I can't bring myself to do it at the desk..I was outside, trying to make the most of the weather which is clearly starting to break. It got too windy, I couldn't deal with the floating and flying paperwork, so moved to a spot in the lounge where I could keep the garden doors open. 

So, you can see the sofa and the 'fire proof' file that we keep the important stuff in, the wrinkled up tablecloth where I dropped it in a heap last night, (it's a lot of material to scrunch up) and at left you can see the basket that houses my rather neglected thread journal. We've done so much and been to so many places this month that I just haven't been able to keep up! What a great reason, huh! Then there's the box of embroidery threads, a small collection of colours by any account, I think it speaks volumes about my luke warm commitment to this particular expression of creativity! My footstool is piled up with the immediate 'to do' and a notebook for the inevitable lists, and there on the sofa is my Ma In Law's Kindle waiting for me to refill with library books. She didn't read for pleasure before we gave her a kindle and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear her talking about this change in her life, and how she sometimes can't put the book down to do chores! Wonderful things, words,  when put in a good order! 

So, now that you've seen the splendour in which I wallow for rush admin work, show me what you're working on will you please...it may point me back to the relative sanity of my desk. Also, my Sis cleaned me out of cards that were left blank, so I have some re-stocking to do and you can be the inspiration driver!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 733

Well, the lack of actual sit-at-the-desk type crafting continues here, but I am slightly, on and off-ly, employed in a crafty vein. 

In January when I was flushed with the idea of new beginnings and the thread journal and how amazing it will be to maximise my leisure time to craft in ways other than cutting and sticking, I got carried away. Surprise! I bought a big red cotton (prolly) tablecloth in the January sale at IKEA and declared that every time a guest ate at our table, they should sign the cloth with a sharpie and I would embroider over it for the posterity of 2023. 

Well, I'm delighted to tell you that after completely forgetting from January to mid May, it's now in use and operation! There will have to be some retrospective signing, but hey, nobody's perfect. I've made a wobbly start as you can see. It's a big tablecloth and boy, it's warm to sit under, so I might actually consign it to the 'winter projects' basket. *cough* (There is no basket, and if there was it would be the  'basket of procrastination' and I can't consign it to anywhere because it needs to be on the dining table for people to sign...talk about about a millstone badly conceived plan!

So there we are gentle Deskers, that's me again. Still enjoying the company of my American Sissy and therefore enhanced visits to and from other fam; it's been fab and so far it's only rained at night....her re-anglicising continues apace and at this rate she'll go home with the idea that English summers are warm, bright and long! On that basis please forgive my sporadic attendance last week. I know a few of you are on holiday, hope you're having the best time! Join in if you can, show us where or what, that will be lovely.

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 732

This week has been taken up with glorious weather and visits to family with family; my big sister and her husband are here from Idaho and we have done a lot of visiting!

The desk isn't quite as same old as I thought actually...look at these

Some' old' looking ephemera (freshly printed, for sure,) and facsimiles of account books printed on A5, I have no idea where they fit within my craft needs or style, but I had to have them because they were extraordinarily cheap. Likewise the roll of handmade stickers; the other roll is Washi tape postage stamps. Really nice. I got them with a very slow delivery off a website called Temu that kept bugging me on Facebook! One of those where they offer you stuff for a penny for your first purchase. It seems to sell everything, put me in mind of a dollar store or something like it. Happy with these bits and pieces....and at least while I'm too busy to be at the desk, I can be thinking about what on earth I can use them for! If you can force yourself into the house to blog, we'd love to see what you're doing and what shape your Workdesk takes in theses summer months!

Put WOYWW in your title please, makes finding the right post easier if someone's running behind (cough) and link here. Sending you ice cream and flip flop vibes...

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 731

Gentle desker, it’s not that my desk is empty; that won’t happen unless we move. It’s just that it is completely unchanged, I haven’t so much as moved stuff a single centimetre until now. So I’m not showing you the work desk per se. Some of you will have seen on Facebook that I spent a couple of hours on Sunday sitting in the sun, catching up with my thread journal. As it’s now June and we’re half way through the year, I’m thinking this size of hoop will accommodate two yeqrs if not a third!
My not-much-younger sister is my judge on this one…every now and then she goes through it and if she can ‘see’ what the icon is meant to be, I tell her the story attached to it (by looking in the little diary I keep for this purpose.) At the beginning, I was putting the little pictures very close together for fear of not having enough room, but now they are reasonably spaced. Perspective is a huge issue, but I’m not going to consider it. My attempt at Salisbury Cathedral is almost the same size as the pair of little chicks above it. Thirty years ago when I had 20-20 vision this might have vexed me. Now, not at all!

Also this week, the happy Mail keeps me smiling, big thanks; these are from Susan and Neet, my word the ideas are just amazing. Truly, it’s not just on a Wednesday when thoughts of this community make me happy.

Now don’t faint, but this is a three-fer! I actually remembered, so am quickly going to tell you about the acrylic words that I had on my desk last week. Still there, but I have a pic of some of them by way of explanation. They’re about 4mm thick and laser cut. I buy them principally from two sources, Bramble Fox and Peartree Cutfiles. I use them for titles or additions to my scrapbook pages. Largely because I can’t bring myself to give them away on a card, but also because they aren’t always the right size for my kind of card making. In the picture, the ‘30’ set are actually mirror silver but have a protective film over them. They need a wet glue or silicone to attach, I find the silicone is better because it grabs the smooth backs better. The complicated cuts or thin, serif fonts are quite snappy, so they need reasonable storage if you end up hoarding them. Ask me how I know. I am however, over the innovation, and can use them with ease now, so you will see them on pages that I post here if you haven’t already. 

I could prolly ramble on some more, but I believe it was actually me that asked for a modicum of brevity for WOYWW posts, so that’ll be it for now. This is scheduled for reasons of ridiculously early appointments again, but it’s OK, I’m just the driver for this one, so I’ll try to log on whilst I’m waiting. Meanwhile, post and inspire please!