WOYWW Week 898/118 - Burning Eggs

Hello Everyone,

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. I hope you are all well and enjoying a great crafty week so far. Here on the Scottish coast of the Clyde Estuary it is cloudy and there's promise of yet more rain. We've had a lot of that over the last few days. All of it very welcome - for now!

On my desk this morning - photo actually taken yesterday evening but nothing has changed so far this morning. I thought you might like to see the contents of one of my home made scrap kits. Not in numerical order - this one is No.67 - and possibly not the best example but it was the next pulled out of the pile. It consists of one sheet of yellow cardstock, one sheet of patterned paper, a wee pile of paper strips, embellishments and a photo. I'm not sure what I had in mind to do with all those paper strips when I put the kit together but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Just not today. 

I have another desk I'm working on today and for the foreseeable future. 

It's the table in the living room. It's a very old gateleg table. The Ikea craft desk is practical and serves it's purpose but it is no match for the solidity of this old table made of real wood. What I'm working on there is a pile of recently made layouts. They are almost complete. All they need is for me to add some journaling then they can be filed away in the appropriate albums. It's one of those jobs we scrapbookers tend to procrastinate over but eventually it has to be done!

This is the page last made and is there in front on the table waiting for that final journaling. The photos are of my youngest granddaughter Shari taken in her 20s in 2023. She was a guitarist and singer performing in a band at the time. I associate the colour purple with her so this, another of my kits, was perfect. All the supplies are from old stash, details of most long lost but I can say that the foiled background card used as a photo mount, 'Sheet Metal', is from Kanban Crafts. Now there's a blast from the past.  The foam letters for the title are from Shimelle's ' 'Main Character' collection, appropriately enough dated 2023. There's scraps and bits and pieces from Simple Stories and Studio Light Art. The finishing touch is the sewing machine stitching. I can't remember when I last did that. 

And now it's Silver time. 

Looks like she's decided that if she can't beat me, she will become a bookworm too. 

She's checking out the shelves. 

Spot the cat in the library!

It's August, start of the school year and time for me to begin the home study of Scottish literature. This term I'm concentrating on Scottish crime fiction. I'm doing it for pleasure so it has to be my favourite genre. Over summer I've been reading 'Read Yourself Happy' by Daisy Buchanan. I love books, and there's rarely been a time when I didn't have my nose in a book, but recently I went through a long spell where I couldn't concentrate on reading. Seems that it's down to something called "grief brain", a temporary condition that I admit I did find distressing. Happily, the love of reading has returned to normal and 'Read Yourself Happy' has helped. It's a great book to dip into with chapters such as 'Read yourself funny', 'Reading like a writer', Reading around the world'. The author recommends so many books to read - many of which I've added to my TBR (to be read) list. So many books, so little time. 

I realise I haven't added any funnies to my posts as I once did. I haven't been collecting them like I used to. But maybe this will make you laugh - it certainly had my daughter laughing out loud. Recently I was hard boiling three eggs to use in potato salad. I put them in a pot of water and on the hob to boil. I knew I had seven minutes to wait. Seven minutes can't be wasted. I thought I'd just do a bit of prepping for the scrap layout I was working on. I'm sure you know what happened next. I forgot the eggs. It wasn't until I smelt a strange odour that I remembered them. I found some very burnt looking eggs but I was just in time to save the pot. 

When my daughter stopped laughing she recommended that this electric egg cooker was the only way to ensure I never burn eggs again. I should add, this isn't the first time I've burnt the eggs. I've done it several times before. The first time I remember was when I was in the army and working shifts. When I came off a night shift I boiled my breakfast eggs in the kettle in our barracks kitchen. I burned out the kettle! Of course, I had the cost of a new kettle deducted from my wages that week and banned from the boiling of eggs in the new one. You'd have thought I'd have learned, but, no, I've repeated it many times since. 

It's a long post today so if you have got this far give yourself a pat on the back. However that's me for this week. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

To Travel Is To Live - A Scrapbook Layout

Hello Everyone,

The third layout using another of the homemade kits I put together last year. After sorting through our massive photo collection and filing them into albums that only had spaces for photos that are 6x4, or smaller, in size left me with a pile of and panoramic and oversized photos needing a home. The photo on the layout is one of them ... it's of my husband, taken in Southern Ireland in 1999. It shows the mist rising up from the hills on a perfect Irish morning.

The base of this layout is a fabulous Webster's Pages paper showing fluffy white clouds on a beautiful blue sky. I've been stroking this paper for a very long time - two years at least - but it proved to be a difficult paper to use on a layout. Until, that is, I found this photo. The sky is not an exact match but I think it's near enough for me to get away with it. 

So here's a list of supplies used.

Base Paper - 'Journey Begins' from Webster's Pages Our Travels collection
Papers used for layering the photo and making embellishments - all from Simple Stories You Are Here collection (2016)
Stickers - Bo Bunny - the wavy multi-coloured strip below the photo; Simple Stories You Are Here 'Expressions' Stickers; Webster's Pages 'Sprinkled With Love'
Alphas - turquoise letters from Simple Stories Snap! Studio Brights; pale orange from previously mentioned 'Expressions' sticker sheet
Ink used to edge everything - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Weathered Wood 
Punches used to cut the three circles in each of the three embellishment clusters - Stampin' Up 1¼" & 1" circles
Enamel dots - Simple Stories So Fancy; Echo Park Petticoats & Pinstripes; Docrafts Papermania  Orange Neon Gems

The flower motif and the orange camera were fussy cut out from journaling cards in the Simple Stories collection and the small camera was cut from a Project Life card

The title is a quote from Hans Christian Anderson and the 'I haven't been everywhere ...', which was already printed on one of the Simple Stories papers, is from Susan Sontag.

I'm undecided what to do next. Should I make another layout or should I get my sewing machine out, or should I make a Valentine's card for a certain someone tomorrow ... oops! I think I've just answered my own question!

Captured - A Scrapbook Layout

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are having a lovely Sunday and that the weekend has been good for you.

I don't know how I did it but I seemed to have missed (International) National Scrapbook Day. I had it in my mind that it was today but it seems it was yesterday.

Not to worry, I still managed to complete one page! Being the world's slowest scrapbooker that is something of an achievement. Nothing special and nothing very different from my usual style either. I think I need to challenge myself a bit more and try different formats before my albums start to look a bit too samey. Anyway, it is what it is.

All the supplies are old. I'm making a point of using up as much stuff out of my stash as possible. For example the base paper is from 2012, an Amy Tangerine Yes, Please design from American Crafts, Remember. The heart covered yellow design is another American Crafts paper, Wild Hearts, and the stripe is just the flip side of it. The polka dot design is from Simple Stories, Hello Baby - the cut apart that forms the base of top left cluster is from the same collection. In fact, I fussy cut the striped flowery heart from the bottom of that same cut apart - otherwise it would have been hidden. Some of the embellishments are from the Simple Stories So Fancy collection but most are the result of a rummage through my not inconsiderable stash. The floral washi is Trimcraft's Ruban Riverbank Rebels and I used a couple of words from Girl Words (I know, that's my great-grandson in the photo but I was very selective) from Echo Park's Petticoats & Pinstripes collection. I used a Project Life card from the Jade Collection to give me my title, 'Captured'.

I've no idea why I've given you those details - most, if not all, of the supplies are quite probably unavailable by now! I'm still on a spending freeze (sort of) so don't be too surprised to see more and more old supplies making an appearance in my projects. I think it is just possible I have enough to keep me going for another twelve months.

The photo is of our Callum, taken a year ago, capturing him pulling a very disgusted face. At the time he was going through a phase of making faces. He'd become quite an expert at it and had a full range, everything from extreme pleasure to sheer disgust. Seems like his breakfast didn't please him that morning.

After all that effort I have a bit of a mess to clear up but, once that's done, I may start on another page. The day is still young. I might even get it completed before the sun goes over the yardarm. Who am I kidding!

On that note I'll bid you a very good evening.