What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 833

Hello Everyone,

Happy WOYWW to you all.

After having missed last week's celebrations, I almost decided not to post today but here I am hoping to write the fasted WOYWW post ever, We've had the most heatwave of heatwaves up here in Scotland. Totally unexpected and I, for one, am not acclimatised to anything like it. So much so, I've been suffering from heat exhaustion. My own fault! I went out in the midday sun and only fools do that. You'd think someone in their late seventies would know better!! I've recovered but. as you can imagine, very little has been accomplished in the meantime. The photo above was actually planned for last week's post. I hope you all enjoyed WOYWW's 16th Anniversary celebrations. I was so sad to have to miss it. 

This is the desk this morning. I have to admit that there's not been a lot going on, Not here in the craftroom and not out in the garden either. It was all going so well too! Anyway, yesterday was my kid brother's birthday. Looking for pics of him had me dashing down the proverbial rabbit hole. There's nothing quite like a sibling's birthday to make me nostalgic for the 'good old days' when we were young and the world was, well, different!

While I'm showing what's actually on my desk, I think I should reveal what there is to the right of it. Stuff, of course. Paper kits, stencils, Nuvo drops, a basket of small paper punches, the guillotine, more scrappy stash, sketches, rulers and an essential, the TV remote control. There's more underneath. Carefully horded embellishments and the basket of punches is perched on top of a box of old photographs. Family history that I'm trying to record for posterity or, if not that, for my very interested granddaughter, 

09/2025 - Movie News

This is the page that was in progress last week. The photos are from the news photos that appeared when Hollywood came to Glasgow to make the movie Batgirl in January 2022. It's the second of it's sort filmed in the city. The Victorian architecture makes the perfect backdrop to these movies. To quote my granddaughter, 'Glasgow is the new Gotham City'. 

Still aiming to use as much of my old stash as possible, most of the materials here are pre 2022 with the exception of the die-cuts in the embellishment clusters. They are from a more recent collection - Shimelle's 'Reasons to Smile'. An impulse buy last year. What can I say? It's so difficult to resist all the lovely new collections. I try. I try.

As Silver has aready had a starring role in this week's post, here's just one of the photos I unearthed from the box of memories yesterday to mark my brother Colin's 73rd birthday. 

Here he is with my middle sister, Margaret, It's lovely. They were lovely. They still are lovely. They are both wearing sweaters our mother made on her knitting machine. I remember them well. 

And finally, 

As if there is any doubt!

That's it for this week from me. Once again, I'm sorry I missed last week so belated congratulations to Julia, who dreamed up WOYWW for us all to enjoy for so many years, and to Sarah for taking up the baton and keeping the weekly desk fest going. Long may it continue. 

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone, 

Take care, 

Elizabeth 

Lest We Forget

James Patrick Douglas

Stretcher Bearer WW1

Margaret Douglas wife of James Patrick Douglas &

their children, Elizabeth & Robert Douglas

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW 275

Evening Everyone,

I know, disgracefully late, but considering I wasn't too sure whether I would be able join in this week, I'm pretty chuffed to be here and revealing what's on my poor neglected desk today. After all, the week isn't the same without my WOYWW fix. It's gonna be brief  ... there really isn't much to show.

After taking ill last WOYWW day, just when I was having so much fun hopping from desk to desk, I'm now under strict orders to take things a bit easier ... surely that just means less housework and more crafting ... so I've pulled out the family history records. It's seriously time to sort it all out and into the album I've set up, Project Life style, starting with everything I have on my late father. I've found some Sally Butler scrapbook design papers that are ideal for collating details and I've even devised my own check sheet to keep me straight. I suspect the book could be so out of date that it is going to be only very limited help to me in my research but I've pulled it off the shelf anyway.

I said there wasn't much to look at! Although I find genealogy an endlessly fascinating subject,  I have to admit that from a crafting perspective the paperwork isn't all that interesting to look at, yet!

Don't know what WOYWW is all about, pop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground where you can find out all the info and loads of links to many more desks. Me, I'm now going to begin checking out desks. As I'm told I need to pace myself, listen to my body, etc., etc., etc., I hope you will forgive me if it takes the better part of the week to do all that hopping :)

In the meantime, I hope you have a great week.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW 217

And I hope it is a happy WOYWW for you all, even if it does seem to come round much too fast every week.

So time to reveal all again ... no idea what I'm about to reveal, then I suggest you start by hopping over to our desk keeper extraordinaire, Julia's Stamping Ground where all is revealed :)

On my desk this week there's an album I'm working on, piles of old family photographs, the label maker that I was using, my newest toy, a spritzer, the dish of adhesives, plaid cover concealing baby wipes, scissors, jug of pens and pencils, and toilet rolls!

The spritzer only arrived today and I've only had a little play with it but you can see that it works. However, it will take a good bit more practice yet, methinks. So far I've tried out Memento Dual Markers, TH Distress Markers and ProMarkers - the last gave the best results. Using a template for the apple was fun and it doesn't look too bad at all. It's all in how you direct the pen and getting the puff just right - just needs perseverance :)

As many of you know, I had a huge sort out of my massive photo collection recently. What was left has filled two drawers in a little chest of drawers and the family history photos have filled a big archival box - that's an awful lot of scrapping!!! In fact, it clearly going to be impossible for me to scrap even a fraction of them. Needless to say, I've been puzzling over what to do about them ever since. After much research, I have decided that the best thing I can do is get those photos into albums as quickly as possible, and to do this I'm adapting the Project Life method.

This particular page records the funeral of my two great-great uncles who died tragically in a mining accident at the Eccles Mine, Raleigh, West Virginia in 1910. They were buried at Wildwood Cemetery there and the photos on the funeral notice are the only ones I have. It's a sad, sad story, they were only 24 and 22 years old at the time. The page includes a copy of the obituary that was published in the Fifeshire Advertiser shortly after the event.

As usual, these photos were taken just after midnight before turning in for the night. So I'm off to bed now, but I'll be back and linking with Julia some time in the morning, and then visiting as many of you as I can possibly manage.

In the meantime, happy crafting everyone,

Passing Out ...

... no, not literally!

Hi Everyone,

No WOYWW today ... I've a busy few days in front of me and I just know I wouldn't be able to give my fellow WOYWWers the attention they deserved :( Besides, there really was nothing on my desk to show ... it's so tidy it's boring. Instead, I have this scrap page to share.

The photo in this layout shows me dressed in my 'best', No.1, uniform immediately after my Passing Out Parade in February 1966. I'd just finished the six-week initial training period at Queen Elizabeth Barracks,  Guildford, which, sadly, no longer exists. To my knowledge, this is the only photo of me in uniform still in existence - one for the Family History album, methinks :)

Choosing the papers to go with this particular photo was interesting and not just because it's black and white, the subject didn't lend itself to the obvious 'vintage' style papers.  They just didn't work with it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any swinging sixties style patterns in my stash - pop-art might have been good. I could have tried green ... the WRAC uniform was dark green - designed by no less a man than Norman Hartnell, designer to the Queen! - but that didn't appeal. I finally decided to use the very current Dear Lizzy papers because I like the aquas and teals and the stripes and triangles struck me as more appropriate than flowers/leaves/etc.

The layout is a scraplift inspired by Hayley Morris's page, entitled 'My Precious Memories' in Issue 70, Scrapbook Magazine.  For the background, I chose a dark grey SEI paper which had a tiny lighter grey dot pattern. The embellishments are a mix of ready-made stickers and die-cuts and a few I made myself, e.g the yellow stars were all made using either a die or were punched from Dear Lizzy paper and the taupe deckle-edged circles were die-cut from scraps of Kanban paper. When it came to the journaling, I almost came unstuck - where to write it was a bit of a test. I suppose I could have used a white pen on the grey background but I didn't think I could do a good job with the only white pen I own. As you can see, I went with filling in the area to the right of the photo.

Supplies used:
Papers: SEI Juliette, My Romeo patterned paper(side 2) for base; Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic paper collection; Kanban Vintage Tapestry
Embellishments: Corners from Docrafts Chronology Die-cut Toppers; My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Howdy Doody 'Lovely' stickers; Teresa Collins Fabrications 'Canvas' Die-cut sheet & Sticker Sheet; teal coloured tiny brads; teal/white baker's twine; Trimcraft Flower Riverbank Revels yellow polka dot washi tape
Titles: BoBunny letter stickers Country Garden Tiny Type; American Crafts thickers Newsprint
Tools: Docrafts X-cut nesting dies Star & Spiro Circle; X-cut star corner punch

Only a few snippets went in to the layout but I think I'll be skipping over toDi's at Pixie's Crafty Snippets. It's week 59 and I'm keen see what the others in the playground are up to :))

More background to the photo which might be of interest to some readers:  The WRAC - Women's Royal Army Corp - was disbanded in 1992 and women have since been integrated into the rest of the army. Queen Elizabeth Barracks was also known as the 'Powder Puff' barracks - all those women - and was the height of luxury compared with any other army camp I was billeted in - only four beds to a room!  Now redeveloped, it is an estate of private houses and flats, I believe.  We had two uniforms, one for 'best' and another, more practical one for everyday wear.  The best, as seen in the photo, was the least flattering ... it had a way of flattening our natural attributes :) Oh, and I loathed that cap - it had a metal band inside that was like a vice - it hurt! I much preferred the everyday beret :)

Right, I'm reliably informed that there is a pot of tea on the go, so I'm off to get a cuppa and start planning the next project on the to-do list.

Thanks for visiting, take care all and happy crafting,

WOYWW 171 - plus Hero - a family history scrap page

Hello WOYWWers, Followers and All,

Another Wednesday and time to reveal the mess that is my workdesk this week.

Piles, more piles and yet more piles - not a pretty sight. Believe me, I tried taking the photo from various angles but none were an improvement. As you can see I've been scrapbooking. To the left you can just see the completed 12" x 12" posted here. On the right are two 8" x 8" layouts, also completed, and they should now be in the album that's lying underneath at the bottom of that pile. And slap bang in the middle is the start of the next layout. The pack of markers are the ones I use for writing up the journaling.

That's a box of paper strips at the back.  I've been riffling through them looking for just the right ones for the layout.  Goodness knows why I keep them - I should just bin them and admit it's a hoarding of snippets too far :) Behind that there's a couple of piles of photographs - I've been riffling through them too. The rest is just the usual detritus that seems to accumulate from week-to-week. I think I will have to have a blitz later ... just looking at this photo is making me twitchy.

To join in the fun of snooping round lots of workdesks, messy or otherwise, around the world, just pop over to Julia's place, the Stamping Ground, where you can find links to all those crafters who chose to reveal all, whether it's a desk, a dining table, a kitchen worktop or even the floor. Go on, you'll enjoy it  :))

As I'm sure to be asked about it, here's a close up of the layout lying on the top of the pile to the left.

This wonderfully proud gentleman is my great-grandfather, James Patrick Douglas. This photograph was taken in 1915, just before he was sent out to France. He was a 43 year old nursery gardener at the time - rather old to be in the forces but they were desperate times and James had previous experience, having fought in the second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902, when he was in late twenties. I can only assume that was why he and my great-grandmother didn't marry until 1904 when he was 32 and she was 29 ... quite old by the standards of the day. I do know that they were very much in love and had a son and a daughter, my grandmother, by 1915. He served with the  Field Ambulance Corps, as a stretcher bearer, and somehow survived the war. However, he had lung damage from gas attacks and suffering from shell shock - what we would now diagnose as PTSD - and definitely a hero.

The layout is made using leftovers and scraps and was inspired by Sarah Engels-Greer creations featured in the October 12 issue of Craft Stamper. The Kraft base was sponged with white gesso before adding the stamping with Dawn Bibby’s Delicate Scroll and bits and bobs from my snippets pile. I searched a biographical dictionary to find a page that featured the name Douglas. The title was die-cut using X-Cut’s Rome Alphabet Die and a strip of tartan patterned paper – sadly, not the Douglas tartan.

Ah, there's the magic word snippets again which means this layout qualifies for Di's Snippet Challenge #37 I think, even though it is not a card. 

It's the early hours of Wednesday morning here in Scotland, so I'm off to bed now but I'll be back later to join in the deskhop.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy WOYWW and happy crafting,

WOYWW 154 - Scrapbooking Family History

Hello Everyone,

And a very happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to you all. Gosh, but the week has sped by for me ... how has it been for you? I've been busy on the cardmaking front, most of which have been posted throughout the week, but now I'm on to something entirely different.

I've been researching the family history for quite a number of years now, have amassed a huge amount of paper and files on the subject, including birth, marriage and death certificates and census records, and it's all needing sorted out which explains the piles of the stuff on my desk.

The book you can see on my desk has proved to be very useful in suggesting how I can go about creating  scrap pages with journaling that includes much of the information I've gleaned in my research.

You can also see my first attempts at crocheting flowers ... they use up very little yarn and crochet up very quickly. Apart from using them on cards and scrap pages, I might also make some to sew on the bed throw I'm crocheting for my little granddaughter - it could like quite pretty with a scattering of flowers over it.

So that's what's on my desk this week ... for anyone who still hasn't discovered WOYWW, I suggest you pop along to Julia's at Stamping Ground - just click the WOYWW icon on the sidebar here to be whisked over - where she will introduce you to how you can enjoy the vicarious delights to be got from snooping at the desks of a great many crafters from around the world.

I'm keeping it brief again, so I'll wish you all a lovely day.  As usual, I'll be attempting to visit as many of you as possible today, and throughout the rest of the week. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to visit everybody every week ... I always seem to run out of week long before I run out of WOYWWers to visit :(  That doesn't stop me trying though, so hope to see you soon :)

Happy crafting,