WOYWW Week 891/111 - Organising Stash

Hello Everyone,

I hope you've all had a good week whatever the weather. Here on Scotland's west coast we've had rain which has brought the temperatures down - much more comfortable to live with. 

This morning my desk is looking reasonably tidy. That's because I've been sorting through and organising papers, scraps and embellishments in the hope it's easier to make better use of it all. This started with me looking for what I call background papers, i.e. those with little or no pattern on them. I'm not sure how fascinating this is to you as it is to me all but here's where I've got to so far.

Up until now the papers in these trays were sorted by colour and I'd got into the habit of shoving all the scraps in with whole sheets. It got messy, and time consuming, to sort through. Now it's just whole sheets sorted by theme, e.g. the seasons, special occasions, and, on the top tray, suitable background papers. 

Sundry patterned papers are now easily accessed on a trolley to the left of the craft desk, out of the weekly shot. On the top shelf there's the full 12x12 patterned sheets together with a few full size sheets of stickers, and, of course, essential treats for Silver!

Larger sized scraps are now in the middle shelf and narrow strips on the bottom. 

That left all those much smaller ones that are too good to toss but difficult to file tidily. 

It's scraps like these that got me in to cardmaking years ago, but I don't make cards now so I am trying to incorporate as many as possible into my layouts. Being environmentally conscious prevents me from tossing them in the bin!

The homemade kit I pulled out yesterday included a fabulous paper from the 'Carefree' collection by Heidi Swapp which now forms the base for this layout.

The theme of the collection is of a dry sandy desert. I'm nowhere near a desert but there's plenty coastal sandy beaches. The two photos here, from 2022, are of scenes from Ayr. The boat is of MVF Watchful, a historic herring ring net fishing boat which, though it looked abandoned in the river estuary, was in fact intended to be a monument to all the souls lost at sea. Sadly, since the photo was taken the boat has been, having been found unsafe, demolished and removed.  The second photo is of the South Beach sand dune area that was used in the making of an episode of the TV series, 'Shetland'. Both photos are mounted on scraps of paper - that's a few more saved from the bin!

Finally, as Silver isn't posing in the desk shot this morning, here's a pic that made me laugh.

She clearly thinks I've no right to be laughing at her!

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW 890/110 - We're Having a Heatwave ...

Hello Everyone,

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to you all!

Oh my, but it's hot here in Ardrossan! Too hot for comfort. I thought I'd spend the day in the garden yesterday but had to give up as the temperature rose to an uncomfortable high. Today looks as though it's going to be just as hot giving me no option but to stay in the craftroom where it's cool. Oh, what a shame!

This was what was on my desk yesterday. It's what's left of homemade kit no.9. That doesn't mean I've worked my way through nos.1-8 already. I'm just pulling them out of storage in no particular order. More fun that way. This kit had some Disney themed papers and sticker sheets in it which had me stumped for a while. The only time I've ever been to a Disney park was in 1984 and the photos from then were scrapped a long time ago. 

One thing I've learned from following Shimelle's scrapbook videos, it is that it is possible to ignore the theme of a paper collection, in this case Echo Park's 'Magical Adventures', and adapt it for use with non-themed photos. On this page the photos are of Alan cuddling our great-niece way back in 2012. She won his heart from the first too. Her mum has reminded me of how his singing of a naughty ditty made Arihanna laugh much to my embarrassment! Happy days. 

This is what my desk is like this morning. Silver has given it the once over and approved the next kit I'll be using. This one is no.116 and I had the foresight to label it with details of the contents, Echo Park's summer themed papers purchased from Hey Little Magpie in 2022. Just before we moved house. 

I'm still struggling to sort out the garden after months of neglect but despite that the roses are in full bloom and this one is a real favourite with the bees. This is a rose I inherited with the garden and I've no idea what it's name is. It's beautiful whatever it's called. 

You've already seen a pic of Silver today so I thought this week I'd introduce you to Glasgow's Scottie Dogs. 

And finally the one with the cone, of course!

There's a total of 40 giant Scottie sculptures and 52 wee ones on this free art trail around Glasgow. The large Scotties were designed and painted by local artists, the wee ones were created by local schoolchildren. All in support of Maggie's a charity that provides support to people with cancer, their family and friends. They will be on show until 16th August and then the large ones will be auctioned off to raise funds for Maggie's. The wee ones will be returned to the schools. 

Well, I think that's enough from me today.  More than I intended but I hope you enjoyed those photos of the Scottie Dogs. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 889/109

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well and enjoying time at your craftdesks. Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments welcoming me back last week. They were much appreciated.

This was my desk yesterday morning after I spent some time reorganising and clearing a space for Silver to sit/snooze on while I work. She loves to pop up and see me at work but she usually plopped herself down on the pile of materials that were kept over to the left. I think she likes making herself snug under the shelf. She clearly likes sitting on paper so I've forfeited that 12x12 sheet for her own personal use. 

My desk just a few hours later. I had been working on a layout and these are all the materials and scraps leftover once it was completed. Notice there's no furry friend keeping me company after all my efforts to make her welcome. It took no time at all for me to clear up so it's now as organised and tidy again as in the first photo. 

The photo in today's layout is of my middle grandson, Joshua, and his girlfriend as she was then, now his fiancee, Annie. It's dated 2019 - seven years ago and they've hardly changed at all! Having finished the first homemade kit I pulled out another to work on. I will just keep working through these kits for now because it is fun to discover stash I'd forgotten I had. The design is based on a sketch from Shimelle's Start With a Sketch classes - from a few years back. 

The last few days have been a bit warmer and drier too, Just a few light showers to keep the grass green! We take advantage of any good days and get out into the garden to potter. Well, I potter while Silver chases around after bees. 

And there are plenty of bees to see popping in and out of the foxglove flowers. I grew them from seed but, as they are biennials, I had to be patient and wait until now to see them in bloom. 

Sadly, much has been neglected and the weeds are threatening a takeover but I can only do a little bit at a time. I'm not fretting about it. It is what it is!

Now, I know some of you are just here to see Silver so here she is.

 As you can see she was hissing at another cat who had the temerity to stray into her territory. You can see her hackles are very much up. This is the kitty that used to welcome all her furry friends into the garden of our last house! The episode passed off without fur flying and the trespasser left unharmed. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth