WOYWW Week 900/120 - Celebration Time!

Hello Everyone,

Happy 900th edition of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. What an amazing number to reach and all down to the three wonderful ladies. First and foremost Julia, Stamping Ground, who dreamed up the idea some 17 years ago! Then there's Jan, Lunch Lady Jan's Fabric Frenzy, who stood in temporarily while Julia had a much needed break. Finally, we have Sarah, Sarah's Craft Shed, who has now been hosting WOYWW for 120 weeks! What they have created is a wonderful community of crafters that just keeps going - it may well be the longest, most enduring, weekly get-together in blogland.

I don't remember when I first became aware of Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, but it was on Week 71 I plucked up the courage to join in. I have been ever grateful that I did. The welcome I received gave me the confidence to become a regular desker. 

Sarah suggested that we share our first 00 post to celebrate this wonderful occasion. For me that was this one here, Week 100. It's not particularly exciting though it did follow the Easter weekend, a Royal Wedding - Prince William & Kate - celebrated with an extra bank holiday. 

I believe it was Jan who originally suggested the WOYWW crops that became an annual event for a few years - until 2020 stopped the fun. I can't remember the years I was able, with the help of my dear enabler, Alan, to attend the crops but what I do remember is how wonderful it was to meet up with so many lovely crafters, many of whom have become firm friends, and sadly a few who have since passed away. I've spent way too much time today looking through posts trying to find some of the many photos taken at the crops, but with very little luck. I think they may be on my old computer and not this newer laptop. Here's the few I have tracked down.

These two photos are from 20017 & 2018

Annie, Wipso, Jan and Julia.

Jan & Julia.

Julia & Me.

This is a scrap page made with photos from crops and it seems I have a year missing - I'm just not sure which one. 

Happy days. 

There's not much on my desk today but this was how it was last night. 

I'd had to shoo Silver off to work on a page. My trusty guillotine, an adhesive tape runner, paper scraps and a reel of pink & white cord are, unusually, all that was lying about. On the far top left is an alphabet stamp set waiting to be used one day. 

The photo on this page is of me, my two brothers and my middle sister - the youngest had not arrived by the year this was taken, around 1955/56. It's a photo that always makes me smile because the wee story attached to it. My mother's youngest sister, Jean, still a teenager was babysitting that day when a travelling photographer knocked on our door - they did that back then. Jean happily agreed to have him take this photo of us. She got us together, sat us on the top of the sideboard for the shot. It wasn't until the photo was delivered some time later that mum spotted something Jean had missed completely. The sweater my little brother, Colin, was wearing was not clean - he'd spilt half his dinner down it! Mum was so embarrassed. The photo was hidden away then and it was many years before it saw the light of day again! 

This week's pic of Silver enjoying the afternoon sunlight. 

Instead of how I usually sign off it's seems fitting that I repeat how I signed off, updated, for WOYWW Week 100. 

For anyone who has just stumbled over this blog post and has no earthly idea what I'm prattling on about, what WOYWW is about, then please, with no further ado, hop over to the lovely Sarah's's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will find a plethora of links to a lot more crafty desks - go on, treat yourself - it's the best snoopathon ever!

Take care and happy crafting to you all.

Elizabeth Worthington

WOYWW Week 899/119 - Scrapbooking Supplies

Hello Everyone

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. I hope you've had a lovely week whatever you've been doing, and whatever the weather you've been enduring. Up here in my corner of Scotland it's been cooler but dry forcing me to get the watering can out again. It could be worse. Heavens, it has been worse, so I'm not complaining!

On my desk today a pile of photos. Just a fraction of my entire collection. It's only too evident that I am never going to scrap them all. But, I will do my best. For me it's the photos that come first when it comes to what I need for scrapbooking. That being said, the supplies used in making pages are many and varied. I know I go on about being on a spending freeze because of how much stash I have already but the requirements for scrapbooking are many and varied. For those who are not scrappers, but who might want to give it a go one day, here is a glimpse of just some of what I use in the making of pages.

Cardstock in various colours. Great for backing photos and layouts. Not absolutely essential as a starter, many of the plainer patterned papers make good starting points too.   

Patterned paper. I'd say this is absolutely essential. It can be bought loose or in themed packs. Often the packs contain other supplies, e.g. sheets of stickers, journaling elements, labels, etc.  The sheets can be single or double-sided. I prefer double-sided as it gives more choice. 

Letters, often referred to as 'alphas', and word stickers for creating titles. There are other supplies not shown in this photo - die-cut sets, stamp sets and even ready-made acrylic words to name a few.  

Sticker sheets and books used to create embellishment clusters. Oh, there are so many available to the avid scrapper like me. I'd say they are the sweeties of the scrapping world and just as hard to resist!!!

Die-cuts. Almost as hard to resist as stickers. These can be purchased ready-made in packs or they may be cut out using dies with a die-cutting machine. Alternatively, they can be fussy-cut from pretty patterned papers or downloaded printables that are specifically designed for cutting out. 

And last, but not least, the finishing touches. What some scrapbookers refer to as 'confetti'. For example: enamel dots, rhinestones, pearls, stencils, inks, washi tapes, punches, dies, stamps, Nuvo drops, wooden embellishments. Pens! I've almost forgotten the pens that are essential for journaling.

It's a lot for anyone contemplating becoming a scrapbooker. Be warned! As I know only too well, supplies have a way of multiplying! 

However, it's worth it to be able to create layouts like this one. Another first of the monthly pages for my 2023 album. This time for the month of March. The photos are a wee selection of those taken on walks and a trip to Glasgow during the month. Of course Silver had a starring role. 

She's been busy distracting me from finishing this post this morning. She wants to play.

How can I resist!

And finally a few funnies that I think are appropriate for today.

It's another long post today so if you have got this far this week give yourself another pat on the back. Next week is the big 900 and I'm so looking forward to seeing all your 00 memories. Such fun!  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

WOYWW Week 897/117 - On Photography and Cameras

Hello Everyone, 

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Hope you have a lovely day - whatever the weather.  

On my desk is the scrapbook world's newest recruit! (Photo taken yesterday), She's a quick learner.

This has now become a bit of a change for me - a layout with just one photo! It's of my only niece and I just have this one photo of her from that time, about 1984/5. This page just had to have flowers, butterflies, hearts and the colour pink - all so appropriate for such a pretty little girl. The spending freeze is still going surprisingly well and I've not felt the need to buy anything except the essential adhesive tape runners. The oldest supply used is the alpha set for the title - Dear Lizzy's 'Serendipity' foam letters from 2011!

I'm finding it increasingly wasteful to create a page with a single photo. Mainly because, as I may have mentioned before, living in a small flat means there is so much less room to store scrapbook albums, but there's also the inescapable fact that I have hundreds of photos to deal with. I've been sorting through all those photos, binned the ones that are no longer relevant for one reason or another, e.g. if I don't recognise the subject or it's yet more of the many beautiful plants in the beautiful gardens we visited. There's only so many pages of flowers anyone needs in their albums!

So, knowing this, the aim from now is to get as many photos on one 12x12 page as possible. I've completed Shimelle's 3x4 Photo Love class which has helped enormously. This page is an example of what I've learned. The photos are all of my late husband's mother holidaying on the Isle of Man. To make scrapping them easier, I used my camera to photograph the original, very old photos and printed them all out in 3x4 size. Much easier than trying to work with the variety of sizes of the originals. 

This page is going into an album I've been putting together for Alan's nephew. It's one of several I'm putting together for various members of my family, like my niece in the page above. Another way of dealing with the limited space I have for my own albums. 

Of course, I wouldn't have this problem if I wasn't such a keen amateur photographer. I just can't help myself. Ever since I watched my father taking snapshots with his old Kodak Box Brownie, I've been interested in all things to do with photography so found this exhibit in Callender House, Falkirk, fascinating. 

The photos are a record of the people and industry that were once seen in the area. 

Most of the pictures in the exhibition were taken with this Mamiya 545 from 1975, using the Kodak Tri x 400asa film. I believe the film is still available today.

It's totally different from this, my first camera bought in 1964 - an Ilford Sprite. I remember being so thrilled to have saved enough from my job in the bank to buy it before I went off on my first solo holiday that year. It's a world of difference from the digital cameras I have to choose from today - either my Nikon D3400 Digital Camera, or even the one on my mobile phone. 

As Silver has taken the starring role already today and after that trip down memory lane, I think it's time I left you with my usual message. 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

WOYWW Week 843 : A Quiet Week

Hello WOYWWers, Followers, Everyone,

On the desk this morning is the February introduction page for this year's album. As usual, I've chosen a few photos that serve as a reminder of just some of what happened that month.  Scattered about are some bits and bobs I might add to the pockets, There's a pack of photos waiting to be dated and filed away until I'm ready to make pages with them. The book that can be seen just off to the right is one I've just finished reading. More about it later.

I've been able to not just work in the garden now but spend time relaxing in the summerhouse. I use the spotty bag to transport the memoir I've been struggling to finish since January, notebooks I jot stuff in, pencils, one of my favourite mugs and the flask containing a latte until I'm ready to drink it. 

Silver takes up residence in the spotty bag whenever it's empty. She's not fussy. Anywhere will do, even when it's been left on the ironing board. Oh, and those towels - I spotted them in Asda and just could not resist that gorgeous peach colour!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney. I love a good mystery. A couple living a normal, happy, almost idyllic life in a house on a beach in a friendly little Scottish village, Fairlie, with their much loved seven year old son and a dog. Sounds perfect until one day the son, while playing on the beach, disappears! From there the story takes us through the aftermath with some unexpected twists and turns that I certainly didn't expect. What made it all the more interesting to me is that Fairlie is just up the coast from where I am now. The villages & towns, landscape and places mentioned are familiar to me. Even the village my daughter lives in gets a mention. Although the author now lives in New Zealand, he was born and grew up in Ayrshire so he knows the area well. If, like me, you enjoy a gripping good read then I'd recommend this book.

Finally, a few of the funnies I've collected this week.

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 840: Printing Multi Photos for Scrapbook Pages

Hello Everyone,

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

The answer to that question is that there's not a lot on my desk today. For good reason. I have had another fall. This time I tripped on Silver's new cat box.

It replaced a smaller cardboard box kept in the hall that she'd chewed to bits. I hadn't got used to it being larger and tumbled over it on my way to the kitchen to make my first cuppa of the day. I'm now sporting some very colourful bruises, still a  bit shaken, and hurting in places I'd rather not. Happily, no damage to my ribs this time.  

Back to the photos. A few days ago I was inspired by a fellow scrapper on Facebook to try printing multi photos using my Canon Selphy Printer CP910.

It's an old one, bought in 2011, but still going strong. It's not just compact, it's wireless and I am able with the Canon SPL app to print direct from my mobile phone. Usually, I print the 6"x4" size but occasionally I've printed two 3"x4" images on one print. 

The inspiration was to be more daring and create collages of more images like the one above; making it a way to deal with the huge number of photos taken on my mobile phone - many more than I would have taken before the digital age! It's also money-saving. The price of packs of toner cartridges and paper have risen considerably in the last year or so. 

These eight photos were all taken while having a stroll down at Ardrossan's seafront so I could use them on one 12"x12" layout. However, there's a very different story attached to each strip which leads me to decide to create two pages rather than one. The top strip is of a visit to the newly opened Wellbeing Cafe at the end of the beach road. The lower strip shows the emergency helicopter looking for the best place to land as near to the beach as possible, aiming to bring medical aid to a canoeist in trouble. 

Silver has already made it to this post so let's skip straight to a this week's funnies.

Life with Silver in cartoon form!

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

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 781

Hello Everyone,

It's all change for WOYWW today. Julia has handed the baton over to Sarah at Sarah's Craft Shed after 15 years of keeping her wonderful blog hop going. I remember being delighted to discover WOYWW almost 14 years ago. It was a joy to 'meet' so many crafters, like myself, who were willing to show the spaces where they craft, be it on desks or floors, and all because Julia had the idea we could all get together virtually through her blog, the Stamping Ground. So it may be the end of an era with Julia retiring, not to mention her able assistant, Lunch Lady Jan, but I'm sure Sarah is a worthy successor. 

And this is what's on my desk today. I wasn't able to travel down this year to the 15th Anniversary Crop but Jo (aka Twiglet) and Annie (aka Wipso) sent me their ATCs so I don't feel completely left out. I've seen some of the photos taken at the crop and I can see it was great fun for everyone there. Maybe next year I'll make it. 

Over recent weeks, if nothing else, I've managed to revive my enthusiasm for scrapbooking. It's good. It's an improvement. Participating in the Scrap-a-Sketch Rainbow Challenge helped enormously. That's seven pages completed for seven colours! With renewed interest, I've not stopped. Here's two more made from the remnants of kits put together from stash before we moved house in 2022.

Crafting Keeps Me Sane

This page is about crafting being therapeutic for me. The crochet blanket is progressing slowly but it helped get me through the worst of winter weather.  I love the quilted knitting bag I made a few years ago at the quilting classes I attended in Prestwick. Sadly, the pandemic led to the closure of the classes. 

I don't often remember to take a photo of leftovers when a kit is done but there was so little left of this one that I just had to take a pic for the record. 

Zillenials Doing It Their Way

Another page that uses up the tail end of another homemade kit. The two photos show my grandchildren, Shari & Josh (hands and phone only) ordering our food online even though we were in the restaurant at the time. It's showing my age I know, but I was gobsmacked! When did that become a thing? Clearly, I need to get out more! Not my usual style of scrapping. It's inspired by one I watched Shimelle create in an old video of hers on YouTube. It was done from memory so probably not anything like the original at all, but the base is much the same and the mixing of many colours and use of many layers reflects Shimelle's very individual style. Much to my surprise, I like it!

Now, the cat bit:

Not Silver, as you might have thought, but her brother, Taz. If it wasn't for the black smudge on his nose, he'd be her double. Love the pose!

And finally, I'm even later than ever today but I have the best of reasons so no apologies. Shari brought my very grown up 12 year old great-granddaughter, Rhian, along to see me and we had a lovely time chatting over lattes and chocolate brownies. 

With that I'll finish here.

Take care, everyone,

Elizabeth 

This Week's Smiles - Week 373

Hello Everyone,

It's been forever since I shared a smiley post. Blame life - it got in the way! I've started going for walks again. Just short walks as I'm still feeling weak from my recent fight with horrid side affects from antibiotics. Me and antibiotics just don't agree. Anyway, today I went out early for a wee walk around the neighbourhood. and the blue, blue sky over Ardrossan had me smiling from ear to ear. 

As did the sight of these Welsh Poppies growing in someone's front garden. They're such a cheerful sight. 

When is a park not a park? When it's called the Holm Plantation. The plantation is very near the street where I live and it is lovely. There's a burn (stream) running through it and in early spring it's a mass of daffodils. Sadly, they've all gone over now. 

What it looked like in March. 

Discovered this blue plaque as I passed Ardrossan Academy. Edith MacArthur was a noted Scottish actress born here in Ardrossan in 1926. She had a long and varied acting career, appearing on stage, in film and in many very popular TV series. She is also credited with discovering David Tennant, he of Dr Who fame, when he was only ten years old!

And finally:

Silver, sitting on the compendium of games on the piano stool. I think I was being challenged to a game of draughts with her! There never was a piano but there was the keyboard - long gone but not forgotten.  I played the piano, Alan the keyboard, and very good he was too. 

That's it for today. A very quick and photo heavy post but hopefully you enjoyed the insight they give into what it's like living here in beautiful Ardrossan by the Sea. 

Take care, everyone,

Elizabeth