Happy Desk Hoppin’ Day, WOYWWers! It should be Throwback Thursday, really as for one week I return to my bad old ways and show you what my desk looks like in the morning. Ok, so I snapped the shot on Tuesday but my desk will be as this in the morning I am sure. Too darn hot to do much of anything upstairs! Still taking it a little easy so my back doesn’t relapse on me. Always the worst idea to think Hey, yeah, I’m FINE! then overdo it. Can’t afford to have that happen.
I think this is pretty restrained, not a lot of mess at all. I am in the middle of an art journal page, one that I thought I would be finished with to share but nope, not today. Still working in the small journal and finding it so easy to use. The lovely base pages all have something of interest on them already so it is just figuring out what and where the focal image should go and how that will support the text – usually a quote. I have three or four I am considering for this one, all with a similar vibe. Hoping I can get it sorted for tomorrow.
I do have an idea that seems to be working but it began with the cutting of a stamp, again. I think, when the whole long-legged guys issued happened, that people got the idea that somehow I was scared to cut my stamps. Not at all, not in the least. BUT I prefer to do it when I choose to do it for reasons that are MY reasons and not because there was a flaw in the manufacturing process. I’m stubborn that way…. I like these little faces and (for now) want to keep the stamp with the open faces and the grid lines intact. But I have cut the solid faces into strips.
Ideally, I will cut the sketchy faces out of the grid, and cut the solid faces apart into individual stamps, so I have all the faces loose and free and the grid as just the grid. I need to really look carefully at it to see if it is possible. Not quite there yet.
Finally, I went to my other desk to add the MBD cards – I think I read Kyla pulls FIVE cards so I did too! In this case blasts or weeps for work equally as well, but this is my headline and I’m stickin’ to it!
Hope you have a lovely day visiting all the WOYWWers. If you don’t join it, why not? It’s such a lot of fun.
Well Happy WOYWW hoppers! My week has been crazy and my crafting has been a bit all over the place. Let’s see how my desk looked on Tuesday, shall we?
I am a week behind sharing my cards (kinda like the 100 days thing – I never want to be stuck on a Sunday having to make stuff to add that day IYKWIM) and as I abandoned the A DAY part of the process, so long as I am making 7 cards to share on the weekends, I’m happy. Or in this case, a set of cards. Planning on sharing the little box (from a single sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock) tomorrow but the set looks like this:
All of them made from the scraps of a single card and the printed sentiments to match the banner die. I love this particular font and the black background on white card works perfectly. So the tidy shot, where I begin today:
Finally took the plunge and grabbed this book. It’s full of goodness but often takes me a while to work out the actual folds. The sample is a Diagonal Pocket Fold and not in this book, but I am dying to make a project out of it. The little dies and the cover die are from Amazon and were pretty cheap. I think the little ones will be more useful but the art deco one may be fun to play with.
And now my little whinge – I only seem to have 300gsm white card at the moment, and Hobbycraft reminded me I had a voucher that was about to expire. So I popped on to grab some lighter card. Two Hobbycraft cardstock packs, both labelled WHITE. One is very much white while the other is very much CREAM:
I mean, c’mon…. Grrr….
Almost forgot! MBD, happily I can use all 4 cards this week!
Happy WOYWW! Look back to yesterday to see the messy desk shot. By that evening I was done with my Junk Journal, covers added and ribbon tie sorted. There is a set of drawing inks that were my son’s (back when he thought he might dabble with drawing Manga) and a new dip pen with some gold ink – I am finding the Liquitex acrylic “ink” is too thick to use with a dip pen. Also, the watercolour negative painting from the Mixed Media Emporium challenge from June. I feel it very much captures the feeling of pandemic life. It IS far too peopley out!
You can also see my very old Motex Dymo-knockoff, and here are both the wheels, upper and lower case. I loved this thing and need to see if they still sell other font-wheels for it. I would totally buy more if they do!
Th junk journal cover is pretty much as I suggested it might be and the back cover is looking good too – more on that tomorrow, I’m sure.
Just a couple of posts over the last week to note – if you make ATC(oins) and want a few options for cute envelopes to house them, check back to the post on Monday where I have a PDF of three different slightly differently sized folded envelopes. I think they are all super cute and very easy! There is a 3″ square one, a 2 3/4″ sized one and a 2 5/8″ sized one. All with slightly different methods.
And yesterday also has my ribbon storage system. I love it and I also found where you can buy the plastic strips I usually have to beg from the grocery – although they are free there, the ones from Amazon are pretty cheap!
and I almost forget – I have to assume Nails is a gangster nickname Lol! The middle card is an either/or I guess.
Happy WOYWW to all! WOW. The days are rocketing by. I am thinking a clean desk every week might be a bit boring, and vowed to snap some progression shots of what I have been working on. I didn’t remember but will try to do so for next week if I can! A few things, like some samples for one of the Mixed Media Emporium’s challenges, Watercolour Texture, have graced my desk:
Clearing those away, I made some ATC(oins) using the little stamp that you can just about see in the box next to the glue blue bottle, shown better in the middle here:
They are done now but won’t share them today (texture challenge tomorrow, coins on Friday.) And there were many more stages of chaos that I didn’t grab a shot of, so I guess it is the boring clean desk that is the main one this week:
After snapping this, I got set-up for a cardmaking session that is a bit of a cheat, but I’ll explain THAT in a weekend ACAD post:
Man Bites Dog – I waffled between 340Lb. Psychic Blames Banker and this one. I wonder what you do if the pulls make no sense? I first got 340Lb. Banker Blames Wed, so I pulled another card. Must ask Kyla what her method is!
Knitting mates come for a natter today, but I will get to all the desks as soon as I can. Have a great WOYWW day and hopefully there will be a whole day of SUN sometime soon.
Happy WOYWW to all! Apologies in advance for this massive post. I hope you will find it worth it.
There is only one thing on my desk but what a thing it is! Debbie (Tattered Rocks) gifted me the MOST BEAUTIFUL JOURNAL IN THE WORLD, adding a note to say she used about 20 items from the box I sent her and could I identify them all. It is breathtaking in the extreme.
You cannot believe how amazing and dimensional it is. I spy the rose and the flower at the bottom with the heart, the small roses too, I think, and the spray of beads across. Another heart and I think the X and maybe some of the gears. Oh and the IMAGINE word buckle thingie…and some watch hands! How she took my pile of cast-offs and transformed them into this bit of heaven I don’t know. I suspect there is witchcraft involved and I 100% got the best end of this deal. Thank you Debbie. I am in awe of your talent.
The last of the swap ATCs have arrived! I got a re-send from Spyder, and a bonus one, along with a super cute folder that will appear in my junk journal in some fashion. You can see it there at the top but they are worth a closer look:
I love the envelope too. So pretty, again, great for junk journal fodder. Then after I took this shot I got the ATC from Susan Renshaw. Love the string pull flowers! What a glorious location as well.
I also claimed one of the Shaz commemorative pieces and that was in the box from Debbie as well:
Lurking at the top of my desk, unseen in the top shot, is a little strip of Archival Ink-stamped bits for Morti – just awaiting her address to mail them!
And finally the MBD cards. I am reminded that at some point I found my old VHS tape (it MIGHT have been a Betamax!) of the original 1992 movie. Imagine my surprise to see it is now on DVD:
An interesting one – the topic seems serendipitous as just this week my son asked about an old scrapbook layout I had done called Saints and Sinners. It told the story of how the same couple, quite a few generations back in my family tree, spawned an actual Saint as well as a member of the Pretty Boy Floyd gang, convicted and executed for his part in The Kansas City Massacre.
In case anyone is interested, I had to type out the journaling (A LOT) for my son so I might as well add it here:
Saint Pauline – Sister Pauline of the Agonising Heart of Jesus
Amabile Lucia Visintainer was born in Vigolo Vattaro, Trento (once part of the Austrian Tyrol but now part of Italy) 16 December 1865. She was one of three children born to Antonio Napoleone Visintainer and Anna Pianezzer. Her brother, Antonio Giuseppe Visintainer , was my Great-Great Grandfather, making Saint Pauline my first cousin 3 times removed.
Amiable lived in Vigolo Vattaro until age 10, working in the silk mill until her father learned of the Brazilian government’s invitation to Europeans to settle in Brazil. In the same 2.5 month period, approximately 20% of the population left Vigolo Vattaro and settled in Brazil. Amiable felt called to the religious life, but the death of her mother in childbirth left her to care for her now 12 siblings. When her father remarried, Amiable and two friends founded The Little Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
The congregation grew and their work spread, reaching out to the sick and poor of Brazil. In 1903, Mother Pauline, as she was now known, was elected Mother Superior for Life and she added to her duties work in Sao Paulo among orphans, ageing slaves and orphans of slaves left to die because they had no work. In 1909 she was relieved of her duties by the Archbishop of Sao Paulo following a series of disputes within the congregation. She went to work with the sick and aged in the Hospice of Saint Vincent de Paul at Braganza Paulista until she was recalled to the congregation’s mother house in 1918. She lived there for over 20 years, caring for sick sisters, praying and living away from the world. In 1938 complications from diabetes led to rapidly failing health. She spent the last year of her life confined to bed and died on 8 July 1942. The congregation she founded continues its work in Brazil to this day.
Beatified 18 October 1991 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Canonised 19 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II in Rome, Italy
Adam Richetti (member of the Pretty Boy Floyd gang)Adam Richetti was born to Bartolomeo and Elisabetta (Zamboni) Richetti on 5 August 1909 in Strawn, TX. He grew up in Lehigh, OK farming and working in the mines. He spent most of his time with his older brother Joe, who taught him to repair cars. He attended school to the 7th grade but then Adam became involved with one Otis Harper, participating in several minor robberies in Oklahoma. He and Otis, on the run from the local law, went to Hammond, IN to Adam’s other older brother Dave.
Adam and Otis were arrested for the first time on a robbery-related charge 7 August 1928. He was sentenced to one-to-ten years and was sent to the State Reformatory in Pendleton, IN where John Dillinger was being held. Adam spent August 1928 to October 1930 in Pendleton and was paroled on 4 October 1930.
Adam went to New Lima, OK and was eventually released from parole on 22 Sept. 1931. He took part in the robbery of the First National Bank at Mill Creek in Sulphur, OK on 9 March 1932. Leaving the bank, the robbers were met with a hail of gunfire. But they were gunned down by vigilante citizens, not the police! Adam was shot three times. He was tried and convicted in April 1932 but was released from prison in August. He jumped bail and joined up with Pretty Boy Floyd. He was also identified as one of the accomplices of Vern Miller, another criminal, and helped him in an attempt to free his friend and convicted killer Frank Nash. This resulted in the infamous Kansas City Massacre.
Historians disagree on the identity of Verne Miller’s accomplices. The FBI identified Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Adam Richetti as the other gunmen, but there are questions both about who was actually involved and if it was a rescue or a gangland hit! According to the official FBI version of events, while Miller was being transported two (or possibly three) men rushed forward, one shouted “Up, up!” There was no time for the lawmen to reach for their weapons. The order to “Let them have it!” came quickly and the “rescuers” opened fire with machine guns relentlessly, from all sides of the car. The result was truly a massacre, with four lawmen killed, and the other two injured. Ironically, Nash, rather than being rescued was killed as well.
In October 1934, Pretty Boy Floyd was killed by FBI agents in a shoot out at a farm in Ohio. Adam Richetti was arrested there and returned to Missouri. On 1 March 1935 he was indicted by the Jackson County Grand Jury on four counts of murder in the first degree. His trial, predicated on the indictment charging him with the murder of Frank E. Hermann (one of the police officers killed in the Kansas City Massacre) began in Kansas City on 10 June 1935. The jury delivered a Guilty verdict with the recommendation Richetti be given the death penalty. He was sentenced to be hanged, but appealed his conviction. The conviction was affirmed by the State of Missouri Supreme Court on 3 May 1938. Richetti’s lawyers alleged him to be insane, but a hearing was held at which time his sanity was clearly established. On 31 August 1938, Richetti was again sentenced to death, this time in the gas chamber of the Missouri State Penitentiary. He was executes on 7 October 1938.
Saint Pauline and Adam Richetti are both descendants of Caroli Marzari and Hyeronima Perezzoli, who lived in the 1700’s. Pauline is from one child (Anna Maria Marzari) and Adam from her brother (Joannes Andrea Marzari.)
Jeez. And epic WOYWW post but very little in the way of my OWN crafting. DOH! Pop back to the weekend to see all the cards from my Card A Day fun, if cardmaking is your bag…
Oh I did have fun with this! First, Robyn’s envelope, which was far too lovely to put in the shredder:
Some of the hand-dyed papers and a bit of repair work
I wasn’t super careful when I tore it open, my bad, but I salvaged it by lining the inside with some of the hand-dyed paper (stupidly using some of my lined versions. DOH! Plain would have done for this for sure) and reinforcing some other bits. Julia’s card was so adorable I had to figure out a way to add it
I used some of the back of Julia’s card over the torn edge and used the card itself slightly cut down and backed with lined paper to make a journaling spot. I needed it to fit Robyn’s envelope or I would have used it in it’s entirety:
I stuck the envelope just on the sides at the back so I could slip in the post card as a journaling spot too – although it is slightly vintage, I think it will be OK. SO MUCH of the junk journal stuff has a real vintage slant to it and that is very much NOT the vibe I am going for.
I really need to look at a few hidden paper clip ideas – I’ve seen them mentioned and have some ideas, but I feel like watching a tutorial might help me avoid making a mistake and using up a resource I may only have a tiny bit of. Not sure if that will appear tomorrow or if I will carry on and do something with Zsuzsa’s envelope. It will depend on how much time my ACAD card takes, I think.
Happy WOYWW everyone! My desk, yesterday, was in a shocking state. I always snap a Tuesday afternoon shot so when I get my desk ready for WOYWW you can see that no, I am not a tidy crafter LOL!
This is all the junk journal stuff I dragged out to play with. The most critical task was to do what I did for the 100 Days project and organize things so I could minimize the hunting. It didn’t take as long as I thought it might. Ta Dah!
I actually set aside a few of the things on the left as I think they will work perfectly for the hard cover I plan to make for the accordion folded journal- so cute!
I have a plan to use some of the stuff that came with my swap ATCs and turn them into bits for my journal. I already know EXACTLY what I want to do with Julia’s card and Zsuzsa’s envelope, and I think Robyn’s envelope is going to come in to play as well – I should be able to share that tomorrow. I am also going hoping that other sentiment die is finally going to actually arrive this week. It is meandering at a snail’s pace towards the house. Cardmakers will want to look back a couple of posts or be satisfied with a sneaky peek at my play, creating a template for printing sentiments to fit the die I already have:
And just cause I think it is super cute, I’ll add a card from my A Card A Day challenge to myself:
My favourite so far!
Happy WOYWW – busy week. An old scrapbooking buddy dropped by on Monday, knitting mates yesterday, who knows who else might meander by? Oh and my Man Bites Dog headline:
I feel like I need to be clear, there is an implied ex- in front of 1st Lady, lest the lovely Dr. Biden spring to mind.
Happy WOYWW ya’ll! Blimey, it has been a week. My head, and my crafting has really been very much all over the place. I am sad to say my papers are still in a muddle, because I have skipped off, tra la la, back into actually making things. It always happens. I am determined I WILL finish, I just have to claw back a little more time. With my daughter back in school this week, hopefully the time will be there.
First, I received a couple more ATCs: Julia’s and my official swap partner Robyn’s (from Iowa!)
Both came with lovely extras (card, post card & decorated envelope) so truly happy mail!
First, my desk (snapped Tuesday at the end of a crafty day)
and then a bit about what led up to that! I have been dithering about finding a way to use up my scraps and/or my 12×12 papers and saw a You Tube video about a no-sew Junk Journal, where you take scraps and build an accordion. Seemed easy and I had a lot of scraps:
I basically grabbed a pile of scrapbook paper scraps, my drawer of arty samples, where I tested out techniques and the results never got used. I sorted them into loose groups, then built the l o n g accordion. Double sided, plenty of room to do whatever on it:
I do like the riot of colour and am sure it will be fun to work in, somehow. The little pile leftover in the first photo of my mostly clean desk was all that was left. I could pobably wedge those bits in if I really wanted too, and may still if I find any page is a little on the thin side, but we’ll see.
Now, for WEEKS I have said to Kyla I would remember to share my Man Bites Dog cards and FINALLY I have – a great headline!
I had to count and found yes, the set is complete, and a bargain at £1 in the charity shop. So all that is left is desk-hopping all day! I missed out a few last week, in all the craziness, but back to visiting every desk if I can manage it this week. I do love my weekly jolt of inspiration!
Oh and just a heads up – I really am doing my A Card A Day challenge (only challenging myself!) but sharing on the weekend days. I am planning on adding a click in the top menu (which you may or may not see, depending on how you read my blog) to collect them together. Otherwise, scroll back to Saturday and Sunday each week to see what I have been up to!
Happy WOYWW, after a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend! Phew. It was a hard slog to get from this:
to what is covering my desk
Actually, my “desk shot” is really a series of shots – the above is at the solid-cardstock-sorted stage and this is at the all-scraps-sorted stage, and where I am today!
There you can see a big box of embellies, two long storage boxes of 12 x whatever strips of patterned paper and one of 12 x 2.5 cardstock strips (plus a handful of shaped-edges in zig-zags and scallops) then the sorted-by-style (dots, stripes, florals, etc) patterned papers and 6×6 paper pads, then another shot of the solid-cardstock sorted by colour – in the front you can see the folder of already diecut or punched shapes. Here are a couple of closer shots:
While it is unlikely to be the final home for card supplies, it does all fit on one shelf!
Truly frugal crafters will blanch at the full bin:
To be fair, that is ALL the recycling, not just scraps. I will NOT be shamed for disposing of paper I feel is too small, too ugly, or too useless to keep because it is stained, crumpled or creased. In my defense, I do feel I saved as much of the scraps as I could. I even took a photo of how I tended to trim things!
My next task. and the one that is giving me the MOST problems, is the patterned 12 x 12 papers:
Oh yeah, and these two boxes that are filled with scrapbook layouts planned – some with all the goods, cardstock, sketch, embellishments, and photos – ready to go.
I’ve done a few warm-up cards at this point but I am of two minds. Yes, the other day I felt like I NEEDED to make something cause two full weeks of endless sorting was getting me down. But I don’t want to get distracted at this point. So time will tell if I begin the A Card A Day effort immediately of if I bore all for a few more days of endless organizing. At the moment I am discovering the whole One-Sheet-Wonder idea of cutting a single sheet of paper to make the most cards from it. Yesterday’s experiment with that single mangled sheet of 12×12 paper and making 5 cards from it, must have alerted Google to my interest and all of a sudden I am seeing the OSW ideas in every Google search that seems even remotely pertinent! But this is now tooooo long so I’ll save that for another day.
Happy WOYWW day! Well, things have progressed for me in my Grand Tidy and I am very happy with the progress. I have a huge pile of stuff to donate to the local craft club, a large box of goodies earmarked for a WOYWW mate who I just hope will make use of them, and a full recycling bin plus a large trash bag of true rubbish. Letting go of things like the old Decorator Chalks (remember them?) and rubbish oil pastels bought in error (NOT water soluble) and lots of sun-faded or creased cardstock was…liberating. Sure, my room is still stuffed to the brim with goodies, but now they are all things that I can only hope to live long enough to use up LOL! My desks are mostly clean:
Even my “messy” desk is tidy:
I really am doing my “card a day” plan and I made a warm-up card to share soon. This is NOT a 100 Days project, just something to do every day to help use stuff up. I got no mail yesterday for some reason, so just the ATCs received last week to show.
Neet, Angela Radford, Zsuzsa on the top, Cindy, Helen (H), LLJ and Caro on the bottom
All so gorgeous. I love Neet’s little house shaped envelope, and Zsuzsa’s envelope went right into my collage fodder bin because it was stunning. I am housing them in my ATC folder for now, till I can make another hanger for them.
At this point, while I am NOT giving up on the tidy, I am planning to attack the paper a little bit each day. This is not all of it, but it’s the bulk. I have a few bins of scraps and of grouped papers (like Basic Grey, Rouge de Garance, and Bizous Zoo, three of my most favourite lines) and way too much Club Scrap cardstock, which I will incorporate into the general cardstock units
To be honest, I have SO MANY empty drawer units and containers, I need to find someplace else to either use them or store them. No point taking up space with them. So, that’s me finished – except the 100 days project re-cap:
And the one from today – pretty much sums up how I am feeling about the 100 days!
If you recall, I am running a few days ahead. I will add 98 tomorrow then add 99 and 100 on the last day – Friday seems a good day to end on. Frankly, I cannot wait to be done!!
