WOYWW

Hello peeps, Wednesday again so time to once again show you my workdesk of shame!

Not much has changed since last week but on my desk this week is my 365 journal as I am trying to make November's pages in time for the start of the month.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week were picked by my hubby: 

' Lover Snubs Bizarre Rehab Model'

Well, not quite sure what to make of that!!

So come and join us all for a legal snoop at desks across the globe (link over on the right), we are a friendly bunch-honest!

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

A colourful trip

Since I have been inspired by colour and fabric recently my mum and I had a trip out to the American Museum in Bath for the Kaffe Fassett exhibition.  It is amazing but I lived in Bath for 15 years and married a Bathonian and have never been to this particular Museum!!

 Even the entrance to the exhibition was glorious technicolour (and there was yarn bombing in the trees outside too!).

 There were several LARGE tapestry's

 and the colourful quilts were exquisite

 and I found it really inspiring

all in all a great trip out and very inspiring.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

365 Catch up

 I had gotten a bit behind taking part of the 365 Journal challenge over at The Kathryn Wheel blog so I thought I would roll August and September up in one blog post!

I chose nice bright sunny colours for August and used a sunburst stencil and my dylusions white spray to create a feeling of the warm sun rays.  I added a few beach balls just for the hell of it.

 

 For September I chose more autumnal colours as this is when we see the leaves just start to change from green through amber, red and eventually rust coloured.

I added leaves die cut from some leftover snippets to the bottom of the pages.

I find it hard to believe that we are coming to the end of the third year I have done this!

Kyla

 

WOYWW

Hello peeps, well it's once again What's on your Workdesk Wednesday all across the globe.  Challenged by our leader, the lovely Julia (link over on the right) to bare our desks in all their glory, be them dirty, un-naturally clean or exactly the same as they were last week!

So here is mine:

I am just finishing off one of the Christmas presents a small scrap book hence things are covered!

On the left back of the desk is a template I have made.  On the blog www.designoform.com they had a nice leather no sew business card holder that I thought would make a good mens christmas present.  So I printed out the PDF template and transferred it to some opaque thin plastic I picked up from the scrap store that I have been making stencils from.  I thought that a plastic template would be more robust.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are: Dead Ready to Scam Crazy Angel - It may have been more fitting for next week as we approach Halloween!

So come on, join us for a legal snoop at desks across the globe.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Frugal crafting 'Lusty' style

A different sort of crafting this week.  Our bedroom was decorated a couple of weeks ago and under all the throws was this ottoman (its been covered in throws at the end of our bed for 11 years-I forgot it was pink and gold, the original colours)!!

Now, there is no way this was going to go with my green and grey room with yellow accents (odd colour combo but it does work...nice and relaxing) but it has usefully stored our bedding for years and as a Lloyd Loom it is really well made.

There was no choice but to decorate it.  I bought nothing new and only used fabric and paint I had handing around.  I stripped the pink covering fabric off and a couple bowlfuls of pink sandy looking stuff fell out everywhere!!  

It took a few moments for me to realise that this must have been the original foam in the lid and as 'Lusty' Lloyd Loom (what a great name!) is from the 1940's and it had turned to dust! 

 So I had to sweep it all out, have several sneezing fits before I could start painting.  So brush in hand and left over white satin paint I set about painting it-a word to the wise, I had NO idea what a nause this would be!! Seriously it took FOREVER to paint it.  If I knew just HOW much of a pain it was I would have bought spray paint, whilst it would have cost money it would have saved me a day's labour and the neighbours may not have had to put up with my language as I tried to paint it in the front garden!

 

Finally it was painted and I needed to create a level of protection on the lid.  I didn't want to spend any money so my mum (thanks mum) suggest an old towel-but we had one better an old blanket of my husbands which was past its best so we cut it up and stapled a couple of layers to the lid of the ottoman.

I finished it off with some leftover fabric I had (I seem to have a LOT of spare fabric!!) and some upholstery tacks voila: 

A nice new, not dusty but totally serviceable and free ottoman.

Frugal crafting at its best!

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

Hurrah, hump day...or as it's known round these parts What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday day!

After a couple of weeks leave (see my previous post for all the gossip and photos) it is all back to normal and I am still panic making Christmas presents for my NZ family so they can be taken over in a couple of weeks when a family member is visiting them (and save me very high postage costs-it cost me over £30 last year in postage!!)

On the desk is a small handbag sized scrapbook/tagbook for someone (hence its mostly hidden) that I am in the process of making.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are apt 'Brave Exec Defends General Strikes'...apt because many NHS and civil servants are on strike next week over erosion of conditions and the fact that after several years pay freeze only some staff will get 1% pay rise (some will get none) next year...even though MP's awarded themselves 10%

Right, political rant over, happy crafting!

Kyla

 

A week in london, 1 library, 2 museums, 2 art exhibitions, poppies galore and some Lego!

 Hello peeps, the past couple of weeks I have been off work on annual leave.  For the first week we decorated our bedroom (big thanks to my hubby and brother in law) and spent a few days sorting stuff out.

The following week we visited my brother and sis-in-law in London staying with them in Dulwich for a few days then in a hotel in central London for a few more (we were celebrating 24 years together and 17 married).

We try to spend at least a week in London each summer.  I know it sounds a bit weird as people often go to the beach etc, but we love London and every time we find a new place to explore and there are SO many exhibitions to visit.

There are quite a few photos, so grab yourself a drink and settle down for a trip round that there London.

There is some great graffiti in most of our cities (especially in Bristol where I live, the home of Banksy) and there have been some new pieces in London recently.

I love this one on London Bridge, a bit of humour on a building site!

 Nice colourful display to keep the rain off your head in the beer garden in Borough Market

 After seeing the photos from fellow WOYWWer Helen (Stamping by H) and my friend Sam of their visits to the Tower to see the poppies I just had to go.  It was so emotional as the china poppies represent every life lost during WW1 with the last poppy being planted on 11th November.

 We went to a new artist exhibition in Somerset House and there were some lovely mixed media pieces but I especially liked this 3D embroidery piece.

 So we are always on the lookout for new areas to explore in London and this time it was St Katherines Dock.  When my brother came back from his years in Ecuador he looked for jobs back in his specialist area and his office is here!  Its just down from the tower and is a beautiful smallish dock with some very expensive boats and the Thames Hippo!!

 This vessel is truly stunning and not what we expected to find in London!!

 We did many museums and also the Gothic Literature exhibition at the British Library but in the Hornniman Museum I found this and thought of LunchLady Jan who plays one (not as big as this though I hope!!).

 Our wedding anniversary present from my brother and sister in law were tickets to the new Lego exhibition at Brick Lane.

 The swimming figure was beautifully lit.

These faces were HUGH!

 

 This is the classic shot they use in a lot of the publicity leaflets.

 I really liked the way that something as simple as Lego can convey feeling in those that were at the exhibition you can almost feel the pain in the blue figure.

 This one really made me chuckle.  3 years ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It effects my bones, joints, tendons and potentially heart, liver and lungs also.  At the moment its mainly my feet and hands and some days I struggle to make my fingers work...so I stood there laughing at this one as it made me think of all those mornings when I awake and realise my hands won't!  I must admit I did get some strange looks!

 Again, some great street art.

We also went to Disobedient Objects at the V&A Museum.  It reports objects used in civil disorder across the globe in mainly the 80's and 90's.  Everything from death row commentary played out in decorated cars through to Chilean embroidery demanding equality and education for all.

 It was a brilliant exhibition and I was so pleased I was able to get there (it even brought back some memories from the anti poll tax rallies I took part in years ago).

 This photo was taken from a great new place that my sister in law told me about where for free you can get a fantastic view of the city at night-and she was right!

 This is a fake frontage that has been made for Coven Garden where it gives the impression it has been ripped in two-it is brilliant and you can pass your hand right through!

Finally, one more amazing piece of street art.  This time from Phlegm and it is in the Royal Opera house!!

So there you have it...now its back home and the joy of catching up with the washing etc!!

Happy crafting

Kyla