WOYWW

 Hump day so that means What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday where we bare all to the queen of desks the lovely Julia

On my desk this week is a card in the making!  Yes go me I finally got to do some crafting!  Not particularly intricate but still, it is a card!

I also spotted that I STILL haven't put the toppers I cut up last week away!

 I will sort that out later today (they have given out some showers so a good chance to get some sorting out done) whilst it is raining.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards are 'Mob Boss Burns Secret Psychic' - ooh, not nice!

So, what is on your desk this week?

Kyla

Plot 12 update

 Hello peeps, thought I would do an update on the allotment.

As you may have seen a couple of weeks ago I made a plot sign from an old wooden stamping block and it is now in situ (having had a couple of coats of varnish).

Now all my strawberries I inherited with the plot have finished for the year I will take some runners with a view to starting a new bed as they are quite old so need replacing.

With the strawberries I made Strawberry Vinegar for the first time.  It is a recipe from Pam Corbin, known as Pam the Jam and is the lady behind the River Cottage preserves.  

It is similar to the Elderberry vinegar I make but is lighter and more fragrant, perfect for salad dressings throughout the summer and cost me pennies to make!

I have also started to harvest my potatoes.  No main crop for me but lots of 2nd earlies which I love as new potatoes, boiled or in salads.  I have 15 plants to dig up which I plan on digging up one plant a week so hopefully they will see us through the summer.

I have already harvested my garlic so I started to harvest our red onions

I am drying them out, though to be honest I am also eating them rather than buying any onions straight away. I have another couple rows still in the ground so I am hoping they will last us through the summer too

I was shocked as to how big they had gotten too!!

I am loving the allotment, it is very much a learning curve as I am growing different produce than I used to grow 20 years ago and having to understand what I can do with my Rheumatoid Arthritis and work arounds-like they say every day is a school day!  Luckily in this day and age there are some amazing instagram pages, youtube videos etc that have so much advice and suggestions so I am slowly working out what will work.

Kyla

WOYWW

Finally I get to sit at the desk, albeit for a short while (because lets face it when the weather is this nice I prefer to be doing the gardening).  This was taken last night (though it still looks like this to be honest)!

On my desk this week is a "sample" of wallpaper I spied at the weekend of booze labels!  Well, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss as I think they would make good backgrounds and toppers for cards so I am in the process of cutting them up ready to use.

My "Man Bites Dog" cards this week are  'Teen defends Nude Nurse' - well, the mind boggles a little at that headline!!

So, what is on your workdesk this week? Clean, creative or another desk that will tempt me with some purchases (we all know the 'enablers' of the group, I am looking at Shaz and Helen for stamps/dies/inks and Jan for fabric!)?

Happy crafting

Kyla

WOYWW

 Hello peeps, if you saw my "desk" last week then you would have seen my bolt cutters!  

Caro asked to see my finished shelves under my decking and my journal-so here they are!

The very old metal frame was an old greenhouse staging from my childhood (so a good 40 odd years old). I cut the galvanised steel to fit so I can use it for storage.  As it sits under my decking/balcony it gets really wet (watering the plants etc above) the old fencing wood I used finally gave up the ghost so I am hoping the mesh will last until the fame finally rusts through.

My 365 Journal for July has been finished too, not particularly well decorated but just a few strawberries and paint flicks

Now my actual desk has an upcycled  stamp block.  A few years ago I unmounted all my stamps (and i have a LOT) and kept the wooden block because they are nice and thick and smooth and they seemed too good to let go.

So I decided to use one of the largest ones to make a sign for my allotment.

I stenciled Plot 12 and stamped a basil plant, garlic and bumble bee.  When they had dried I added colour with a mixture of sharpie pens, inktense pencils and posca pens.

I then need to apply a couple of coats of yacht varnish and drill it onto a post on the allotment.  So, what's on your workdesk today?

Kyla

ps - sorry just realised i forgot to include my "Man Bites Dog" cards this week-will try to remember for next week

Allotment update

I have been loving my allotment and slowly it is coming together.  

I am sure that it will change in layout over the next year but for now I just wanted to get as much of my seedlings etc in the ground as I ran out of space at home!

We were lucky enough to get some strawberries from the plants we inherited with the plot.  The plants only tend to be really productive for 3-5 years so we were really surprised that we got quite a good picking from them.  I will plant some runners from them this year ready to make a new patch next year.

The potatoes are 2nd earlies (charlotte) and I dug these up to see how they were developing, the rest (another 3 rows) will stay in the ground for another month and i will just dig up a plant at a time as and when I need more spuds!

The broadbeans tasted delicious, I have about 15 plants which I now know is SO not enough so next year I will plant more.  I bought them as seedlings and they worked really well, even after being totally attacked by blackfly earlier in the season (I made a garlic spray to keep them at bay and it seemed to work, so I will spray earlier next year).

The beetroot are golden beetroots.  I bought about 9 small plants and they are developing really well, I also sowed lots of ordinary beetroot seeds and these seem to be growing ok.

I also have lots of herbs and micro greens I have been picking and am looking forward to the crops as they develop.

Kyla

WOYWW

Hello deskers-I couldn't resist but this was my desk this week!!  I was outside (we have been having some fabulously dry weather for a change) so I was in the garden using bolt cutters to cut up some galvanised steel mesh to make some shelves for under my decking across a really old (about 40yrs old) green house staging (the wood has rotten but the metal frame is just about hanging in there!

When I posted this on FB Shaz Silverwolf asked if this was this weeks desk - well, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss!!!!!

Whereas this is my actual desk today!

Bit behind in my 365 Journal challenge pages but at least I made a start!

How is your desk this week?

Happy crafting

Kyla

Art Abandonment in Spain

 Sorry I have been absent for a while but it all got a bit too much so I had to cut a few things, but I am back!  During my time out hubby and I went to Sitges in Spain, only 40 mins by train from Barcelona.  

Barcelona is amazing, the architecture is fabulous and the street art is almost as good as Bristol!  We also did a street art tour and lucked out as it was only the two of us so we got a totally personal tour!  Fantastic.

Sitges is amazing, right on the coast with a long promenade and is seen as the gay capitol and is a beautiful town with amazing views and places to eat and drink.

Whilst we were away we did a few more Art Abandonment drops so I thought I would update the blog with a few of these.

This is a watercolour postcard I painted and it seem fitting to abandon it in Sitges

 These two tags are with coloured with posca pens and were created and abandoned in Barcelona in an area that is dedicated to public street art where people are legally allowed to paint!  

Then whilst we were on the beach at Sitges we decided to paint a few pebbles and leave them (hubby also took part)

 This is my lizard that I often paint

 Hubby drew a whale and a face using the jagged edge as a part of its head bit off!

 I drew a face using the natural hole as an eye!

It was a lovely holiday and great to be able to sit and paint too (I also did a couple of urban sketches and will blog these soon)

Happy crafting

kyla