WOYWW

Hello peeps, this week is again a little different as on my desk is a kitchen timer I am trying to make!  I assembled it from a kit from Maplins but a few of the LED's are not working so I borrowed a solder sucker (the syringe looking thing on the right) from one of the engineers at work (his face was a picture when I asked!).

 

I remembered my "Man Bites Dog" cards this week....'Rare 340lb Nude Angel Revealed', well that's put me off my lunch!

I managed to get all but 2 working, and it counts down and an alarm buzzes when it reaches its time!  Not my usual crafting but fun nonetheless.

Apologies that I have not been able to do all my revisits from last week....my net book is over 6 years old and is quickly grinding to a  halt and takes hours to do so I need to do some research into a new device (bah humbug).

So, why not join us for a legal snoop at desks across the globe.  Every Wednesday courtesy of Julia (link on the right) we bare our desks be them clean, dirty or on the floor (Hi Helen) :-)

Happy Crafting

Kyla

 

WOYWW

 Hello peeps, this week on Whats on your Workdesk Wednesday its more of a case of whats on my lounge floor as I cannot show the dining room table (full of half constructed Christmas sewing) or my craft room desk (full of half constructed Christmas paper stuff!!).  So I decided to finish off adapting my plugs...as you do!

My rheumatoid arthritis means that some everyday tasks can, at times, present me with  a problem.  Buttons can be difficult (so I tend not to undo them if I can), bottles are heavy (drink the wine through a straw...problem solved)!!  I do like to think I can adapt to most situations....put a glass with some water in front of me and ask me if its half full or half empty I will pick the glass up, drink it and place it back down and tell you I am a problem solver!!

However, plugs can be really difficult to pull out. The therapist said I can buy some plastic wrap things to put round the plugs but they are quite sharp and not the most ergonomic thing in the world so as a crafter I decided to make a solution!

I remembered Shaz had showed me at the WOYWW crop how she used wooden knobs as stamp handles so I thought I would do that on a plug.

 I attached the handle with SUGRU (a brilliant product that is like putty then hardens and can withstand wet, sub zero....the list goes on).

 Then I painted the handles black (I made a few, some with back sugru some with white which I then painted black with acrylic) and then added a couple of coats of varnish to protect it from knocks and voila...a simple to pull out plug.

Sugru comes in small packs and multi packs (like this) which has different colours.  In the UK I bought mine in Comet and have used it to fix the cable on my phone charger and also add grips to various items in the kitchen etc.

Check out their website on www.sugru.com there are some great instructional videos and a gallery of all the cool stuff people have hacked.

So, a different desk from me today (the cutting board on the floor looks a lot tidier than my desk) and the next few weeks may be a bit difficult I will need to ensure I take photos in the early stages of making Christmas presents so the surprise isnt ruined!

So, if you'd like a legal snoop at desks across the globe the pop over to our leader Julias blog (link over on the right).

Happy crafting

Kyla

ps - sorry I forgot to get my "Man Bites Dog" cards out this week!

 

WOYWW

Hello peeps, Wednesday again so that can only mean one thing....yep, I have to show you my workdesk!!  Now I have a confession (no, not that....those of you who know me would have already seen THOSE photos on Facebook!!) but this is not my desk, and I took the photo at the weekend.

My workdesk is actually full of work at the moment, so I cannot show you that so I decanted downstairs to the dining room which can only mean one thing...sewing!

Now this is the great thing about WOYWW.  Because of it and the crops I have met many of you in person and you are all great.  Because of the things I see on your blogs I end up being inspired to try some of them myself.  So a few weeks back I met up with  LunchLady Jan and had a sewing session where I made a bag (the red one towards the rear of the picture), there was a full posting about it a few posts back.

I decided it was time to gird my loins and have a crack at some more sewing (machine is out of sight in this photo).  It took all weekend (and some timely advice from Jan over the internet, thanks Jan!) but I have made another one (sorry cannot show the finished product as I plan on gifting it at Christmas...unless like the red on I keep it for myself!!).

 

My 'Man Bites Dog' cards this week are "Nurse Defends Dead Priest"....ooh, some of these are really gruesome!

So, hop on over to the lovely Julia's blog (link over on the right) and share your desk for a legal snoop at desks across the globe.  We are a friendly bunch and there are TONS of ideas out there.

Happy crafting

kyla

 

Mens metal card

It is that time of year again when I have very little I can show as I am making Christmas pressies!!

So I thought I would show a card I recently made.  I stamped over some patterned paper, adding some die cut cogs and then used some metal from the ever trusty tomato puree tube which I cleaned, turned inside out and flattened before embossing is by hand with a ten second studio embossing plate.

I then painted it back with acrylic and when dry sanded it back to expose the pattern.

I added the final detail by doodling free hand around the card with a pitt pen, and voila a card perfect for a traveller or a man (lets be honest men are so difficult to make for!).

Right, back to making Christmas presents (and if anyone has a good idea for male presents I can make please leave a comment!).

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

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