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I said a couple of weeks ago that you should never apologise for the mess on your desk - its an artistic space and the left over chaos is evidence of enjoying the creative process.  It is art sediment.  Having said that, I am a little bit in a state of hiding my face about my studio this week because it is chaos rather than just piles.  In my defence I was making several things for teachers for the end of term and I got very carried away with one of them...

Lets take a tour shall we?  The big black box and assorted jewelry items strewn about is waiting to be put away after I finished several bag charms for teacher presents (you can see those further down the post).  Most of the pink stuff was used for the cards on the corner of the desk there (also further down this post).  The Mod Podge and teal and turquoise items scattered about were for the thing that I got carried away on - which I will be sharing in a post in a few days (but you can see a sneak of at the end of this post).  In fact you might not be able to see the teal stuff but it is there, underneath a load of other stuff!

All the embellishments that I hadn't "filed" after the last tidying session is still in my "needs putting away" corner and has been joined by everything that I initially got out for my teal project and then discarded in the second flick through - does anyone else do that?  Pull loads of stuff out and then go through it again to pare it down once you've explored all your options?

And here we have proof that all this detritus did end up in something less abstract than a pile of assorted colour schemes!  Three bag charms for teachers and teaching assistants.

Batch cards - 2 for teachers...

... and 4 for teaching assistants.

And this little sneak of the teal project for a very special teacher.

This time next week I will hopefully be sitting by a pool in Spain so no What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday from me for a couple of weeks.  Now if someone could just pop in and tidy up my studio while I'm gone that would lovely.  Thanks awfully.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 225

Welcome Wednesday wanderers!  I hope the weather is pleasant where you are.  

Things have been very busy here with Miss Bella starting in full time school and lots and lots of creative things going on.  

Back last week I mentioned that I had treated myself to some new Promarkers from a recommendation on this very blog hop.  They arrived the next morning but sadly a couple of the pens had been overfilled due to a new distribution centre being used.  This resulted in flooding and spilling and staining to my desk.  Thankfully both Joanna Sheen and ColART who supply them have been brilliant and I am expecting replacements and "other goodies" in the post any day.

This week I have been using my Promarkers to colour this little card for Management for our crystal wedding anniversary (15 years).

I also made this pretty bag charm for a friend for her 40th birthday.  She loves bumble bees so I added one for each of her 3 babies, a little friend to represent me, and lots of other things that are important to her or just look purdy.

We've also been busy this week hatching out this little fellow.  A caterpillar landed on Management's shirt when he was in the garden and so our intrepid little David Ballamy wannabe immediately put it inside his insect jar along with some leaves for him to eat.  When we saw that a pupae was forming, Louis put him in the butterfly tent.  Then it went black.  And we waited.  And waited.  Nothing was happening and I was about to admit defeat and get rid of it but the next morning this wonderful little Herald moth had hatched out.  Isn't he beautiful!?

So what have you been up to this week?  Got anything creative to share or just a pile of stuff that needs putting away?  Whatever you've been doing, sharing is caring, so don't forget to link up with the rest of the What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? brigade at Julia's blog.

Bye for now
xx

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Something a little bit different from me on this gloriously hot Wednesday.  My workspace has been outside in my garden making bag charms to give to Miss Bella's preschool teachers when she leaves next week (sob!)

I sit with the cushion under my knees and my legs in the sun (this picture wasn't taken at the right time) to try and get some colour on them.  I have my earphones in and a cup of tea and I am more than happy for as long as I can get away with.

I am a very inexperienced beader but I like being able to do something outside that will be a suitable gift in place of another box of chocolates or bottle of wine.  Of course I have no idea what to do for Louis's male teacher!

The children only have a few more days at school and we have great plans for the summer holidays.  I keep refusing to do housework on the basis that it is too hot and the clouds will be back soon enough but it looks set to continue and I don't think I can put it off any longer.  It would be great to be able to sleep during the day (our downstairs is fairly cool but our upstairs is hideously hot because of the bungalow roof) and then get some housework done at night but there is the slight problem of childcare then.  Not much chance of me sleeping with all the plans the children have for us in the next few weeks but I hope at least we will get lots of crafting done together.  I hope your plans include some crafting too!

This post is brought to you by the wonders of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!

Bye for now
xx

Crazy busy

I'm trying not to panic and trying to laugh about these things but, well, you know me, anxiety is my middle name.

I'm about 5 weeks behind on my Open University writing course.  The room where I do my writing is about to have a bit of wall taken out so everything has had to come out.  My craft room, where I like to write too, is awash with Sylvanian Families, Lego and beads that need to be made into Christmas presents.  I can't get to my table and I have several craft deadlines to complete and a retreat to prepare for.

After the leak a few weeks ago, we have had to move most of the stuff out of the utility room / children's art room so the floor can dry out and the cupboards can be replaced at some point.  The downstairs bathroom is being ripped out and replaced, hence the bit of wall being taken out in the spare room (for some reason the bath was recessed into that room!)

I wanted to show you lots of photos of the work going on but now I am having blogger issues because I am over the upload space and I have no idea how to fix it.  Any ideas?

I've been using a new recipe for my Christmas cakes but I burned one of the many I need to make so Management (who has been VERY poorly indeed) cut off all the edges.  I think I shall make a cup of tea and do a taste test on said cake.  Anyone else want a cup?

Bye for now
xx