Wednesday 24 September 2014

WOYWW - Almonds

Almonds

Hello peeps, it’s that time again to bloghop around the world and look at everybody’s desk. It’s called What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW). For those not familiar with this ‘snooping fest’ visit Julie at  http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/   where everything will be explained.

Last week I told you that we were living in a building site. Of course that has not changed. I am still using the kitchen table to craft on, in the evening when the table is free. This is what it looked like last night. (Tuesday night) 

I’m (trying) to do a layout for CSI (Color, Stories and Inspiration) about an adventure. I’m going to use three little photographs of myself from 1955. More about this next week.

We made a trip to our house earlier this week, 35 miles away and I quickly grabbed what supplies I thought I’d need and that’s it! I’ll have to craft with what I've got! That can be very educational and good for self discipline....  This is the crate I managed to put together. Take a look if you like, but don't fall over the drill!
Last week you will have seen some photos and papers on my desk.  I managed to make a two page lay out with the photos of my blog ‘Almonds’ (29 aug ’14). 
This layout proves that one can scrapbook with a minimum of materials! I had kitchen scissors, my laptop and a printer. I made some white stencilling paste myself. And off I went! The design I scraplifted from Janet Phillips.

The journaling is about the almond harvest which is in full swing here. The photos are all recent except the one of us bagging up, as that hasn't happened yet this year. We'll do that next month.

Here is the journaling on the pages:

"Almonds are an important crop in Andalucia. At the end of February the almond trees start blossoming and it is a beautiful sight to see entire hill sides and valleys full of white (or pink) trees in blossom. After that the almonds slowly grow on the branches and in September they burst their pod and are ready to be harvested. In the old days people would beat the trees with sticks and the almonds would fall to the ground. Nowadays they have machines that shake the tree. Most get exported. Almonds then need to be shelled. Most farmers here have a little machine to do that. I have to crack mine with a hammer! I love roast almonds or I use them when I make cakes. Marzipan is made of almonds too. We buy the shells to burn in our stoves in winter and usually buy a lorry load together with two other families. All we then need to do is sack them up and we’re ready for winter."


And to end this blogpost with a sweet note: I made a Victoria sponge and put my home made fig jam in between. Also I recently bought this presentation dome at Lidls. Even the most modest sponge cuts a nice figure in this glass showcase! Anyway, we have 2 workmen working on our property so the cake is already gone as I'm writing this.

Thank you for popping in, I hope you didn't mind the mess! Sorry, the cake is all gone too.....

Bye for now and God bless,
Lisca


37 comments:

  1. That sponge looks so very tasty, Lisca. YUM!! Just wish I could eat fruit... What an amazing set of pictures to go with your scrapbook pages - burning almond shells?! Well I never.
    Take care. God bless.
    Margaret #18

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  2. Hi Lisca, what a fascinating story! Its amazing what you can learn from other peoples blogs. I would never have known about the almond shells being burnt as fuel. It means absolutely every part of the almond gets used, thats awesome. Have a great week, Hugs, Shaz #25 xxx

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  3. "Simpele" lay outs zijn vaak het sterkst, al die tierelantijntjes hoeven voor mij nooit zo, dus ik vind de "Almonds" spread fantastisch! Lastig lijkt me dat, creatief zijn/blijven temidden van een verbouwing... knap van je! Liefs uit Holland en happy woyww, Marit #47

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  4. Thanks for the almond story, very interesting. Your layout looks great. #3

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  5. Lovely layout pages - I especially like the patchwork look to it - very clever. The cake looks yummy, and fig jam sounds gorgeous - never tried that, but I love figs. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and I hope you have a good week,
    Diana #31

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  6. Yum! that cake looks delicious in its elegant showcase! We've been harvesting walnuts here - I though we had loads but now I've seen that lot .... wow! Love your portable craft room - where's there's a will, there's a way :o) Happy WOYWW Annie C #37

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  7. Scrummy looking cake and I never knew you could buy almond shells to burn, maybe here in murcia they don't grow enough, they still pick the almonds without machinery here but the blossom is such an amazing site.
    Jan S. No 53

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  8. I wish I could reach through the iPad and get a slice of that cake, maybe I should just visit and smash the almonds with you and chat lots. I have also herd that the husks are great on garden beds as mulch, not to sure about this one.

    Great layouts you have done too with limited supplies

    Have a great week

    Hugs Eliza Yoda & Flat Susan

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  9. Your layout turned out so cute! I admire anyone crafting amidst building. Happy WOYWW! Sandy Leigh #57

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  10. You're very naughty tempting us like this, the cake looks scrummy no wonder it went so quickly and fig jam, gorgeous. I have a fig plant but as yet no fruit just enormous leaves Lol!
    Happy crafting, Angela x 36

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  11. Great scrap booking layouts. It's surprising what you can do with just a few craft essentials - makes you wonder if we really NEED all the stuff we accumulate. Sorry I missed the cake though!
    Bernice #30

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  12. Super LOs. You are doing very well with coping with using the kitchen table when it's free. Surprising what you can do with limited space and resources. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are having a great day and have a lovely crafting week to come. Hazel, WOYWW #69 x

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  13. A great blog this week and well done you for scrapping beautiful LO's like those with limited resources and space! I do like way you have done the journalling.
    Have a happy week
    Lynda B 24

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  14. It's so true, sometimes we do make better crafts when our resources are limited....and you've proved the point really well. And how interesting to learn about the almond harvest! Thank you for that, I really enjoyed reading all about it :-)
    Hugs, LLJ 34 xx

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  15. Great pages! And I do find it amazing how resourceful one can be with a minimum of supplies! Thanks for popping by and Happy WOYWW!
    Carol N #61

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  16. So interesting to see your layout & understand the almond harvest - up until last October we had a house in Murcia where we hoped to retire but the 2008 crash put paid to all that & we had to sell up - but we did love to visit Spain in February and enjoy the almond blossom. Love your layout ! Ali #10

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  17. Hi Lisca - what an amazing crop of almonds! I love the pages you've managed to do - particularly under difficult conditions. That 'almond' font is lovely. Have a great week, Chris # 14

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    1. Thanks for visiting Chrys, The 'almond' font is/are stamps (one for each letter) by Papermania.
      CU Wednesday!

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  18. How wonderful to have fresh almonds... They look marvellous! You are braver than me - when we had the builders in there was no way I could get my creative space going, and it took a while after we'd settled in before I got going again.

    Thanks for your lovely comment. We certainly did have a lovely holiday at home! My first felt class tonight went really well and I am very pleased with my very first effort! I will definitely be blogging about it soon, and I'll photograph the piece of felt when it is dry.

    Happy WOYWW,
    Shoshi #35

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  19. Hi Lisca, thanks for visiting and Happy WOYWW. How wonderful to see the almond trees, I don't like marzipan but I like almonds, on my Slimming World plan they are restricted.
    I must read the whole story about what is happening to your house, love the layouts.
    Cazzy x

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  20. Fascinating!! I've never seen an almond harvest (or even an almond tree) and your photos were awesome!! I love almonds and had no idea they came from Spain! Your layout is lovely and I can't believe you made such a great one with so few tools! You're right...it does challenge you and stretch your abilities to have fewer things to use. Sometimes I think back when I first started scrapbooking with just scissors and a pad of paper and often wonder if it was way easier then because I didn't have so many supplies to get bogged down with!

    Okay, the embarrassing part....I made your layout pics big on my screen so I could read your journaling about the almond harvest, toggling back and forth from page to page to read each line. And then when I was done, I scrolled down a little, and there was your journaling all typed out for me! Hahaha! Duh!!!!

    Happy WOYWW!
    Amy E. #74
    Scrapthissavethat.com

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  21. Hi Lisca,
    Very interesting about the almonds! And your cake looks scrumptious, yum!
    I see some lovely papers on your table. It's amazing what you can do with minimum supplies :) And yes, I am in Australia. The "emerald city" is actually a double hint. Apart from the Wizard of Oz (which was one of my favourite childhood books/movies), there's a play called The Emerald City by a well known Australian playwright, and it is set in Sydney, with the backdrop of our beautiful harbour :)
    Many thanks for stopping by and for your very kind words.

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  22. As I read your post I felt like I was on a vacation! It all sounded so fun!
    I know what you mean about scrapping on limited supplies, I made a whole album that way about my trip to Germany year ago. You can find the video about it on my YouTube channel if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ANaPlyatZQ&list=UUlDHbmAaC38rn3RdACK3jRQ

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    1. Hi Beth, thanks for visiting. I just watched the video about your 'Germany' scrapbook. Awesome. Very encouraging for beginners.
      CU Wednesday!

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  23. Making such a beautiful layout with that tiny space and limited resources show as truly creative person. I love marzipan and you could certainly make a lot with all those almonds. I didn't know you could burn the shells. Does it smell marzipany when you light your fire? Have a great week and keep feeding the workmen, they tend to work better on a full stomach!!
    Von #23 P.S. I'm glad my blog made you smile :)

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  24. Hi Lisca happy WOYWW and thanks for visiting my desk..I called by your blog yesterday and then got distracted and never finished leaving you a comment. You're doing well crafting from the contents of one crate and your pages look super. Almond shells for heating ..well that recycling and I immediately got the image of a LORRY load wow that's a lot of almonds....yum though....like you cake no wonder it went in flash, hope you got some. Cheers and have a lovely week RobynO#29

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  25. Your pages look great and oh yum your cake looks delicious. It's amazing what you can do with limited supplies - I think your creative juices start to flow more with less material - if that makes sense. Thanks for popping over to my blog. Anita #50 WOYWW

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  26. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Great layout. Yours is proof we sometimes overthink things :-) Thank you for sharing the story about the almonds. I did not know the shells were a good source of heat - much like the pellet stoves here in the U.S. Looking forward to progress on the home. Creative Blessings! Kelly #66

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  27. Hey Lisca, thanks for swinging by my blog and apologies for the late visit. Great post. I didn't know you could use the shells as a heat source - how useful. Cx #65

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  28. Your CSI page is wonderful! The nautical theme works really well. And I love the colours.
    The post on the classic car show had my hubby drooling - he owns a Ford Thunderbird :-)
    Hugs
    Debs 26

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    1. Hi Debs, thanks for visiting. Your hubby has a Ford Thunderbird! Now that got me drooling! It's my fav classic car! Which one has he got? (What year?) I love them from 1966 or thereabouts. With the wide rear lights. Beautiful!

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  29. Thanks for stopping by my desk and leaving me a comment. Lovely to have a look at your desk and the post with the project from what's on your table. Is there any of that cake left by the way?!

    Helen x (43)

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  30. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog this week. How long will it be before your house is ready? Love your layouts. Joynana #55

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  31. Hi Lisca,

    You've proved so many of us wrong -- we really don't need EXACTLY what is required to make a great scrapbook page. Once your home is rennovated will you be moving back? Lately I've been thinking of removing the carpet on the stairs and in my bedrrom but I can't imagine removing everything from my bedroom for it to happen.

    Thanks for visiting me earlier. I can't believe it's Sunday already.
    Happy WOYWW,
    Peace,
    kay (31)

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    1. Hi Kay, it's great to have a visitor on Sunday! Thanks.
      Remove carpet in your bedroom and stairs? Go for it girl! Removing everything from your bedroom is healthy! You'll find things you never knew you lost. You'll be inspired to give you bedroom a new look and you'll be forced to have a good sort out and tidy up! Very healthy indeed. Are you going to leave the floorboards 'naked'? or are you going to have new carpet?
      CU Wednesday Kay
      PS my husband's surname is Kay so I get called Mrs Kay sometimes...

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  32. Hullo Lisca almost time for next woyww and just getting around, wonderful almonds thanks so much for sharing, :D Shaz in Oz.x PS thanks for popping over.

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  33. Lovely LO, thank you for your kind comment! I see you live in Spain - our country doesn't care much about cards but it is getting more popular since a few of us have started the trend! :-) Almonds - love them! That Victoria sponge cake - YUM!!!
    Have a lovely week!
    Cardarian

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