WOYWW - How Much?

Here's my desk from Saturday. A bit messy, with the evidence of a crafting session, but not the results! The cards I made are in my previous post. But you can see my box with Cuttlebug bits and bobs, small dies mostly and the embossing mat. Alongside is a Xyron for putting glue onto papers and embellishments. There's my pink scoring board, ink pads, non-stick craft sheet and magnetic cutting board.

Looking at all the stuff on my craft table, and then the wider view as well......

...with even more crafty stuff on view, it makes me wonder just how much money I've spent over the years. I have two whole wardrobes of stash. Lately I've not bought anything, trying to save cash, but I'm astonished at the number of items I have actually collected!

My father still keeps a black book itemising everything he buys for the house. It goes back to what he had when he got married and moved into a rented house, right down to the cost of his hairbrush! And he still has that hairbrush at age 86. It makes very interesting and eye-opening reading at the cost of things years ago.

I think I would definitely be shocked at what I've spent on Stash if I'd done the same thing and kept a running total. 

WOYWW - Messy Me!

Here's my workdesk snapshot for this week's WOYWW. Talk-For-England Julia is the instigator of this weekly madness and I know she'd love you to join in on her blog. 

I love getting messy when I craft, but crafting sessions don't happen often enough for me as I work full-time. Last Friday when this photo was taken I had just finished cutting up my 'A4 Artwork'  to make some cards. On my desk you can see acrylic paints, a cheap sponge cut into three pieces, ink pads and stamps, plus the cards I have made. I won't show you my sofa this week as I could hardly find space to sit amongst all the stuff I consider essential for an afternoon's play.

Much better that you look in this direction instead. Beyond my fold-up workspace is a wooden coffee table and beyond that the fireplace and blue plant pot. You know already that my favourite colour's blue. Not that you would guess that from the bright colours of these cards! 

You can see my pot holding Sakura pens as I used the clear glitter pen on areas of the cards to give a sparkly effect. And there's my craft mat, essential for messy techniques like this one. 

It took me ages to put everything back in the cupboards this week as I decided to have a sort out and label where things were.... Hubby was very pleased to see my diligence...... but I won't be volunteering to do that job again for a quite a while! I've no idea how I manage to get soooo much Stash into two wardrobes.

Behind The Scenes WOYWW

 straight out of the cupboard
                                                 (mug stain included)

 with the first few tools added

 plus more essential items

 the end of a craft session.

Just for a change, I thought I'd show 'behind the scenes' of a craft session on my worktable. When finished, I simply reverse the photo order to put it all away. But it's always much quicker getting stash out than putting it back!

This weekly gathering of Nosy People is hosted by Dame Julia so hop over to her place to join in. I'm going there now to poke around everyone's workdesks.

A Confession and White Space

Firstly, I have a confession to make. I've failed on my pledge not to buy more Stash this year. I couldn't resist the Martha Stewart punches on QVC the other week and bought one set. So, that out of the way, here's my layout for this week's challenge on Scrap Weekly in 2010  The challenge is to use lots of 'white space' on a page. The photo's not that brilliant due to the poor light in the house. It has been raining non-stop all day here in Sussex and a few local areas have flooding.

I've said before that I'm not a fan of 'white space'.  I tend to use more than one photo and lots of papers or embellishments to fill a 12x12 layout. However, I'm fairly happy with this attempt.

White space doesn't have to be white but I've taken the challenge quite literally and used white cardstock for the background. I used My Mind's Eye 'Pretty Please' papers, my new punches and Papermania alphabet stamps, with some doodling and journaling in black ink.

These photos of Summer 1999 make me long for warmer weather and an end to the rain and snow!

WOYWW

Not a very interesting craft table this week maybe, but if you want to see others in this Mad Group who post a photo every Wednesday of their work area, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground where you'll find them in ever-expanding numbers!

Hello All. What an awful couple of weeks weatherwise. Too much snow, not enough grit, no buses, no way of getting home from work etc. etc. Anyway, I did get to craft a little on Sunday, only to have a phone call from work to say there had been a pipe burst on the roof overnight, the roof had fallen in and the scan room was flooded!!! Argh!

Needless to say, this photo was taken very hastily as I packed up my Stash. I couldn't concentrate on anything after a message like that.

Back to the photo.... there's the front cover and first page of my 12x6 album for '52 in 10' in the making. The 'necessary equipment' on the table includes a corner rounder, American Crafts ribbons and Thickers, hole punch and box of Tim Holtz inkpads. And I've caught myself out again by leaving something on the table for all to see! The TV Remote this time.

OK, I admit it. I often watch TV as I craft. Preferably murder mysteries, sometimes cooking shows (not such a good idea as they make me hungry!) but on Sunday it was the news channel to watch the weather forecasts. I had to be sure I would be able to get into work at 7.00am on Monday to sort out the flood chaos. I just can't seem to escape the effects of the bad weather!

WOYWW

What's on my workdesk Wednesday? Actually it was last Saturday. I've been at work since then and not been able to craft, but as I wanted to take part in the first WOYWW of 2010,  I took  a couple of photos that afternoon! Julia runs this weekly madness and you can take part too by heading over to Stamping Ground and leaving a link to a photo of your crafting area.

On my desk there are three purchases made before the end of 2009 and they are the box of ribbons (gorgeous), the packets of American Crafts Thickers (sparkly gorgeous) and a 5inch Xyron (indispensible!). Luckily for me I got the Xyron before I decided to stop spending on craft stash in 2010 as it is brilliant and I don't know how I've managed without it! No more spraying aerosol glue everywhere and the smell that goes with it. No more glue sticks, rolls of double-sided tape, wet glue or tape pens when I need edge-to-edge stickiness, the green machine does the job! It's probably more expensive but I'm as careful as I can be to not waste any of the glue roll, and what matters to me, is that it does what it says on the box.

You can see a few decoupaged images on my desk too. I have managed to eke out my bargain-buy decoupage pack (of 40 cards) and made a total of 78 and I am DONE WITH decoupage now, probably forever! I have bored myself silly with it!

Anyway, it's all done except for the stamping of sentiments and addition of glitter, and I can make my own Christmas cards later in the year when I can face them again.

By the way Julia, I hadn't thought about not spending cash when attending a craft fair in London this year, but with a little lateral thinking I reckon I could probably still get some Stash. Assuming I get to such an event ----- I simply take my husband/daughters with me and ask VERY nicely for birthday presents!!! What do you think?

Christmas Scrapbook Page

This photo was taken of me at Christmas 1965 when I was seven years old. I don't look very happy, do I? I cannot remember the doll I'm holding but I do remember the one behind me. My Mother still has her but she lost her socks many years ago and now has one wonky eye!

I've been meaning to scrap this photo for a while. Unfortunately it is the only one I have of that Christmas, and being averse to scrapping single photos on layouts, it's been on my pinboard for ages, waiting for me to be inspired. Luckily, at the weekend, I came across Ruth's Christmas Challenge and decided to follow her rules today with this layout.

I have used DaisyD's papers, cards and alphabet letters from my stash which are all in vintage style and in Christmassy colours, layering up the papers and elements to make the page 3D. I printed the quotation onto one of the cards in the DaisyD's set and layered the green brackets on top.

As part of this challenge, I wanted to record my childhood Christmas Memories, so I used a second vintage card to write on, added a pull-tab, and this will slide underneath the carol-singing paper, to be read by anyone in the future.

I seem to be doing a few Christmas layouts lately, and with the those that I have done in the past of my two daughters at Christmas, I think I may have to start another album to keep them in. Hmmm ...... an excuse to buy more stash I think!

My Crafting Space

I like to be nosy and see where everyone else does their crafting, so today I thought it only fair to introduce you to my space.....

My very first post explained why I chose the name Cupboardcrafter for my Blog. Basically, I have to tidy everything away after each crafting session. Nothing can be left out. Not one thing. So my stash lives in boxes at the bottom of two double wardrobes. There's also my computer room (a glorified name for a broomcupboard) but there's very little space in there either as you can see from the photo above.

Looking South

Looking North

My crafting space is actually the Lounge. The table is a fold-away table which also manages to fit into the bottom of one of the wardrobes! My lovely daughters bought it for me as a Mother's Day present to replace the small wooden table I used to work on. The photos show my space looking very tidy, but I did that for your benefit - it's usually covered in paper and boxes and works in progress. I can never seem to find an item twice under all the stash!

I often bemoan the fact that I do not have a dedicated crafting space. I have to interrupt my crafting at a crucial moment and pack away for the night. Or I have to stay up late to finish the project. But there is one big advantage to this state of affairs. It saves money! 

Every craft purchase I make has to be thought about long and hard - do I have room to store it, can something I already have do the task for me, do I really need yet more scrapbook papers? The result is that I spend less money than I would if I had a proper space for working in and could buy at will -- that's what I tell myself anyway.

I'm off now to pack everything away. Sigh.

Just Playing

My computer room, despite painting it this weekend along with the hallway, is very bland. I have a pinboard with photos of family etc and all the desktop and printer paraphernalia (including the endless cables) on the floor and three shelves. I have room for a chair and not much else. My 'Computer Room' is actually a broomcupboard that I've taken over! But it sounds good to call it that.

It still needed brightening up after the painting. Something playful, colourful and cheap.

So this morning I made a plaque of sorts from my stash to stand on top of the pinboard. I had some Heidi Swapp chipboard letters and, of course, papers, ribbons and brads in my stash. I wrote on some of the paper (Hot Off The Press Vintage Papers), used distress ink on all the edges and played with brads and bows! The only other thing I had to do was strengthen the blue paper backing which I did by gluing two pieces of cardboard together, the type you find inside large transit envelopes. I save envelopes to re-use anyway so I had plenty to rummage through. It took a couple of hours to do and I enjoyed just playing around.

So here it is adding a bit of cheerfulness to my cupboard computer room. And there's a sneak preview of my crafting space in picture 1 - i.e. the table I use in my lounge.

That's also a clue to the subject of my next post!

Cupboard Crafter

I have a stressful fulltime job and a relaxing day to me is a day spent crafting. Like today. However, there are one or two obstacles I have to overcome before I can spend a blissful day puddling paint, sprinkling glitter and ribbing ribbon!

Problem Number One: My husband has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has to hoover the house before I start crafting (or do anything actually), only then can I get my crafting stash out.


Problem Number Two: because of the OCD everything in our house has to be put away, everything has it's place and I can never leave things out overnight! So I have to get my Stash out of the cupboards where it's stored and carry it into the Lounge before I can sit down and get started! I've ammassed so much crafting stuff in so many boxes that that in itself is enough to put me off! But not today. Today I've had a happy day playing with paints and stamps, and am completely chilled!


I am a fan of Glenda Waterworth www.graphicus.co.uk as followers of her will see in my card sample output today!

Now I've got to pack up all my Stash and lift it back into the cupboard until I get another day off work to play!