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I hope you enjoy reading my posts, and please leave me a comment. I always enjoy reading them, and will try to visit you in return.

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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Thursday 29 December 2011

Getting ready for the New Year - trying to find somewhere to work or even sit

 I finally plucked up the courage after lunch to get started on the disaster that was my craft room.  I was very honest and took photos of the before and the after so far.  Needless to say, I am nowhere near finished, but I did make a start.  This is just to the left of my cutting mat, and everything had started to cascade and get thoroughly mixed up.  Even the clock had fallen over and joined the general wreckage.
After an afternoon of hard work, this was the same bit of my desk.  The Christmas stuff that had taken over and collapsed is now away in one box.  It had been in two boxes, but I managed to get it all into one - the only problem is that the box is twice the size.  I want to know how I can make 70 cards from what I had in the boxes, and now there is more stuff to put away.  How does that work, then?  
The whole of the desk has now been dusted and cleaned of random bits of glue.  You can see the two new sets of CD Rom's from Joanna Sheen, the Patience Strong set and the Faye Whittaker one.  (Pretty good service on those.  They were in the special offer section at half price, and they came within 36 hours of ordering.)  My now empty bottle of water is there under the light (must bring that downstairs to refill it for tomorrow - the water bottle, not the light), but you can see most of the cutting mat, which is a novelty.

I am lucky enough to have two printers in my room, one for general purpose and the other to take the thicker card, and also, as an extra, it prints pretty pictures on DVD's and CD's.  After the pre-Christmas panic, they were both submerged under piles of UFO's and general dross.  This picture does not show them at their worst.  There are replacement printer cartridges, empty containers, sheets of Christmas papers and projects, cards and envelopes.  

By the end of the afternoon, I had managed to replace the dead cartridges, and clear the tops of both printers.  Now they are both ready to use. There are a couple of things still in situ, the can of air to clean the keyboard and the air vents on the computer, a set of discs for Greeting Card Factory, and another container of assorted ribbons.  I have followed Shaz Silverwolf's advice and ordered some of that foam board to store my ribbons on, so that will have to wait until the package arrives.  

That will do for today, but I will continue the clear up tomorrow, maybe, hopefully, but I do need to do a couple of cards for early January as well.  Speak to you all later.

10 comments:

l00pyscraftcreations said...

Oh dear is this supposed to happen after christmas, coz I am pretty sure it was supposed to be BEFORE christmas!! I did mine last night lol, xx

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Hi there Maggie can relate to that as need to go and do mine too! happy tidying and better get back to mine! and God's richest blessings for new year and His keeping on you and those you love in 2012, love Shaz in oz.x

Di said...

Oh Maggie, almost in tears of laughter here - this is soooo like my craft predicament which I need to tackle today. As you say, like you I made over 70 cards and ended up with more stuff than I started out with! But you're ahead of me and it's looking pretty tidy already! Care to come down and help out here? Di xx

Viv said...

Clearing your Craft space muxt be an 'after xmas' thing - cos I did mine too! It's real difficult to work on just two square inches of space isn't it???? Anyway your area looks very spruced up now and ready for you to make messy again! Happy New Year!

May said...

O Maggie I did chuckle, mind you it is looking good, You kindly left a comment for me regarding digi stamps Maggie on how to size them, My blog is mays happy daze, not that craft place that's Lisa's who I am on her design team and can access her blog if needed,and I dont know why it comes first??? mystery, But thank you so much for taking the time to try to help me with digi stamps, I may have to ask more advise from you soon, Hugs May x x x x x Happy 2012, x x x x

Anonymous said...

Bet it feels good to have a big sort out and get everything looking ship shape again. Very sweet canvas of the grandchildren too. Have a wonderful New Year.

Hugs
Brenda 58

Anonymous said...

Well hello MaggieC from the UK -- What a great working space. When I am working, there's not a table top and desk top not covered. You are so generous with your creations! God Bless you for that. And you are into everything kinda like me -- sewing, paper crafts, collage, some knitting, etc, etc. I just got a cutting dye machine and can't wait to try it out -- have to wait though, grandkids are coming for New Year's. Blessings Terri www.morningdewdrops.typepad.com

Sheree said...

I love your work desk Maggie! Finally, someone who is just like me!
Thanks for becoming a follower of our new blog Craft a Scene! We look forward to seeing your creations during challenges! We will all learn together!
Hugs,
Sheree

The Artful Diva said...

Happy New Year - hope yours is filled with peace, love, joy and creativity!

Emma Williams said...

Thank you for all your support in 2011. Hope you had a lovely Christmas, Maggie and Happy New Year. Hope 2012 brings you everything you could wish for.
Love and hugs, Emma xxx