Craft packs are now available as part of the studio clearance!

Studio clearance going on.  Really!


 It's been fun coordinating all these things and making extra die cuts to supplement, as well as cutting out pop-up bases for step cards or whatever anyone would care to use them for.  However, the biggest problem I can see (these are heavy-duty boxes, about 9x12x2) is the shipping cost.  eBay really encourages free shipping but I don't quite know how to price them reasonably and offer shipping too.  I'll figure it out.

The browns and all their accompaniments are my favorites.

Because I have the parchment craft supplies site, and now the studio clearance, I have been trying to tie it all together so that once I have all this put up, I'll have time to PLAY!  I want to get back to painting, and collaging, and have some female heads in foam that I found at JoAnn's that I am anxious to play with.

I also have created some 5x7 bullet journals to include with the craft packs, just for the last six months of the year to introduce people to the idea of bullet journals.  I love using mine, and I really do need a way to look at the month as a whole when remembering all the commitments I have -- including what day my mini-Aussie gets her heartworm meds.  Anyway, I am taking more photos of the craft packs later today.  That is, after I finish hassling with the eBay store inputs.

Do you also set up self-imposed deadlines?  I'm really bad about that!  Balance -- time to play -- is essential.

No wall space? Build one!

I think I'm finally happy with my studio arrangement!

Sure, I've organized, re-organized, boxed up, donated or thrown away bunches in the past several years.  But one thing I realized: if it's not attractive to me, I can't accomplish anything in here.

I've been making lots of paper houses and working on a design that I can share.  That means lots and lots of trial cuts and changes, so that also means I have dozens of little houses.  And I want to SEE them, so I set up some displays just for me.  Not only do I like to look at what I've made, I get inspiration for more projects.  I found little people on eBay and of course, the houses have to fit the people, right?

But for my own satisfaction, I had to divide the studio into specific task areas. By that I mean separate the papercrafting area from the painting space.  To do that required a wall.  When this studio was built I never thought much about the need for wall space for displaying things, because I filled up the walls with shelves.  And I never thought about leaving space for a do-nothing area.  (Once in awhile I do need to turn my brain off and rest.)

I found some fence boards in the garage, left over from our new fence last year necessitated by a windstorm.  It occurred to me that I could use them to frame a pegboard wall, attach it to my workbench with a 2x2, and I even added a hinge to the wall so I could "open" it if I needed to expand one or more of the areas.   This pegboard wall is just for the latest thing I made, or painted, or collaged, until it finds its ultimate home.  Sometimes things need to "sit" awhile before I decide whether I'm going to add to it.  And sometimes I need to sit too!

The plastic you can see is hanging over from the painting area.  (I have learned to cover as much as possible when I'm slinging paint around.) I learned from Bob Burridge to use 4ply plastic and I use it for everything.

I also built a three-panel divider and covered it with burlap, and I pin more inspiration there.  So when I come into the tiny studio, I am met with reminders of why I do all this and not just stunned by the chaos!

In the first photos above, you see that I had to find places for my scroll saw as well as my cutters, which meant then I needed a work table smaller than I've used before.  For now it's a card table but that will probably change.  My original 30x72 table just wasn't working anymore.

There is just no way, with all the years of creating things and accumulating tools and materials, that I can have one of those little neat craft areas one finds on Pinterest!  That might work for someone just starting out, or someone who does only one type of activity.  In my case, I run a parchment craft supplies business, create greeting cards, and construct die cuts for papercraft packs soon to be offered on my site.  Which is why I've been behind on blogging.

I'll try and do better!

10 ways to know if you are a craft/mixed media junkie

There are some addictions we just have to acknowledge, and decide whether or not there is a real downside.  Here are some ways to know whether you are addicted to the habit of crafting:

• 1.  You see a bottle or jar someone is getting ready to throw away and your heart beats a little faster.
• 2.  A package comes in the mail; inside is corrugated cardboard or tissue and you grab it to save for someday.
• 3.  You see a new paint additive in the hardware store and you immediately think of ways to use it.
• 4.  The neighbors put something on the lawn for the weekly heavy pick-up and you really want to go examine it before the truck comes.  Sometimes you do, and you bring it inside.
• 5.  You go to Scrapbook.com regularly to see what new products there are this week, even if you don't order anything.  Mostly you realize you already have that.
• 6.  When you go to Amazon just to order something simple, like coffee or a book, you end up clicking on all the recommended items that relate to making stuff.
• 7.  Your craft room is full of things you cannot use in a lifetime.  You obsess over organization.
• 8.  You spend entirely too much time on Pinterest in the DIY sections, and hours on YouTube watching tutorials.
• 9.  You want to order every new die cutting machine that comes on the market.
• 10. You pore over every craft store mailer just in case there's something they have at 40% off this week that you don't have yet.

And there are lots more signs, like when shopping you drift over to the craft supplies area just because.

Well, these things certainly apply to me, and to a few of my acquaintances.  I think that's one of the reasons there are so many exchanges and swaps online for cards and handmade gifts.  And the groups!  There are so many exciting things to learn from other people.

But here is the downside:

There is only so much time in a day, not to mention a lifetime.  In my case, I figure I have maybe a decade left, and assuming I can still create things during the remainder of my years, I still won't be able to use everything I have accumulated in the many ways I can imagine.  I have been working on de-stashing for several years now, yet it seems that each new fascination or project requires maybe one more product... so for that reason, I have lots and lots of supplies, every type of adhesive that exists on the planet (except silicone glue.  What is that anyway?  I keep meaning to do a search on Amazon and get some.) and every type of paper made.  I have even learned to make paper, so I have the screen and supplies for that too.


And painting substrates: I have canvases, cardboard, mat board, board-board, and watercolor paper. I have fabric paint of all types.

Oh, and speaking of fabric, last year I learned to hook rugs, so I have those supplies, and then I saw a video about rag rugs so I am building a frame for that.  I'm done making quilts.

I have supplies for making art journals, scrapbooks, binding machines, brads and I LOVE making little books.  I have clay and clay molds.  I have the oven for that.  I have woodworking supplies and carving knives.  And I'm not even talking yet about the Dremels.

Recently I discovered parchment craft, so I set up an online store for that since I found supplies hard to get in the USA. That's taking time (and another addiction) too.

I have never had much success with Etsy, but I am about to start making little craft packs, and various die cut shapes and putting them up for sale somewhere.  I recently sent a lot of my hand-made greeting cards to a nursing home I know about, so the staff can give residents birthday cards when they need one.  I like that idea.  An acquaintance of mine is doing paper crafting on a volunteer basis in another senior center, so I sent a big pack of "stuff" to her,  I don't mind sharing because my stock of that sort of thing is boundless.  On my "to-do" list this week is to contact local activity directors of nursing homes to see if they could use things like this.

There are so many things I want to make.  Each time I go into the studio I see something I have been planning to do, but since I'm in the middle of whatever I'm doing right now, of course I can't get to it. I have photo albums and scrapbooks of my own that need finishing.  I recently found some sketches I did of my granddaughters when they were babies and I thought saving those all together in one scrapbook would be a great idea.  I went to a used bookstore and found a big hard-back childrens' book and gessoed it to use for that purpose.  I started it.  It remains unfinished.

So to me, this is the downside.  I see other people quite happy to relax once in awhile, to just read or watch TV and sometimes I envy them,  But my addiction compels me to keep trying to finish all these fun projects.  I think my fantasy is that if I keep at it, I will finally use up all of my supplies and then I can relax and do nothing.

By the way, I just ordered a new super-duper does-everything cutter! I can't wait til it gets here!  Just think,.. then I can make stencils, more wood ornaments and frames, templates, engrave more materials....

Now I have to go find that silicone glue.