Slightly less over-whelmed...

I've now made serious inroads into tidying and boxing up my craft stuff ahead of the first stage in re-modelling my lounge into a lounge-cum-craft studio - still have a ways to go but thought I'd share what I have done so far.

ALL the carrier bags that were under the table and around the chair have been emptied and the contents found proper homes for - now I can get under the desk and start to pull out the tools and odds and sods that have migrated under there. The sewing machine (which is a 1952-ish handcranked jobbie) is going to a friend from Benfleet Scrappers, so that'll release some more space.

I've made a good start at clearing the desk itself, some things have been put away where they should have been put away well before now *looks all sheepish and hangs head guiltily* but other things have had to go into storage boxes for now, until I can find proper homes for them. I've also earmarked a lot of stuff to either sell, move on, recycle or (shock horror) purely throw away as it's no use to man nor beast - or even other crafters! I know that "One mans trash is another mans treasure" - but seriously peeps... there is a limit here, and some things have just reached it!

To help with storage I've bought some rather lovely sturdy but collapsible storage boxes from The Works - they were a fiver each but well worth it as they look lovely - I've got 2 of each design, London and Paris, as well as a 5th one which has the London Underground map printed on it. They are a good size, they take a 12x12 ziplock baggie laying down nicely, so all the baggies of half-finished and "yet-to-start" layout projects I've had laying around can go in one, all the kits bought from Total Papercrafts etc can go in another etc... As you can see this is definitely a work in progress, piles of stuff moved away from the craft desk just so's I can get near it to clear it, but it will all sort itself out eventually.

The plan is for these nice storage boxes to go under the shelf that the DVD/video player is on - currently under there are several carrier bags containing holiday ephemera - y'know, all the "crap" you bring back from your holidays that you want to use in scrapbook albums for that holiday: brochures, ticket stubs, newspapers, postcards etc... they are all piled up and sliding around looking messy. So if I put the bags into a couple of these smart storage boxes instead it'll look much neater. And with a luggage label tied to the handle of each one (thanks for that great idea Toni!) I can easily locate which box has got what in it.

But that is phase 2 - or even possibly phase 3 - clearing the top of the craft desk so that it can be removed and re-sited takes priority, and I only have a few days left to do this.

So I'd better hop to it!