papercrafting

After all my debating with myself about scrapbooking and printers I decided not to buy a printer (for now) but I did decide to do some paper crafting (yeah, despite what I said the other day, because digital scrapbooking looks great but often feels more like work than play and because I keep coming back to the idea of paper crafting ). I have signed up for the waiting list for the Studio Calico February Project Life kit. I went and bought a few supplies from the craft store and the office supply store, and then I made some space to keep my new things.

I finished my Japan blurb book (a mammoth 220 pages! arriving in a week or so…) at long last, and cleaned out the ottoman in the living room – I used to store my library books in there but more recently I have just kept them piled on the table where I can see them. I used the ottoman to store the Japan albums and all my related journals and papers while I was working on my book. They’re not needed anymore so they’re put away and the ottoman has become a spot for PL related paper crafting supplies. So I’m all set, kind of!

There are a lot of people waiting to get Studio Calico kits but it sounds like I might be able to get the February kit, and if not, then I guess I will get the March kit. I really don’t like waiting! But I will survive. And I had some journaling cards printed from my digital kits (mostly from the Seafoam kit) so I can play around and try some stuff. I haven’t received my Handbook albums yet, but they’re on their way. Once they arrive (any day now) I can start playing.

I only bought a few little things from the craft store. I got some nice Martha Stewart labels (can’t stand her, but she does make some cute things) and 5 rolls of washi tape. Washi paper tape is a dangerous thing, so easy to collect, and quite useful and decorative. I felt like I was very restrained, only getting 2 colors of chevrons and some black and white tapes with a camera theme and another with date labels on it. I have my eye on some cute arrow tape online too. I made the mistake of looking at washi tape on etsy this morning, but there were too many to choose from, so I clicked away. I believe the SC kits usually have a roll of tape that coordinates with the kit. So eventually I will have a small collection. But I’ll need to designate a container for it and once it’s full I can start giving away the ones I’ve had the longest (if things get out of hand eventually!). I think it’s good to set limits beforehand.

I have already felt the urge to shop for more and more stuff (even though the whole point of signing up for the kit was to avoid actively shopping). It’s so easy to get into the collecting hunter-gatherer mode! I started organizing the ottoman and immediately started looking for drawer organizers online. I had already told hubby that I didn’t want to get anything plastic, especially not anything new. But I was looking at ideas online and found a neat 12×12″ stackable snapware organizer which would fit nicely into the ottoman. It would take up the entire space inside, but this person had all her kids crafts in there and she pulled it out when they wanted to draw or paint – the 3 layers could unstack and… – and then I caught myself – I don’t plan to EVER have that much stuff and I don’t want a crappy plastic bin!

While I was writing about this I remembered a lovely Japanese box I have that used to belong to my uncle (which smells delightfully of incense even though it hasn’t held any for many years!) which will be perfect to hold journaling cards. It wasn’t being used for anything important.

I (sort of) cleaned out one of the sideboard drawers too. I have one drawer on the left for pens and scissors and things and 2 drawers for card and letter writing things. The middle one has the stuff I really use, though I don’t write snail mail as often as I should. The right hand drawer held beautiful things I was hoarding – some lovely letter writing paper, some Japanese greeting cards, some scrapbook papers I had cleverly folded into all-in-one letter-envelopes and never used. I haven’t really tackled any of it. The paper is lovely and I do occasionally use it, but it is never really used up. And the folded paper envelopes are so neat – what if I want to use one someday and I don’t have the examples to reference how to do it? I never used this idea in the last 8 years… and I don’t have 12″ paper stashed any more, so really, this is just being silly!

I have one paper set (above) that is so darn cute I photographed it and have decided to try and use it in paper crafting. I almost wish I hadn’t bought it – I get this way when something is too cute. I can’t get rid of it and I can’t stand to use it and waste it. So silly. (I didn’t know there was a website for this designer until I was telling a friend about the paper yesterday – it’s http://www.tokidoki.it. I learned a little bit about the characters. Maybe that will take away their power over me?!)

I should tell you I only have 4 paper sets, all partially used. I’m not a hoarder in the sense of having excessive amounts of things. Just in the sense of not wanting to use it all up, or even use it at all sometimes. Every year around this time I tell myself that I will regularly send letters and cards to my friends near and far this year, but I don’t really follow through. It might be time to pass some paper on. I’ve had 2 of the sets for more than 10 years! And most often I use little notecards now, which live in the middle drawer.

I took a good look at the Japanese cards I was saving, They’re too, too beautiful. I think I have already scanned some of them so I can save them forever. The insides are mostly empty – many Japanese cards come with a paper insert where the message is written and most were only signed with names of people I haven’t seen in a decade. But there’s no way I would ever trash the cards. I might give them away, but they aren’t very useful. A couple could be made into postcards but the others are complicated popup cards that wouldn’t repurpose well. But in the end I noticed they are all Christmas holiday cards so I’m going to keep them with our holiday decorations and then I can put them up and enjoy them each year. They’re out of the way at least. It wasn’t like I was going to reuse them and send them out during the year so there was no need to keep them with my letter writing supplies.

I have a bit of a problem with beautiful stationery. It’s a good thing I don’t often buy it.

The right hand drawer is almost ready to become something new. I think it’s a good spot for small things like glasses case and wallets that don’t really have a home, that need to be stored somewhere central and easy to access but out of the way of the stuff I use every day. I was originally thinking about using it for paper craft supplies, but I work in the living room next to the ottoman, not at the dining room table, so it makes more sense to keep supplies in the living room.

I saw a picture of a crafter using an old loaf pan to hold her cards and sticker sheets and things, so guess what I just added to my ottoman? I don’t need plastic junk to hold my stuff!

Jo:)

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