Patience... patience...

I am well known within my circle of friends to have "the patience of a saint" (or so they all tell me). I think it's just because what most people regard as naughty children, I find adorable, fun, and mischevious (unless it's MY ornaments they're breaking, MY dog's ears they're pulling, and MY flowers they're dead-heading *lol*). I just think kids are cute... we can all learn so much and remember such beautiful moments through just sitting and watching children play. Anyway... as I said - patience. Should have been my middle name. Well, until today.

The shelves for my boxed corner in the craftroom have been built... they've also had an undercoat, and yesterday had a coat of gloss. Now, one of Hubby's mottoes is "If you're going to do a job do it well". His idea was to leave the shelves for a few days to dry out completely, sand them down, and then give them a final extra-smooth lasting coat of gloss. Or I could have them now - perfectly nice and very useable. My motto is "It's a craft thing... I want it now!" (actually, anything to do with decorating I want "finished yesterday at the latest" *lol*). So, Hubby  should never have given me the choice really. "Well, if you want them up in your room, you'll have to give me a hand carrying them up the stairs", says Hubby. No problem. "Mind - the paint sometimes takes a while to set as it seeps and gathers into the corners of the shelves" was the fantastic advice Hubby threw nonchanantly in my general direction as I "oomphed" and "ugh-ed" picking up the shelves.

I should have taken the "wait and sand down" option really. The paint is still wet. As I lifted the piece, my thumbs went through the soft paint, my hands slid over and furrowed up the paint on the shelves... and I got a fit of the giggles as my hands, hair, and clothes started to become covered in white patches. The more I laughed, the more the shelving unit slipped from my hands. It's so lucky we're thinking of redecorating the hallway, as it now has smears of paint along it. When the shelves hit the light pendant, I nearly dropped them, giggling so much was I. I really have no idea why I laughed quite so much... but the heavier the sighs from Hubby (and the deeper his frown) the more I couldn't stifle the laughter.  We did get the shelves upstairs and into the little room. Eventually. My bare boxed corner went from this:

To this:

And they'll look great filled with plastic baskets full of 'stuff'... except for the long wait I now have for Hubby to get rid of these:

I darkened the photo so you could all see what happens when I get impatient *slaps wrist*

I've gouged, furrowed, and messed up a really nice piece of work. Oh, the guilt! Actually, the guilt is somewhat lessened as Hubby sighs at me, rolls his eyes, and lets me know that now the waiting, sanding, and re-painting will all have to be done in the craftroom itself. And he'll try not to get gloss on the flooring :o

He's smiling now though... think he's found the funny side of it all too :)

Either that, or he's planning on redecorating the hallway with superbike posters... AGH!!!

Oooohhh! New Desk!

Wonderful, Darling, Amazing Hubby put together the desk he bought for me today. It's gorgeous! I know... I'm a bit "me, me, me" with my posts at the moment... but it's so exciting to finally have a dedicated craftroom - even if I'm a bit lonely up here right now.

So... here's the desk assembled, with it's black glass top and useful shelving...

And here's the same desk ten minutes later *lol*...

Callie is still, at this moment in time, sat on the desk - so not cool!  I have my crafting mats at the ready, Galaxy chocolate near to hand, and a can of Pepsi Max to swig... I'm almost ready to craft!

I just have to share something. I saw these advertised on the television one evening, and then came across them at a discount shop, and had to buy them - the most unfortunately named item I have ever bought...

Surely a capital "I" to separate the words would have been better, rather than the slight gap between the 'm' and the 'p'... yes, I DO read this as "Bum Pits" rather than "Bump Its". Makes me giggle so much... Oh, the immaturity of it all!

*lol*

They Said It Couldn't Be Done...

Everyone agreed... they looked into the little space, and declared with absolute certainty "It won't fit!". But she knew different. She knew there would be space... that there would be a happy ending. There is a moral to this tale...

Never, never tell a crafter that their 'stuff' won't fit into a small space. We'll squeeze and jiggle, push and fiddle... until everything goes where it should.

Actually, I didn't need to jiggle or push anything - I borrowed Hubbys tape measure when everyone else was out... but we'll keep that little gem just between us :)

So...

It's been quite a day... my new craft room has been painted. I chose white - boring, yes - but cheap and practical too! It's a North-facing room, so I needed to keep it light to help what little sunlight I do have peeping through the small window. I've kept the original carpet - the condition is excellent as it's been preserved through years of odd socks, paper bits, and general rubbish being piled on top of it. The curtains were free too - black, of course... and now I only need to get hold of the mock-flocked chandelier in black that will hang from the light fitting :)

Hubby will be building shelves and also a desk for me - we can't find a workdesk I like at all, so MDF and white gloss will have to do *lol*

I've kept my plastic storage shelves... they are useful, practical... and why replace them with something that will do the same job (even if something else might look a bit better)?. Here's the space the storage needed to go... behind the door of the room:

Six plastic storage boxes to fit in the gap? Not a problem...

The red baskets won't stay on top - they'll have a space on the shelves Hubby is building. But the important thing here is... I WAS RIGHT! *lol* Everything fits in the space nicely. Now I just have to get everything else up into my 'new' room too!

Hopefully, everything will be sorted by the time the kittens are getting curious and leaving their little box. Talking of kittens... want a peek? Just a photograph of the little boy kitten - he's such a cutie!

Had A Tidy-Up

I came to the conclusion that so many others have reached before me... if you can't see it, you won't use it!  Speaking of craft items, of course. So, I decided to sort out my crafting items that were hidden away in drawers and cupboards... all those things that I use and then just shove back anywhere that they'll fit and then not find them again for six months! I don't have a dedicated craft space as such - so I am slowly but surely taking over the dining room (goodness knows where I'll be sitting the hordes of guests for Christmas dinner this year! *lol*), but using a room and making it a total mess are two entirely different things apparently (so my Hubby has informed me), and so I really had to do some serious sorting out. I used an old shelf for my inks and micas, glimmers and powders... adding my ribbons and books I cut pages out of to make flowers, and sorting out my photographs into a folder and oddments of printed paper also in a folder and placing these on a shelf (stuffing them into a space, more like!). My albums are stacked on top along with Rufus the cuddly toy dog who is still waiting for me to decorate his little kennel. The storage boxes were sorted out a while ago and mainly contain punches, stickers and stamps, as well as flowers and bling. I have way too many flowers... the shoe boxes at the bottom of the shelves are full of foilage and flowers, one drawer is so stuffed I can barely open it, and then there's that vase full of riotious colour - leftovers from bouquets and purchases that I thought I couldn't do without :). I do have a cupboard converted from an emersion heater storage space, as well as a sideboard that are full of tools, glues, tapes, pens, pencils, paints, Christmas embellies, plain 12x12 papers and probably a ton more stuff I can't even remember! This doesn't even begin to include my patterned papers collection... I really do need a craft room!