Holland today!

Holland today!

Hi there

All aboard for a quick trip to the Netherlands! Cor, I wish!! I would be off to Leiden in a heartbeat, but I just don‘t think it’s safe at this time. And anyway, I am way too busy! But do head on over to our Clarity matters blog – the lads are in full swing over there, and there’s a little competition going too.

Me? I’m up to my ass (that’s actually Dutch for arse!!) in stamps and stencils and masks and pens and ink pads and paint and papers and all sorts of lovely stuff that I am really struggling to part with! So much for playing binit! I am shuffling most of it around the Shac-Shack, having a little dance with it, dreaming up projects I could do with it, and ultimately deciding I can’t possibly binit it – I WILL NEED IT !!!!

Powertex! Spent a small fortune on this gear. It’s still in the packaging, waiting for me to play!

Time to stop for the day. Dave has helped by making the shelves in the backroom narrower. Now I can get in!!! Hahahahaha. Also, they needed a little reinforcing. Clearly the stash is getting too heavy…

This crafting lark is most definitely an addiction. When I used to drink, I could never have just one of anything – and therein lay my dilemma. So ultimately, it was easier to just not have the first one! When I wander round my artroom, I see duplicates of everything, triplicates too. I can’t just have one of anything! It’s in my DNA. The whole minimalist movement is lost on this old bird!

But there you go. Are you like me? I bet lots of us have enough craft stash to sink the Bismarck! But in our defence may I say, your Honour, that it’s a healthly obsession. Crafting, your Honour, crafting.

Stay safe x

Love and hugs

Barb xxx

51 thoughts on “Holland today!

  1. I’m like you. I’ll stop there x x

    Ps the good thing about Groovi is that you don’t have two of anything except ……. when you order something you don’t think you have but do LOL !! X

  2. I thought you were on holiday!!!! I’ve only been paper crafting for a short while (approx. 18 months) but already I’ve had to buy a bookcase unit to put my stash. Recently I had to buy yet more A4 plastic boxes. I keep telling myself not to buy anymore and recently I had an ‘inspection’ to see what I had. When we moved to Northampton we downsized – if I’d known what I know now I would have insisted on having a spare room for ‘crafting’ (I also quilt). Now my doodling is taking over and I’m such a happy bunny. Stay safe Barbara – BTW how is Dave’s foot?

  3. I’m in the same boat…tons of stuff I have not opened yet..will get to it someday soon I hope……my craft room needs a good going over ..but I too have trouble tossing things in a bin…seems as soon as I do then I find something I could use it for….have a great day Barbara

  4. Yes my stash is like yours, still trying to sort, since we downsized I only have a corner in the conservatory, used to have a bedroom!!
    But it’s fun trying to find stuff now. X

  5. Lol. You are having fun!! Of course you can’t part with stuff! I understand that. I could open a Clarity shop up here with the stock I have accrued and I haven’t been around Clarity for very long!! If you ever run short….Just shout! Lol. I think you need Grace over to sort out your craft room. She seems to be very good at clearing things out (as she said on a previous blog or two), maybe not craft stuff though! Enjoy pottery tomorrow. Lots of love, Hxx

  6. Your crafty stash will always expand to fit the space available Barb. My 16′ x 10′ shed is evidence of that lol. Good luck with the tidying. I can always volunteer to take any surpless supplies off your hand if you think it will help 😉

  7. Hi Barbara well done on starting your tidying. I have so much stuff I have never used. Since lockdown my crafting has changed and become more simple. I still have mountains of stuff like lots of people. Oh well enjoy your evening. Hugs ❣️

  8. Haha! I’d love to come and sort out that stash Barbara! Mind you I don’t think I’d get far before I got distracted and started playing instead.
    I still need to have a proper sort out of my stuff. I really need a proper craft room but that isn’t likely to happen. I just need to be creative with the space I have!
    Relax a little tonight and hope you have a good day tomorrow.
    Love and hugs Xxxx

  9. You’re amazing, you make me laugh so much, but your right, crafting is an obsession. I moved my husband and I into the small bedroom so I could fit my craft into the big room. WRONG! I’ve still pinched my sons double cupboard! Can everyone please stop bringing out new stuff, I just can’t resist!
    See you soon Barbara xx

  10. Like everyone else, I have a craft house, not just a craft room. The bathroom and kitchen only have craft stuff intermittently and are used for washing things, but every other room, including utility and cloak room, have craft stuff permanently in residence!! More than I’d like to admit to has not been used or only tested once -but it’ll be just what I need, one day! Since I’ve been collecting it since 1993, I have enough to stock a small shop. Ah well -harmless addiction, as you say.

  11. Yes certainly like you, got far too much stash. Looks as if you still have an awful lot to sort. x

  12. I would be like a kid in a sweet shop in your craft room! I too have a problem with ‘getting rid’ of stuff, so tend to just move things around. I spent hours today trying to sort out photographs, which haven’t been put into albums. I gave up in the end and did some Groovi. Have a good evening and hope Dave’s foot is better. Hugs. Annette X

  13. Hey Barbara what happened to your “holiday” ? I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets in a mess sorting out and then ends up keeping most of the stuff.
    Hope you are feeling a bit better now and Dave’s foot is less painful.
    Love Steph

  14. I had a massive craft room clear out a year or so ago, but I still have so much. A box bedroom for a craft room will never work! I need a big king size room with some of those fab units that fold away to look like a wardrobe. That way, it can look minimalistic but open the doors to an Aladdin’s cave of craft (in my dreams!!)
    xx

  15. I think my problem is that I collect Hobbies. I have a craft room (a small one) but spend my life getting things out and making room for the next item I need to use. I also do sewing and embroidery. The problem I have is I save all the bits to make pet beds for the RSPCA so I have tubs for bits, tubs for scraps, tubs for patchwork quilts that I have started that probably won’t get finished for a couple of years. Now every piece of fabric is too good to throw away. Do you think we get dragged down by all this gear? I have enjoyed the drawing because its so compact. Hope Dave’s legs are better and hopefully you will be able to chill a bit over the weekend BarbaraXx

  16. My craft room has overflowed into every other room….I’m starting to worry about the sheer weight of it all. I think the floors need a few more beams….

  17. I am in the craft addiction club. I truly believe I am an obsessive person, I too can’t avoid buying more than one of things which can run out, as spares. I can’t find things, (especially after tidying up), so I end up buying the thing I can’t find, so of course shortly after I find the original. That happened with a tin of 60 polychromos, so I now have spares of them. I forget what I have already bought, and not used, so I have quite a few doubles. I have three rooms full of stuff, from lots of different crafts.
    My hubby is a saint, but occasionally I get an earful of moans about it. I keep telling him, he wouldn’t like me much if I could no longer craft, I would be unfit to live with.

  18. Oh so glad it’s not just me. I’ve all the powertex stuff plus a whole bin of possibly things I could use with it. I will do the garden mirror one day. Have a fantastic weekend. Xx

  19. Yep just gone through my old die’s. I’ve looked through and put em back, thinking I like that I’ll use it, on more than one occasion and still not used em. So they are being sold this time. We just keep to much stuff because well we might need it one day x x

  20. Glad there are other folks like me 😅 i collect all sorts, my last objects were Danone yoghurt pots they look like milk churns.
    Enjoy the rest of your day xxx

  21. This did make me laugh! I too could never have just one but a huge craft stash neither makes me fall over or makes my clothes tight so hey ho!! There are worse things I could do!

  22. So glad I am not alone. I have a marbling kit still waiting for me to have a play, at least 18 months after I bought it! As for the precious metal kit, I dread to think how long that has been sitting on the shelf. One day I will be brave enough to give it a go ( was that a flying pig I saw?!) Enjoy your pottery tomorrow. x

  23. Hi Barbara,
    When we moved to a lager house last year I got a craft room. Fantastic.
    But some how the new Big table is getting smaller and smaller.

    And yes I know about hæving 2 of a lot of things (jeans, t-shirts and art supply).

    Have a lovely holiday to you both.

  24. Hi Barb
    All I will say is.
    Yehhhh. We’re related I’ve got the same DNA
    Ha ha. Not got quite as much stash though.
    mine keeps migrating to other rooms in the house 🏡 I’ve got friends that love it when I tidy my stash because they get my duplicated ones.
    You have a lovely evening with Dave .
    I hope he is feeling better 🤗

  25. Hi Barbara
    All I will say is.!!!
    Yehhhh. We’re related I’ve got the same DNA
    Ha ha. Not got quite as much stash though.
    mine keeps migrating to other rooms in the house 🏡 I’ve got friends that love it when I tidy my stash because they get my duplicated ones.
    You have a lovely evening with Dave .
    I hope he is feeling better 🤗.

  26. I too have loads of stuff in all media’s , I’ve always said I’m stocking up for my retirement when I might not be able to afford much , hahahaha that’s my excuse

    1. I spent years collecting crafting goodies in preparation for my retirement. When I retired from work I found I just did not have time in my busy life for crafting so until lockdown they gathered dust. I have had so much enjoyment from sorting and playing with my ‘treasures’ during the past weeks, many unopened boxes have now become prized possessions. Doodling and colouring with Barbara has been a joy.

  27. Ha ha, I would feel very much at home in your craft room – it looks just like mine! I am also guilty of moving things around because I can’t bear to throw things out and, as for unfinished/unstarted projects, I need to retire and live another lifetime. 😃

  28. I am so pleased I am not the only one with a massive crafting stock and still have a few unopened packages. We don’t go to craft fairs anymore, it’s too expensive. The trouble is that hubby sees things he thinks I may like and it is one devil of a job to stop him buying for me. I usually tell him I already have it or something similar.
    I stopped buying from other companies when I discovered Clarity. Even hubby has succumbed to snitching the occasional stamp from my stash to use with his pyrography as he loves the designs.
    When we downsized in our move to Norfolk I made sure we had plenty of room for our art and crafts. Bought a huge workshop for the garden to house Ray’s “other hobbies” but most of it never exited the art space and he rarely goes out there. So now we have a very cluttered conservatory, not enough room to put up an easel, and the table is piled high with boxes full of gadgets. Grrrrr!!!!!!
    Received my Geisha plates and stamps today so after knocking myself out doing chores this morning I spent the afternoon Groovin’ – so relaxing. Will do the colouring tomorrow.
    Have a good evening and enjoy your pottery tomorrow.
    Stay well 🍒🍒🍒

  29. I think we probably all have a big stash and should stock up craft goodies for this winter to avoid the virus and Brexit, along with any problems they cause in supply chains. Some foods, plaster, building supplies and other goods are hard to get now, so imagine when the shipping and courier services are full of Christmas goods as well. May as well pile it high at the Members’ Sale now and hibernate in a happy glow.

  30. This does make me laugh … My name is Susan and I’m a craft-a-holic!!! For the last 3 or 4 years my new year’s resolution has been to “use stuff up”. Making over 240 cards for my charity recently certainly used up quite a bit of coloured card and embellishments and odd envelopes, which was very satisfying. During lockdown I also crocheted loads of granny squares for my nephew’s fiance out of odds and ends of yarn, and I’ve been making masks from my fabric stash, so I do feel I’ve made progress. I just need to stop ordering new stuff!

  31. Every New Year my resolution is not to buy any more craft stuff. Guess how long that lasts! I did have a mega sort out at the beginning of lock down so it’s all beautifully tidy now. I was a bit ashamed when I realised how many things I’d never used. I gave quite a lot stuff away to people requesting ‘craft bits’ on a local FaceBook group. Even so, I still have enough to stock a shop. Ah well …..

  32. Sounds like we are all in the same boat. I have a craft room full of things that I have never used and probably never will. It is organized but way too much stuff. Needs a good go through as it it hard to find places to put all the new things that I need or should I say want. Had three Clarity orders in and have received one so far. Waiting for the other two but it will probably be another month before they arrive due to slow shipping at the moment. Perhaps I will have made space for them before they arrive. Hugs from Canada 🇨🇦

  33. Ah, guilty as charged here too! – My Craft Emporiam as its now called also has Powertex waiting to be used and quite a lot of it! As with most things I buy, at the time I am full of ideas of what I am going to do with it. However, 2 months on and its completely gone out of my head along with the item/s purchased. Then I buy more and so it goes on……..☺️ I did start a note book writing things down, but then forgot I was supposed to be doing that! – I hope it doesn’t het worse as we get older!! 😂😂 You are going to feel so good when its finished though! – Have a lovely weekend! X

  34. Hi.
    The words I just read ring so many bells!!! It happens with craft equipment, Clothes and photographs. At the beginning of Lockdown my husband and I thought we would sort out and filter out some of our photos. We had a lovely afternoon reminiscing and then put all of the photos back in the box.

  35. I would just like to say that having a large craft room does not necessarily make it easier to find things. I have overflowing shelves, a large desk which has no room for me to craft on and so many boxes on the floor that I have to tip toe over. The only person who seems to find what she wants is my three year old granddaughter!

  36. Its good to read about you all with your large stash of craft stuff but at least we have had plenty to keep us occupied during lockdown. I have enough stuff to keep me busy for months yet so no rush to go out & about unless essential. I think it will be a handmade Christmas this year so I can use what I have in the house already but no doubt I will add to my collection once the new Christmas stuff starts to appear.
    Have fun with your pottery class tomorrow , I think you said you were going to throw some clay using the wheel after finishing your coil pot.

  37. I’ve enough craft stash to open my own shop! Also need at least one more lifetime to make use of it all 🙂

  38. Hi Barb,
    Yep! I’m another one! I have way too much craft stuff and really do need a good sort out, only trouble is I don’t like to part with it.. Having seen Leonie on tv on numerous occasions with her Deflecto storage I have invested in some myself and I do like it. The only trouble is that I still have a double classroom cupboard full to the brim ( a whole shelf of which is Groovi plates!) , on top of the cupboard is covered with crates of goodies, can’t get near my desk to work at(craft at really) as it is covered with texture plates that I’ve been playing with! What I really need is no new products for the next 10 years and by then I might have got round to using half the stuff! I know that wouldn’t help Clarity and I do feel that I MUST support you by buying everything you produce!!!! Love and hugs,Alison xxx

  39. Every room in the house has a stack of crafty goodies. I cant tidy them up as I wouldn’t be able to find them again when needed.

  40. I too am running out of space no room on my desk so have to work on lap on my scoring board. I keep saying I don’t need anything else then next day another parcel arrives.

  41. From reading this it sounds like every one of us has an addiction to keep buying crafty goodies. I bought a stamping platform 2 years ago still not had the courage to try it in case I wasted my money if it doesn’t work. Still have loads of papers that I bought whilst into scrapbooking thinking I’d make an album for all 4 grandchildren to give them on their 18th birthdays. I’m ashamed to say the youngest at 12 has only 2 pages in it and the eldest at 17 has only 5 pages in it. The others somewhere in between. A circuit machine sat in the dining room hasn’t come out of it’s bag for years, I could go on but will stop there. My last clear out last year was 5 box fulls and several carrier bags, I gave it all to a friend who had a friend who ran a craft club, then when I decided to make a spiral book a few months later I realised I’d given the machine and all the spiral things away. Oh well, someone benefitted from my stupidity. Enjoy your pottery tomorrow and have a good weekend Barb, hope Dave’s foot is getting better. xxx

  42. Hello Barb, that just made me laugh, Crafters definitely share the same DNA. My room does suffer the same affliction, and mine is shared with a home office too, because I work from home mostly. Needless to say the “Office” part is a quarter if not less of the overall space. I am due a bit of a tidy up and clear out, just need to get round to it. Take care and stay safe everyone. Bx

  43. I had like you a good clear out last Autumn as did my friend. We took all our no longer needed craft stuff to a Hospice Craft shop (we had two supermarket trolleys full). I have since had a letter to say that our craft tuff raised £352 and we were able to gift aid as well. Worth finding out if your local hospice has a craft shop. Good luck with the rest of your sorting Barbara X

  44. All crafters are the same. It would be boring if we didn’t have lots of stash. Every time I go into my craft room and look at all the groovi plates and dies etc I say to myself that’s it I am NOT going to buy anything else. But ay presto another gorgeous plate or die comes out and guess what I can’t resist and just have to buy it. When I clear my craft room I am quite ruthless. I put everything in a box and I give to my daughter-in-law who is a school teacher. She says the kids love it plenty of glitter all over the place. I also have a stash of quilling gear when I can get round to having a try. To all crafters keep on crafting. What would we do within Clarity. Please take care and stay safe.😇😇🤗🤗

  45. OMG and I though I had a lot of stash 🤣🤣🤣 Every January I say ” Not buying anything more until I’ve used up my stash”……yeh right that never happens! There’s this gremlin in my computer that drops things into my baskets and before I know it it’s being delivered.
    Enjoy delving into your stash and do try and relax.

  46. You make me feel so much better mines the same only add in a few sewing machines and loads of fabric and all the stuff that goes with it .

  47. My craftroom looks almost the same as yours!!!
    Except there are also a lot of boxes with fabric in there and my sewing machine and my stuff for paintings .🙈
    Sometimes I think I have too many hobbies but I like them all!!!
    Stay save and healthy and enjoy your weekend.
    Greetings, Trijntje Huppel

  48. What are we like?!
    We all have too much. I spend more time sorting than crafting. Silly really. However, we are not a harmful bunch so there worse things than having a stable (Stuff Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy) craft stash I reckon!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *