I did not start off as a Papercrafter. I started with needle and thread, and a collection of cross-stitch kits, then graduated to crochet and a collection of yarns. Only then did I turn my attention to the papers and stamps and dies and oh so many supplies available to card-makers.

Actually, I started with a scrapbook for my mini cross-stitch kits. It still has a lot of empty pages, even with only using one side of each page. I’ve still got a lot of small cross-stitch kits waiting in the wings, too.

I “fell” into card making because there was a stamp and die set with a magazine which I simply couldn’t resist, with fairies and unicorns and a generally magical theme. So I had to pick up the mini die-cutting machine in Aldi for a mere £15. They were having one of their Craft Weeks at the time.

And there the collection began.

It has waxed and waned over the years since, starting from its few boxes under a coffee table to a whole office just for me, then reducing down first to half that office and now to a small corner desk, one tall Billy bookcase and a three-tier trolley. There was some serious, ruthless, sorting and donating to get to that point. But I also feel more creative having drastically reduced the Stash, and a bit tidier given the tiny hands which can more easily reach things.

It’s not an excessive Stash, to be sure, and I do prefer it to when I had a whole office to myself (apart, perhaps, from the size of my desk: I generally move over to the dining table for using the paper trimmer/scorer), but it’s easier to find little pockets of time to cut, or assemble, or stick, when I’m wandering past or the Tinies are otherwise occupied for a few minutes, and get on with projects. I barely used the Craft Office for the last year or so – hence it being reduced to a half for M – simply because I had to find time to hide myself away and Spend Time in there.

I just have to be strict with myself about not over-purchasing, because I simply don’t have the space. Mind you, these days, I tend to take the view that I have enough stamps and/or dies, so unless it’s a really special set, I can take or leave those. It’s the papers (and stickers!) which really tempt me.

So it’s just as well my main papercrafting these days is scrapbooking. Such an easy way to use up papers.