Busy Spring cleaning

Not so much cleaning but a major upheaval !

As if I didn't have enough to keep me away from miniatures already now the weather is improving and the garden is making considerable demands on my time, especially as I have decided on major changes.

When the weather isn't fine I am sorting out the house contents.

No time at all for miniatures or even Etsy for a few weeks so my shop is on vacation even though I am not - unless its a working holiday!

Do you use one of the recycling sites to dispose of unwanted items that are too good to throw away?

I use Freegle but there is also Freecycle and probably other similar schemes. Its a great way to find people who want and can use what is merely cluttering up your house and taking up space that could be better used.

In the past couple of weeks I have disposed of a large box of wildlife magazines, a box of paperback novels, 8 boxes of A4 paper and a propagator and bag of flower pots.

If you are like me and can't bear to throw things away even though you haven't used them and have been hoarding them for years give one of these schemes a try. It reduces the pain of parting with that "might come in useful one day" item when you see someone driving off happily to (hopefully) really find it useful.

Miniature Neglect

Due to the events of my "real everyday life" over the past few months I've had virtually no time for miniature making and very little interest in my Etsy shop which I put on vacation for a while and wasn't even sure whether to re-open it or not but the items are made, listed and the fees paid. My friends and team mates know all about this so I will not go into details here.

Suffice it to say my love of the miniature world is as strong as ever, I love my Etsy team and am keeping the shop ticking over and relaxing when I need to get away from it all in the Etsy forum which at times is more entertaining than any tv could be.

I am expecting to be featured in another magazine soon (watch this space) and it seems a terrible shame not to capitalise on it but the fact is that as far as I can see I am going to be pretty tied up until the Autumn at least.

Even when I do get life sorted out and find more free time and enthusiasm for craft work I am intending to spend that time on my own projects and very little time on making items to sell.

This is something I have been threatening for several years but always get sucked in by pleas from collectors and the undeniable fun of sharing my creations in return for funds to buy more materials. I have a very good friend who I know will keep me on track by reminding me of my goals should I stray back to ignoring my own projects and maybe this blog will help me to stay focused.

I'm looking forward to blogging about my projects, four houses/shops in various stages of completion plus one still a kit in a box. A greenhouse partially filled with plants and a fancy conservatory kit in box together with many smaller projects like a working barrel organ I purchased all the parts and materials for years ago, put them in a box mentally marked it "future project" and never got further.

I must confess to being very excited to be making this turn towards indulging myself - total pampering miniaturist style.