Fire and Ice

Following on from my entry yesterday AND my crop last night, I’ve noticed I do have a lot of restraint when it comes to shopping – in general, but of course stash shopping in specific. I loooove shopping and have so many clothes that they nearly don’t fit in my wardrobe. Notice I say nearly – in order to try and limit myself, I have always had this unwritten rule with myself that ALL my clothes must fit in the available space. If a new item doesn’t, then an old one must go. I have a limited number of hangers, hardly ever get new ones (and that is to replace busted ones, mainly) so my clothes must fit my hangers. I also have limited space in my drawers, etc so my stuff must fit in. I’ve always been like this, but I must admit it was hard when I moved from my spacious walk-in closet back home to my teensy-weensy little house in the UK – I couldn’t fit anything! A big help was that almost none of my clothes were suitable for the UK climate so I did have to replace a lot of stuff and as lo...

Following up from a thread on UKS about scrapping spaces, I suddenly realized that the way I keep my stash very much dictates my scrapping style. I don’t mean that I’m tidy and therefore my style is very clean – it’s more complex than that. For example, because I don’t have too much stash I tend to know by heart what I have. This means that I am very good at using both new and old stash on my pages. There is nothing lurking out there that I’ve forgotten about. I still use my MAMBI kids on pages, if they suit the theme! I also have lots of borders and they too have seen the light of day recently. This gives my pages a slightly quirky look. I am not a good hoarder so this means I have no problems using up my stash on pages. While I understand why most scrappers struggle to use their prettiest things, I find that the best way to show off my prettiest things is by using them! There is nothing too precious to use on my pages and I think it shows. Add this to the fact that I know what I own ...

It’s that time of year again when the manufacturers bring out all their new stuff and try to make us part with even more money: yup, it’s CHA time! I must admit that the only reason I noticed is that online scrapping forums are full of links to blogs and such that mention some of the new goodies that will be available for us scrapbookers to buy. Perhaps because I work in marketing, perhaps because I’m a tightwad or perhaps because I’ve been scrapping too long but... none of these things are making me terribly excited or even mildly interested. They mainly look like gadgets and gizmos designed more to part me from my money than to solve a problem or design issue. Or, they are the same old thing as is already available except that it’s in a different color. Nothing that is making my heart beat faster or anything. Even the designs and color schemes don’t seem that new anymore. My purely personal opinion is that manufacturers are becoming more complacent and business focussed and less crea...