Glitter, Mess and Yet More Glitter...

Today I want to write about the sheer mess we crafters make!

At least I assume ALL crafters make a mess – please, don’t get in touch to tell me your craft room is always in an immaculate state at all times; if you do I’ll feel even more guilty than I already am!

When I had a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 office job, believe it or not, I was extremely house proud. I would spend a large part of most weekends, maybe even most of every weekend, vacuuming, cleaning, dusting, washing the laminate flooring, washing and ironing clothes etc.  While I was doing this I’d cajole hubby into joining in and I’d blow a fuse if he ignored me and watched a rugby match on TV instead, or if he casually informed me he had a prior appointment involving a fishing rod and a riverbank.

The weekend cleaning wouldn’t be enough if friends or family were coming round to visit during the week.  When that happened I felt compelled to drop everything and embark on another round of dusting, polishing and vacuuming before they arrived.  I wanted everything to look perfect even though my friends used to tease me and assure me that whoever was visiting wouldn’t be arriving complete with a clipboard and a pair of white gloves to test and grade just how dirt free my surfaces were.

There’s been many an occasion when hubby has opened the door to our visitors with a heartfelt, “Thank goodness you’ve arrived, we can all stop cleaning stuff now!”

But all that is in the past.  That was my life before I became a full time crafter. Now my hobby is my livelihood and the concept of ‘weekends off’ is just something other people have, the time I have for cleaning is much less, and the importance I attach to cleaning is a fraction of what it used to be.

Take a look at this photo of my craft room.  I love my craft room – I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort getting the storage aspect just right, so there is a place for everything, and everything has a place.  But take a look … where has my working surface disappeared to?  And look at all those little bits of card on the floor.  Disgusting!

I saw the error of my ways.  It’s impossible to work in the middle of such a mess, so some time ago I made a promise to myself that I would ALWAYS tidy up my craft room at the end of every day.  So far, touch wood, I’ve managed to keep to that promise … but somehow the mess just spreads.

And when I talk about mess, I really mean two things; small pieces of card and glitter.  They get everywhere.  I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but they do.

I’ve found small pieces of ornate border in my handbag. Hubby found a small rose cut from card in one of his shoes.  Two weeks ago while in the shower he peeled a bird cut from the same card from the sole of his foot.

But the tiny bits of card are nowhere near as bad as glitter. I’m convinced glitter has a mind of its own and is intent on taking over the World.  I don’t know how many times I’ve been speaking to people and they’ve interrupted me to say, “Excuse me but do you know you have glitter on your face?”  When I check myself in the mirror I see they’re right, even though I may have gone the best part of a week without using glitter on any of my makes!  Recently I washed my Tattered Lace apron but still, a friend said she’d been watching the show and noticed my apron was sparkling with glitter! 

Right now I have glitter on the hall way carpet, on the stair carpet, on the landing carpet, and over my kitchen worktops – which probably explains why hubby recently discovered glitter in a sandwich he’d made!

Still, when all is said and done, I think we can all agree with Michael J Fox when he said, “A creative mess is better than idle tidiness.”  I’ll try to remember those wise words the next time I’m scrubbing glitter off my chin!