Shopping at Home

So ... what's the last crafty thing you bought?

And by 'crafty' I mean 'related to crafting', not 'what's the last sneaky thing you bought'. Although ... they might well be one and the same!

For me it was a splurge on some new My Minds Eye and Lily-Bee Design 12x12 papers that I really *had* to have, but I'm not sure I should be admitting to that ... especially not right now .....

You see the thing is, throughout the projects Kirsty and I created for our upcoming '12 Days' online workshops [which we're about to begin delivering and you can click the photo in my sidebar for more details] our philosophy has been to:

• 'use what you have', and rather than invest in any [more] supplies for this class ...
• .... just 'go shopping at home' as the majority of supplies needed are ones you [probably] already own.

I created this map to demonstrate the general idea:

[You might want to visit the full post I did over at Copy+Paste for the full explanation].

But, obviously, you needn't be signed-up for our classes to gain from shopping at home, you might choose to do it for:

• economic reasons: to save your money for other things this Christmas;
• environmental reasons: to re-use and re-cycle in a creative way;
• as a personal challenge:to not buy anything new until you've used up some existing stash;
• to relieve your conscience: there's nothing quite like putting some of the accumulated 'stuff' to good use is there? or ...
• for practical reasons: simply relieving your cupboards, boxes and your life of some of its load!

Whatever the reason ... I've created a shopping at home related fill-in-the-blanks quiz for you to play along with, if you're that way inclined ...

I've already posted on the '12 Days' secure class blog, but I thought you might like to join in too.Here's my responses:

1.It would be amazing if my house really was a shop like ... Northern Lights Interiors; All Saints; Desigual, TK Maxx and IKEA ... with a deli-counter thrown in.

2.But at the moment it's probably more like ... a very, very modest, wannabe version of the above!

3.The best-stocked area of my house has got to be ... the craft room which is groaning at the seams with all kinds of things.

I'm trying my hardest not to let myself expand into the spare bedrom ... because that would be a slippery slope to step out on to, one which would lead invitably to even further 'Mission Creep' , which I wrote about last year.

I had to laugh this week when I spotted this 7Gypsies sticker stuck to the floor beneath my desk:Yes. It's official. I actually have 'stash' stuck to my floor!

4.But I'm not sure I would dare do a stock-take of my ... paper or dresses! If I thought about it I could work out how much / many I have ... I'd just rather not think about it ....5. I could actually open my doors right now and sell off most of my ... errrm, paper, dresses and bird ornaments ... and I'd still have plenty left!

6.If I could go shopping in someone else's house I'd choose ... Effie's house.

• [a]because I know where it is;
• [b] because it's somewhere I dare actually drive to [2 factors which must be taken into account when going shopping]
• and [c] because she has 'a world of stuff' in her craft room.

Fact.

7.With the money I'll save by shopping at home for my supplies, I could buy ... some more Jema-Holland ceramic birds like the one James found in a charity shop for me:

Just don't speak to me about the Toucan I missed out on on Ebay in the last few seconds!

Not. One. Word.

I was not happy. Not at all.

[James will vouch for my mood that night ... right after he tells you about how I should have put in a larger bid from the start ... I think you can imagine how well I took his - late - advice!! ;-)]

8. During this class I hope I will get to 'buy' / revisit / finally get to use, my stock of ... free digital printable files I created for the '12 Days' class last year, but was too busy running the main class projects to actually use:

I have plans to turn them into Christmas cards and tags this time around.

9.The best thing about shopping at home will be ... getting to remind myself of all those things I've put into boxes - for organised, tidy, storage purposes - ... but which, out-of-sight out -of-mind, I've entirely forgotten I had!

And finally ...

10.Shopping at home will mean I can get away with wearing ... no make-up and my hoodie with the holes in and I'll also be able to carry my breakfast around with me while I mooch around for 'new' supplies!

---------------------------------

I'd love to know what going 'shopping at home' would look like in your house ... so do let me know if you play along with the quiz too.

Here's the questions again for you to copy + paste [pardon the pun ...]:

1. It would be amazing if my house really was a shop like ...
2. But at the moment it's probably more like ...
3. The best-stocked area of my house has got to be ...
4. But I'm not sure I would dare do a stock-take of my ...
5. I could actually open my doors right now and sell off most of my ... and I'd still have plenty left!
6. If I could go shopping in someone else's house I'd choose ...
7. With the money I'll save by shopping at home for my supplies, I could buy ...
8. During this class I hope I will get to 'buy' / revisit / finally get to use my stock of ...
9. The best thing about shopping at home will be ...
10. Shopping at home will mean I can get away with wearing ...

See you soon.

Julie :-)