paper crafting

The 21st of each month is a day I spend working with papers in my life. I went outside first, and blew leaves from behind my shed (before the spiders come alive again) as well as from part of the rock garden. My gardens are WIP (works in process) and this is the perfect time to be outside in them. I'll finish blowing leaves and then start moving the rock so the pond can be relocated. Not a one-day event.

Then I sat in front of my computer to watch the start of season 3 of the Vikings on the History Channel. It was a great way to have space to trim cancelled postage stamps and repurpose them into post cards. I thought there were so many, and yet, only two 4x6 sizes were filled with foreign stamps and I need to wait for more. I do like how they turned out. My plan is to make enough post cards to send one to each of my Grandchildren with a note telling them about the swaps I am in. Most of our post offices want to take the easy way and meter everything, even when asked to use regular stamps.

My magazines are sorted too. I've started a couple of 3-ring binders loaded with page protectors. Most magazines are lucky to have one or two things in them that I want, so I have been ripping the pages out & putting the rest in recycling. 

That's pretty radical for me to rip apart, but almost the only solution to avoiding clutter. It always makes me smile to see PILES of magazines in basements or garages because people just cannot part with the lovely pictures, or that one great recipe or article.

One of the swaps I got today came with a message. "Sometimes our Stop-Doing list needs to be bigger than our To-Do list. hmmmpf. What does she know? Right?