[new craft corner]

I've always been a furniture rearranger - ever since I was a pre-teen I'd switch my room around and make it feel like brand new. Nothing much has changed, as I did the same with my home office in January. What I didn't have was somewhere I could do my quilling and card making that didn't involve pulling things out of a cupboard and setting up on the dining table. (Which then had to be put all back away before the next meal!)

Over the weekend I finally managed to rearrange the inside of the cupboards and make one side of my really long Ikea desk as the 'craft corner' and the other the 'work' side. And the great roll front cupboards (yes, Ikea again) are fabulous as they can be rolled down once you've put everything back and you're left with a clean uncluttered space. Ikea may not be the best quality so far as materials (the foil desk tops chip and scratch so easily) but the storage solutions and neat hideaway things (like the cord cable organizer I have screwed to the underside of my desk) are just awesome. Plus I've found a few cheap desk mats from Officeworks protect the desk as well as making a nice writing surface.

I've replaced one of these desk mats with a cutting mat on the 'craft' side of my desk which means I can cut intricate patterns out of paper with a scalpel on my desk whenever I want! No dragging out the cut mat from under the cupboard every time I need to do some paper surgery! I also have all my papers, embellishments, punches and tools in easy reach. Likewise, on my 'work' side of the desk I have easy access to stationery and paperwork trays.

Now the hardest part is fighting the crafting bug when I really should be working!

[look honey, free plants]

I'm loving my little greenhouse as I have more room to experiment with striking cuttings and growing free plants - plus they're all in one place so easier to tend! Previously I would have pots scattered throughout the garden and watering them would be a major effort... or up to the rain, so a few of them didn't make it. I never used a striking powder either, so it really was a matter of survival of the fittest.

Last week I stumbled across a YouTube video where they used honey instead of rooting hormone, and as hubby had brought home a half kilo tub from someone at work who had their own hives, we had plenty of pure natural honey in the house.

Yesterday I struck 60 plants from cuttings of plants in my garden, and I'm quite pleased with my efforts, especially as this morning they are all looking happy and not drooping... so, so far, so good. :)

p.s. You'll also notice in one of the photos I have a half egg carton I'm using as a seedling tray ... it has Agapanthus seeds I collected, and one of them has finally sprouted. I'm persevering with this container for the moment, but it hasn't worked as well as I planned. Unfortunately the cardboard has tended to wick away the water from the soil, rather than keep everything moist. Oh well, never mind, the whole point of self-sufficient no cost recycling is exactly that, no cost, so even though it didn't work well - it WAS free!