From The File To The Circular File

From The File To The Circular File
Originally uploaded by 365 Things

What: Paper "ephemera" (see confession).
Origin: Crafty goodness ambitions, fuelled by Mary Ann Moss.
How Long Kept: Most items 6-8 months (or less).
Why Kept: I might make them into some kind of card or gift, and thus They Might Be Useful.
Usage: Most recently, yesterday. I pulled out my sewing machine the other day in advance of Father's Day and other upcoming family events.
Destination: Recycling.

Confession: I took Mary Ann's really fun "Remains of the Day" class online over the Christmas holiday. Her premise is that we basically never need to purchase an art or craft supply. She encourages her students to save and re-use the envelopes and other paper that come into our lives every day.

I have a little over a small file box of printed matter,  patterns and instructions from quilting classes I've been taking over the past couple of years. In the back of that box are the shiny pretty pieces of paper I've saved for restructuring into other things. Recently the box overflowed. Not much, but enough to concern me.

The photo documents the beginning of what's getting gone...tonight, I'm determined to recycle the overflow, and have everything that remains in that single box.

Bulletin From Beacon: "a game by any other name..."

a game by any other name...
Originally uploaded by heywattsky

"In this house Miro (or rather, Mi-ro) rules. Not the artist, but my cat. This was a souvenir gift from Majorca, displayed (but never played) in my art room for several years. I try to honor all souvenirs (and also the people who think of me on their travels) by giving them a little shelf life, but now that I've resumed playing board games again, I'll go for the gusto with Trivial Pursuit before I open this and try to read the directions in Espanol. It's already at Goodwill. Buenas Noches, Senor Miro."

Thanks, S!   The crafty ladies in Mary Ann Moss' class are no doubt wishing that they lived near your Goodwill.

Nope, They Won't Be Useful

What:  Handful of stray plain envelopes.
Origin:  Various...probably mostly boxes of cards that came with extra envelopes.
Usage:  Almost never.
How long kept:  Ack, some probably "forever" (see "confession").
Why kept:  Might Be Useful, Out of Sight Out of Mind.
Destination:  Various:

• Envelope addressed to my mom (huh? probably in the 90s!) which I'm going to use today. 
• A couple of never given cards and mis-addressed envelopes:  shredder (and ultimately, recycling). 
• The envelopes in this photo:  recycling.

Confession: I love paper and sending real notes to people, and have a very pretty box for my stationery. 

This prompts new category: Storage Boxes Are Evil. The inevitable trap of neatly ordered storage boxes?   Stuff I don't want to keep, now falsely organized and Out of Sight Out Of Mind.

Confession part deux:  I saved a couple of stray postcards and some airmail envelopes.  If you're old enough, you know what I mean: those vintage-y looking blue envelopes that were once used for international airmail.   (I don't think I've used these since a friend was at Oxford in the 80s; I guess that this makes them more "vintage", and not "vintage-y looking".)  I might take an online class offered by Mary Ann Moss.   If I do, it looks like they might be useful.   (Sigh, they're now in a storage box with my craft stuff.)