WOYWW #471: Furniture makeover, postage stamps and some accidental tags

For once, Wednesday seems to have come around much less quickly than usual - unless I missed last week's WOYWW?  No, I didn't! It's just that I've been busy with different types of projects and time seems to go slower when you immerse yourself in a variety of activities.

I couldn't put off tidying my work space any longer, so the desk shot I'm sharing today had to be staged as otherwise there would be nothing of interest on it. Let me walk you through the items quickly:

Two of the projects on my desk have already been posted on my blog. You can find the Passport Journal here and the Tea Bag Collage here - just in case you're interested to see more.

I've also started on a new journal cover, but I didn't get far. I'm waiting for inspiration to strike before proceeding. The piece of cardboard I use as "underpaper" has got a few more layers of paint on it - it will be interesting to see how it shapes up later. The "scrap box" on the right has ended up with most of the junk I cleared off my desk, so it's now pretty full with bits and pieces that will be used in various future projects.

The "accidental" tags are actually the results of my clean up operation - I did not intend to make them. I set out to tidy up my desk and I ended up making these tags from the scrap pieces lying around. I couldn't help it - inspiration just took over! They're not even on proper card, just flimsy computer paper with some random paint marks cut into tags and decorated with whatever scraps I could find on my desk. I don't let anything go to waste! Here's a closer look at them:

You might be wondering about those postage stamps too - I bought a pack of 1000 on Ebay for £5.99. There are some very interesting old stamps in there - they might even be worth something. I plan to use them in my art, but now I'm thinking I'd better research the unusual ones to make sure I don't destroy something valuable. I had lots of fun sorting through the pile - they're from all over the world, many of them from the 50s/60s/70s and some of them dating back to WW2 and even earlier. A couple of them could be as old as 1890s if my preliminary research is correct. I can see a new obsession developing! I kept thinking about all the stories contained in the letters that once carried these stamps - or was it the stamps carrying the letters?

And if that's not enough, look what I did on Saturday! I had this ugly, depressing, dark brown little table sitting in my craft room that I turned into something happy and bright! I used antique white chalk paint as the first layer, followed by turquoise blue acrylics and sanded it down to distress it - although the haphazard way I painted it already gave it a pretty distressed look! Here are the before and after shots:

And here it is in-situ, re-installed in my craft room within an hour of painting it. It makes me happy just looking at it. The cup sitting on it says "Enjoy the little things" which could be my motto these days! 

There's only one more thing to share - yes, you guessed right - the shenanigans of Oreo! He gets into every nook and cranny - here he is sitting on top of my scrapbooking paper collection. It's usually piled all the way up, but I had to get some out and he took his chance to squeeze in on top. It doesn't look very comfortable! Are you not feeling claustrophobic in there? 

Thanks so much for your visit. I hope I didn't take up too much of your time!

I appreciate every visit and comment. 

Happy #471!