And there it was...

all gone!

The wind and rain disposed of the snow, thankfully.  Snowy scenes are very lovely to look at ~ rather less lovely to try to get out and about in!  And now that I'm in my 60s, I'm much more conscious that a fall could do more damage than it might have done a few years ago 😳

I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks back that there were still a handful of flowers to be seen in the garden.  Before the snow arrived the patio roses were putting out some new buds, and Eustacia Vye had two that were opening.  All the unopened buds seem to have come through the snow unscathed but the two above are looking a tad brown on the edges of the petals.  I deliberately chose repeat flowering roses, and I'm really pleased to see them living up to their descriptions of flowering into early winter 😊

With the snow all washed away, I had no excuse for not getting out to the craft room yesterday 😄 I just took a handful of photos to share, as it really doesn't look like I've done anything much out there at all ~ despite working for a few hours both in the morning and after lunch!

I mentioned previously that I'd bought some vinyl cloths to cover the old work bench and the new work tables.  The cloth on the old work bench is in a grey linen effect, and makes a nice surface for the dolls' houses to sit on as it sort of resembles concrete.  I think I will buy some more pieces to lay beneath the houses that will be displayed on the other cabinets.  It'll probably be better to get the cloths bought sooner rather than later so that they match the piece I've already got.  Wow, look at me ~ thinking ahead for once 😉   

It was a tad chilly in the craft room, so I wheeled out my trusty little oil-filled heater.  I haven't used it very much since I've had it so I had to have a good look at the instructions again 😏 It's very efficient and soon warms the room very nicely indeed.  It isn't in the most convenient position here, though, so I think I will shuffle things around when I've got more space cleared.

The two new work tables are now covered with vinyl cloths in a rustic brown oak plank effect.  You'd think it would be a simple job to just chuck some cloths over the bloody things, but there was a fair bit of tugging and shuffling involved to get said cloths laying how I wanted them 😒 The cloth to the right is all tucked up, by the way, as I decided to leave my Dremel scroll saw permanently clamped to the table.  I may scoot it along more towards the middle of the table, though, as it's rather close to my working area.

The two little white (bedside!) cabinets fit perfectly beneath the table, with some space left on top of them for storing other things.  I've had them for a number of years and the drawers are very handy for storing smaller items, although I was thinking yesterday that it might be a good idea to label said drawers with their contents 😄 

This was another "little" job that took absolutely ages to accomplish.  All these odds and ends had been just stuffed haphazardly into a cardboard box previously.  I've decided that if I'm going to make my craft room a comfortable space to work in, then I first need to get to grips with sorting and tidying everything in there.  It's very frustrating trying to find things that I'm sure I have but just can't find.  Anyhoo, all the pieces in this crate are now taped like-with-like, and the oddments are all together in a separate pot within the crate.  I also placed another plastic box in the crate as well to keep the lengths of wood better corralled.  It actually started life as a shoe box but the front flap broke ~ I simply flipped it on it's end and it became perfect for the job 😊  (Further up the page you can see a second repurposed shoe box, again due to the front flap breaking, which I'm using for dolls' house wallpaper beneath the old work bench.)

This would actually be a more convenient place for the heater, so I may see if there is enough floor space to squeeze the crate beside the left-hand work table.

The contents of these two crates had been in one very much larger crate.  I'd just used it as a dumping ground for odds and ends of wood ~ or so I thought.  Once I'd decided that it would be more workable to have a couple of smaller crates rather than the big one, I obviously started to empty it out.  Yes, there were indeed the odds and ends that I thought were in there.....along with quite a supply of dolls' house windows, doors, and stairs 😮  I was very annoyed with myself, as I bought a load for Augusta Lodge that I wouldn't have needed to had I been keeping everything tidy 😒  Oh well, I suppose they will be made use of at some point with other kit-bashing projects 😏 

Hopefully I'll continue to make progress in the craft room this week, and have more to show for my efforts!  In the meantime, I'll leave you with the beautiful sight that greeted me when I opened the bedroom curtains this morning 😍