And while I really am pleased to see you, no I don’t have a pistol in my pocket!

But last night I did spend a chunk of time sorting out my packing area before the onslaught of Christmas starts in earnest. I was then inspired by my good friend Jodie of Meringue to share this with you after her blog post about what’s involved in getting one of her lovely bags from not existing at all to the point of being on the arm of her customers.

So here is my newly organised packing station. While of course it’s only a small part of the story, if you place an order with me, this is where I get everything packed up ready to ship to you.

Buying this little computer desk has really helped enormously in terms of being more efficient in getting orders out. It has a slide out keyboard shelf which I can use for extra packaging space and it’s also where my wrapping paper is kept, meaning it’s always at my fingertips.

The multi-coloured gift boxes are where my stock is kept - each box contains a different ‘category’ of handmade jewellery so I can easily spot which one contains what I need when an order comes in.

Last night I finally got around to building a second set of little Ikea drawers which has helped me to be a lot more organised than I was. In particular I was able to pull out bags full of lurking packaging materials and other bits and pieces which were piling up under the little desk and actually put them away.

Plus I folded up, signed and stuck the return address on around 80 of the little boxes I use to ship most of my orders, signed a few customs forms and found a spot for an in tray which I can put print outs of current orders needing to be shipped as they come in.

So while I’m not remotely feeling on top of things as the festive season rush looms large, at least I know that I’ll be packing orders as efficiently as I can.

And, yeah, my shelves are chaotic - especially after having to move everything recently to get the walls plastered. But one day they might get sorted out too!