THESE days we are not only bombarded by junk mail. Junk faxes, junk e-mail and even junk compact discs arrive in our homes, unsolicited and unwanted.

Michael McCulloch, of Coda Avenue, Bishopthorpe, was so fed up with receiving CD Roms offering access to the Internet through the letterbox that he wrote to the Evening Press.

"Despite having a computer I have not the slightest intention of surfing the Net, having better things to do than staring at another form of 'goggle-box'," he said in his letter, published earlier this month.

"I therefore wonder if anyone knows how to dispose of this unwanted and unwarranted intrusive junk? Ideas would be welcome."

Step forward Jan Claxton, of Huntington. She does not see the CDs as junk, rather as raw material for her artistic creations.

"A while ago I had collected a huge pile of CDs and as I enjoy making my own greetings cards, I decided to use them.

"I stuck them on blank cards, added wording, some musical notes and scraps of old sheet music. They were very popular with the youngsters in the family.

"For the computer fanatics I made cards with cut-out pictures of computers stuck on and around the CDs and finished it off with a peel-off Happy Birthday sticker.

"I sold many at charity fairs."

Mrs Claxton's imaginative designs were featured in a magazine for card-makers, Craft Creations.

She said: "This sparked off a lot of correspondence with fellow enthusiasts. One lady said she decorated cards with black paper silhouettes on CDs.

"Another person backs them with felt and uses them as party drinks coasters and one retired gentleman strings them up in the garden to scare birds from his seeds and fruit."

So Mr McCulloch, and other annoyed recipients of free CDs, the message is to think positive. As Mrs Claxton said: "One person's junk is another's pleasure."

PICTURE: CREATIVE: Jan Claxton with two of the CD cards which she makes at Huntington Picture: Nigel Holland