WOYWW 311--Nuttin' Honey! Just the Organization Fairies.

I love What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday, and I think you will too. It's just fun peeking at creative people's spaces! Hope mine is not too disappointing today though.

A school was throwing these cubby shelves in the trash--we rescued and painted.

It's clean! It's still fresh from a little photo session the other day where I posted about my reorganizing to a new desk. I'm still in craft-desk-shock a little bit, and I'm having to regroup myself before I spread out a project. Have you ever done that?

So I'm having a pot of lemon herb tea--I love these oversized china cups I found at TJ Maxx, and I use them for my tea all the time. I'm going through my Make List--I've consolidated all my list pads and small journals and calendar in one desk drawer together. My whole thing is to stop being a warehouse of lost storage, and use every space actively. That took some throwing out and selling out--but it's totally worth it. Lately I've written about my cross-stitch Stitchbow storage, my new desk, and tomorrow is all about organizing my stamps. I'm not a fabulous stamp collector with hundreds--so this post will be about how someone with a just a few dozen stamps organizes it. Because no matter how many or how few you have, you still need to be able to find the sentiments and images you need, and mine had been a big mess. Then, I'll post next week about my little sewing nook.

And maybe, someday, I'll actually make something!

Keeping Peter Rabbit away.

In the meantime, me, hubby, and Joseph tilled and planted the gardens! I'm growing tomatoes, all kinds of squash, herbs, lettuces, and peppers. But I'm pretty sure Joseph is squashing a squash I had just planted. *Sigh*

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Grow

The Daily Magic of Crafty Tidyness

Imagine knowing exactly where everything is in your crafty space. Your tools, your scraps, your supplies and your bits and bobs all have a place. Something magical happens. You feel more inspired to create things. Your mind clears. You stop buying duplicates because you forgot or couldn't find something you already had. You're able to start a Make List of what you really want to work on, and you know exactly what you want to do with it.

That's the daily magic of crafty tidiness. I arrived there one day and now I don't want to ever leave. My craft desk, shelves, sewing nook, and worktable are just a mish mash of different pieces of furniture, and some things built just for me and my craft storage, but now they are all actively working for me. My cubbies were being thrown away and my husband salvaged, repaired and painted them. Now I know what's in every cubby!

I've been calling this year my Stash Dash 2015 (since January), in an effort to bust my stash and make the most of what I have. Stash Dash has arrived at my crafty space. At some point when you accumulate your new things, old things, scraps, and supplies, it's easy to get a little careless in where it all lands. I think it was the night I watched an episode of Hoarders that I realized I was tediously managing a controlled craft hoard. Too much was coming in and not enough was going out.

At no time do you want any space in your house to become pure, uncategorized warehouse storage. I didn't just need a cleanup, I needed a big change. My main desk had just become a dropping off place, and it needed to be a good productive workspace again. So it all got cleaned out at once--and I didn't hesitate to throw things out!

Because my cubby shelves were so stuffed with things I wasn't even using and had really lost track of, I started there. Now every cubby is either active with something I use a lot, or it's clean pretty display space. Some of the desk drawers were acting as old, wasted storage with things I hadn't looked at in years. This kind of thing needs to get cleaned out and done away with, all at once. I'm working here under the influence of the book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It sounds too simple, right? But piddle away at it, and you won't change a thing. Do it all at once, throw it all out, completely reorganize, and the magic happens.

Always needing just a quick needle and thread? Make a place to always find it.

The awesome thing is, I already had compartment trays, baskets, and containers to make this all happen--they just weren't on my side yet. Everything was stuffed with stuff--but I wasn't using it. Here's the big mistake people make in reorganizing: they buy a bunch of containers and store things. That makes it worse. Stop being a warehouse. You've got to purge. And when you pare down to what you need, it frees that creative spirit!

This makeup bag holds my jewelry making tools and findings.

 Once you purge, consolidate. My sewing stuff is now all together at my little sewing nook. My bureau has drawers dedicated to beads, favorite craft books I actually look at, a cross-stitch drawer, paper drawer and a special place for fabric scraps I plan to use soon. I consolidated my jewelry findings and tools into a hanging makeup bag I had been given. I don't need tubs and tubs of jewelry making supplies. This is the perfect amount for me to make earrings and bracelets for gifts and my craft booth, and I can see it all! AND, it just hangs onto the side of my worktable--always handy, not hidden.

When you put things in their place and they have a place, your storage becomes handy, not hidden. If you hide things too much...you forget and don't use them, and at some point you're paying to keep things that you don't care about.

My little sewing nook

I had just won 25 random stamps from Unity. So excited when they came in the mail! And that prompted an entire cleanout of my stamp storage. Because I don't really have a huge inventory of stamps, my storage had been unorganized and sloppy. So with the relatively small amount of stamps I have...compared to other scrapbookers and cardmakers...it was worth it to take the time and come up with a great system for me. I'll share that one later in the week, and also talk more later about my little sewing nook.

Completely reorganized my stamps--will share that later!

What you really have to do, when it comes to your own personal crafty space, no matter how big or small, is have a brainstorm. That's right...a good old-fashioned brainstorm. Really think about how you use it every day, what you want to accomplish, if you care whether it's a pretty space, or simply productive, and how you can get your hands on exactly what you need for a project, know where it is, and know what you don't need to keep for "someday."

My old craft table is my cutting and ironing table.

Every day, my craft desk is a great place to land--I can work on the computer, or my latest craft project. It's always ready for me to just spread out the photos and papers and scrapbook. It's easy to keep an ongoing list of supplies I need, and things I want to make with what I have. The best thing is, I'm better at throwing things out now! That just took a couple of Tiny House episodes. Let me tell you, these people in the tiny house community really know how to pare things down and make furniture do double duty--very inspiring. I do still have a lot of things because I'm a maker. I need some inventory and supplies. As long as it's active and organized, that's what matters in making my crafty space magical.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Tidy Up

The Art of Saturday Morning

Formal tea ceremonies fascinate me. Every little movement in the preparation and presentation of the tea is meaningful, graceful, and highly respectful from the subtle way a finger lifts a tool to the repetitive entire ritual of it. Just the fact that it is also called "the art of tea" and has been around since ancient times speaks volumes. The whole display is meant to take a moment in time, pause, and adore something simple and beautiful amidst the sordid everydayness of life. I feel that way about my Saturday mornings sometimes.

My morning yoga moves...the making of my coffee...pouring...stirring...sipping...stitching...breathing the fresh air and feeling the sunshine as I take the next sip.

Minnie...sleeping cozily next to me...reminds me that I'm not in a hurry today. I don't have to put on makeup, figure out what to wear, or make a lunch to go. It's Saturday morning. And I'm peaceful, relaxed, and stitching in my happy place. It's a bit meditative. I could call it a little ceremonial, because it happens often and makes my day better. But we'll just make it simple, and call it the art of Saturday morning.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Organizing a Cross-Stitch Project

 Remember when big cross-stitch projects were all the rage? I know, it was decades ago. And at that time, I think floss was 20 cents a skein or even less. And I actually bought a set of over 350 skeins in some cross-stitch magazine (before the internet) for $18! It formed the base of my DMC collection, and I still work from it a lot.

But...*sigh*...the world of cross-stitch has changed for me and many others.

I don't really work on huge projects anymore, simply because one giant project could take a year or even more. And I have so many crafts I love to do. Cross-stitch is a form of yoga for me though, so I could never give it up. I just tend to do more quick, small projects. And afterall, how many giant cross-stitch framed pieces do you need? I make things now like pillows, cards, bookmarks, and banners with other media stitched and mixed in. That's what I like.

But this year, I found a dollhouse project I love. El Blog De DMC features one room a month, and she started in January. I think I could handle stitching one room a month, so with a great coupon because I can't stand to pay full price on floss now, I bought the 37 colors for the project. I already have the aida cloth I need, and I'm  ready to go.

I don't think I have the patience to sit and wind 37 skeins, and I don't feel like using the bag system, but the Stitchbow sysem is very easy. You just pop the whole skein right on there. I have a large Stitchbow bag--which is quite full right now--and then I have a smaller one which had plenty of space for the floss for this project.

 And since I was using a coupon on the whole purchase, I couldn't resist treating myself to my favorite gold needles! They slip in and out as you stitch so nicely. I wonder if Egyptian sewists had gold needles way back then?

The colors in this project are gorgeous. Each Stitchbow page in my mini bag fits five skeins on each side. I didn't have to buy any extra of those, yay! 

But I am jealous because now they have some really cute colors...I just have the original navy bags--but that's okay. Navy's good. I'm trying to use what I have this year...so it's bad enough I bought the floss without looking in my stash, right?
I have a good excuse. It was Mother's Day. This bag is small, so if I'm on the go with this project it will fit in a tote bag along with my aida cloth canvas and the room pattern I'm stitching. 

It's good to have projects!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

WOYWW 310 - New Crafty Corner

Well I did it...changed the places where I land to do my craftiness. I'll have to post all about it soon. But in the meantime, I've moved back into my big ole desk with the cubbies, and I like all the new space I have now, compared to before.

My cubbies were a mess too and I cleaned those out.

On this early morning, before heading to the office, I'm having my mug o coffee and sorting out 37 skeins of DMC floss. I'm in love with the dollhouse pattern on El Blog de DMC. She is sharing the 12 rooms, one month at a time. We are now done with the top floor (and no I haven't crossed one stitch yet), and of course you can retrieve them all anytime. But the point is, I was lazy. Hubby and daughter treated me like a queen on Mother's Day, and that included a trip to Michaels--which I had been trying to avoid excessive craft shopping. Maybe I've watched an episode of Hoarders? Anyhoo...it just seemed so much easier to use a fabulous 25% of the entire purchase coupon and get all the skeins I needed for the project instead of trying to dig them out from everywhere. Also got new stitchbows in that discount, and I'm getting the skeins popped on them and the project will be ready to go! They will be organized in a little Stitchbow bag I have.

At the back in the catchall tin bowl is a bag of 25 stamps I won from Unity! Can you believe it? I participated in one of their Facebook contests and quickly received a bag of 25 random stamps in the mail one day. I am so excited to sit down and explore and get them all categorized and put away nice and neat as I choose the first ones I want to use. I may put some of the sentiments on blocks--I have a whole box of old jenga style blocks I use for that. They usually stick on pretty well.

A little closeup of the bag of 25 Unity stamps I won.

I'm really enjoying my more organized, prettied up space. Here's a little peek at my drawer.

 Am I all organized or what! I just used everything I had, and this had previously been a messy drawer, and then this tray was full of disorganized bits and bobs on a shelf. Now it's serving this drawer to my craft desk very well, and I can find things. Yay! I consolidated most of my sewing stuff though at my new sewing table, and I will post about it all when I can get the photos done.
In the meantime, Joseph is behind me on the floor poof--which he thinks is a cat bed--and he says hello!

Visit the other work desks at What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Upcycling a Photo Tree--A Place to Hang Your Stitching

Here we are...almost mid May...and guess what. I'm still working on my busting my stash! Today's treat is this Hallmark photo tree. Original purpose: to hang these teeny...very teeny tiny photo frame ornaments with your teeny tiny photos inside. Obviously, for some, this turned out to be a logistical nightmare, and I'm sure these photo trees are laying around in storage closets all over the country. I was in fact, reorganizing, cleaning out and throwing out when I found this ole thing. But, I can't pass up on things with hooks, considering all the little hanging stichery I do, so I upcycled my photo tree into a fun little art piece for a cute table on my sunporch.

Of course when I found the metal tree, the little tiny hanging ornaments were nowhere to be found. I don't even remember them! Terrible, I know. So this was either going to be sold, thrown out, or upcycled. I happened to have a lot of felty frippery I've stitched for ornaments, and for fun, and this is exactly what I needed to display some of it.

But then, it needed something more. Beads! So out came the beads, wire, and lots of fun.

I made up several little fun twisties with copper 18 or 20 gauge wire, big acrylic beads, and little glass seed beads.

These are also cute to twist around little glass bottles to use for plant starters on the sunporch. I think I could make these all day!

The light dances through my wire tree now, and I have a cute place to display my stitched ornaments. You could repurpose any photo tree this way. Happy stash dashing!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Happy Monday Crafters

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoy your day--don't ever take any day for granted...even Monday. Have your favorite coffee and a bowl of strawberries and bananas drizzled with a little honey. That'll get the day going right!

I am getting a lot of upcycling, repurposing and organizing done in my craft room, so I'm having breakfast at my craft desk and watching some of my favorite creatives on YouTube! I watch crafters, and lifestyle/decor people to inspire me. I hope to share some of my creations with you this week. And I hope all the wonderful mothers out there had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I had a great time with my family, good food, got some beautiful hanging baskets, and even a special trip to Michaels! You know, I've been avoiding my craft store haunts this year and trying to bust my stash. So yesterday was special. For one thing, I had good coupon to get all the DMC colors I needed to start the cute dollhouse cross-stitch over at El Blog De DMC. As my sweet husband was helping me get all the colors on the list, I started realizing what gorgeous colors are in this amazing pattern. So I can't think of a better way to start the week than with a new bouquet of embroidery floss to look at and be inspired by. Enjoy!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch