Day 26: Craft Room: Brads

Before:

After

You can't see or use the brads when they're in the original clam shell packages.  I love the plastic containers that are small and shallow with locking lids the best.  You can find them in the jewelry crafting section at your favorite craft store.  I also took the brads off the foam on most of the sets except the pattern tops that you want to see the colors etc.  I just combined them to take up less space.  I still use brads on my cards, so I'm excited that I can finally see whats in my drawer again.  Next are eyelets.

Note: I'm counting my actual cleaning days, not the days in the calendar.  I took a tidy break as "life" and health as well as college student home got in the way of organizing for a while.  Grace.

Day 25: Craft Room: 12 x 12 paper completed!

2/26/16

Finally completed going through the scrapbook paper.  

I vow to use what I've got, and not buy any 12 x 12 paper or small paper packs for a year at least!

I gave away a huge box of 12x12 paper to London Bridge Baptist Scrapbook Ministry.

Arnost Fantl "Never try to have too much of anything in life; just what you need and a little more. When you die, all you will take with you is what you have given to other people." 

Day 24; Craft Room: Paper Contin.

2/23/16

I spent several hours yesterday touching EVERY piece of scrap paper and recycling or keeping it ~ Phew! I was tempted to pitch it all, but I hate to die cut a whole piece of paper for one little embellishment.  I really do use these drawers almost every time I make a card, so they do bring me joy.

  

Today, I went through my small paper packs.  I'm going to sell all the papers I'm not going to use, and then I have to figure out how to store these so I use them more often. suggestions?

This is me starting to sort  alllllll my 12x12 scrapbook paper! Again, I'm planning on selling what I don't want, and sorting by color what I do want to keep. 

 I'm making progress! Papers continued tomorrow ~ 

Day 23: Craft Room: Paper

2/22/16
The craft room is going to take awhile! 
We can call this: "confessions of a craft hoarder"

Hoard: supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.:

to accumulate for preservation, future use, etc., in a hidden or carefully guarded place:

My craft room is not a guarded place, actually it doesn't even have a door yet.  I have accumulated quite a large supply of "stuff" but the good news is that I use it regularly (not all of it!).  I also share with no hesitation with friends and my daughters and their friends freely.  So that said, it's not a disease that I have, just too large of collection at this point.

I remember my sister went to a Stampin Up Party, then had one of her own; and ultimately became a rep back in 1997.  I remember my first stamp set was "Cuddles and Tickles" Inspired by my first daughter who would have been 2 years old.  I accumulated some supplies, but didn't really get started until my first catalog in 2000. so It's safe to say that I've been making cards for over 16 years.  

When my mother passed away I inherited all her ribbon, which was quite a large collection.  She is who gave me my love for crafting and for flowers.  

I used the upstairs hall closet from 2003-2007 to store all my craft supplies and in 2007 my craft room was built.  So the mass of my collection was between 2007-2016.  In the past nine years, I lost a close crafting friend named Peg, who left all of her supplies to me.  My sister downsized and gave me probably 80% of her supplies.  I've had two good friends move and give me all sorts of supplies as well.  I was buying "lot's" of craft supplies on Ebay and reselling them for a time on Ebay and Etsy as well as craft shows.  I love finding supplies at thrift stores and yard sales.  I once spent $60 for thousands of dollars worth of Stampin Up supplies at a school yard sale.  I remember carting 2 garbage bags full of scrapbook paper for .99 per bag from a thrift store.  That's my bargain story. 

 The other story is that I use to sell for a stamp company called "The Angel Company", and while a hosted and sold products to the general public, I mostly bought supplies for myself.  

I had a period of time where I thought that every Micheals and A C Moore weekly coupon had to be used or it would be wasted!

All that being said, Here we are in February of 2016 and I'm ready to tidy up!  I'm going to start with scrapbook paper and card stock.   I do love my room! and I'm very thankful that I have a husband who supports my creativity.

Now I took all my scrapbook paper, scrap pieces of paper, wallpaper, tags, card stock, and paper packs and put them in the guest room (see below) SEE! I wasn't kidding about being a paper hoarder!   rolling up the sleeves... I'm going to start with the scrap paper drawers.  I have them sorted in drawers by color and type: red, yellow, blue, green, purple,orange, black/grey, white, vellum, music and map paper.   I'll let you know how I made out tomorrow! wish me luck! hope I don't have an avalanche ~

Day 22: Dish Towels, wash cloths, and cloth napkins

2/20/16
 I discovered that I don't use a lot of my cloth napkins so I'm passing them on.  This is my cat Izzy who likes to help with tidying.  I've had a cold, so I've picked less time consuming komono.  I'm going to take tomorrow off and on Monday I'm going to start in my craft room! I'm not sure how to tackle it, I guess I'll start with scrapbook paper.  (I'm a hoarder...just warning you!)
Guess what?
I'm feeling some of the magic! I actually sat with a good book, a blanket, tea, and my cat, and read for hours yesterday GUILT FREE! why is that? because I can see and feel the progress around me already! I'm very thankful.  My closets and drawers are staying tidy, and I'm finding what I need faster.  I also have gotten rid of a lot of visual baggage that must have been wearing me out.  It's working!!   I hope your tidying too  ~ keep going & enjoy your weekend!~

Day 21: Serving pieces, bowls, platters,trays

2/19/16

Just some serving pieces that I'm thankful for and giving away.  Gathering was challenging, because I have stuff in five different places.  I realized that I happen to use and find joy with most of what I own in this category.  Tomorrow is cloth napkins and towels.

Day 20: Food storage containers

2/18/16

Food strorage, plastic tubs, snack containers,Tupperware, what ever you want to call it, I have a love/hate relationship with it.

I use them daily and almost never use Ziploc bags.  I save the Chinese food containers and other freebie plastic to send guests home with leftovers or to bring a dish to a friend.  Storage is an on going issue in my life.  I just got rid of all the lids and straws to the plastic cups because we never use them, along with anything that didn't have it's matching top or bottom.  It's amazing how fast this gets messy, but maybe I'll have more time to keep it organized once the rest of the house is tidy too.

I welcome any suggestions, keeping in mind that I can't buy all new stuff & that I like to give them away!

Tomorrow is serving bowls, plates, and platters.

Day 19: Candles

2/17/16 

Candles...taper candles, birthday, floating, tea lights, pillar candles etc.(!)

Again, I currently store them in three different places in my house.  I was tempted to not carry them all to one spot but I'm very glad I did.  I'm finding that Marie is correct, when you leave something in the cabinet you don't get the whole picture of what you own.  I also couldn't tell that some of the candles had faded and aren't pretty anymore which you can't tell by looking at them on the shelf.  You really do need to pick them up and hold them/ inspect them individually.  

The second picture is of floating candles that I have collected and seldom use.  I'm donating almost all of them because while I find them pretty, I've had them for years and seldom use them.  I tend to only use the plain white candles because I usually have a flower or other decoration in the bowl too or on the table, and the colored floating candles never seem to work with my arrangements. 

I narrowed my storage of candles to two locations now. 

Tomorrow is plastic food containers ~ 

If your reading this blog, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment and let me know if you read the book and are organizing or thinking of organizing too ~

Day 18: Toy Closet

2/16/16 Toys

This took a couple of hours to complete and helped refresh my memory on what games we own, and what toys I have to pull out when we have small visitors over.  

Toy closet before:

After: a yard sale pile and a garbage pile

Tomorrow: Candles

Day 17: Bedding continued

2/15/16
One large pile to donate and a nice organized closet later!
I'm still keeping bedding in three places, since we have 6 beds: 2 twins, double, 2 queens, and a King plus college size sheets to keep track of and store.  We also have 4 sleeping bags for that rare occasion of camping.  It's easier not to mix up sizes and it looks neater instead of crammed.  Tomorrow is the toy closet.

Day 16: Bedding

2/14/16

Happy Valentine's Day!
(piled in the guest room)
Can I just say wow!!!
More on this tomorrow ~!~
Enjoy some champagne as I am about to.

Day 15: Junk drawers and pen jars

2/13/16

Hmmm...I have too many wine corks in my junk drawer! I'm saving them for a craft project that I haven't started making or decided what to make yet.  I'm sending 6 of the 10 highlighters back to work with hubby, and putting several cap-less and non working pens in the trash.  again, it wasn't as bad, and didn't take as long as I feared.  My husband went into the office and panicked "you didn't get rid of my mug did you??!!" NO honey, I'm just going through it's contents "oh good" with a sigh of relief from him.  He did go through some papers and we are having another statement fire in the fireplace tonight which is nice to celebrate our combined efforts.  

Tomorrow will be bedding.  I have waaaay to many pillow cases and I have sheets and bedding in three different parts of the house, so it will be good to go through it all.

Day 14: Jewelry

2/12/16

Jewelry ~ this is my pile to donate and I'm packaging some for the yard sale.  I haven't worn earrings in several years, so my youngest daughter got all kinds of new treasures!  They're small so they don't take up much room, and at the age of 12 they tend to lose every other pair they wear; so "free" is a good thing!  I have a rhinestone anklet in this picture that I wore for formals in my early twenties that I'm letting go of today too ~ 

  Tomorrow I'm going to work on office supplies, junk drawers, and cups of pens ~ lot's of those!  

Day 13: Vases & Cold Weather Clause

above are yard sale bound

Grandma loved flowers and my Mom loved flowers, so as generations tend to go; I love flowers too!  The right vase makes the flowers look beautiful, just like the right dress or pair of shoes on us.

 I have all sizes, colors, and shapes, and they range from old to new.  I keep them in the office and in the garage, so I'm going to pull them out and take a look.

 I worked through the ones in the office, but the garage is not going to happen today!  It's 24 degrees.
~ does Marie have any weather clauses in her book?~

I will revisit the vases in the garage in the spring.

Update: hubby doesn't know where the SOS pads came from either,(?) so both boxes are being donated also.

Tomorrow is jewelry.

Day 12: Tablecloths

2/10/16

I pulled tablecloths from three different parts of the house so I could see them all at once.  WOW, I knew I had way too many, but I love them, and they do serve a purpose.  I got rid of the plastic ones, any with stains, and ones that I just don't want anymore.  The pile on the left is what I'm keeping, and I'm donating the pile on the right .  They almost all fit in one drawer now.  Tomorrow is vases.

Day 11: Cleaning Supplies: Wood polish & SOS

Before

After:

2/8/16

You would think with the amount of cleaning supplies I have, my house would be spotless right?! nope, It's not enough to own them, you have to use them too!
I have 5 different wood cleaning products and 4 different silver polishing bottles?!
I threw out some vintage cleaning bottles (over 10 yrs old and haven't used yet) and donated some items that I have too much of.  I can't figure out where the SOS pads came from... I'm thinking maybe hubby bought them to clean the grill or the white walls of tires ? I'm keeping them for now and asking him about them tonight.  This was pretty fast and painless, and I learned that I don't need wood cleaner for another 5 yrs ~

Tomorrow is tablecloths.

Day 10: Cosmetics, Hair Care, medicine, vitamins etc.

2/8/16

This morning I thought "oh boy, this is going to take awhile today" ~ I don't have much skin care products or makeup, but I do have too much hair care products.  I also have 3 full and 1 half bath to gather from, so this should be enlightening.  I'm going to bring most of it into the dining room for sorting.

  I found expired medicine, vitamins, almost empty bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash to discard.  I discovered three of four room sprays that were brand new, but I don't like the scent so I'm donating those.  Somehow I have three boxes of Iron supplements, so I won't be buying more of that anytime soon! you wonder, was I low on iron when I was shopping at Target??!

Noting: I'm learning that what I think is going to take all morning, only takes one or two hours to complete.  I'm really enjoying the end result, and I feel like I'm making progress.

~Are you tidying too? let me know your thoughts ~

To the right are flowers I treated myself to:

Tomorrow will be cleaning supplies.

Day 9, CD's, DVD"s, & VHS

2/7/2016

I have all my DVD's in two places in the house, so gathering didn't take long.  My daughter helped me go through them and we filled a garbage bag full to donate.  It was fun seeing all the kids movies from the past, and learning which ones she wants to still see again.  I made an album up for my great niece of movies and children't music CD's that I think she'll enjoy.  I had no idea we still had so many movies!  Once again Marie's idea of finding one type of "Komono" and deciding to keep or discard all at one time has been beneficial ~
Tomorrow: Skin care products, Make-up, shampoo etc.