Attacking the craft closet

I'm not sure what possessed me, but I decided I should do something about the "craft closet" in our bedroom. It's a little "bonus" closet (as opposed to our walk-in closet) that, before we bought the house, was apparently used to store square dancing outfits...

Anyway, it's got shelves and I've always just kind of stuffed my crafty things and other such odds and ends into it. Mostly partially done knitting projects and yarn, and odds and ends of scrapbooking supplies, lots left over from when I sold Creative Memories (so a lot of outdated scrapbooking supplies, as that was 10 years ago!), a little bit of fabric, boxes of photos, etc.

The yarn was the most intimidating. I have bad knitting ADD. I start a project and then forget about it. Then I start a new one. And a new one. And a new one.... I don't finish a lot of projects.

By far, the biggest job was just seeing what was there (since every project was in some sort of bag, in some sort of half-done or barely-started disarray. Lots had the needles taken out, since I always am short on the size of needles I need when starting a new project... (Seriously, it's bad.) I decided which projects I thought I might actually have some hope of finishing and put them into ziplocks with their patterns. Anything I decided not to finish, I frogged and rewound the yarn and reclaimed the needles. I sorted out good and crappy yarn. I untangled what I could of good yarn and ruthlessly threw the rest away. I put like yarn together in ziplocks, if there were only a few. Then I sorted all the random, crumpled paper patterns and threw away any that I didn't want to keep. I get most of my patterns off of Ravelry anyway, so I can usually find them again. I totally wish I had a kindle, just for knitting patterns. At any rate, I got it all neatly stashed in a big plastic container! Major stress relief!

The next issue was scrapbooking stuff. I am 100% converted to Project Life for daily stuff, and for the current year, I'm doing it digitally, via the app. The clutter-free aspect of needing ZERO supplies to make this happen is UH-mazing. But I still have years past to complete. The pathetic thing is that I've had PL kits and accessories stashed all over the place. So I consolidated it all and put it in the closet in an orderly fashion so I can see everything that's there.

I still do some traditional scrapbooking here and there, so I don't want to get rid of all my stuff, but I could probably go through my big plastic drawer tower at some point and pare that down. I went through the old CM stuff I still had. Found plenty to give to Goodwill that I don't want and won't be sellable. There are a few things I might be able to get a little out of on eBay, so I saved those and put them neatly back in the closet for now.

The rest was odds and ends, which I sorted, folded, and packaged in ziplocks as I was able to.

The finished product is so much better!! In fact, I kind of want to knit again!! (New project anyone? 😉)

Comments

dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel

Micah’s Birthday

This kid had the audacity to turn 13 yesterday… As was expected, I was a bit of a hot mess about the whole affair. Here’s his “last day to be 12” photo. He ran out of fingers a couple years ago, so taking a page out of Shane’s book, he borrowed a couple of feet from the cat to make 12. But, not too old to choose Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast. He got his happy birthday facetime call first thing and got to open his gift from Gramma and Skip while they watched… He’s had a boom box on his list this year. You might remember that 2 years ago, it was a Walkman. The obsession with 80s audio continues. Gramma found this one and it seems to fit the bill. Looks totally retro, plays and records tapes but also has radio AND a USB port so he could use some modern tech with it, as well. So, he spent the morning taking advantage of the birthday allowances of not having to do his weekend chores and lifted time limits on video games… all while listening to the radio or one ...

project life–week 12

eek! another week, flown past! shane was mysteriously absent from this week’s POTDs. he makes an appearance in the collage of ‘extra’ pictures, though. I must try to hunt him down so he can get in the book a few times, at least! first part of the week: layla completed her first scrapbook album of her very own this week and was very proud of it. it was a lot of fun to help her with it too. the sheet of this week’s extra pictures: only one side this week. some layla artwork: some more layla artwork, the ‘sheep’ card she made in sunday school, and an assignment she brought home from school: and the latter half of the week: we have a couple ‘dog’ appearances, as usual. wednesday, she made them tails. saturday, she turned plastic plates into frisbees and they ‘fought’ over it. kind of wondering how long this phase is going to last! and that’s week 12. I’m starting to rethink the adding of too many pieces of art and such… I can see that it’s going to get really full really fast… hm...

instagram addict

okay, I admit it. I was a total nay-sayer. I was a skeptic. I wanted NOTHING to do with it. I didn’t get it. it seemed redundant and unnecessary and I was not going to do it. and then yesterday, something possessed me to start fiddling around with instagram. and I couldn’t stop… so, why am I so CRAZY about this? hard to say. part of it, I think, is that the simple, square, crappy format seems to legitimize my desire to record all the mundane aspects of our life. the funky filters are fun to play with and they take crappy cell phone pictures and make them look cool. with life the way it is, I wind up taking more and more pictures with my phone and I’ve always hated the quality. BUT, sometimes, that’s all I’ve got. it doesn’t need to be a super-high quality picture EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. it would be awesome if it was, but it’s not, and this gives me an excuse to be okay with it. yes, I take pictures of everything. I do. I like taking pictures of everything. I like writing about everythin...

and this is why I scrapbook.

I’m working on my family album for 2009 right now. pictures are printed, papers organized, it’s ‘buckle down and get it in the book’ time. this is where I just kind of plow through without coming up for air. at any rate, I’ve given layla a 7x7 album that I had, which was out of the wrapping, for some reason. I have no plans to use it, so I figured it would be a good place for her to start, since she REALLY wants to make an album of her own. so today, I let her choose some papers to use, and I helped her cut them to size. so we’re sitting there together, I’m working on my album, she’s working on hers. we’re sharing supplies, and chatting. and I suddenly had this vision. this flash-forward to when she’s all grown up and has kids of her own. and we’re sitting there together, I’m working on my album, she’s working on hers. we’re sharing supplies, and chatting. and I looked at her and started getting more than a little choked up. so she asked me what was wrong. and I told her ab...

rachel's continued ramblings

Search This Blog