Re-organizing the Craft Room

If you follow my Instagram stories at all (and you totally should!), you may have seen that I'm in the process of organizing and cleaning the craft room. I started on Sunday or Monday (it's all a blur now), and I'm still not done. It's been goo though, the sorting and purging even inspired yesterday's reflections on creativity. In any case, here's a peek at how it's coming along.

Let's start with my craft desk and the admittance that the entire room was in similar disarray, hence the desperate need for organization.

Though slow-going, I'm making loads of progress. That pile in the floor is just some of what will be leaving. (There's a huge pile of felt in there that I'm re-thinking since I discovered this cute felt flower wreath from Garden Matter yesterday.)

The before of that hutch gave me spasms. You better be thankful that I don't have any pictures of that horror.

The closet is much better now that I've added some more storage space. I didn't touch the top shelf. It is what it is.

These pictures were shot on Wednesday. Since then, I've actually cleaned my desktop. This bookshelf is really all that remains to be tackled. It's a HUGE job. There's all kinds of tiny bits and pieces stashed in there. I'm hoping to get to it today. Say a prayer for me!

Ever since the move, I've had the hardest time getting this room in a work-able condition. Pat's had the same problem with his office (hence the box room). We've concluded that when we moved into our previous house, we had little to nothing. Over time, we bought and collected and built more items for these spaces, slowly adding them in little by little. When we began to pack for the move to this house, we tried to purge some of the junk. However, the bulk of it came with us. Since we're not slowly moving these items in, it's harder to incorporate it all. This time I'm not adding a single strand of beads or a new book to my supplies, I'm trying to put them ALL in the space. It's so much harder. We hope to get it all worked out eventually, but I think purges like this one may be necessary to get there.

How have you coped with moving your stash from one space to another? Did you struggle to get it organized and make it work? How long did it take you?

Pinning with Purpose | Week 4

It's the end of another long week. I hope yours has been better than mine. Despite illness, I was able to get to the Pins I picked out two weeks ago, dust them off, and actually use them. I apologize for last week's lull.

As always, I encourage you to play along: weed through your own Pinterest boards; find a recipe, a tutorial, or some other source of inspiration that you've been saving for just the right moment and make THIS the moment.

Here are the pins I worked on this week: (If you also want to pin these, please go to the original source.)

All Natural Strawberry Ice Cream Bars from Happiness is Homemade off my Healty-er Eats board

Homemade Laundry Soap from Natural and Thrifty from my Good Ideas board

Button Bobby Pins from Christina Homemaker off my Just Do It . . .Yourself board

Here are my results:

The strawberry ice cream bars were super easy; just dump, blend, pour, and freeze. In addition, they were super tasty.

I will say that you have to like the taste of coconut as it is strong, but I don't mind that at all. Yum!


I have made the homemade laundry soap previously, but I liked it so much I made it again. It really only takes three store-bought ingredients and lots of water.

With just the two of us, it does a good enough job cleaning our clothes and seemed to last forever (8+ months). You also might want to know that once the mixture sets it's kinda gel-like and gloopy.

I recommend putting in in an old detergent bottle and shaking it before each use to break up some of the gel. This hasn't been an issue for me at all as the low cost and long life of it  totally outweighs having to shake it before each use.


The Button Bobby Pins are just too cute. It was a perfect way for me to use up some of my button supply, and who doesn't have some extra bobby pins stashed away?

I was skeptical about the use of the needle, thread, and glue to make these accessories as wire would have been a more natural choice for me. However, I found a way to make it work and feel really good about it over the wire.

Please know that the shank buttons were a booger to steady and get to stay, those took quite a bit more time than the holed buttons. However, they did work and I like them all!

I even put one in my hair!

I'm so glad to have gotten to those pins on my board. Here are the ones I'm looking forward to this coming week:

• Pencil eraser stamp from Creature Comforts blog off my Just Do It. . .Yourself Board
• No bake energy bites from The Recipe Critic off my FOOD | Munchies Board
• Braided Bead Necklace from Live in Art off my Jewelry Tutorials Blog

I do hope you take this opportunity to be inspired by what you have saved on Pinterest, share your results on your blog, and link up here. You are welcome to use the Pinning with purpose image at the top of the page or this one (below) for your reveal if you'd like. I'll work on creating actual code buttons later. Sorry about that.

Thanks for taking a peek and/or playing along.

An InLinkz Link-up

Hidden Craft Room Treasures

Whew, it's been a crazy month! Between my grandmother's hospital stay, Grand Assembly, and working on Creative Spark I just haven't had any time for much else. There's been no jewelry-making and only the basic house cleaning. In fact, all the time spent in the craft room has been on the computer. Today I got a chance to clear some of the clutter that's piled up around the house and in the craft room. In doing so, I discovered stock piles of supplies I've gotten and simply tossed in the craft room. 

 There was a large bag of goodies I'd ordered with a gift certificate from ZnetShows.

This innocent-looking box of 'beads' sent to me from my childhood best friend was hidden under my desk.

Here's a look inside that box. . .at least one of the layer of stuff. I'll try to show off the wonders inside later.

I also had a bag full of supplies we bought when we found a  discount store that was selling off the items from an Ace Hardware that had closed. It was like a toy store!

Now that I can walk through the craft room again, I can't wait to get my hands on some of these treasures and all the other amazing supplies I've had stashed away. First we're going to enjoy what's left of the weekend with a paddle in the river. But, I'm actually looking forward to Monday!

Clean Desk and the Leftover Hoard

I looked down at my craft desk this morning to see this awesomeness, I mean mess, BIG OLE MESS!

It was terrifying, and intimidating and something needed to be done.

I started with what was right in front of me, my little bench block and a bit of extra wire. So, I cleared the wire away by going ahead and just making some wire clasps.

As I unearthed the layers and layers of debris and supplies from my desk, I found even more leftover wire and bits of cord.

I can't bear to throw away these plentiful lengths of workable material. So, what do I do?

I stuff it in a jelly jar.
Yup. . .I'm a hoarder. Big time.

At some point I will sit down and make something from this treasure. I've even got a few ideas. Until then, I guess I'll keep it squirreled away.

But look. . . my desk is clean.

What do you do with those extra bits of wire and cord when a project is complete? Do you seriously toss them or are you skilled at only cutting off what you need? Do you save it like me? I'd love to know.

______________________________

Before you leave, check out what's new in the shop:

Wabi Sabi Earrings

Re-listed: Sweet Flower Necklace

Thanks!

Following an urge (eventually) and Meal Plan Monday

I woke this morning full of a vigor for life. . .hahahahahaha!
Actually, I awoke to the hubs almost having to pull me from the bed to go to the gym. I was halfway through my time on the elliptical before I was good and awake. However, once home I had (as I put it on twitter this morning) the "urge to purge." I desperately wanted to do some spring cleaning and organizing, especially in the craft room. Weird! Urges to clean don't usually just rise up in me, so it's best that I hop on them before the feeling fades.

Unfortunately, I knew there were other tasks that required my attention first. Namely, the menu and grocery shopping needed to be taken care of. I mean. . .it IS Menu Plan Monday after all.

Breakfasts: Juice, Yogurt w/granola & fruit, Scrambled eggs w/toast & fruit, Blueberry pancakes

Lunches: Leftovers, Juice, Bean burritos, Grilled cheese w/soup, Tuna noodles, PB&J

Dinners: 

Skinny spaghetti squash alfredo w/steamed broccoli & sauteed mushrooms

Grilled Chicken w/veggie skewers (onion, zucchini, mushrooms, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper) & potatoes

Tao Soup w/tortilla chips

BBQ tofu pizza w/salad

Guiltless cheesy mac w/steamed green beans

There's more Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Once that was all taken care of I was free to. . .make a custom order. Sigh. I am a busy girl!
Eventually I carved out about half an hour to start sorting through the mess. After that, the craft room looked like this.

Taken from the doorway

NOT clean and organized!! Somehow things always get messier before they get organized. PLEASE tell me this the same for you! Since I can't really get in the room well in this state, I'm hoping the urge continues tomorrow and most likely for a few days after that. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Oh, and do you have any organizing tips?

Cleaning up: Old Magazines Giveaway

Since last week's post, I've started two others that never really went anywhere. It's been a long week yet not quite long enough. So much has been crammed into the last few days that I'm amazed.

Let's see. . .my mom broke her arm so I cooked Christmas dinner and all the goodies to go along with it. Somehow I finished my Christmas shopping, but the wrapping was not quite exceptional. I received just what I asked for for Christmas and am both blown away and consumed by them. (from Pat: new laptop [wheeeeeee!!!] and Lego Lord of the Rings and the rest of my family surprised me with a Keurig!)

It's taken much longer than I expected to get the new laptop just the way I want it, but now that it is I'm so happy to have one in my life again. OH, the possibilities! The ease of taking it in the craft room with me has me even more motivated to get the room in order. With that in mind, I think I'm going to be purging some items in the coming months. What caught my eye today that I can let go of was a massive stack of magazines.

These are copies of Beadwork and Bead & Button that I purchased when I first got into jewelry-making. These two magazines were the only ones I could find in my area related to jewelry. However, they are both very centered on working with seed beads and that's not really what I do.

I thought that instead of letting these great magazines sit around and gather dust or tossing them into the trash, that I would spread some cheer and give them away.

Let me go ahead and say that some of the issues are not in the best condition. It seems that a magazine or two got wet at some point and some have loose covers. On the other hand, many look to be as good as new.

Here are the issues included in these stacks:

Beadwork
2001 - Feb/March, Apr/May, June/July, and Oct/Nov
2003 - Feb/March, Apr/May, June/July, Aug/Sep, Oct/Nov, Dec/Jan04
2004 - Apr/May, Aug/Sep, Oct/Nov, Dec/Jan05

Bead & Button
2001 - April, June, Aug., and Oct.
2002 - Aug., Oct., Dec.
2003 - April, June, Aug, and Oct
2004 - April, June, and Aug
2005 - Feb
2008 - June, Aug
Special Issue 2001: Chic & Easy Fashion Jewelry

I realize that they're old as all get out, but I said these are back from when I started beading. . .that was a long time ago!

If you are interested in winning the whole she-bang (all of these magazines), just leave a comment below.
You can also share this giveaway on your blog, twitter, or FB and you'll get another entry for each share. Be sure to leave a separate comment for EACH way you've shared this giveaway. That's a total of four entries.

I'll pick a winner on January 11th.
Good luck! :)

Link-a-palooza and Cleaning Up

This week I've been all kinds of out of sorts. My energy's been waning, there's been wackiness a-plenty, and I've simply wanted to catch up!! I'm trying to take a break from swaps and blog hops and challenges because they seem to be eating up a large portion of my time. I'm not getting anything else made for staying busy with all of that. Right now, I'm involved in a domino swap with a friend as well as the Sequintastic September Challenge from Saturday Sequins. The end date for both of these is the end of this month, but I want to be done with these pending projects NOW! Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the challenge of them both, but I'm ready to start something new and totally me, not something that has rules and perimeters and required supplies. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I'll be picking up youngest niece in a few hours to spend the weekend with us. Before she gets here, I'm determined to have the house clean. So, I'm busting my butt today to get quite a few things out of the way. You should see this list!! GAH! In fact, I'm using my timer method but with 15 minute intervals instead of 30 to speed things along. I hope I can knock it all out before it's time to head out and get the rug rat.

In the meantime, I figured I'd better pop in since I've been MIA almost all week. Plus, it's time for another

• First off, have you seen the Spring 2013 Fashion Color Report from Pantone!? I'm in love with this selection of colors. I can't put my finger on it, but I find it so dreamy! I know I'll be getting plenty of inspiration from this set of hues. Aren't they dreamy? 
  

  

  Spring 2013 from Pantone

• Michelle Mach always does such a good job of compiling information and sharing it on her blog. Last month, she made a list of Ten Photo Editing Programs to Try. I tend to just use Photoshop on my computer and am addicted to Instagram on my phone. I should really break out of my shell and give some of these others a try. Thanks Michelle for the great list of options!
• I'm fairly sure I've mentioned The Bloggess a  time or two, and if I haven't I'm so sorry. She writes one of my favorite blogs to read for fun and usually has me in absolute stitches. Here's a post that has me CRYING I was laughing so hard. Be warned, her humor is a little . . .hmmmm. . . different.
• I've always wanted to go on a bead/jewelry-making retreat. Heather Powers may have just made it easier with her Tips for Picking, Prepping, and Partaking in a Bead Retreat at Art Bead Scene Blog. Thanks Heather!



Easy Sequin Bracelet tutorial

• Lastly, I found this cute tutorial for an Easy Sequin Bracelet. I took the tutorial and made the design my own. But, you'll just have to wait and see how I did it as well as my other sequin creations on September 29th during the reveal for Sequintastic September! 

I'm rushing to get the house cleaned and have already gotten the kitchen and both bathrooms done while writing this too. Litterboxes are next (aw dangit!) But, I am looking forward to a clean house and a fun visit with the niece. Here's hoping your weekend is full also!

Link-a-palooza

So, so true!

I've got a long list of chores and an even longer list of creative/business tasks. But, here I am. Don't worry, my timer's going. 

I feel like I should talk about how I am/have been feeling the last few days. But talking about the weepies and my desire to just watch episode after episode of Buffy is pretty boring. Seeeeeeeee.
Instead, let me share some fun, informative, etc. links with you in a full-on

• Jessica at How About Orange has once again discovered a cool website. This one is called PaperMatrix. I'm directing you to both sites because Jessica's has some really beautiful pictures of the array of things you can make from PaperMatrix's tutorials. Just go see!
• Speaking of cool tutorials, Shel over at MiShel designs has a wonderful tutorial on how to make hoop earrings. Her pictures and directions are clear and easy-to-follow. Included in her post, are some different options for embellishing the hoops.
• I keep saying that I'm going to include international shipping in my Etsy shop as soon as I get it figured out. Well, Tealwater Designs may have just made that easier with this post on 7 Simple Steps to Cheap and Easy International Shipping. Now to study up and actually take that plunge!
• Problogger has another post on how to use your social media effectively. Actually. . .this one is more on how to manage it if you DON'T want followers. It's called How to Lose Followers and Alienate People. 

It's a shame really.

I've added a couple new items in the shop this week if you're interested.

Hoot Owl Bracelet

Falling Leaves Necklace

And re-listed a necklace

Bright Daisy Necklace

Now it's back to that darn to-do list before the weekend starts. The Crafter's Devotional Group will be having the first blog hop (again, kinda) tomorrow. So make sure to check back in for that! Have a great weekend.

New Year, New Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!!!

I've gone back and forth about what to post for the new year. I've considered a meme that's been going around or a run-down of this past year, but I just wasn't feeling any of those options.

I AM hoping to spend New Year's Day doing some of the tings I love. And, if not that. . .then maybe I'll get my craft room clean. Last year I tried to focus on a word for the year. I think that ended up being too vague for me. I need definite tasks on which to work. Since I'm not big on resolutions, I'm calling these my goals for the year. It's got a long list, but I think sharing them is a good way to at least attempt to stick to them. So. . .let me share them with you now.

PERSONAL

1. Exercise (basically, just be more active)
2. Eat right/better (make better choices in regards to food)
3. Read more books/watch less TV (I'd like to read at least two books a month, however that all depends on the length of the book)
4. Make a real effort to keep the house clean
5. Discover new music (I've been stuck in a real rut with music lately and have been listening to the same bands for years with no real additions to my playlists)
6. Grow some plants inside and out (I'd like to have some more greenery in the house but I'm really awful at keeping them alive. I'd also like to make another stab at growing some fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I'm going to need a lot of luck with this one.)
7. Make my visions of my dream house and this house co-exist (basically, start decorating this house the way I envision my dream house being decorated.)
8. Declutter/organize at least one drawer/cabinet/area a week
9. Have a yard sale (possibly organize a neighborhood one)
10. Take better care of my face and skin
11. Go to the doctor/dentist (I've been really bad about this the last few years)

BUSINESS/CRAFT

1. Make a real effort with my blog (I know what this means and it's just too hard to explain other than to just make an effort)
2. Include more tutorials on the blog
3. Keep the craft room more organized
4. Discover my passion (I've been struggling for a while to figure out what it is that I'm good at and enjoy doing and how to combine those. I really want to work with a few new mediums and try to find my voice in the cacophony of other artists.)
5. Get published (if not published then at least submit to a few publications)
6. Create something everyday
7. Explore other venue options for selling my jewelry (in the community)
8. Find a way to use what I have instead of buying more. I need less more in my life!

GENERAL

1. Figure out where my time is wasted and put an end to it
2. Find some confidence and exert it
3. Think outside of the box

I know there are plenty more areas that I want or need to work on, but this is the list I've compiled so far. Since they are general goals and not resolutions, I can always add to it. I'd like to do a post at the end of each month to review these, but that might be asking too much.

I apologize for my lack of pictures, but I'm still working without my own computer. Hopefully I can figure something out soon.

What are your goals for the new year?

BTW and Anniversary - Double Dose of Fun

Today is my NINTH Anniversary with my husband, the love of my life!! We're not really doing much for it this year. But, I just had to mention it. . .Oh, and if you're curious about how we met, I wrote about it for our anniversary last year.

It's Bead Table Wednesday, and I knew my first task today was going to be clearing OFF the bead table. There was hardly and space for me to work!!

Once that was done, I quickly set about filling it back up. Well, not really. I just pulled out the supplies I had gathered and started on yesterday for a few necklaces.

Join in the Bead Table Wednesday Flickr Group for more craft desk fun!

Bead Table Wednesday

Take a peek at what's new in the shop

Like the Wind Necklace

And what's been re-listed

Green Leaves Necklace

I really do need to run and gather few little somethings for that man-o-mine on OUR day, so I'll see y'all later.