Organizing in the Craft Room - Toggles

Let's try this again. . .

While this was written a few weeks ago, I’m STILL working on the Craft Room organization and purge. I’ve made it through the beads and some other large areas, but I’m nearing the closet and that’s a BIG task. It’s definitely intimidating. Yet, I know I’m making progress as I see the pile in my living room of items to be donated grow and grow. It’s MASSIVE!!

So. . . . as I went through the beads, I found myself to be a bit more ‘ruthless’ with the sort. I even started to wonder what frame of mind I was in when I bought some of them. I know I was younger but so MANY of the beads were just. . . juvenile. Really! What in the world do I need star and butterfly-shaped iridescent glass beads for? What was I thinking? I know I wasn’t 12 when I bought these, but looking at them, you would think I had been. It makes me realize how long ago it was when I first started beading and how limited the choices in this area were. It was all too easy to bag up some of those types of beads without hesitation and toss them in the ‘get rid’ box.

The beads that did cause me to pause; I was able to pick up, examine, and get a feel for them. If after 30 seconds or so I couldn’t think how to work those into a design, I knew they were goners. Easy enough.

BUT!! Let me get to the purpose of this post. While I was sorting and organizing, I was able to come up with a really great way to make some of the containers look a little neater and help me locate items at the same time.
A little background: All my toggle clasps were jammed into one of the sections of a clear, plastic container. When I wanted a toggle, I would root around in that section for one I liked and then begin the search for its mate.
To remedy this, I pulled out a book ring and some large jump rings. Basically, I just hooked the two matching pieces together with a large jump ring and slid the pair onto the book ring. EASY PEASY!!

I did the same thing for earring wires too.

They fit in the container much better now!!

I've been saving this picture for so long I don't even remember where it came from. With Easter creeping up on me, I need to go ahead and share it. I'm sorry I don't have the credits to give. In any case, this answers the long asked question of where Easter Eggs come from. . .he he he

The Internet Ate My Blog Post (TRT)

So I had a whole blog post written, pictures inserted, and EVERYTHING about how my bead sorting/craft room organization is coming along. . . and then it just DISAPPEARED!!! Seriously!!

Since I'm not in the mood for going through all of that again, I'll just give you the links I was gonna post for "Totally Random Tuesday"  and maybe try again tomorrow. Wish me luck!

• Have I mentioned my Grammar Correction Tendencies? Written statements like that make me cringe!!
• I've always loved Annie Leibovitz's photography and she's apparently taken some Disney-themed pictures with actual celebrities in them. Some are from 2007, while others are newer. In any case, they're really cool.
• Tetris dress = geeky by all means; but I WANT!!
• LOML and I are CONSTANTLY trying to open the front door to our house with our cars' key fobs. Now, here's a DIY front door Key Fob opener! Awesome!
• 886 palindromes, really!

Now, wasn't that random?

Bead Sorting Coming Along (ThTh)

Just peeking in here for a minute to let you know that while I haven't been able to DAILY work on the craft room/go through beads. I have been able to get some of it done. Above are just some of the MANY seed beads I've bagged up. I've separated them into the ones I'm getting rid of and the ones I'm keeping.

Here are some of the other beads (mostly plastic) that will be leaving my house by some means.

This is how most of my seed beads have been stored. With the beads being so tiny, I feel that it's unnecessary for them to take up so much room in these type of containers. AND, it's a lot easier for the beads to get mixed with other beads (an aggravating event.)  As you've figured out, they've been bagged for easier storage (if being kept at all.)

So, without further ado - here are some links for "Thrifty Thursday"

• Some ideas for the batch freezing of foods. This one's called the 5-day freeze. In general, it's a great idea. I just don't use enough peppers or zucchini to freeze batches of them. I do like the idea of having these things on hand though.
• Don't rebuild that tired-looking wood deck, just flip the boards. What a great tip!
• Did you know you could buff out dings in wood with a walnut? I didn't, but it's worth a try.  
• Weird dutch site that gives ideas for how to re-use/re-purpose some items. Some of them I don't get or think they kinda weird, but the rest are pretty neat ideas. Click through the gallery. 
• One dollar designs. . .simply beautiful.

I've already gotten one whole BIG tackle box cleaned out, but still have a bit more to go. Wish me luck!

Rain Delay (TRT)

Don't you just love the rain?
You know - watching it from your window, listening to it on the roof, letting Mother Nature take over and moisturize the Earth. Yeah, me too.
UNTIL I get stuck driving in it or carrying sackfuls of groceries to the car in it.
Let's just say I had a bit of a rough spell after work.
I'm surprised at how positive I stayed throughout the day, despite the fact it was a Monday AND despite the fact the Mother Nature gave me her own monthly gift this morning. I was in a good good mood, a positively surprisingly upbeat mood.
UNTIL, I got stuck in the downpour. Then, my spirits started draining. My good mood started waning. My stamina DROPPED!

I made a promise to myself to work on the craft room (at least a tiny bit) each day. So, even with the energy of a three-toed sloth, I pulled out a few boxes of beads and began to sift through them. I'm finding it so very hard to decided what to keep and what to purge. How am I supposed to know what I MIGHT need/want at some point down the line? Almost every bead type I touch springs new ideas. I was eventually able to weed out a few beads, ones I know I'll never need. I really shouldn't have started with some of the 'newer' bead boxes. In any case, it's a start. And I accomplished something. It's an accomplishment damnit!!

In the next few days, I should start feeling like myself again and may be able to work on this with renewed vigor. For now, I'm taking it a little at a time. I don't want to go into "Bead-Loss Shock" or anything. Yeah, I made that up, but I bet it could totally exist, especially for us bead-a-holics.

Now for some more "Totally Random Tuesday" tidbits:

• In keeping with the theme of the day, here are 15 euphamisms for the time of the month (Ah, the joys of being a woman.)
• 20 types of art student - I wasn't an art student, but did go to a liberal arts college where there were quite a few art students, so I can relate somewhat. Now that I am crafty(ier), I find this entertaining/amusing.
• GAME - Red Remover- bit of a puzzle/physics game.
• These have been all over the place but are worth a looksee - Styrofoam coffee cup art. Cool!! The site has a link to the story and to the flickr set.

 Hopefully, I can be more productive after work today. Hopefully!

Craft Room Reorganization - the Beginning (MMSM)

 Apparently, March is "Craft Month" or some such thing.

Recently, I've stumbled upon a wealth of jewelry craft inspiration in the form of some new Bead/Jewelry bloggers. Reading and reviewing their blogs has really made me want to get my crafty butt into gear.

While EVERY month is a craft month to me, I want to really put forth the effort THIS month to be crafty or work on my craft room every day this month, even if for just a few minutes. I started yesterday.

After an incident with my kitchen oven (see my Facebook page for more info), I pressed my luck and decided to bake/cure my polymer clay pieces (top of the page.) I have a persnickety craft-ONLY-designated toaster oven (it takes me FOREVER to get it to the right temperature and keep it there.) Really, it's a pain in the arse. Since I had some waiting time (while it was shuddering to the right temp and then while baking the beads), I started working on some organization in the craft room. [If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm ALWAYS working on getting the craft room organized.]  As I started on these tasks, I made a few realizations:

1. I have entirely TOO MUCH stuff in the craft room. Really, it's overwhelming.
2. If I actually go through every bit of it, I might be able to find some items to part with. (via donating, freecycling, a yard sale, maybe even a giveaway here or something along those lines)
3. Just BEING in the craft room to clean, might incite me to actually create more.
4. Limiting the amount of stuff I have to use might mean I actually USE the items I have.
5. Having a clean and clutter-free craft room might incite me to use the room more often.
6. Using this method on the rest of the house too might not be a bad idea either.

The hardest part is being ruthless about what to get rid of and what to keep.

I'm only going to do this cleaning/organizing/purging in small increments of time, to keep myself motivated.
I started yesterday with my main craft table and then a side table. I only cleared off enough of the craft table to basically put down the polymer clay beads. But then I was ruthless on the side table. I had already started on it when I took this picture. It was MUCH worse than this.

I went through each container, bag, etc. to see what I have and want. I didn't go through the stacking container on the right side of the table. This contains my beading wire, thread, cord, hemp, etc. It does need a thorough cleaning as I haven't used hemp in YEARS for my designs, and I've got a TON of it. Plus, who know WHAT ELSE is lurking in those drawers. I just about filled a gallon-size ziplock with shrink plastic pieces, ugly jewelry, random loose beads, etc. It was tough getting rid of some of those items, but here was my result!

The picture's a little blurry, but you get the general idea. At some point, I'd like to find a better sorting method than those metal planters. They work for now though.

My next project is my bead stash. It'll probably be the hardest for me to purge. It needs to be done. I'm running out of space, yet I keep buying more. Tragic!! As well, it's hard to tell what I need in the mess of the chaos. The beads will take me the longest to go through, I'm sure. I'll just do a little at a time. Here's how the beads are stored now (under the table I just cleared.)

That's Asia, my craft room companion, on top of one of the fishing tackle boxes.

Wish me luck!!

For your patience with this post, here's some "Made Me Smile Monday" goodies for you:

• How's this fat guy ever gonna get through the bus doors, nevermind finding a seat. Can you imagine what those other bus-riders are thinking? 
  
  
  
• If you know me, you know how very much I LOVE all things Lord of the Rings related. Have you seen these Lord of the Rings Facebook Status updates? They are AWESOME!!! And awesomely hilarious!!
• Who doesn't like to watch famous people mess up? Here's a collection of bloopers (movies and TV) for your viewing pleasure and amusement! 
• This door is alarmed . .. I soooo would have been the person to put up the post-it if I had seen this.
  
  
  
  
  I hope this makes a better Monday for you!!