Yesterday I stood up, looked over and saw...

...this. 

Hmmm, a lot going on here. 

And in a small space at the bottom of the desk too... 

It happens to all of us, right?

I love being in the middle of a mess like this. It means fun things are happening and being made. 

It might look like chaos, but it's not. 

There's no way I can work in chaos. I call it organised creating. Truly, it is. 

See those alpha stamps right on the left there? They're clear, see 'em? Got 'em from Spotlight for 5 bucks. 5 bucks! Actually, 4, I got 20% off. 

I think Fiskars (they're Fiskars) was clearing some stuff out and Spotlight got them cheap. Anyway, great deal. They're a basic font (main selling point) with upper, lower and numbers. 

Amazing, go check 'em out. Only got them last week, so they should still be there. 

Yep, totally loving the clowns right now. 

See how I've got two mats there? A big one (A2) and another smaller one (A3) at the side. I work on the big one and cut on the smaller one. After years of wrecking mats, I finally worked out that I could save my big one if I just cut on a smaller one next to it. 

Frankly it's annoying to have to move over to cut, but it works well because I make it work, I guess. The actual annoying part is pushing the tools out of the way - scissors, tweezers, ruler, bone scorer, knife etc  - they all gather there. It's all part of the process...I do try to keep the area somewhat clear in readiness for cutting. 

Just clarifying - I do have a big trimmer that I use for big cuts. I use the mat for fiddly jobs that need a ruler and knife and some major precision. 

I love this space. 

Andrew does too, he told me. Not because of the crafting stuff, but because it's homey. I've been trying to get him to have a desk of his own for years :o)

Hope your space is not as messy as mine! Oh wait, it's not messy, it's homey, ha ha. 

This is where I've been...

...at my desk.

Making stuff, sorting stuff and listening to cassette tapes!

Back soon

:o)

Where do you store all your cards?

You make 'em, but where do you put 'em?

If you're anything like me, you don't want to put them away straight away, so you display them.

Mine go on any available flat space in the room.

Shelves, pigeon holes, table, my desk - I just like to look at them for a while, do you?

About a year ago, I strung a ribbon up to hang some more cards. Like that, although it gets in the way of me getting cardstock out of my holder sometimes.

Been wanting some more display space. Maybe some more ribbons are in order.

Will see!



Button storage

Well, I had to do it. I had to change my button storage from this...

I like storing buttons in bottles because they look nice on the shelf. But I had to change them because of the frustration of getting at the things!

I use red, pink and yellow buttons the most, so I just changed those. The others have stayed in their bottles because changing them wasn't necessary because I don't use them as much, you know?

Here's my desk - a lot happening here, including cup-o-soup lunch.

I was kitting (making up the class kits) at the time...it's always an organised mess then.

And here's the temporary container I chucked all the red buttons into out of the aforementioned frustration. It wasn't "throw things on the floor" frustration, just a bit of "I'm over this" annoyance.

Things I've discovered about buttons:

• It's important for me to see them, thus the temporary container. It got changed to a see-through one later.
• Rifling is important. I need to rifle through the buttons to find the one I want.
• Tipping the buttons into a lid from the bottle can help with rifling.
• What's annoying is getting the buttons back into the jar after the rifling process.
• And what's even more annoying is picking them up off the floor when they miss the bottle.
• Really, it's not that annoying if you do it once. It gets annoying when you do it all the time. And I was doing it all the time.
• So, new container needed. One with a large opening for rifling and non-tipping out purposes.
• I chose the one above as a temporary measure and then rifled through my Tupperware drawers in the kitchen for the other containers. I seem to rifle a lot.
• I found a couple and had to buy one extra, I think.

My button storage now looks like this.

It's:

• Not as fun to look at.
• Not annoying to get buttons anymore.

Sometimes you just have to choose function over form.

Oh yes, and see those little containers to the left of the new plastic ones? They're plastic too. They're Doodlebug storage containers that I got from Photo Continental a while ago. They were only a few dollars each and they are good for rifling - no more tipping them out there either.  

Gosh, it's amazing how having something stored to suit your needs makes crafting just so much more enjoyable.

Half the time though, I know something's annoying me, but I don't know how to fix it (or want to fix it because I didn't want plastic button containers!). When that happens I just wait, the answer always comes. This one did. I was ready for the plastic. Like I said, function over form.

:o)

My desk...

...doesn't look like this!

...or this!

It looks more like this!

And this!

What's yours look like?

And another question/observation I have for myself...

"Debra, why do you have so much stuff on your desk and yet you still have empty slots?"

The answer:

"Don't know!"

Another answer:

"I like things close to me, I guess."

Another answer:

"Who cares, really? They're empty slots, big deal."

Gosh, gotta stop asking myself the hard questions and just get to crafting, hey?

:o)

PS. Or get to cleaning!

The 27 dollar solution

Hello, how have you been this cool and windy Thursday?

Remember this photo?

Let me draw your attention to the orange mat.

Remember how much I didn't like the orange mat?

Oh, I really didn't like the orange mat!

It slid around.

It was orange.

It was very orange.

It was too small.

I kept rolling off it.

I had to lift my chair to get back on it.

It just wasn't working!

:o(

Well, troubles no more, because we've got a solution!

:o)

Here it is. It's a 27 dollar piece of MDF from Bunnings with an off-cut of our carpet stapled on it.

Took a bit of brainstorming (and wandering the aisles) but we figured it out. And guess what? No sanding or painting!

Thank you, Bunnings.

Thank you, Andrew.

Thank you, one and all!

Edited to add: Yep, I'm rolling around on carpet. Nope, it's not a problem. If it wasn't for the fact that I want to protect our carpet, I would've just rolled around on it as is. Solution works well!

And finally - the punch drawers...

Hello everyone.

Well, here are my punch drawers. Or punch storage options.

Let's take a look, shall we?

This first set of drawers is near the door. I bought these in a homewares type shop years ago. I love that the drawers are the same size and that the bigger punches fit in them. Works well.

The drawers are yet to be labelled with the new tenants...

This is my favourite set of drawers. Bought them many years ago (probably 10) from a specialist gift shop for about $220. I've never seen a set of drawers like them since, even in the same shop.

Gosh, they've been fab. The Carl punches fit perfectly in them - so great. All the drawers are labelled - Flowers, Animals etc. Sometimes the punches get jumbled up and find their way into the wrong drawers, but it works well.

Those punches on top of the drawers always stay there. Circles and squares. I don't put them away as they just come back out again.

This is the set opposite to the one above. Top drawer is stationery, while the others are for punches. Big circles, squares, rectangles and ovals are kept here. Geometrics always need to be within easy reach. Particularly the circles.

Previous to the "move 'em on out" I did recently, most of these punches were housed on my desk somewhere. It's good to have them away. I'm liking it.

Here's the end of the pigeon holes that my previous pigeon hole photo missed. Yep, those big ones need some big space of their own!

And here are the drawers in the scrapbook trolley. Top drawer holds lots of different types of punches - one off ones, EK Success ones etc. This is the bits and bobs punch drawer.

And the bottom drawer holds my EK Success Punchkins punches. Heard of them? They came out probably about 7 years ago, but are discontinued now. There's a body punch and lots of others to dress the body. Hair, clothes, shoes - things like that. And some accessories like sunglasses and hair bows. Plus a campfire, tree, sun, tent etc. I don't get to use them much, but they're a lot of fun when I do.

So, they're my punch drawers.

I do keep some punches in the cupboard just outside my room. And I've been told I'm not allowed to encroach any further into the house...

Kinda reminds me of sharing my room with my sister. We didn't go so far as to actually draw a line down the middle of the room, but we wanted to!

:o)

Punches first

Okay, so I was going to show you my punch drawers, but wanted to show you these first.

Whoa! Are you alright??

Gosh, I'll wait for you to get back on the chair....

Are you back?

Comfy?

Okay, wow, didn't know that was going to happen! Hopefully you landed on some carpet...

Yep, these are my punches. Yep, there's quite a few. Nope, I didn't buy them all. No chance.

Yep, here's some more. Yep, there's a lot here too. Nope, don't have all of these still. Had to move some out because I wasn't using them.

This is the same table as above. I think I counted all these punches at the time and there was about 400 and something? No, that's wrong. I said I had 471 in my first book... Okay, I think this was about 600 and something. Yep, that sounds about right.

You know, I wrote the number down.

Unfortunately though, I chucked the piece of paper out recently when I went through the filing cabinet.

I know! Can you believe that? It always happens.

Another reason I chucked the piece of paper? I knew the number was wrong...

It's gone up, and I don't know if I want to know by how much. Know what I mean?

I've sold some, I've bought some.

Maybe I've come out even.

Probably not.

Pigeon holes

Hi!

Last week I showed you the pigeon holes in my room, and mentioned I'd talk to you about them later.

Now is later, so let's talk.

If you want to, that is.

(Good thing about the web. Delete button)

So, these are my pigeon holes. They've been used for many different things in my room over the years, but currently this is what they're storing.

Starting at top left and going down in columns.

Cuttlebug stuff.
Bags for punch pieces for classes.
Bags again.

Next row - Cuttlebug stuff, Sizzix dies, Nestabilities. I put the Cuttlebug on top of the pigeon holes to use it.
Punch mates.
Tools - Crop-o-dile, Corner Chomper, hammer etc.

Bits and pieces - brads, eyelets, trimmer, foam, circle template, stamp scrubber.
Glitter.
Tapes.

Ribbon spools.
Bits of ribbon.
Paper templates I've made.

There's another row missing, you can just see a bit of it at the bottom. There's punches in that row - ie. the big ones that don't fit in any drawers in my room.

And that's my pigeon holes and what's in them.

Working well for the moment. Phew.

Stay tuned for the punch drawers!

My room 4 - The short version!

Hello!

For all you minimalists out there...

Here's the short version of what's happened in my room recently.

This is what it was.

A lot happening.

A lot going on.

A lot of stuff to store.

This is what it is.

It's brighter.

It's better.

It's organised differently.

It's sparse (think minimalist).

It's good.

:o)

PS. Sorry I didn't post this before the long posts.

My room 3

Hello, and welcome to Wednesday!

Here are the photos of my room as it is now. Now, as in last Friday. That's pretty recent.

Things I want to say about this photo:

1. My ribbon is stored behind the door. They're sticky taped to those white things you wind your thread around. Those are put onto metal rings. Those rings go onto the ribbon holder Andrew made me. Nice.

2. Storing my ribbon this way really works for me. Jars don't. You?

3. I love that cup.

4. The box holds all my little Christmas projects from previous years. Mini albums. Lists. Things I've made to display.

Things I need to say about this photo:

1. Where'd that Pooh Bear tin come from? I thought these photos were taken at the same time? Hmmm.

2. I sanded and stained that table. With my dad, I think.

3. Okay, about the sanding and staining. I'll say this once, and then get off the subject.

I told you that we are over sanding, painting and doing up furniture in general. I just walked around the house and counted 27 things we've done over the years. 13 are in this room alone. Some others have left the house, I'm sure. Other things have been made and given away.

It's been good, but people, the sanding and the painting, we're done. And the waiting! Oh, the waiting for the coats to dry in the meantime.

And then the not-waiting-long-enough-and-paying-for-it because I just wanted to finish the thing so I could use it!

That's the story of the sanding and painting. Glad to be using the furniture, but glad to never have to do another piece of furniture again.

4. There are threads in that bowl. They're from my grandma. She doesn't sew anymore. I've never really sewed. I just like having them out because they're colourful.

5. We've put two shelves in the room. Just planks of wood, with brackets from Bunnings. The brackets are good to hang things from.

6. I love idea books. They're on the table there.

Things I need to say about this photo:

1. It's a bit dark.

2. The flowers look a bit sparse. And spikey. They look fine in real life.

3. The shelf looks sparse too. It is sparse. I'm okay with it. I like it.

4. The right side of the shelf holds my button jars. This works for me. It's pretty, and they're easy to reach. I tip them onto paper, choose, funnel back in and put away.

Things I have to say about this photo:

1. I use the black lamp when choosing cardstock/patterned paper. We're discussing better lighting for the room. It needs it.

2. All the paper slots came from a hospital that was being re-furbished. Andrew and his dad kept coming home with cool stuff for me.

3. Those are my punch drawers. These drawers were purchased, brought home and immediately put to use. No other work involved. How refreshing. I'll show you these drawers again in a future post. They're so good, they deserve that.

4. All this stuff was just put here while putting the room back together. It's stayed. It'll get moved in the future if necessary, but for now, it's fine.

Things I want to say about this photo:

1. There's the newly-painted hutch! It's blue and cream! It's so great!

2. I wanted to get rid of some of the brown. Goal achieved. It lightens up the room a lot actually. Cream is up there as a favourite colour for me. Up there, I tell you.

3. I'm going to ask Andrew if he can screw the power boards to the underside of the desk to clean up the wires. Wires, be gone!

4. See the scrolly brackets? Great hanging space.

Things I need to say about this photo:

1. I love my Cuttlebug.

2. The desk is about the size of a single bed. You'll have to believe me on that because I haven't measured it, but it is, I reckon. We bought it for $89 from a second hand store, did it up and I've put it to good use ever since. Have had it for at least 11 years. It's as solid as rock and is sooo big. Great to spread out on!

3. That metal thing under the desk is a super duper punch mate by Leone Em. It's called the Eezy Punch Press. It's a great machine.

4. Great chair that too. Comfy. And as solid as the day we bought it. Had it for about 7 years. Quality pays. And we paid about $300...guessing there.

5. I made that bunting. I've made lots of bunting. It's scraps of curtain material hung over twill and sewn on with buttons. Okay, so I sew a bit. :o) Button sew, not sew sew. Made stacks of Christmas bunting in 2007. It'll be pulled out every Christmas season for years to come. Will see if I can find a photo to show you.

Things I want to say about this photo:

1. Here's the first real look at the other pigeon holes. Bought them from the Tender Centre years ago (the one near us has shut down now) and it houses lots of great stuff. Will explain that later too.

2. I've always wanted to cover, paint, do something to the filing cabinet. Ugly!

3. My brother made the scrapbook trolley for me years ago (has wheels). He hates painting as much as me, so the deal was that he'd make it, and I'd paint it. Currently it has photo albums in it, although this changes sometimes. A few months ago it held all my cardstock. It houses two big drawers full of punches too. Will show later. Gotta pace myself here!

4. My grandma's old typewriter is on top of the trolley. She's the one who gave me the threads and the kitchen dresser. Ah, the typewriter. Clickety, clack. It takes me back to Year 9 typing...frf, frf, frf. Follow the teacher, do the drills, frf, frf, frf....did you do that too? And the smell, I love the smell of the ink. Thanks, Grandma. Love you.

5. The cloth on top of the typewriter was made by my other grandmother, Gran. She did such beautiful embroidery. Such tiny little stiches and so neat. I miss her so much - it's been 18 years.

Things I have to say about this photo:

1. The set of pigeon holes under the desk came from the hospital too. They've been used in my room, Andrew's workshop and my room again. Things rotate a lot around the place.

2. That piece of cardstock under the desk against the wall isn't supposed to be there. It fell down from above. Hang on, it's gone now. I just crawled under there and got it out. :o) See what you notice in photos?

3. That chair mat is not working for me! It's ugly (almost orange). It slides around. It doesn't have side ramps. It did all this years ago, which is why I replaced it with a clear spikey one, that stayed put, and had side ramps. Ah, so much better. Unfortunately, it didn't last because of the roller chair, and recently I had to chuck it. The old orange thing had to come back into use. Rats. And it loves the roller chair!

4. Remember my paper scraps that started the whole "move 'em on out" in the beginning?

See that vertical plastic paper holder in between the punch drawers and the other pigeon holes under the table?

That's where the scraps are now. They're in there. They're on the floor!

And is this working for me right now? Yes!

Can you explain why storing something on the floor would work for you? No!

Things I need to say about this photo:

1. That Making Memories Carousel is one of the best things I've ever bought. Seriously. You can buy one at Blue Bazaar at the moment. If the link doesn't take you straight to it, it's under Storage/Tools. http://www.bluebazaar.com.au/

2. They're stamps in the pigeon holes. I don't stamp much, but I will with these. They're from Hero Arts - Raindrop background, Woodgrain, Clouds and a couple of others including the basic alphabet set I've talked about before.

3. The hutch isn't organised really.

Things I want to say about this photo:

1. So, here's the hutch from the front.

2. Andrew made it for me.

3. Remember I said that I was impatient, and couldn't wait, and I put that second coat on too soon? First coat, stain. Second coat, varnish. They didn't mix. They scrambled. It looked awful. We didn't fix it.

He wouldn't.

I was over it too.

I had it like that on my desk for at least 11 years. I got used to it and it got covered up with stuff anyway.

But, the scrambledness is now gone because it's been sanded off and painted over. Yay! Finally...

4. We (he) added the plinth at the bottom. Not sure if it's called a plinth, but it's that strip of wood along the bottom. I can now get to stuff in the bottom rows more easily. Nothing in the way on the desk anymore. So good.

5. There's not much stuff in the hutch is there? I'm going through a minimalist period at the moment.

The slots used to hold punches, but they've found different homes. They also held paper, but all that's found a different home too. Everything has. I have empty slots.

Minimalist period.

6. Yep, they're Golden Books. Did you read them as a kid too? We loved books-on-tape in my family. They were books-on-record originally. Mum tired of having to come in and turn the records over every few minutes, so she taped a bunch of them onto one tape. We played it ourselves then, and she got some peace.

7. Those two pink punches in the hutch are Fancy Squares from McGill. I got them from Blue Bazaar too. Not sure if they have any in stock at the moment. Ask though, they have great customer service and will help if they can.

8. The white border punch on the desk is a new Martha Stewart one I got from Photo Continental recently. It's called Double Scallop Edge Punch. Martha makes great punches. And they're only newly available in Australia, which is good for us. They're also at Blue Bazaar.

And that's it.

This must be the longest post in the history of this blog.

And guess what?

I'm still not done.

I've gotta show you my punch drawers!

Soon, soon.

Bye now!

:o)

My room 2

Hey, how are you?

Today I'm showing you more photos of my room.

These are the transition photos.

There's one big piece of furniture missing. It's the hutch. It was downstairs drying when I took these photos because I got the brilliant idea to paint it.

Yep, paint it. And I hate painting. Andrew and I have done up a lot of furniture over the years and we are over it.

No more sanding!
No more painting!
No more waiting for paint to dry!

That's what we're saying around here. No more doing up of furniture, please!

We just did a kitchen dresser (what they used before built-in cupboards) that my mum had in her kitchen as a girl. We did seven coats on that thing, and it took ages. I did probably two of those coats. Andrew did the rest because he's such a legend. He also looked after the hardware because he's a legend. And he knew which screwdriver to use.

After doing up the dresser...
After not really enjoying the process...
After vowing never to paint another piece of furniture again...
And after leaving the car outside for weeks because the furniture was in the garage...

After all that, I said, "I think I'd like to paint the hutch."

And then he said, "Good idea. I'll help you."

We were committed. We knew it'd be worth it. Well, I did.

So the big heavy thing was taken downstairs ready for painting. But of course it needed sanding first.

The sanding began, and I'm pleased to report that I did all of it.

The painting began, and I'm pleased to report that I did half of it, and all of the fiddly bits.

But this is how the room was set up in the meantime. Andrew came up with the design. Because I couldn't move the furniture by myself, and because he was out, I sat on the couch and drew sketches of how I thought the furniture could be rearranged.

I drew six sketches, but they all got the flick.

I took Andrew in the room another time and said, "Can you help? I need a change in here and don't know what to do."

He said, "Let's move that here, and this there." We did. And it was just what I needed. He's amazing, that fella of mine.

It's a small change in that we only swapped two pieces of furniture, but it was enough to make the place feel different.

And yes, I have to walk around the pigeon holes to get to the computer. I did that before with the table, so it's okay.

So, the hutch is missing, and there's still a bazillion wires under the desk. They disappear somewhat when the hutch comes back in because the stereo lives on the hutch. It's higher, and the wires get puller up higher.

But still, wires!

It all looks very peaceful and tranquil in the photos, but the place was a mess for days.

All the stuff came out of my room and got sorted into piles on the lounge room floor.

Andrew got a fright when he saw it all. I did too. I knew I had to put it back.

The stress of the whole process surprised me because I've done this many times before. I usually like organising like I said, but this time was different for some reason. I think it was because I didn't want to spend all this time pulling stuff out, chucking things, organising them and then putting them back in, without having the whole thing work any better. I mean, what's the point if it doesn't work any better?

I learnt to just make a decision and put it somewhere. I could always move it later if it didn't work.

When organising, I've always used Julie Morgenstern's SPACE method.

S = Sort (your stuff into categories)

P = Purge (chuck out things as you go)

A = Assign (give each category of stuff a place in your space)

C = Containerise (find containers for your items. This is the time to buy them, not before you start!)

E = Equalise (keep it neat, put things away)

Like I said, I've organised craft rooms a few times (at least 5 times, not counting my own) and the system has always worked. It's a lot easier to do someone else's room when I'm just the motivator, and not the decision maker. This time I was both, and I wasn't feelin' it!

Thus, it took me days to complete.

Thus, I ignored it for a lot of the time on those days.

Thus, I ironed instead.

But then I got myself into gear and got it organised.

Sort of.

I put stuff back. I found homes for things. I didn't decorate per se. The shelf just had stuff put on it.

But that was okay. I was just glad everything was off the lounge room floor.

Hutch tomorrow.

:o)

My room

Welcome to a new week of what already feels like summer! Hope you had a lovely weekend doing something you enjoy.

Today I'm going to show you some photos of my room. I call it just that, my room. Not "my craft room", not "my studio", and definitely not "the office". Who wants to call a place of creativity "the office"? Not me!

So, this is it. This is my room.

It doesn't look like this now, mind you. It looked like this back then. And back then was probably around December last year. Without delving into the recesses of my digital photo files, I'm guessing it was about then because of the box under the table. That had Christmas craft in it, so it was about December.

And the other two photos are even older. I just looked in my files to show you some before shots.

Whoa, looks pretty full, hey? Like, too full.

It's actually our home office, so a lot happens in there. And a lot has to fit in!

You know what I've learned about this? Looking at photos of your room (any room) allows you to see the place in a different light.

I never see those wires under the desk when I walk in, for example.

And the space on the wall to the left of the window needs a picture, but I never see that when I walk in either.

That's a tip for all you interior decorators out there...photograph, and then you'll know what you need to fix up. Or fix up the most.

Or leave. You can just leave stuff too.

I've seen this photo before. I've seen that space on the wall before. I've left it.

I've had cards to make! I've had organising to do!

I do love to organise. Why? Stuff not organised the way it works for me = frustration = leaving table = no cards made = no fun had!

Like I mentioned in a previous post, the latest clean up started because I couldn't get to my patterned paper scraps easily enough. I had the scraps, but they weren't being used properly. Then it started. Right, let's reorganise the punches then too. And the cardstock. And the journalling cards... And well, everything. Let's just organise everything.

Reasons for doing this?

1. I wanted to rearrange my patterned paper.
2. I was running out of room to store my punches.
3. I had to make stuff fit. I only have so much space (and furniture) in the room, and I'm about condensing, not adding more furniture. More stuff in, means more stuff has to go out.
4. My crafting needs have changed, so my environment needed to change too.
5. I like organising.
6. I like systems.
7. I needed a change in the room because it'd been the same way for 5 years.

Once again, a lot going on here. This is where I've always tried to keep the stuff I use the most. Punches are in that tall boy thing (as well as many other places around the room - a problem!).

And the desk. No wires because of the boxes. Those boxes (they hold all my classes) have long ago been put into the cupboard.

Once again, a lot of stuff here. Believe it or not, I don't like clutter. Clutter is easy to come by when you are a crafter though, isn't it? It's all about taming the clutter in the end.

I don't know who said this, but it's true.

Do I need it?

Do I use it?

Do I love it?

If yes, keep.

If not, chuck.

Easier said than done.

More room stuff tomorrow.

:o)