Continuing the "big clean"

I love closets! Because you can stick so much stuff in them, close the door and who is going to open it up? Not even your best friend! LOL! I've been doing a really "deep" cleanse in my studio and have pulled so much stuff out of closets, boxes, bins, drawers.....and tomorrow, I have a group coming over to make cards for the local VA home. YIKES!!!

Don't bother sending me to flylady! I have my own system and it works perfect every time. So, to rapid-clean my studio...I simply took some office supply boxes, put them next to the edge of the table, took my arm (I happen to have really long arms!) and wiped it all off into the boxes which are now neatly stacked behind my studio! No one who comes tomorrow is going to know that this morning....there was a huge mess all over the place!

I do the same thing in the kitchen! Who is going to open the pantry door and look inside? LOL!

But....for the "deep" cleanse...I've rounded up all my brads the past couple of days, sorted through them (well, that took an entire day!) and now have them in a plano box.



I kept the brads that I like....all of the others are going to go to the local Ronald McDonald house. There were a few that I put in little divider boxes like these that I thought were mostly baby related:



and then a similar box for brad related things:



And they all fit nicely down into a drawer that closes.



Now hopefully I can find the brads I need for my next project. I think most of my problem is that I have things so strung out all over the place (850 square feet in the studio and then the rest of the house) that I just give up and quit looking for what I think I have somewhere!

Tomorrow will be a day to make cards for the Veterans. Then I think I best sort through all the stickers I have....that could take another week! The good news? I have now emptied out 15 three-drawer bens!!! That's a whole lot of downsizing!!!

Downsizing - a mini tutorial

Sometimes the things I think are so simple, are things others never think to do! I demo a lot and have tons of half empty bottles of the same product....second row in...4 half used bottles of Cranberry Alcohol Ink!



And it's not just alcohol inks...it's any bottle with a tip like this....just take a pair of needle nose pliers and pull the top off. Note, I have it setting on paper towels and be careful that you don't tip the bottle over once the lid is off!



Place the tip on the paper towel next to the bottle...the ink will bleed out:





Then take your other half empty bottles and squeeze them into this one!





I was able to toss 22 bottles....more space for more stuff! LOL!

Now, you can do this with Stickles, any ink pad reinker, Glossy Accents (ok, anything in the Accents line), Diamond glaze....anything that has a tip like this on it.

I'm still working on the deep cleanse in my studio...I think it's going to take me a whole month! Tonight...I'm sorting through ribbons! How on earth does one acquire so many ribbons??? :o)