Sidetracked......

I love reading blogs by other artists.  Madeline wrote about  getting back on track.    So I thought I'd write about getting sidetracked!

It doesn't take much, but this year is starting out with a major sidetrack - Kerry is having spinal fusion in just two weeks.  Two operations.  One on 1/31 where they go in from the front, and then the second surgery on 2/2 when they will go in through the back.  He will probably be in the hospital until 2/9.  The hospital is about an hour from our house.  And then a couple of weeks of physical therapy every other day - a trip to the hospital here to do that.

I feel like I'm so sidetracked that I've gone completely off the tracks!  LOL!!!

But I promise I AM being creative....just in very different ways.  I'm creating a comfortable space for his 8 month recovery.  Yep, he can go back to work in just a few weeks, but we will have therapy, exercises and recovery until September.  I'm trying some ideas that an occupational therapist friend of mine suggested.  I think they will help. A chair inside the front door with a bench to set things on.  A wheeled chair close to the bathroom sink.  Little stands to set things on here and there.  A lot of little changes that will hopefully help.

So, here, I took a "craft" item and turned it into a rack for screwdrivers.  They need to be inside the house, not a trip to the garage every time he needs one.  This is really meant to hold paper punches.

Jetmax at Michaels has these fabric bins. Who says they are for craft rooms only?  They are holding all the puppy dog stuff. You'd be amazed at how much stuff can go in a single bin!

And do you have a mess in your utility room?  I did - until I put some smaller cubes on the shelves.  Great for things like light bulbs, sunscreen, shoe polish....all those things that tend to tip over or that you pile other stuff on top of.  I'll bet I have twice as much in this cabinet as I did before!

I hung shelves up on the opposite wall and had one left over.....so put it over the sink.  A perfect place for the rechargeable dremmels and all the bits and burs that go with them!

And I didn't buy a thing.  I'm just cleaning out the basement studio and reusing everything I can on the main floor - in non-studio ways.

So while I've definitely been sidetracked from crafting, I'm being space-creative.  Did you know that one of those wood 2-shelf shoe racks makes a wonderful pot and pan rack in a kitchen cabinet?  LOL!!!  And I used another one of the Jetmax bins to store all the attachments to the vacuum cleaner, carpet shampoo machine, hand shampooer....under the utility room sink.

And yes - I know I'm "nesting" - getting everything ready for his surgery.  But definitely sidetracked! And not even going to think about getting back on track until about the middle of February!

In all that cleaning out, I came across an old wedding dress.  What do you do with an old wedding dress?  Stay tuned!!!

I'm not done yet.....

but I wanted to share with you what I've been working on this week! I got this idea while I was out in San Diego, but it took me awhile to find the perfect paper - and then - FIFTY FOUR sheets of it! LOL! My favorite color is turquoise and I love swirls, so when I saw this piece of Heidi Swapp paper, I knew it was just what I wanted.



I cut off the bottom strip - it fit perfectly in the fronts of the 12" wide drawers that are behind my work table. I have 54 of these drawers.



The next 2 1/2" up on the paper became the liner for my 10" wide drawers. And then the next 6 1/2" was used to line the drawers of the larger bins at the bottom. Is this just not wonderful to look at? And the fun thing - when I get tired of turquoise, I can just change it out!



I covered the spines of my magazine holders and a few binders.




Here is a close-up of the smaller drawers. I do not have the labels on them, that will be next week. I think I will use Nestabilities, but I might use the paisley nesties - just not sure yet!



Here's a close up of the larger narrow bins - 11 1/2" x 6 1/2" so I could use the upper part of the paper here.



On the right are some new ribbon keepers from Craft Mates. On the left are some binders, just slid the paper down inside the clear cover.



And finally, the largest drawers. This took 2 pieces of the top of the paper and I inverted one, so the swirls are in opposite corners.



For me, this is just so much better than having drawers where you can see inside to all that clutter. I can hardly wait to get the labels done and I'll post more photos when I get the whole thing complete. I've spent the last 3 weeks sorting and cleaning out my studio - must be time for the annual neighborhood garage sale? Dare I take photos and post that? LOL!

Clip it up!

Well, I had been looking at this for a few weeks and finally decided to bite the bullet and buy one. I started with just the base. It comes with 80 clips, I bought 25 more clips and hung at least 2 things in each clip - some had 4 things in them. I unloaded 2 whole drawers!



I liked it so much, I went back and bought the upper rack and an additional 25 clips:



I ended up hanging 4 drawers worth of stickers and embellishments on the rack. All in one place!



Out at my fingertips where I can see what I have.



I found mine at Archivers, but you can click on their website to see more. So far, I'm really happy with it. I just "downsized" by 4 more drawers. Next - I need to find something lightweight to put my files and paperwork in. The old steel file cabinet I have is just way too heavy!

A call for tubes

or "will I ever learn?" LOLOL! Oh me! Why on earth do I throw anything away? Because it's always the day after they pick up the trash that I get my "brilliant" idea!!! I get my metal from Amaco and it comes in clear plastic tubes. Michaels carries it around here:



and yesterday, I threw out 15 of these tubes! I have always stored my twinkling H2o pots in them....and today, I thought, oh! why not store my perfect pearls in them?



and once that cell in my brain kicked in....it was like...oh! I could store my glitter in them, too!!!




But alas, I have used up all my tubes storing my twinkling H2o pots. See how wonderful? They just fit perfectly down into my storage drawers, I pull them out and I can easily see what I have!



Dare I email my good friends Dawn and Elaine at Amaco and ask them for empty tubes? Hmmm.....what else can we put in them? A really good way to market a product...maybe they could just start selling empty tubes? With the tops on these, you can also hang them on pegs on a pegboard wall. I used to do that....until I decided it was just something else to dust!

Got tubes? I need them! LOL!!!

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!!!

Deep cleansing continued - the ribbons

Yep, I am really sorting out my studio. So this weekend, I have been using these ribbon cards by Cropper Hopper. I like them. They come in 3 sizes and make my storage quite uniform:



You simply tuck the ribbon between the teeth to start, then wrap it around the card. I was using their little clips to hold the other end....ran out...started using plain scotch tape, it works just fine.



I put the 1" x 3" cards in a plano "tackle" box. I just love these boxes!



The 3x3 and 4x6 cards hold a whole lot more ribbons and these are down in larger drawers.



I stacked the plano box on top of the bigger cards and it will all go back into the ben.



I feel so relieved! Ribbons all sorted, wrapped, color cordinated (as much as I could) and put away! Perhaps now I can find what I need to work on!

In honor of me completing this task, I have the following 3 packages of Maya Road ribbons to give away. Just post any comment to this blog in the next 48 hours, I will put your name in a hat and draw a winner Tuesday evening! TA gave me the idea for this great way to recycle product I haven't used!!!

Tomorrow....I'll start sorting through the brads! You just can't imagine how many brads there are in my studio! I'm not even sure I know where they all are! And I'll bet I can find some of them to give away, too! Let the fun begin!!!

Can I just light a match?

I'm sorting through boxes and piles of craft supplies....and I think it would be easier to just light a match and burn the whole place down!



Now really, isn't this what your mess looks like? LOLOL!!!



OK, I am really trying to do a good thing here. I'm trying to get all of my little 3 drawer bins that are 10" wide empty so I can take them down to mom to help organize her new place. (I love it when I post this stuff, she reads it, then emails me that she doesn't need it....way too late!)



Now, on a very good day, this is what it is supposed to look like. Well....obviously I've had ONE good day....whenever it was that I took this photo!



So my question of the day is.....how messy do you let your play place get before you decide it's a pigpen and force yourself to clean it up? I think today may just be the day for me!!!

Saturday, June 21, 2008. There's a neighborhood garage sale in my addition. I think I may just have to put half of this stuff out in the driveway and see if I can downsize the fast, quick and easy way! Anyone feel like a road trip to Colorado???