The stuff of September

-
This week I had another birthday. My husband got me Whole Food's yummy Chantilly cake -- have you ever had it?  It's a favorite!
We went out for a nice dinner and had fresh seafood which is a real treat as it is kind of scarce in landlocked Colorado.
Summer's fading away and the air has a bit of a chill in it, especially in the evenings.  I love autumn, but am always sad to see the end of summer.
I have been spending time the last couple of months on a decluttering project in my studio/craft room.  I try to work on it at least once every weekend, and lately more than that, because I'm finally beginning to see the end in sight.  The photo above shows my son's old toy sorting bin which I have put to good use holding shoe-box sized plastic containers full of ephemera and other craft supplies.
This is the inside of one of my newly straightened out drawers full of lace and ribbon.  I store them carded inside of old sewing machine drawers, which are so wonderfully narrow!
More sorted goodies -- this time laces and doilies and other small embellishments.
Would you believe this is just part of my thinned-out supply of vintage fabrics?  It's sorted by type and color as well as age...
As you can see, it still needs more sorting.  Most of this is the fabric I actually use for projects -- the stuff I'm willing to cut -- not to be confused with the stuff I hoard and love and won't cut up!
I made great progress today -- this is the top of a table that, before today, was completely stacked with unsorted stuff!  I was happily surprised to see all the pretty vintage containers I've collected over the last few years.  Everything looks so pretty in glass.
At this point, I only have a few big bundles of craft supplies that I need to go through and figure out a good way to store -- like the pile of uncarded ribbon, above...
and this whole box of "smalls" -- pretty little things I want to use as embellishments for art projects.  I haven't been able to figure out a solution for storing this particular pile of things, to make them easily accessible and to keep them sorted.  Ideas welcome!
It has been good for my soul to be up to my elbows in all of the beautiful things I've collected.  But it will be even better as soon as all the organizing is finished I will be able to sit down in my craft room and USE it for its intended purpose!  So excited!

Comments

Kathy said…
Oh my gosh, keeping the clutter under control and organized is an on-going challenge and you are making GREAT progress. Envy! How about wood flatware trays for all those smalls? I just sorted some millinery fruit in to one this weekend.
September 20, 2015 at 10:47 PM
Linda @ A La Carte said…
Great job. I am working on sorting and organizing my small hoard of craft items but it's hard to get it all organized. You inspire me!
September 21, 2015 at 7:04 AM
Marrianna said…
Everything looks wonderful and very organized already. For a storage idea for the small bits, isn't there a way to make cardboard dividers inside a somewhat flat cardboard box? Or cardboard dividers in a plastic shoe box? I'm thinking of how glass Christmas ornaments are stored in boxes with slots. Or maybe take a kleenix tissue box, remove the top that has that oval for pulling the tissues out and then making little cardboard dividers out of the removed top. I'm thinking a miniature coco cola box idea. As for me, every time I get my supplies organized, and then start a project, I never keep things organized. I had my sewing room all organized and then I started making things. Now I get to organize again.

While I didn't bundle anything up to sell on Etsy, I did list some digital photos and somebody bought one last week!!! Yippee. I want to do more of the digital downloads because then I don't have to worry about packing. I have some things to sell on Ebay that I need to photograph that can't be listed on Etsy. I'll get it done in the next couple of weeks because it is Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos stuff that is breakable and needs special packaging to ship.

Great job. Happy birthday. The birthday cake looks heavenly.
September 21, 2015 at 9:13 AM
Linda said…
Happy belated birthday Laurie. Cake looks absolutely fantabuluous with all that fruit, etc. As for storage, I find that those shoe pockets that hang over a door, or on a clothes rail in the cupboard, work great. Especially the clear plastic see through ones. I know they're made for 6 pair of shoes (12 pockets) and now they're available with pockets on both sides (24 pockets). You can see at a glance what you have. They've saved quite a bit of space for me. Have a great week.
September 21, 2015 at 11:57 AM
Junque Seeker said…
I'm drooling over your lovely supplies, and so proud of you for all your organizational efforts! I cleaned my craft room before vacation so our dogsitter could sew while she was here. Now if I can just keep it this way!
September 23, 2015 at 4:45 PM
Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said…
Happy belated birthday to you, that cake looks delicious! Doesn't it feel good to get all your pretty supplies organized? Great idea to use your son's old toy bin. I have fabric and table cloths stacked on the 3-shelf changing table I used for both of my sons. It's a perfect fit inside the closet and holds a load of stuff!
September 27, 2015 at 1:40 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Jesus Candy Cane Christmas Ornament How-To

-
Image
Here's a tutorial to make sweet baby Jesus ornaments: Materials: 3/4" round wooden balls blue felt like-sized small wooden stars flesh-colored acrylic paint yellow acrylic paint black permanent marker small button as star decor raffia natural excelsior "moss" silver thread or coordinating yarn candy cane You'll also need glue or a hot glue gun, paint brush and scissors Begin by painting the wooden balls with flesh-colored paint and the stars with yellow paint. When dry, draw two sleeping eyes on the ball. Meanwhile, cut small pieces of felt and make little rolls to represent the baby's body; tie with a tiny piece of raffia. Next, glue the wooden ball onto the top of the body roll of felt; if you wish, you can also cut a small wedge of felt to glue over like a little swaddled hood on the baby's head, but I think it looks cute without it as well. Glue the l
Read more

Flagler College in St. Augustine: the Tiffany connection

-
Image
We visited this wonderful building that began its life in 1888 as a lavish hotel built by Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil, and now houses Flagler College . It is such a beautiful old building and in it we saw: these fabulous Tiffany chandeliers... on a spectacular painted and embossed ceiling in one of the hotel's drawing rooms.   I apologize for the quality of the indoor photos -- it was quite dark in the building. I had to laugh at these painted cherubs on the ceiling... and the way their ribbony robes encircle the chandelier mount! This large clock over the mantle is special because it's a Thomas Edison clock and because it is made from one piece of rare onyx.  We were told that Edison's "signature" on his clocks is the use of the incorrect Roman numeral "4". But the most spectacular feature of the building is that Louis Comfort Tiffany himself made the stained glass windows. Most of Tiffany's windows a
Read more

O Christmas tree, jeweled Christmas tree...

-
Image
Earlier in the season Rebecca and I went to a craft fair at a local high school, and there was one booth with the CUTEST little jeweled, framed Christmas trees! The gal was nice enough to let me photograph them.  Sorry it's kind of blurry, but it was dark in that high school gym! I know it's an older kind of craft (from the '60s and '70s) but she made them sweet -- not gaudy at all.  We were both SO inspired. So, last week we made it happen.  I brought a bunch of my old, broken vintage jewelry, some velvet, glue,  old frames, and we sat in her dining room and made a forest of little trees! It was so simple: first, we took a vintage frame and covered the backing with velvet.  We just glued it on. Then, we took our time arranging bits and pieces of jewels into a Christmas tree shape. When we were happy with the arrangement, we committed and glued the jewels down!  I love this avocado green velvet! And then we did it again.  We had so much fun playing
Read more