Dealing with the Visual Clutter of the Craft Room

I love my craft room! there is so much inspiration tacked up on the walls and so many little do-dads stashed everywhere. There is a lot going on in there and I continue to add to the collection, while I LOVE all of that stuff it can be a bit overwhelming.As you can see, the craft room is right inside of my front door, so everyone who comes over sees my crafty mess first thing. Now I know that my clutter is not shocking to anyone who comes over, but that doesn’t mean that I want them to see it the minute they come in the door. The doors are also not in the best of shape, there are several panes of glass missing, the doorknob is gone and there is some weird burnt/melted looking part on the top right door and there is a “trick” to shut them. New french doors are on the list, but they aren’t a huge priority. I made some lined fabric panels for the inside of the doors using some of the Project Runway fabric I bought forever ago. It’s sooooooo dramatically different! I like it so much I’m going to make another set of curtains for the dining room side of the doors, I happen to have some more of the lovely fabric I used for the giant dry erase calendar. The added bonus is that I can now go into the craft room, shut the door, and be out of sight, out of mind from the kids.
After shelves, I think covering things with curtains is going to be my favorite way to fix things, oh I might even start covering my shelves with curtains! I can think of a few more things that would be greatly improved by covering them with curtains and I do have a good stash of fabric.

The Crafty Closet

I hung my giant buttons today and was excited to learn that my Mother had found me another cheese dome, because I NEED more of these giant buttons! I’m having a hard time deciding how the holes should be positioned, I may be over thinking this.
As I took this picture to share with everyone I realized that I had never mentioned my crafty closet. Not only am I lucky enough to have a craft room, but my crafty room has a closet! And, let me tell you, it is packed to the gills with all sorts of goodies!
Notice that everything is sorted into clear totes and most of them are labeled. I am always amused when people are amazed that my mess is really organized, it’s more of a volume issue. I have so much stuff that looks cluttered.
The center is all totes (shoe boxed sized), to the left is wire shelving for fabric storage (it’s still all neatly folded), and on the right is a sweater organizer that is holding an interesting selection of supplies that aren’t in totes. There are also boxes stacked to the ceiling on the top shelf and Boobzilla (my duct tape dress form) now lives up there too.
I am hoping to eventually have all of my supplies in the craft room (and out of the basement), but it seems to be more of a life goal than an overnight project.
What color should I paint my next button? I’m thinking orange or brown.

...and the Winner is...

Yesterday did not seem like Friday, so sorry I'm a day late :) I threw the names in a hat and the winner is Beth, who said, "Love following your blog. You are so inspiring!" (thanks). I need you to email your mailing address to crafterella(at)hotmail(dot)com and I also need to hear from you by Monday, the 2nd. or I'll have to pick another winner.

And because I can't have a post without a picture, here is the craft room all cleaned up! You can see the floor and the table top AND the ironing board is clutter free (not pictured). I had a crafting party here last week and that proved to be the incentive I needed to get it all cleaned up. I am super excited and I keep reminding myself how nice it will be to just shut the doors when I'm finished working and the kids and cats won't be getting into my stuff.
Happy New Year everyone!!!

That New Shelf Smell

I did not know that new shelves had a smell, but these definitely do, and it’s not good smell(it must be the wood shelf inserts).  Thursday in the middle of making my rainbow patchwork I had a brilliant idea, I needed some giant, heavy duty shelves for the craft room.  One of the most annoying things about cleaning up is that I lug several totes of supplies to the basement only to want them back up here in the next week and then the totes sit here in my dining room looking junky and back down stairs they go, it’s endless.  If I had big shelves they could just stay up here in the craft room on the shelves right?  Did I mention that when we cleaned the rest of the house that the craft room got skipped and so stuff (craft stuff) is just stacked up in there? and I don’t want to start hauling it out here where it is clean.
Sometimes when I’m cleaning it feels like I just shift things around, like a slow motion hurricane, so I thought I would document the process of putting a shelf in with some before, during, and after shots (well, not really after, more of a right now, but I’m not done yet).
As you can see, it went from messy, to cleaned spot, to shelves up, to starting to fill the shelves.  I would like to add that I am not responsible for the stickers, stencils and splotchy paint, they were here when we moved in.  The wire shelves are still up there in the last shot, they are just hidden by the pattern boxes and boobzilla.  I have a lot of my stuff sorted already and some of the excess supplies will be stored in the basement (we have even bigger and heavy-dutier (<- yeah I made that up) shelves down there).
I also have new shelves for the upstairs.  There is a room up there with a skylight where I take all of my product photos and those shelves will hold all of my finished projects that are listed in my online shops.  I’ll also be keeping craft show displays, mailing/packaging supplies and random stuff from my day job up there.  It is a weird room that is too small to be good for much, but it’s great for photography and storage.
I think I have some sort of shelf obsession, I have plans to build some for the living room too!
Have a super crafty weekend!

Long Overdue Cozy

I have had the directions for this project printed out for so long that they are no longer available on the original website (which is why I have to print everything out).  I have had this awesome Project Runway fabric since 2009 and now I have finally made my sewing machine a cozy!The cover fits perfectly, that little bump in the back is the spool holders sticking up, I did just finish sewing!  If it was properly stored they would be down and the cover would be nice and rectangular (I’m doing good with the cover, we’ll work up to proper storage).  There is piping along the side seams and a lovely aqua binding on the bottom of the cozy.  That’s vintage seam binding, occasionally my hoarding pays off! Here’s what my little sewing corner has looked like and yes, I am still able to sew I just knock a lot of stuff over when I do.  I would like to point out that I am still using all the giant spice jars and they are working great for keeping all my bottle caps, pop tabs and other little bits and bobs sorted and stored.Ah, isn’t that nice?, now I just need to tackle the floor in that corner, so I can center the cabinet on that wall and it will be perfect. 

If you would like to make a sewing machine cover like mine this customizable cover looks very similar to the one I made.  I have another project that I’m working on for this area, now that the flu has moved on to Little Miss and Little Man I’m hoping that we can all be healthy by Wednesday and everything can go back to normal.

Is there a Hoarders Anonymous?

I know that there are TV shows that will come to your house and make you throw away or sell all your stuff, but is there a group program.  I guess I would have to want to get better and I’m not sure I’m there yet, I think I just want to get organized.

I sure it is no surprise to anyone who has noticed that the background in all my photos is always cluttered, but I really have a problem.  I am going to share some shocking photos with you guys today, because I know I’m not the only one with this dirty little secret.  My theory is that being creative requires a little chaos (I’m extra creative, so I need a lot, which translates to: I don’t have time to clean, I’m creating!!! )

Before we bought our new house in May 2009 we lived in a tiny apartment and kept a lot of our stuff in storage.  When we moved in here everything that was in storage got put directly into the basement, semi stacked, but mostly randomly.

Um, yeah, so this is what my basement looks like right now, there is more, but I could only get this much in the picture.  About 60% of this stuff is mine, most of it craft related.  This space is supposed to be for my husband to have his little nerdy man cave, as you can see, he’s getting a lot of use out of it.

This was, (yes was, I’ve been cleaning) the doors to my craft room, it is not that large of a room, but it does have a closet.  I have tidied up a lot and moved the furniture around and hauled up some stuff from the basement and now it looks a little better.

Here is my sewing table and a large wall shelf that is holding all my gallon sized storage containers.  The middle shelf is not tall enough, but I have a lot of other jars and do dads to put there.  I’ve organized my sewing notions and they are all nicely tucked away in the drawers of the sewing cabinet that I got at a yard sale, I still have the old machine that was in it if anyone is interested.  (I have a collection of things that need to be put on a yard sale or donated to charity downstairs also).

This is my crafting table, I found out that the three rolling carts (you can only see two here) fit perfectly under the table if I took the wheels off.  The real question is what to do with the wheels, so I can find them if I need them again.  Most of the drawers are still empty, which means that there is room for me to haul some more stuff out of the basement.  On the left in the corner is the shelf that is going to be my ironing center where I’ll be keeping all the equipment I need for pressing and probably current projects.  The ironing board will be along that left wall, where I can leave it out all the time.

Here is a shot of the closet, it is packed to capacity with shelves, on the very left, not easily seen are the shelves holding my freshly folded and stacked fabrics, there is still a lot of room for more (and I have more waiting in the basement).  The center shelf will hold all of my containers for different crafts, I expect to find the rest of them in the basement also.  The right is a sweater organizer that is totally empty, not quite sure what I’ll put in there, maybe yarn.  Not pictured is a organizer of small drawers mounted on the wall containing all sorts of small bits and bobs.  That mess on the right is a gift bag and wrapping paper organizer that is going to be relocated upstairs.

I am slowly making progress, every box I open needs to be sorted through and organized and then put away, there was no method to the madness when we packed.  I’m starting to get really excited to finish, it’s going to be so nice to have everything put away and easily found.  I’ll share more as I accomplish it and hopefully I can avoid Hoarders Anonymous and avoid anyone calling a TV show to make me clean up.  Please tell me I’m not the only one with a clutter problem.

The Official Update

I have grounded myself from doing any more crafting that is not Christmas gift related until I have cleaned up some of this mess.  I have never been an extremely tidy person and I tend to overtake any flat surface with all of the various projects that I am currently working on.  Let me be clear, my house is not filthy it’s cluttered, I do maintain basic cleaning, like washing dishes, laundry, cleaning the bathroom, etc., I just don’t do a great job of picking up after myself.  I have made a lot of progress this week, the kitchen is looking great and all the countertops are visible and the living room is coming along nicely, I just have to find a new home for some gigantic totes.  I am even getting a handle on all of my fabric in the craft room.

This photo was taken at the end of November and I am happy to say that a lot more of the floor is visible and the furniture has been rearranged, but I am still struggling to find homes for all of my carefully hoarded supplies.

I am also still working on those darn cupcakes, their frosting has been applied and now all they need is some beaded sprinkles (I did decide to go with orange, thanks Kelly), but I refuse to post another picture of them until they are finished. 

I have not wrapped any gifts yet, since I am still waiting for most of them to arrive, traditionally I spend Christmas eve in a package wrapping frenzy and it seems it will be that way again.  I hope to be ungrounded and back to crafting soon, I have a gigantic back log of projects to complete and now that my fabric is getting organized I have a ton of sewing projects that I am dying to work on.  Have a great weekend!

Large Crafty Storage Jars

I am always searching for free or no cost ways to store and organize my giant craft stash and my husband has found a great solution: extra large spice containers from his job (intuitional food service).  He brings home at least one of these a week, I remove the labels and wash them out and fill them up with all my crafty goodness.

They are perfect, rectangular with a built in handle, there is no wasted space!  I was using pickle jars, on the left, but they are round and hard to grab and they take up more space while holding the same amount.  Really the only draw back is that removing the smell from the container is impossible.  Most of them are garlic powder, but I do have a cinnamon and a pepper, I just need to make sure not to store anything in them that will absorb the smell.  I wonder if I made a little bag to hold baking soda or coffee beans if that would absorb the smell.  I’m still working on that idea, I would love to hear your suggestions for removing the smell.

The Prizes have Arrived

My Crafty Chica bobble head arrived today, apparently it was a rough trip.

Don’t worry a little tacky glue fixed her right up.  I thought about using glitter glue, but I was afraid it wouldn’t hold. ;)

  I have also picked and received my prize from MakerShed, it’s a knitting/felting kit.  I’ll share more about that once I get the chance to knit it up.  Now I just need some shelves to keep all my crafty pretties on, I think I’ll have to check the thrift stores.

The Letter of the Day is K

You may remember a while back when I made decoupaged storage jars like Alexa from The Swell Life.  The first time I followed her instructions using random letters and numbers I cut from various magazines.  When I finished I wondered how it would look if I only used one color.  For my second try I used only red numbers and letters.  After finishing the red jar I wondered how using just one letter would look, can you see where I’m going with this?

I have to confess that I cheated and printed out all my letters.  K is a difficult letter to find and I wanted to use some of the fancy fonts I got from dafont.com (Thanks Lisa).  I picked a large variety of fonts and sizes.  I cut everything out and sorted them out by size. I start by applying the large letters and filling in with the smaller ones.  Once I used up most of these I cut out my smaller letters, some of them were tiny.  I used them to fill in any tiny gaps or to break up space. I really like how it turned out.  This is definitely a great project with many options and uses, I’m sure I’ll be making more of these…oooooh how about a theme like Halloween or roses or eyes, just when I thought I was done exploring the options of this project I get another idea!

Creativity Drain

I really want to sew something, I also have a new project that I am dying to start.  I need space and the dining room table is not going to cut it anymore!  I’m all worked up and ready to craft and this is my craft room!

Ugh, I no longer feel creative, the urge to craft is gone.  I have slowly been trying to get unpacked, but it is taking forever.

I have managed to clear some floor space and in an emergency I could set up the sewing machine, but don’t ask me where the ironing board is.

But it still doesn’t inspire me to create anything, sigh…

I think I’ll order a pizza for dinner and see if I can accomplish a bit more unpacking.  I keep telling myself that I have to get it set up soon, there is a lot of crafting to do for the new house.

Project: Cleaning the Crafting Lair

Today I had the whole afternoon to myself, so I cleaned my crafty lair. I am lucky enough to have the entire second floor for all of my crafting. This is the room where I do all the crafting, across the hall there is another room that I have the majority of my fabric stash in and a spare bed, I have thought about sleeping up here many nights. I have to say it was a bit overdue, as you can see.I spent quite a while (three hours) putting everything back into its proper spot. Can you believe there is a table in here? My husband came up to check it out before I swept and asked it a sequin tsunami had been through, the floor looked like a sequin carpet.Now that was an afternoon well spent! I am so excited to have it clean, so I can mess it up again. I wonder what I should do first.

Here's my nice clean table top. By the way I found this solid wood table on the curb when they had city wide clean up a couple years ago. The table wouldn't close all the way and there was a filthy piece of linoleum on the top to cover the gap. After peeling the linoleum off and tightening a screw it worked perfect, it even came with that great red orange finish on the top. City wide clean up is my favorite time of year, everyone in town puts their junk out on the curb and the city hauls it away for free, but normally we all drive around picking stuff we want and hauling it home.