or
Keepin’ It Real
or
My Dirty Little Secret
It is a New Year. Usually I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions (as you will see from the photos below), my life is just lived a bit more haphazardly. Remember that girl up there in my header is me—skipping along, stuff falling out of the wagon and while I never want to let go of the shear bliss of creating, it is time to let in some organization.
I would love to open this up for a group project as I am always willing to receive help and take advice. However, I remember not too long ago when I asked for your best organizational tips many of you seemed as befuddled as me (hehe). I will put it out there again. What should I do? How do you do it?
I will post a new photo of my room the 1st day of each month this year. Hopefully this will document the progress I have made! Any companies out there that want to take me on as their personal project—don’t hesitate to apply!
Turn away now if you are squeamish!
The Room
The Closet
A crazy shaped nook built into the wall where I stuff fabric
I have started reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
. I would love to implement his system. I do wonder what he would do with all of the #6 plastic containers waiting patiently to be made into Shrinky Dinks? You can take a little quiz to test your Getting It Done IQ at his website.
I realize by posting these photos Martha will never want to be my BFF! I do feel the need to explain the photos (my husband even said he was embarrassed for me)—-it takes so much stuff to do all the projects here at Skip to my Lou, the room is too small, I don’t have money to buy more organizational aides(and obviously don’t know how to use what I do have), I have three kids, I am so busy, on and on………but really!
Help!
shrinking with #6 plastic: http://www.curbly.com/Chrisjob/posts/2252-DIY-Shrinky-Dinks-
And every time I get rid of something in my craft room, I seem to bring 3 things in…. my room looks very much like yours!
I’ll tell you what,every room and nook and cranny is organized in my home except for my crafting area.I have cleaned it numerous times and by the end of a crafting day it looks like a cyclone has hit it…..again.I just tell people,a messy craft table reflects a creative mind lol.
I would like to give you a great big hug and say “thank you, thank you, thank you!” And then I would like to show my precious Hunky this post so he won’t think so ill of me. My space is very similar to this, but it is in my DINING ROOM. The only saving grace is that we host a supper club once a month, so I have to clear things off the table =)
I use a file draw and folders to organize my fabrics. Can i Email you a picture. Also I use the cubby bookcase from Ikea to seperate each function and keep them in polkodot boxes.
I an interested in the number 6 plastic for shrinking do you know of a good place for a tutorial?
When my corner starts to look like yours I start sorting and pitching and organizing and like you I don’t have a lot of money for new organizational equipment.I have a few ideas for you starting with the number 6 plastic. You could quickly cut out the sides that are not usable and just keep the flat pieces that would fit into a binder. Your room also seems to be a dumping ground for things that don’t have a home like the tv on the floor. Is there any way to donate those items or find more useful homes for them? My children are often guilty of adding odds and ends to my craft space so I keep a small basket for collecting their stuff. When it is full I have the put their things away in their own space. I hope that some of this has helped.
I feel your pain. I have one suggestion that can help with your clutter and won’t cost a cent. Watch this video http://www.marilynbohn.com/media-center/organizing-fabric-tips.html by Marilyn Bohn and check out her other origanizational videos and tips on her site. I have one closet of fabrics folded as Marilyn suggests and it has made a big difference — takes less space to store my fabric, is so easy to find what I want, and pleases my eyes and soul.
i am totally there and i totally understand! 🙂 you can do it…on my site i have a link to an organizing blog, and my post yesterday was about how to keep resolutions to organize…it is an article and i thought it was very good…it talks about the three things you need…education, motivation, and support…you are well on your way with the education part…take a look if you think it might help! GOOD LUCK! and you can do it! 🙂 now for my rooms… 🙂
Praise the Lord! My room isn’t the only one in this condition!!! You’re like the 4th person to post about that book… I might have to look into it. I have serious doubts that us creative types will ever truely be organized though… Happy New Year!
I just remembered! Once upon a time I saw a great idea for craft rooms- you know those small, random items you have? like that one perfect feather, or a small batch of buttons (I know, I’ve got a million, but some crafters sadly only have a few). Well, they took and put up small nails all in a row on the wall, then hooked up some clippers to it. (like those metal things with the black plastic, you can flip up the metal and use it to open the plastic part, then clamp onto something? does that make sense?) anyway, they put their small random items into tiny zipper plastic bags, like the ones you get beads in, and then just clipped them with the clipper things and hung them on the nails.
I’m sure someone else could’ve made that make more sense- but hopefully you get what I mean. My main point was that if you put small items that can’t find a home into plastic bags, you can clip them onto the wall so you can see them easy. If you covered the wall area with random squares of scrap paper first, it would even look nice. Oh no, wait, that’s a new project! Sorry! (that’s my problem, I start cleaning my craft room and get distracted by new projects that would “make the room nicer” if only it were clean!) 😛
All you need is a dose of grace and mercy for yourself. Do you know how many of us have spots that look like that? If you weren’t busy and creative and productive it might not look like it does, but where’s the fun in that? It sounds like you have reached the I-can’t-live-with-it-any-longer stage and you will get it under control. Please don’t feel bad about it–you are in the company of many wonderful women.
hold on. what? #6 plastic containers can be made into shrinky dinks??? when did this become common knowledge, and where was I? wow. I’ll be googling that today!
as for the organization… hm.
my craft room is also a mess, so I can’t offer words of “well, what I do is…” but my mother (of course) has a beautiful sewing room that is perfect. unless of course she is in the middle of 5 projects… but then right when she’s done with them her room is nice again.
basically she just bought these two huge cabinets from a local tool store (like Lowe’s, but not a large chain store). They were display models and she bought them uber cheap. then she went to the dollar tree (where everything actually IS a dollar, unlike other dollar chains) and bought a bunch of random plastic bins. She did not take the lids- left them right there at the store- when the lady asked she said “no, I don’t need them” the lady probably thought she was nuts! anyway, she folded up all her fabric and sorted it into colorways. now she’s got large amounts of purples stacked nicely on one shelf with a plastic bin holding smaller bits of purples. same thing for other colors. some have their own shelf, some share with a color friend- depending on how much she had of each.
I’ve found that using boxes without lids can be helpful, but hard to store if you want to stack. Of course, I do more than sew- I stamp and crochet and papercraft and bead and mess with polymer clay and, and, and. so my room looks more like yours! but the box system does help some. some things just seem to resist having a home- ya know?
good luck!
I think you’ve made a lot of people feel much better about the status of their craft/sewing/whatever room! I like using baskets and bins, or at least that’s my plan!
Love this post – your best ever!!! I for one am not offering to help – but you’re right: You need some help!!! Pity my whole house is like this – all behind closet doors of course!
I can’t wait to watch the monthly pictures!
I’m glad that I’m not the only one with a hovel. My office is such a mess and has been for so long, that I’ve ceased to be embarrassed by it. Sad, but true. I do want to clean it up in the New Year though. It’s even starting to bother me. It’s really hard to be motivated to clean a room where I can shut the door and pretend it doesn’t exist when guests arrive. I really like the idea of posting a picture of the room at the beginning of every month. I’m not sure if I have the chutzpah to post a picture on my blog though, but maybe I’ll at least take one.