Craft Room revamp

For a while now I've realised that my craft room doesn't quite work.  I regularly have a shuffle around of stash, or have a clear out and clear up, but for some reason it doesn't quite gel.

Well, a few things happened recently. Firstly, when I went to a local crop, and I took only a small amount of stash, and found I was more productive than I usually am when I take nearly half of my craft room.  So that got me thinking.

I need my craft room to stay as a room so that I can craft in it everyday, without unpacking a crop bag and searching in boxes and draws ... and that sadly means "forget the pretty, it needs to be functional".Also, I need to keep on hand ready to go supplies for crops. To be honest, most of the time that will be my Studio Calico kit. But .... all this means, I need to get my act together and get things sorted once and for all!

So firstly, I tried doing a sort out in and around the mess, well that didn't work. So I decided to almost empty my room completely. I did at one point worry this was a tad drastic, but I'm pleased to say, I'm getting there. I'll share with you some photos over time, on how I'm organising it, but its still very much a work in progress, and is going to take me some time but I thought I'd show you first how I've set up a little work station for me to crack on with Project Life.

I was very lucky to win on Instagram, a place on the Big Picture Catch up class, and they have a set of pre-challenges, and one of those is to organise your basic supplies, and start printing out your photos. So this is what I've done

This was the table that my sewing machine was on, but for now while I'm on the class, I'm going to keep my album here and my everyday project life basics.

My photos, inks, stamps and things that say a certain month or season, are kept in here.

 Here are my everyday project life stamps

This little folder is where I'm keeping my photos, in weeks

And this little box will hold my memorabilia, that is going to be slipped into my album. 

So there you have it, my project life station.  I'll keep you posted with the class, and how well I'm doing with catching up.

Hope you're all having a fun weekend. I'm hoping to be back on Monday with a Me on a Monday post. 

A bit behind

I seem to have fallen a bit behind on Project Life - I've got 5 weeks to catch up on, so it's not too bad and I've all my notes written down.  The actual printing of the photos doesn't take long at home ... it's all the embellishing that I faff over, which take me forever, but hey, that's the fun part!

Anyway, let me share with you a couple of weeks worth.

Ok, maybe a few more than a couple of weeks to share with you.

Now for some reason, I'm obsessed at the moment with home decor. Probably, because I've got a head full of ideas for the little house, and with that in mind, we didn't want to let our main home get forgotten about or fall into a state, where more serious work needed doing to it. I'm also sure you all know what it's like with unfinished projects in your homes and tiling, is one of those projects in our home that somehow never got done when we finished our kitchen, which was about 10 years ago.  So when I fell in love with tiles I'd picked for the little house, I sort of added more to the order, for our home lol.

So, happy to say he came last week and voila ... we have a finished kitchen. Oooohhhh I can't tell you how much I'm swooning over it. Here are a few pictures for you. The fun bit was putting everything back in a completely different place than it was before.

I keep walking in and smiling at it now .... mind you, I don't want to mess it up cooking, do I?

A Thank You and A Project Life idea

Firstly, I'd just like to say a huge, huge, huge thank you for all the kind and lovely comments left about Eddie. It truly means a lot to have such amazing friends.  Eddie was such an important part of our lives, he really was our baby boy. And we miss him so much, but like I've said before. We were truly blessed to have had him in our lives.

Now onto something that doesn't make me cry!

I adore organisation! ... it's a fact. No getting away with it. I'm happiest when I'm sorting out my craft room or clearing through a draw or something like that. So what I'd like to share with you, is something I'm trying with my Project Life cards.

Now this isn't my idea ... I found it on YouTube ... and you can see the original persons video on her blog here. I love it, and she's incredible talented.  But sometimes finding the right products in the UK isn't always easy.  But I'm happy to say, I've found this beauty, which seems to work quite well.  It was before Christmas and I got it in Hobbycraft and is from a range called Artbin.

At first I used to keep my project life cards in the gorgeous little boxes that they arrive in from Studio Calico - but it just wasn't working for me. I'm really the type that needs to see things in order to use them. When tucked away in pretty boxes, I just forget what I've got.

So when I saw this colour idea, it really appealed to me, and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before - filing cards as the ROYGBIV, seemed a perfect idea. It is a little time consuming at first, and I worked on the basis of which colour jumped out at me the most on the card. It helped that I had a couple of Becky Higgins mini kits, which have two cards the same, so I used one colour in one section, and the "b" side in another section. Mind you, I didn't have that many cards to fill all those colours, so I came up with what would work for me.

I made and cut the index file cards on my silhouette from Bazzill, so that they were a little stiffer than the PL cards and then labelled them using my trusty label maker. 

My labels are; Red, Pink, Yellow, Orange, Blue/Green, Neutrals, PL Blanks, Ledger, Calendar/Date, Prompts/Fillers, Specialist, Multi, Seasons and Christmas.

And then I've done a separate card called " This months Kit" ... in which surprise, surprise, I'll keep all the bits from Studio Calico's most recent kit and add-on kit. That way, if ever I get around to doing one of their challenges, I'll be able to say I've used it. Plus I'll be able to find everything really quickly.

 

 

I actually did a little video showing you this box of goodies on my iphone but can't seem to upload it to blogger. I'll have to have a play with that - mind you, I'm sure I don't really sound like that lol.

I also bought something similar for embellishments, and I'll show you that at a later date. 

For the love of Organisation

I love organisation ... my label maker and I are the best of friends. 

At the beginning of the year, like most of us, I sat down and wrote out my goals for the future.  One of the main ones was to get my act together with the de-clutter that seems to be growing by the minute. 

We have a shed full, and trust me I mean full, of boxes of things from Mum & Dads.  Most things I gave to the scouts and to charity shops – but some things, I thought might come in useful.  And … yup I was right.  Mum & Dad had hundreds of cd’s; records & cassette tapes – music was always on when I was little.  Anyway, I thought that these boxes would be good for holding inks in my craft room – and they’re perfect.

 
I also have one with all my Promarkers in – I just coloured little dots in with the colours and put them at the end, and now I can see what I have at a glance.

I’m also a huge Filofax fan – yes I know I can keep my diary on my phone, but I think it’s just a stationery thing, but I love my Filofax.  So with that thought in mind, and the fact that if I ever see a craft shop while I’m out and about, my bag would be with me. I decided to make a not of the colours of inks I have, so as not to buy duplicates.

I know I’m late to the party and I don’t have many mists, but I thought I could start keeping a record of these too.

So, it looks like I’m doing well with my goals; decluttering and getting organised .... fingers crossed it continues.

Recipe Horder

One of the major projects I've set myself this year is to de-clutter. Our home not only houses our clutter, but I also have boxes and boxes of Mum & Dad's things. Well, I'm at that stage when I need to sort myself out.

Now one of the areas that needed looking at was my recipe collection, no not my cookery books, but yes they need a bit of a cull too. But I'm talking about the recipes you pull out of magazines. Trust me; there are only so many fish pies and fish cake recipes a girl needs. So, armed with my, “do I really need it” head on - I pulled out all the bits of paper and pamphlets I'd collected over the years and began to sort. Now, I'm bad enough, but at least I do cook, and love to do so. My mother on the other hand, hated cooking - even when I was a little girl, we went out to eat a lot or had take-aways. Then my mother got a microwave, and frozen dinners are what we lived on lol. All I can say is thank goodness that my Granny lived with us when I was little, so I also got home cooked foods. Anyway, I tell you this, because for some reason, although she hated cooking, she LOVED and I mean loved cookery books and collecting recipes! So again, I have hers now added to my collection.

This was my before shot ... and here's my after.

I know, I've been ruthless, but I've only kept those I really think I'll cook.  I've put them into 3 files; one for everyday, one for baking and one for seasonal/party food. Now, the everyday and baking, I'll go through after a couple of months, and if I've not used them or still haven't any plans to use them, they'll go too. The files sit happily, not taking up much room on my baking station - and I'm feeling much happier with the new arrangement.

I did really enjoy going through mum's old books though ... so much fun seeing old recipes; although, not much different really to the ones in Nigella’s and Jamie’s’ books, if I'm honest ... and I even found my first cookery book :) ... yup, I've kept that.

So, I'm happy with how my de-cluttering is going so far. My February project, which is making good waves, is sorting through mum & dads millions of photos ... although, I have a feeling that may just need to go into being March's project as well, but ... I'm getting there :)

Long Time ... No Chat!

Hello ... do you remember me? I'm hoping someone is still reading my blog, and I know, I'm so sorry I've been missing for so very long.  I decided to take some time out and away from the computer when I shut the shop down, but I'm glad to say .. batteries are recharged, and I'm back.

Last year was certainly busy for us - we pretty much have had workmen and builders in our home since September. Although I'm glad to say they've all gone now, and its wonderful to have my life back.  That does mean I've an awful lot of cleaning and clearing to do ... but hey, I'm happy with that. 

I have big plans this year, but rather than say too much and tempt fate, I'm just going to go with the flow and let the year play out as it will.  Last year I did my own little version of project life - and although, I've just got a few pages to finish up, I really enjoyed doing it. So much so, that I decided this year, I'd do the full and proper 12 x 12 version ... so with that in mind, let me show you my title page.  I am so far, up to date ... shocking, I know.  We also decided on having words to live by this year ... a bit like "one little word" ... but we couldn't decide on just one, so we came up with a few ; Renew, Laugh, Dream and Love.

I've also been scrapping a lot more recently, and almost found again, why I fell in love with scrapbooking in the first place. I'm much more relaxed about it these days and I think that's why I enjoy the process so much more.

Also, with all the work we've been doing, I've had to make the choice to declutter - I still have a lot of Mum & Dads things in our home, and they've been moved around through the work - but I've made the decision to start sorting it out.  I think that's even made me feel happier and lighter.

Ok, that's it from me for now, it's just a dip my toe back in the water post, so to speak.  And fingers crossed I'll be more regular with my blogging.

My First Resolution

I WILL be organised this year!!! Now those that know me well, will be a bit shocked by this – normally I make the character Monica from Friends look disorganised, but I really don’t know what happened to me last year. I felt like I was forever chasing my tail – well, this year things are going to change. In fact, I’ve signed up to do the Ali Edwards, One Little Word, and “CHANGE” is the word I’ve picked. Anyway, more on that in a later post, but for now, an organised me, is the first of my resolutions. So with that, I decided I needed one place to keep everything I may need in a month – so I bought a file from Staples at the end of last year, and made a start.

Each month I’ll pick my favourite photo from the month before as my cover ... this months’, I loved the snow so much on the logs for the wood burner, I couldn’t resist photographing them. Now everything I need is in one place, and as you can see – I’ve printed out the calendar for January from Outlook, which we can both write what we're up to and where we are; so nothing is forgotten! Next is a list of the birthday’s for the month – and the cards I need to make or buy and when to post them. Next comes my menu plan for the week (along with my shopping list, which is left loose). The following pages hold all the recipes I pull out of magazines or get from the internet that I want to cook in the month. Next are all the documents we might need, for instance, eye test and shopping vouchers, take away menus etc.  And then right at the end – I’ve stapled two envelopes, and stamped “stamps” and “receipts” on each.

So there you are! This year I WILL BE better organised ... (fingers crossed)