What happened in here?

Yesterday and today I have been working hard to reduce the clutter that has taken over my craft studio/office. One would think by looking in here that I am a total slob...One would be right! I am one of those crafty-type people who bounces from one thing to another, never minding to clean up the first project before starting the next...some call this compulsive or even ADD. I'm not ready to take on such a stigma yet, but I will say that I do have problems with keeping things in order — most of the time.

One would also say...Man, you have a lot of crap! And by crap I mean lots of cool useful stuff that I just can't live without, but never seems to get used...just collected! LOL!!

I am a true paper-collecting, sticker hoarding, scrapbooking junkie... I can't get enough and there will never be a time when I have enough. There will always be something sooo cute, it has to come home with me.

To make matters worse I am muy sentimental and struggle big time with throwing things away...in particular my kids school work and drawings. Of course I throw the hundreds of mass-produced worksheets away, but the art projects and things they personally put effort into...well, they now have a new home. Instead of being stacked and piled end-over-end in various boxes covering my studio floor, I now have them living safe and secure (and organized) in new file cabinets. One drawer per kid and the fourth drawer is for all those other things I keep, like the maps and memorabilia from our vacations or the ultra sound photos of my babies, our christmas letters, etc. All things I plan to scrapbook someday...you know, when I have more time! Until then I will spend that time organizing my collection of crap, cause that's what scrapbookers do. We admire, we buy, we collect, we organize...and then, just maybe, we scrapbook.

What's old is new again

I haven't spent too much time making cards or scrapbooking. Rather I have been working my tail off in the garden, pulling weeds. In my relaxing time, I have been spending far too much time at 2 peas on the message boards there. I did manage to "beautify" this old storage bin thing that was left in the garage when we moved here. It was blue and I spray painted it pink...

Why am I all of a sudden pulling weeds, camping out on 2 peas and spray painting bins? Because that's what I do when I am procrastinating getting ready for Hayden's upcoming birthday party. Don't get me wrong, I am totally looking forward to the party, I just hate all the cleaning before hand...so I do other non-related things to pass the time until the very last minute when I run around like a mad women trying to whip this place back into shape!

Before:

After:

I have declared this room to be a disaster zone:

My scraproom has seen better days for sure. Right now it is to the point where it's hard to be productive. This past weekend I started the yucky process of organizing this space and although I have gotten a lot done, there still is so much more that needs to be done.

I am a cluttery crafter. I can't seem to get away from it. I'm sure I must in some small (or not so small) way struggle with OCD. I always have lots of projects going at the same time. Some are lucky to get finished, while others I can work on and totally ignore everything else around me (ie housework) until they are done. I also don't feel completely comfortable if my surroundings are all picked up like my husband would like. Granted, this mess of a room is not acceptable to me either, but in some ways I need to be a little messy when I am creating. For me, it's all part of the process of experimenting with different things. I can't just try one thing and say "oh that's not right, I'll put it all back and try another." Oh, no...I leave it all out where it's handy until I have layers of stuff; piles and piles of glorious creativity...until one day I can't seem to see my workspace anymore (or the floor for that matter!) Now you know why craft rooms were "invented!"

I feel like I'm scatter-brained a lot of the time, but it's actually worse if everything is put away. I swear I have a harder time finding things if I can't see them. My husband who is the neat one in this family is always loosing his wallet (and car keys etc.) but not me...most of the time I know exactly which pile to search under to find what I need.

Here is a link to a discussion about being messy that I found pretty interesting.

Another Poll

I've been in an organizing mood lately, and my scraproom really needed some help (I'll post photos tomorrow), so I polled the ladies at 2 peas who shared their wisdom on organizing magazines. Click on poll to read the feedback or take part in the poll. (you may have to scroll up to see the poll.)

Looky, looky...come see what I got

I didn't get any scrapbook layouts done today, but I did go to Craft Warehouse. I went in for one piece of Basic Grey patterned paper, but then I found these 12x12 trays. They were half off. When I saw them a couple years ago I thought they were a good idea, but with one huge design flaw. They were way too far apart from one tray to the next. If these were designed to store 12x12 scrapbook paper, you would have to have 2" of a particular color or patterned paper for each tray. Seems a bit much to me. Instead, I store all my paper in clear 12x12 magazine type binders (the paper is stored vertically) which have tabed dividers so I can separate the different colors.
Anyway, I bought these trays to store all my layouts that still in progress or are waiting to find a home in an album. This way they won't get lost on my desk (a very scary place at times). I have a tray for each kid, a tray for vacations and a tray for everything else.

My Scrap Studio: Think Pink!

Look quickly,

Alyssa cleaned her craft area!

MY DESK: This is where I have my Mac set up and where I store a lot of my supplies. In my desk I have all my adhesives, glitter, embossing powders, tags, pastels, watercolors, paper punches, beads, brads, eyelets, metal embellishments, fibers etc. On the top of the desk, I have all my ink as well as blank notes to write in. In the Iris cart I have envelopes, misc rubber stamps and card samples. In the cabinet I have all my paper, pens, stampin around wheels, tins and other packaging items for embellishing.
MY WORK STATION: Here is where I get most of my work done. This is an old drafting table from the design school days. I bought the bar stool when I had my studio set up in our garage before the move. Under the desk is extra storage.
MY SCRAPBOOK STORAGE: As you can see I not only store scrapbooks, but also idea books, magazines, ribbon, prima flowers, scissors and anything else that looks cute on the shelf. On the top in the pink drawers I've stored some of my photos on CD.
Here is a close up of my shelf. It makes me happy to see all my things on display. I got the ribbon holders at Target a couple years ago and then they stopped carrying them. I'm so glad I got 4, cause they are all filled up.
Did I mention that I am addicted to all those cute embellishments. Part of the fun of scrapbooking is getting all the cute stuff. Anyone else out there want to start a "12x12" step program with me (Hello, my name is Alyssa and I am addicted to embellishments!) I have a storage binder filled to the gills with these also, but these are ones I plan to use right away. This way they are out where I can gain inspiration from them. When the time is right I will know exactly were they are. (Unless Hayden gets to them. He likes to pull them all off.)
GOT STAMPS?: Being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 8 years, I have acquired quite a nice collection of rubber stamps. I have lost track as to how many sets I have now, but there is always room for more, right?