I'm Back!!

I am definitely hanging my head in shame. It has been almost a year since I have posted on my blog. Where has the time gone?? I have made progress and had setbacks, but am now in the making progress stage again. Hopefully.

Setback - Last May my daughter moved in with me, along with my grandkids. She has 5 kids, but 2 are in college, so it was usually 3 or 4 kids here at any given time. In a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1000 square foot house...lol. You can imagine the chaos. But, we all survived it and did the best we could with what we had to work with, and she was finally able to get her own place last month. 9 long months later...lol. I was babysitting for her while she worked a bazillion hours so not a lot got done in the craft room. I didn't even have time to make anything much. That's ok though because I got to spend a lot of quality time with my Grandkids, which I really enjoyed, for the most part...lol.

Progress!! Remember the bedroom that was full of bins and just plain old junk?? All gone or moved. We had to empty it out because we needed the space. All the craft stuff was moved to the front of the garage next to the craft room, (where it is still sitting waiting to be unpacked) and I went through all the rest and sent boxes and boxes of "stuff" to Goodwill, plus tossed a lot too that wasn't worth donating. It was a major purge and as much as I hated to do it, I needed to do it. So far I haven't missed a thing so I like to think I made the right choices as to what to keep and what to get rid of. I was brutal in my decisions and my pack rat tendencies were hard to avoid, but I made it. I just hope I can be as brutal when I finally get to all the craft stuff. (I don't see that happening...lol)

Setback and then Progress - To top it off, we ended up packing up my desk in the craft room and moving it into the garage, and then moving the fridge and freezer into the craft room where the desk was. I like it because it is soooo much easier for me to access them and we needed the extra fridge and freezer space closer at the time. I also packed up the shelves above them and they now hold all my small appliances. Food processor, slow cookers and the like, plus I have extra storage for paper and canned goods if I need it. It really cleared a lot of space in my kitchen so that was a big plus too. More about the desk still in the garage later.

More progress!! I am mobile again!! Last month I came into a little money and got a new to me vehicle. I haven't had a car for almost 2 years. Not since my 99 Suzuki Vitara bit the dust. While my daughter lived here it wasn't a problem because I could use her car if I needed to. The money came at the perfect time, right before she moved out, and I found the perfect vehicle for me. Most of you know I have mobility issues because of severe arthritis and I am also on oxygen 24/7. I can't walk very far and I can't stand for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. I use a cane or a walker if I am in really bad shape or go somewhere, but my house is small so I can pretty much get around it without anything. I have an electric scooter but it has been sitting in the garage since my Vitara died because I had no way to haul it and it is too big to use in my little house. Not having a vehicle, or the use of my scooter, had pretty much made me housebound. I couldn't go anywhere that didn't have electric carts and not many places have them. I now have a 2001 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan with an Entervan package. In other words it has an electric ramp on the passenger side and I can drive my scooter right up into it. And of course I ended up putting new batteries in the scooter too since it had sat for so long but  I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of  it!! I was really worried about having to struggle with portable ramps and getting the scooter in and out of a vehicle. This is perfect!! It is a little older than I wanted to go, but I got it at a good price and it only has 65,000 miles so I am really happy with it. I am happiest that I have my mobility back. I can go just about anywhere now!! WOOHOO!!

Setback - Ok, so now my daughter and the kids have moved out. Which is actually progress, but I have spent the last 3 weeks trying to declutter and clean my little house. There were piles and piles and just "stuff" sitting everywhere. It was a disaster and I was even having a hard time getting through it all. I don't live like this and it was driving me nutso!! BIG setback...lol.

Progress - I have 2 pretty much empty bedrooms. All that is in them is dressers and some things I set in there to get out of my way. I have mostly worked on my kitchen, cleaning out cabinets and drawers, but my living room and bath are starting to look good again too. I figure one more week and I will have those 3 rooms as done as I can get them. My big plan is to hire a housekeeper to come in and start washing walls, ceilings, everything, and then eventually it will work into where she will come in a couple times a month and just do the things I struggle with. I know it sounds funny, I have to clean before I can bring someone in to clean, but it wouldn't have been worth it to have someone come in and move piles from one spot to another to clean. Again, I have been doing a big purge and getting rid of a lot of things. I have a big box I am putting everything I find that is my daughters or the kids', and I am finding lots. Simplify, that is my motto now since it is getting harder and harder for me to take care of it all.

Setback - The 1st bedroom. The one bedroom where all the bins used to be isn't bad. I had it painted and new carpet put in before I put all those bins in there so it is still like new. My daughter and granddaughter shared this room so it stayed in pretty good shape. I just need to clean off a few fingerprints here and there and maybe shampoo the carpet. This is going to be what I am calling the Den. After I get it cleaned I am going to put the desk that has been stored in the garage in there along with a couple of bookcases and maybe some shelves. There will also be a futon, a long dresser, the tv I have in the living room right now and the kids game systems I have. I liked the idea of a futon because it can be a small sofa normally but if I need an extra bed I will have one.

BIG Setback - The 2nd bedroom. This bedroom needs a major cleaning and probably painting. I had rented this room for years before my daughter moved in and then the boys shared it after. Boys, especially teenage and preteen boys, smell and are messy...lol. The carpet looks like it is in pretty good shape but definitely needs a good shampooing. This room is going to be a guest room. I already have dressers, a tv and some bookcases for in there I just need to buy a bed. I gave my daughter the canopy bed I used to have in there because it was just way too big for my bedrooms. I am actually thinking about putting the mattress and box springs I have now in there and getting myself a pillowtop or an adjustable bed. I want an adjustable really bad because I sleep sooo much better propped up with my lung problems, but it is hard finding a full or queen size that isn't thousands of dollars. I definitely don't want a twin.

So as you see I have big plans. I decided the 1st of the year that this is the year I get my house and yard together. I am normally a highly organized person and I WILL be organized again. I need to get my sprinkler system running again this year and get my yard back in shape too. My 17 yr old grandson wants to work for me this summer and will get the yard in shape like how I want it and between me and a housekeeper I will be able to get this house done and more manageable for me.

So, have you noticed that I haven't really mentioned the craft room itself?? Welllll, it has suffered a definite setback this last year. Everything I had unpacked and organized is still there and in good shape, but all the boxes from moving the desk into the garage and clearing the shelves above it are still sitting in it. I am sooo sick of moving them around to get at all my stuff, and putting things away is almost impossible. Right inside the door in front of the needlework shelves has become a catch-all again. It is a disaster. BUT, I have somewhat of a plan. Once I get the desk moved into the den and the bookcases and furniture all set up, all those boxes will be in there to be put away. That alone will be a MAJOR improvement since that's the worst of it. After that it will just need a good cleaning and I will be back in business.

At least I hope so. I am actually thinking about giving the white desk that I painted to my granddaughter. It takes up a lot of space for just a little storage. I really like it but think I could make better use of the space. I am really going to have to think about it. I am actually wanting a table against the wall so I can have storage for the things I use the most along the wall and at the back of the table. I have my Cricut and also a Silhouette Cameo ordered, so I have to have room for them somewhere too. I guess once I get to that room I am going to have to measure and see how I want it and how it will function best for me. If I am going to change it around I want to do it before I unpack any more of those bins into it. It will take some thought when the time comes. Hopefully I will be able to get out there in the near future...lol

OK, I have rambled and probably done a years worth of posts all in one here. But, that's what I have been up to. Hopefully this year will bring about the changes I need to make and I can get back into my crafting. It has been a long journey and I see nothing but good things and PROGRESS coming up. Wish me luck. I am going to need it...lol.

I am such a slacker...

when it comes to my blog....lol. There really hasn't been much to blog about to tell you the truth. I haven't really been doing many crafts because I can't find most of my stuff. It gets very frustrating for me. It is all still buried in the back bedroom. I think when I go in the craft room to work on it, I tend to get overwhelmed really fast and I have to just walk away.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I went out there and sat and just looked at it and thought about how it was working for me. I decided it wasn't working for me at all, and that was part of the problem. Soooo, out came the tape measure and the graph paper and I reworked the layout a bit. When I got the desk I had painted from my friend Manila last summer, I also got a big 5 foot table. I had wanted to put it in the craft room but coudn't figure out how to make it fit so it has been out on my patio as an extra table for barbecues. Well, it is in there now. I had originally wanted to keep the door clear going outside so I can open it in nice weather. Forget it. I can't get it open. I think it needs reframed and since that isn't going to happen for a while, you guessed it, that table is now in front of it. The big gray file cabinet that I was going to move to the garage is at the end of it. I had to move the Jet Max Cubes down about 8 inches for it all to fit. Since I had bought 4 more cubes that meant I didn't have room for my paper drawers at the end of them any more. I was running out of floor space along the walls!!

Easy Peasy fix. My paper drawers are now on top of the big table. Plenty of room for them and still room in front of them to work if I need it. Plus I am liking having them right in my actual work space. As an added bonus I was able to fit 4 of my BIG sterlite drawers under the table too! I didn't think I was going to be able to put any of them in the room at all and I have 8 of them. Plus there is still room to store my big scrap tote and a couple of other things under there. Of course I had to go through them and sort everything all out and put it away where I wanted it, then scrub them down before I could reuse them. EVERYTHNG is sooo dusty and dirty. Not the contents, just the containers. So now my 2 craft tables are coming off the big table instead of the white desk. I still have a U shaped workspace, which I do like, and I can actually get the door to the front of the garage open all the way now. That is important because that is going to be the storage room for all those bins of yarn and "stuff" I have in the back bedroom. I have been working out in the front of the garage too. When I recarpeted my house a few years back I took my old living room carpet and just laid it on that cement floor out there. I love it. It comes up a few inches in front of the big garage door and it keeps it sooo much cleaner in there and a heck of a lot warmer in the winter. No drafts and I don't have to walk on that cold cement. Since we rarely open the big door it works out really well. I was thinking ahead when I did it because I knew eventually that would be my storage space for my crafts. A couple of weeks ago I got the freezer and fridge out there all defrosted and cleaned out and got rid of a few things that I was storing and just plain didn't need. I have a plan for that space and it is slowly coming together too.

SOOOO, once I had everything moved where I wanted it furniture wise in the craft room, ( many thanks to my grandson DJ for helping me ) I had to go to work. I moved a lot of stuff and did a lot of rearranging, reorganizing and labeling. Then I brought 1 bin in out of the garage and started going through it. It almost overwhelmed me, but I stuck with it. I am glad I did because it was like opening a big Christmas present. About the top 1/4th of it was full of packages of brads of every shape and size known to man. I put them all in a box and set them with all the other brads and eyelets that I haven't organized yet because I KNEW I had a ton more "somewhere"...lol. Now if I could just find the cases I want to put them all in...lol. They are "somewhere" too. The rest of the bin was filled with paper packs that I didn't have any of in my paper drawers, and tons of stickers, tags, and miscellaneous embellishments. I was so proud of myself,. I dealt with every bit of it. AND scrubbed the bin down when it was empty. I am using my other 4 big sterlite drawers to sort into for right now since there is so much stuff and so many duplicates. I am putting what I am keeping in them and everything else is going in another bin that I will get rid of. I mean, c'mon, I don't really need 10 - 20 of each thing...lol. I have been doing some small RAK's to a few close friends and am doing a really big one in about 3 weeks at a Night Owl Swarm I am going to up in Denver. Those girls are going to LOVE me when I haul all this extra stuff in...lol. I am thinking I will eventually do some RAK's on this blog, but it will be a while. I want to have a lot more gone through and be a lot more organized before I will be able to.

DJ (poor kid, I put him to work every time he stops over) came by one day last week and I had him move the TV over onto the white desk and also bring a few things out of the back bedroom. Since I moved the paper drawers I had room in the corner for this big barrel I have full of rolls of wrapping paper. It is not a wooden barrel. More like a really thick cardboard with a silver band at the top and bottom. Eventually I am going to decoupage it with scraps of wrapping paper. I also have a smaller one I use as a trash can in the craft room that I am going to decoupage with pictures out of this Country Life magazine my Mom subscribed me to. It has some really pretty pictures in it but I don't really read them. I might as well use the pictures so I won't feel so bad when it comes time to toss all those magazines out. DJ also brought 2 smaller sets of the sterlite drawers out, so today I went through them, sorted everything and scrubbed the drawers all down. They mostly had all my crochet hooks and knitting needles, sewing supplies, some doll making supplies and a lot of miscellaneous craft supplies. All that took me most of the day so now I am getting ready to move it all out of my kitchen and start putting it where it goes. Since I already had my needlework section pretty much organized everything already has a home,

I almost have the end of my kitchen table cleaned off too. It was full of jars of bows, and just "stuff" I was sorting out a while back. I am going to put all the jars on the Jet Max Cubes since I moved all my Cricut carts, mats and tools off of them into a drawer of the big gray file cabinet. I am taking the leaf out of the table since I am not going to be using it to sort any more. I can actually see my hutch in my living room again now too...lol. I have had them big drawers stacked in front of it for a long time and I no sooner got them gone through and everything put away than DJ put  the smaller ones there that I went through today. After this everything will go straight to the craft room to be cleaned and sorted. My tables are all cleared off so there is room out there to do it now. I am tired of trying to clean around all this and my house looking like crap in general...lol. I am reclaiming my living space.

So, that is what I have been doing the last few weeks. I have decided I am going to dedicate my weekends to the craft room and the rest of the week to the rest of my house. I am probably going to be spending some afternoons out there too. I have decided I need to get through the bins that are already in the garage first since I need the space to move the ones I want to store there. There are only about 10 or so and not all of them are crafts. My Granddaughter Tiana is going to love me, and her mother hate me, when I give her those 2 bins full of Beanie Babies and Buddies...lol. She is an animal fanatic so I think she will enjoy them and take care of them. She is 7 so I am hoping so anyways. I spent a lot of money on all of them at one time. I also know there are 2 bins of papers and just junk that will mostly go in the trash or the shredder. And "somewhere"  ( there is that word again...lol ) is a bin full of my Xyron refills that I have been wanting and a bin full of Zig markers. Or maybe they are all in the same bin. I am not sure any more. I know one bin has more scrapping stuff in it because it was the one I was originally looking for. The rest of the bins are anyones guess. More Christmas pressies....lol. I hope.

Craft Room Update.

Well, how about some pictures!! I am by no means done with the craft room but I have been making a lot of progress. I just have sooooo much stuff to clean and sort out and organize that I am starting to wonder if this isn't a lifetime project, and if I will ever be able to grab my coffee in the morning and go sit and just craft...lol. That is my ultimate goal but I don't see it happening anytime soon. If you have been following my blog since the beginning you know what a mess I started out with a year ago. We packed it all up and moved it mostly into my back bedroom and pretty much all over the house...lol. We painted and put up shelving and arranged and rearranged the furniture and changed our minds a ton of times...lol. Well, I have the all over the house part tamed now and have started on that back bedroom. OMG!! What a mess!! NEVER have 3 TALL teenage boys move boxes and bins into a room without CLOSE supervision...lol. I had to have one of them stop by one day just to get some of the stuff that was stacked ABOVE MY HEAD down...lol. Slowly but surely I am making some progress with it though. Some days it overwhelms me though and I just have to walk away. I just wish this cold weather would go away so my arthritis would let up some and I could walk a little better. It would sure go a bit faster I think...lol. So, here are some pictures. You can click on them to make them larger.

This first one is a bunch of unfinished crochet projects and yarn I sorted out to go on my needlework shelves and in my yarn bins when I finally get to them. I am also scrubbing down all containers, drawers etc... as I go so this is actually more of a project than it looks. EVERYTHING is soooo dusty and dirty from sitting so long!! I am just glad that I was organized enough back then to containerize everything. Oh, this is happening in my living room...lol.

These are my needlework shelves before I put all the above away. They were turning into a catch all since they are right inside the door from the kitchen.

I nipped the catch all shelves in the bud though and got them all cleaned off and got everything put away on them. My sewing machine is on top with room to expand if I need it. Crochet books on the next 2 shelves down. Plastic Canvas books, yarn and canvas all on the next shelf. General Craft books and then Cross Stitch on the next shelf. Under the shelves it worked out perfect for my unfinished projects and a set of drawers to hold all my crochet hooks, knitting needles, sewing notions etc..

These are my scrappy shelves and Jet Max cubes. I have been labeling as I go and trying to organize them more but I keep finding more of what I have already done to add so decided I am going to get like with like and then organize it after I get it more together. The cubes on the left are actually going to go under the TV whenever I get one of my strong grandsons over to put them there for me. My shelves aren't necessarily going to be very pretty but they sure will be functional...lol.

These are all markers etc.. that I got all sorted out and labelled. They are ready to go on my "Wet" Shelves.I am hoping I can find some more of these containers because I have a ton more buried in that back room yet.

This is how I decided to do my stampers. I have all my wooden rubber stamps sorted and labelled in the clear containers by what they are. Then I have all my clear stamps in the zippered binders. I like them for the Studio G stamps but I am not thrilled with the binders for the bigger sheets of stamps. I am checking into CD or DVD cases instead. I have a few in some cd cases and I like it a lot better.

You can see my paper/cardstock drawers on the left here and then this is what I call my "Wet" Area and shelves. Again, still a lot of organizing and work to do here too. My wet area will hold all my stamps, markers, inks, paints, anything "wet". I have 3 paint racks on the desk for all my little bottles of paint. and a whole lot of stuff to go on these shelves yet that I haven't found in that darned back bedroom...lol. OH, those are all my punches hanging on the door to the garage storage.

This is my office area. I have a ton of office supplies and I have just been stacking the boxes in the garage for now. This will be the last area that I really get organized and finished. Who cares if the bills get paid. I want to do my CRAFTS!!!   LOL

These drawers are what I am working on now. Cleaning and sorting them out. I have 8 of them total and put 3 in the corner of my craft tables and put my Making Memories Carousel on them. I really want to keep these drawers because they are great for bigger things.I am going to see if I can fit them in next to the Jet Max cubes the TV is going to be on. We shall see.

Just one of those drawers is full of adhesives. This is why I can't justify buying an ATG gun right now, though I would love to have one. I think I need to use some of this up first. I TOLD you I have a lot of stuff...lol.

And THIS is all that is left to go through in that back bedroom. Thank goodness all the big bins will go into the garage storage. They just need cleaned up and labelled but are for the most part organized.

And this is the little bit of carpet space I have won so far in that room...lol. It doesn't look like much but I am pretty proud of it since I haven't seen any of it in a while. I keep telling myself slow and steady wins the race, but boy it would be nice to have all this done.

And that is my progress so far. I am trying to have the back bedroom cleared out by March 1st. I think I am going to call and see if I can get my daughter to come help me one Saturday. It is really hard for me to do all the carrying and moving the heavy stuff by myself and she is a great help. Plus if I can get one of the boys to help too that would be WONDERFUL!! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!! Believe me, I know I have a long ways to go yet but I have a good start!!

Craft Room Update

Hi Everyone!! Well, I have been working my franny off in the craft room and I think all I am doing is making a bigger mess! I unloaded a bunch of bins and boxes of mostly books and magazines so now I have all that to get straightened up. I just set them up on the shelves that I wanted them to be on and I still need to sort through them and get them in magazine holders etc... AND I know I have more yet because I am missing several years of some scrap magazines I had subscriptions for. I think that is the most frustrating part of trying to put this room together is that everything is scattered and I keep finding more after I think I have it all together. I decided to get rid of that brown credenza and it now has a new home in a campground office up in the mountains. I got an old desk from a friend and decided I wanted to use it in my "wet" area where I will do stamping and decorative painting and things involving anything wet. The desk is the perfect size to hold my 3 paint racks and then still have room to work and drawers for storage. I ended up putting 3 coats of paint on that thing and still touching it up some because I didn't realize the drawers went in further than I thought. We spray painted the handles an aluminum color and I love it!! We got it moved in the other day and I started loading it up last night. I moved my Jet Max cubes to the yellow wall and right now I am trying to figure out a way to get my paper drawers to fit next to them so I can sit when I am looking through them for paper or cardstock. I think I have it figured out. Geesh...lol. Now I have to move the cubes down about 4 more inches. SO I just wanted to show you my new to me desk.

Here are the drawers before I painted them. I had already taken the handles off at this point and washed them down real good. The pictures of the desk didn't come out very good but the whole desk pretty much looked like this.


And here is my finished product!! It turned out soooo good. I just love it!!

And of course since it is going to be my "wet" desk it has to have the "bling" drawer. Of course I have already rearranged it a couple of times. OHHH, and my stickle holder I made!! Stephanie, from the Cricut Message Boards had made one and was courteous enough to share how she did it. I measured mine so it would fit in the desk drawer and I even have room still to expand my collection. I want to make another small one for on my desktop for the colors I am currently using. That way I can still keep them upside down. Plus I want to make one with bigger holes for the Ice Stickles.

Twinchies

OMG!! I finally got my craft room tables cleaned off enough that I could get in there and actually do a little crafting. I even got my Cricut Expression set up so I could use it too! I am so excited!! Of course it was madness in the midst of mayhem but I had sooo much fun! It just made me want to get that room together and all my stuff unpacked all the more. I am pretty limited in what I can do right now without all my "stuff"...lol. Anyways, I made Twinchies for a small swap I was in over on the Cricut Message Boards Night Owls Thread. Now, understand, I have not done any kind of real scrapping or crafting in years!! The swap was Twinchies with a red, white and blue theme. Here they are !!

They turned out much better than I expected and I am just thrilled with them. I used SCAL to cut them out on my Cricut. I got the files from Dragonhome's Place and since I am so new to SCAL I used a wonderful tutorial for Inkscape from Brandilynn's Blog to take apart the hat so I could piece it. I used a ton of stickles and glitter on these and then I popped everything off the Twinchie except the red fireworks. Next month's swap is summertime tags and I hope I do half as well as I did with these. It feels sooo good to be crafting a little bit again!!

Ahhh, the craft room. I sat tonight and wrote out a plan of action. That craft room has really overwhelmed me lately because there is just so much to do. My main problem with it has been just where to start and I finally figured out I can't really do anything until I figure out just where I want things to be. Right now most of what is on my shelves is empty storage that I will use, but it is just plain taking up space. Everything else is just kind of sitting up there where I set it. I decided I need a desk area ( my desk, office supplies etc...) a wet area ( paint, stamping, markers etc...) a BIG scrap area, a needlearts area ( Crochet, cross stitch, pc ) and a miscellaneous crafts area ( Wire, Quilling, foamy things for the GK's etc..). I have decided now where they will all be so now I really need to basically start over and get the stuff on the shelves more organized and in it's home. I am getting a desk/dresser type thing from a friend and after I get it painted I am going to use it for my wet area. My paint racks will fit on it with plenty of room left for other supplies and I will still be able to work. It's cool because it is like a desk on one side and a dresser on the other so it will have plenty of storage. I am going to put it on the green wall and move the jetmax cubes and possibly my paper drawers to the yellow wall. That wall will all be my scrap storage area. The credenza that is there now is going out the door. Half the purple wall will be Misc crafts and the other half on the other side of the outside door will be needlearts. The peach wall is desk and office supplies. Plus I will have 2-3 craft tables in the middle to scrap/work at too. My E is staying on them. I am really loving my Ott lights too. I got 2 of them when J's had them on sale for 75% off and they are wonderful!! My eyes haven't really bothered me working on the twinchies and I think it's because of them. OK, I am writing a novel here...lol. I am just excited because I have a plan of action. Working on the twinchies really made me want to get this room together more, so I just needed to sit and take a good hard look at it. Now, just to get it done!! I sat and sorted all my wood stampers tonight and they are all organized and on the right shelf so I have begun!! Wish me luck cuz I am going to need it. I promise when I get it cleaned up a little more I will post more pics!

I'm Back!!

I am back!! I have had a whirlwind couple of months and things are finally settling down around here again so I wanted to give you all an update on where I am at. The craft room had to take a back burner for a bit I'm sorry to say. My oldest grandson graduated from high school last month and my WHOLE FAMILY came from Iowa for it. I was so happy to see them all and so glad they got to see Devin graduate. He is going into the Air Force Academy Prep school next month so it may be a while before they get to see him again. Of course, all of them coming meant lots of preparation since my Mom stayed here with me. We had to haul all the craft stuff out of the 2 bedrooms and off of the patio and put it back in the craft room. What it amounts to is I have bins stacked all over and a mess out there...again...lol. I just closed the door to my other spare bedroom while they were here so it is still the same. There was no way I was going to tackle that room yet. Anyways, I have been finally getting back into the craft room and working again. I did manage to get all the shelves painted and up and we also moved the desk out of the living room in there before they came. I decided to leave the fridge and freezer in the front of the garage and put my desk there instead. I finally have the desk mostly put back together and all my printers etc... hooked back up. I have the punch holder up and about half the punches back in it and I am seeing the tops of 2 out of 3 of my tables!! Yayyyy!! Today I am going to finish the punches and start cleaning off the shelves right inside the door that I put a bunch of junk on to get it out of the way. Then I can start digging into the bins that are everywhere. Most of them are full of the stuff that needs to go on the shelves I need to clean off...lol. I am also going to get my Cricut Expression set up and get some Twinchies (2" Squares) cut for a small swap I am in, plus my friend is coming over later this week to cut some letters for a garage sale sign. Gotta have a little fun in the middle of the work ya know? I don't know, that room wears me out just thinking about it, and I haven't even made a dent in all my craft stuff yet. As slow as I move it will be next summer before it's all done I bet. I still have the front half of the garage full of all kinds of junk, including tons of craft and office supplies. Tackling that will be the next project because I want to use it for storage for my big bins, which are all in my back bedroom. The back bedroom will be the last project. THAT is where the majority if my craft supplies are and it is going to be a big job sorting through it all. When I finally get to that room I know I am on the last leg of this journey of mine with this craft room. Who's idea was it to remodel this room anyways???...lol. I am sure I will change my mind a million times about how I want things before it is all said and done, but I think all this work will be worth it all in the end. It will be so nice to be able to go out there and just sit and scrap, stamp, paint, play with the Cricut, whatever I want to do. And to actually be able to find things will be WONDERFUL!! So, I guess I better get to work!! You all have a good day!!

Painting Shelves

I tell you what. The best laid plans...lol. My daughters SO got sick so my 2 oldest grandsons came over and with a little help from my neighbor to get them started, got all the brackets for the shelves up. OK, so now what? My dear sweet neighbor came to my rescue once again and came over last Friday and started cutting the shelves for me. The weather got cold and windy so he couldn't finish, but he got enough done that I could actually start painting them. He came over again on Tuesday and finished cutting the rest. I am soooo happy. I have been painting like crazy for days now and what I have done so far looks GREAT!! It is taking me forever to paint them because I am doing them inside, actually in the craft room, and have to wait for each coat on each side to dry before I can do another. Nothing like waiting for paint to dry...lol. BUT, they are getting done, slow but sure. I am hoping to finish the last four today or tomorrow morning. Of course my craft room is a total disaster area right now. There are tools and paint stuff everywhere. I really need to spend some time in the rest of my house since I have practically lived out there the last few days, but it shouldn't take long to knock them out and then I can get it cleaned up. What to do, what to do...lol. I am going to wait and post pictures after I finish and get the tools & paint stuff put away. Then comes the fun part. Going through all my stuff, bin by bin, cleaning, sorting, organizing and figuring out just where the heck I am going to put it all..lol. Well, I have plenty of shelves, that's for sure!! OK, I give, here is a teaser picture I took the other day after I had a few shelves done. What do you think? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Moving In The Furnitture

I just wanted to do a quick post and show you all the latest progress on the craft room. Saturday my daughter came over and we got the furniture in place. Her SO (significant other) is coming over one day this week with a couple of the boys and is going to put my shelves up. Finally!! My neighbor is coming over soon and is going to hook up a TV in there for me too. I didn't take any pictures of the peach wall because right now it just has ladders and paint stuff sitting there. Eventually that wall is going to have my littler fridge and freezer on it with shelves above them for my small kitchen appliances, cookbooks etc, so it's really not part of the actual crafty space...lol. I don't have a lot of cabinet space in my kitchen so I needed the storage. For right now I am going to use the space to put boxes and bins to go through as I bring them in. I am hoping we can get the shelves painted this weekend and then I can really get to work putting things away.

This is a view from the kitchen door into the room. I even have space for a couple of friends!! The TV is going on the left end of the credenza that is on the yellow wall. I haven't decided where to put Big Mama, my Cuttlebug, my Bind It All and my 2 printers and camera dock yet. We'll see once the shelves are up. Please excuse the mess.


This is just my big file cabinet and my loose paper and cardstock drawers. They are just the 12x12 drawers you can get at Walmart. I have 12 sets of them here with room to expand. I think I am going to go ahead and pick up 3 more this week "just in case" they quit selling them or something. Plus I am not sure this is all my paper yet so I "might" need them...lol. The big file cabinet will have all the 8.5x11 paper that was in the smaller file cabinet, plus i have files of crochet patterns etc to go in it too. Plus whatever else I decide to stuff in it. Hmmm, maybe those DCWV stacks will fit...hmmm. LOL, I am still undecided about a lot of things and will probably change things around a million times before the room is all done.


This last one is just a closeup of my Jet Max Cubes. I have my DCWV paper stacks in them and they will be full of all my "junk" when I get putting things away. Nothing is organized yet. That was all just stuffed in them in my bedroom and my grandson just carried them all into the craft room full. I have to get the drawer handle back on that one drawer too. I forgot about it until I just looked at this picture...lol


OK, now I am off to find my surge protectors and some cable cord for the TV hookup. I also am in a stamped images swap with some girls on the Cricut Message Board so I am going to try to get them done today and mailed this week. You all have a good day and leave a comment and let me know what you think!! Hugs, Pam

THE CRAFT ROOM IS PAINTED!!

WOOHOO!! My Daughter and 2 oldest Grandson's came over Saturday and finished painting the craft room. I was really on the fence about all the colors but have decided I LOVE IT!! It kind of looks like the inside of an easter egg I think...lol. The colors are actually much lighter than in the pictures even. I love it when the sun is shining in the window!! It is so bright and cheery and is going to be such a fun room to do my crafts in when it's all completed. I am soooo excited!! My daughter said it is the coolest room she has been in...lol. And she is the one who suggested this and helped me pick out all the colors. I love the blue ceiling and the lavendar wall the best. I am so glad now that my little granddaughter insisted I have purple. And of course I took pictures to show you all. We hadn't even cleaned anything up yet...lol. Remember, the shelves still have to go up everywhere so it will break up a lot of the color. The shelves and hardware are going to all be white to match the trim. My Daughter wants to paint clouds on the ceiling but I think it would make it look too much like a nursery. So let me know what you think!! Do you like the colors? Do you hate them? Please leave me a comment!! Hugs, Pam

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Don't forget to let me know what you think!!

Craft Room Update

There has been lots going on the last 2 weeks!! The white primer coat of paint has been sprayed in the craft room!! Woo Hooo!! We are still going to have to brush a coat on the trim I think. But FINALLY the painting has begun!! I haven't really been able to go out there yet because he just sprayed the 2nd coat Tuesday but my daughter stopped by and that was her verdict. I will take some pictures when we start putting on the colors. I can't wait!! I want to get it set up sooo bad so I can start crafting!!

I have been a shopping fool this past week. I got my tax return back last Friday and it's been spend, spend, spend since. I got 3 more jet max cubes from Michaels which gives me a total of 15 now. I just love those things!! I also got a bunch of their little $1 bin stampers and ribbon. Walmart loves me this week too. I got a bunch of stuff I have been putting off, plus I got 2 more of the Sterlite 12 x 12 drawers for my paper. Now I have decided I need 2 more and hopefully that should do it. I also bought a blue Bind It All from an online friend. It should be here soon and I am so anxious to try it. One of my first projects I think will be to make my Mom a book with pics of all 5 of her grandkids and all 5 of her great grandkids that she can show off. What else did I buy? I placed 2 seperate orders from Joann's. I think I got 7 new DCWV paper stacks all together, not all the new ones but all are new to me. I also ordered 2 Ott Lights for my craft tables, some Disney Princess paper and some cute mini stamps. Other places, I ordered some house mouse stamps, 2 12 x 24 mats for my Cricut Expression plus the Wild Card cartridge, and some O wires and covers etc... for the BIA. Peachy Keen Stamps is having a sale Saturday so I am going to order the Animal Kingdom Faces and the Doodlecharms Winter Faces then. I can't draw to save my life so I NEED these stamps..lol. I am on the fence about an ATG gun too. I have TONS of adhesive already so it's up in the air. I have to curb my spending after that because I still want to get a new computer. I haven't decided if I want another laptop or a desktop to put in the craft room. I am keeping this laptop too so I will have portability no matter what. Decisions, Decisions...lol.

OH, I ordered A Scrap Rack!! And it should be delivered today!! I am watching for the UPS man to come. I just ordered the base unit with 7 spinders to start with to see how I like it. Remember all those green PSB Binders on my bookcase? I am hoping to empty all of them onto a scrap rack eventually. It is kind of pricey but I need to get all that out where I can see it and then I will use it more I think (I hope). I also think the dividers and pages I have in the PSB will fit the Scrap Rack so it will just be a matter of transferring everything. What I like about the scrap rack is that it is expandable and you can expand it a little or a lot at a time. I just ordered it Saturday and it is due for delivery today so their shipping is fast too. I will definately let you know how I like it. Well, one thing is for sure, if I ever get this craft room done I will have plenty to keep me busy. I have been playing some in Design Studio and actually pulled out the Expression and made a few cuts from it so I know it works...lol. I also downloaded Inkscape and the trial version of SCAL. I LOVE SCAL!! I have almost 20,000 fonts and it was WONDERFUL to be able to use any one I wanted. I am going to get the full version as soon as I find a little time. Now Inkscape is another story. I used Paint Shop Pro X when I had a signature tag group over on Yahoo, and Inkscape looks pretty similar, but I was not very good at vector graphics even after taking some online classes. I think it is just overwhelming me a bit and I need to take some time to sit and play in it and figure it out. I will also look for some tutorials for it. Doing helps me a lot more than reading about it. Wish me luck!!

On the home front, my oldest grandson is wrestling in the State Wrestling Tournament up in Denver this weekend. He took 1st in his weight class last weekend at Regionals and my sophmore took 5th, just missing states by 1 place. My oldest grandson is ranked #1 in the state in his region and weight class right now. I am hoping like crazy he wins 1st place this year. He is pretty determined after his 6th place finish last year, and when that kid makes up his mind to do something it is pretty much done. I wish him all the luck in the world.

For those of you that don't know what a Scrap Rack is click HERE to check it out.

OK, I am going to go stalk the UPS man and the mailman both to see where some of my stuff is...lol. You all have a good day and I will update again real soon!! Hugs, Pam

Craft Room Is Ready To Paint!!

My craft room is all ready to paint!! I am so excited. My Daughter and oldest Grandson came over Saturday and we got it all ready. Everything is moved out, except 2 heavy file cabinets and a credenza that would take 10 men and a boy to move, and it's all covered in plastic, the windows are covered in newspaper, and the blades are off the ceiling fan and the rest of it is covered too. I talked to my neighbor and he is hoping to spray it Wednesday. He is going to do the whole room white, which will be the primer coat for the walls, and the trim is going to stay white so that will save us a ton of work trimming. We still need to take the doorknobs off and I have to cover the doorway into the kitchen in plastic so the fumes and paint in the air don't get to me, ( I am on oxygen 24/7 ) but other than that it's all ready!! My 2 oldest Grandsons have Regional and then State wrestling tournaments the next 2 weekends so my daughter won't be able to get here, but she said she will try to come one day during the week and at least get the ceiling done. I know I won't be able to take the fumes while he is spraying but if I do ok while my daughter is painting, I am going to try to paint the walls on my own. We'll have to see though. It is getting closer though!! Did I say I am excited!!

It's hard to believe we went from this (view from the kitchen doorway);


To This (same view from kitchen doorway);

And this ( view back to the kitchen doorway);

Did I say I was excited!!...lol. ( Edited to add; I think I set the date on my camera wrong...lol. )

Paint Colors

It's been a bit since I have posted so thought I would show you the paint colors we picked out for the Craft Room. We have been kind of at a standstill the last couple of weeks because my 5 grandkids have been keeping my daughter very busy with their sports and school in general. Hopefully she can help me more this weekend. We do have the room almost all cleaned out now though. We just need to get some help with the heavier boxes and furniture. My neighbor said he would primer/paint the whole room with his sprayer since our first coat in the room is going to be white anyways. The trim is going to stay white so that will save us a ton of time trimming. Plus he said he would spray all the shelves too!! I am really getting more excited the closer we get. So here are my colors!!

They look a lot darker than they really are here. I think because I scanned them in. They are actually more pastelly. (is that a word?) The ceiling is going to be blue (sky) and as you walk in the room from the kitchen the left wall will be purple (flowers?), then yellow (sun), green (grass) & peach as you go around the room. My little granddaughter insisted I have purple and I like peach so that's what we ended up with. So what do you think!! I want this to be a FUN room, but didn't want it to look like the inside of a circus tent either so I didn't want any bright or primary colors. My daughter actually suggested doing all the different colors and I figure it is only paint and we can paint over it if I don't like it. Besides, I can blame her if it turns out bad...lol. I want whoever owns this house after me to walk in this room and go "What the ???? was she thinking???"...lol. I actually think it will be fine with the white trim, white shelves and hardware to break it all up, plus my craft tables and jetmax cubes are white. Once the shelves do go up and I get done filling them with all my jun ...er... "stuff", I don't think you will be able to see all that much of the wall colors anyway. The white should break it up a lot. My daughter wants to paint clouds on the ceiling too but I'm not too sure about that. We'll see!! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!

Moving It All Out

Hello again!! My daughter and grandsons came over December 23rd and started moving all the bins, boxes and drawers out of the craft room, or as they call it Gramma's Crap Room...lol. They worked hard and got a lot of it moved into the spare bedroom. We had taken the bed down in there and leaned it against the wall just to make more room, but it still wouldn't all fit. I wanted to get these pictures posted to show you where we are at now. Things have been on hold with the holidays and all but hopefully I will be able to get in there and get more of it packed up this coming week. She will be here next Saturday to finish up packing and moving the furniture out, and hopefully we can start painting then.

As you can see we did make some progress.

View from the kitchen door

The bookcases. We haven't packed them up yet.

The wall of bins is gone. Now you can actually see the door outside.

Not much change here yet.

What a mess!! More boxes to be packed and more junk to pack in them...lol.

There's that file cabinet!! I knew it was back there somewhere!!

And there is the little file cabinet that is full of paper!!

Almost all of the wall of drawers are gone too!

These really aren't good pictures but they give you an idea of what my spare bedroom looks like right now...lol. These were taken from the doorway. Everything is stacked wall to wall and pretty much floor to ceiling. That is the ceiling fan light in there and it is solid boxes and bins all the way back to the walls.

Thanks For Looking and Please Leave Me A Comment!! Hugs, Pam

Hello Again!! Since I am totally new to blogging I am going to attempt to put some before pictures here of my craft room. We had already started on it at this point but you can still get an idea how bad it was. I am really embarrassed to show these but since this is the beginning of my journey I need to. This room is actually the back half of my garage that was already remodeled when I bought this house. Kind of a bonus room since my house is pretty small. The front half is used for storage, and yes, I have MORE craft "stuff" out there buried in boxes and bins.

This is the view from the door of my kitchen into the craft room. We had already cleaned off the shelves on the wall back there and the corner desk. My 2 craft tables are buried right in front of the wall of bins. They used to be in the middle of the room facing each other but I moved them to make room to work.


This is inside the door to the left. I have 2 bookcases there and on top of them I have my template, sticker and die cut binders. I used fabric paint to label the handles so I would know what was in each one;


Here are the same binders, my bookcases and the start of my wall of bins;


My wall of bins. These are all full of various craft supplies. Yarn, dolls, glass jars and wood things to paint, fabric, you name it. There is actually a door to the outside behind them;


Bins & Shelves;


My old desk. There is a huge, gray, 4 drawer lateral file cabinet behind the bins and boxes;


My punches are hanging on the door into the front half of the garage. You can see the end of the gray file cabinet here and there is a white metal cabinet to the right of the door too;


My wall of drawers. The white metal cabinet is on the left and there is a 4 drawer file cabinet full of 8 1/2 x 11 paper in the corner. These drawers are full of embellishments, cutting systems, cross stitch supplies, plastic canvas supplies, and just crafty junk. There are unfinished crochet projects in the small tubs on top of them;



More of the Wall of drawers back to the door to the kitchen. I have a small white pantry on the end that I keep kitchen appliances in. This wall will have a small refridgerator and upright freezer on it and some shelves above it for kitchen storage when the room is all done. ( My kitchen doesn't have a lot of storage ) The fridge and freezer are in the front of the garage right now and I need easier access to them.


Last one for now!! We are back at the kitchen door.


So now my journey really gets started. I am so excited about it!! My older grandsons are coming over one day next week while they are out of school to help me haul all the boxes and bins to the spare bedroom. We are hoping to get it painted ( wait until you see the colors!! ) between Christmas and New Years and to put the shelves up right after that. We are going to get the shelves cut to size and then I will have to paint them once they are cut. That will take me a while. I am hoping we can be all done and I can start sorting and putting things away by mid January. Wish me luck!!