Bad Blogger Syndrome, and a Happy New Year!

So, I know - I really do know - I'm a bad blogger!  Actually I'm a very bad blogger because it's been a whole week since I posted ANYTHING on this blog.  Of course if you ever follow the link in my righthand column that takes you to my OTHER BLOG, you know I've posted several times, so I've not been totally out of cyber space!  And I apologize, truly, and promise I'll try to do better!

Anyway, before I go any further, I want to wish you a wonderful, blessed, happy, healthy, successful, fun, 'whatever you want it to be' kind of 2010!  I'm so glad to see the back side of 2009 drifting off into oblivion!  It was about as bad a year as I can ever remember having, and it's good to have an ending point for last year and a beginning point for a brand new year.

So, since hubby had to work New Years Eve day, we decided to take the easy way out and order a pizza and stay in for the night!  That let me off the hook for cooking, so I played for two days.  Well, I actually didn't play so much as work in my play area.  I wanted to end 2009 and begin 2010 doing something that would {hopefully} be indicative of how I wanted my new year to go, and that was organized!!!

I had been working on my buttons for ages now, going through the old stash, pulling out some to put up for sale on Etsy and keeping the ones I thought I would use.  So, I got all those buttons (and there were hundreds!) in one box except for one jar that are vintage buttons my Mama gave me (I don't want them mixed in with the ordinary, every day run of the mill buttons), and one jar of vintage buttons that my aunt brought me back from her fall trip to Connecticut.  So, buttons - check!  Off my list!

Next up was ribbon.  And I can finally say I am ALMOST finished organizing the ribbon.  Probably 95% plus, and that's a good feeling.  I really did not know how much ribbon, lace and trims that I had until I started trying to organize it - whew!  And some is on rolls, some in bundles, so I had to come up with something, especially for the loose yardage and bundles.  I looked at the craft stores and found  all kinds of things, but nothing really looked like what I wanted for the loose ribbons.  I did find these little plastic things that you run the ribbon through and then put them on a binder ring to hold them together, but I had LOTS of ribbons!

Anyway, I put on my thinking cap and here is what I came up with . . .

I took a plastic divider from an old 'Cropper Hopper' that I no longer use, cut the tab off and then cut it into four 6" X 6" squares.  Then I made holes in it.  I tried two different ways, and actually like both.  This one was done with a regular hole punch, with 2 and 3 holes per ribbon.  The single hole on bottom left is for hanging on a binder ring.  The other way was using a utility knife and making slits about 1/2 to 1 1/4 inches around the perimeter of the plastic.  I figure on three of these squares I have about 65 - 75 pieces of ribbon and trim stored.  Here's the finished product . . .

As I said, this is three of the squares, filled with ribbon and attached on a 2" binder ring and hanging on a small coat rack I have behind the door of my 'play room'.  And yes, this picture was taken as it hung on the doorknob, but that was just for the picture taking!

I also went through most of my lace and have it in a bird box on the 'tower of terror' you will see later in this post.  I also put all my seam binding in another of the small bird boxes, and the ribbon that I put on clothes pins a few months ago, along with some on 'cards' are in a large decorative hat box that is on my work table.  I had a few rolls of ribbon, and they all fit onto one 'pants' clothes hanger from the cleaners.  I just removed one end from the cardboard roll, put them on the roll with the ends all facing the same direction, and put the end of the hanger back in the roll, and that was that!

The twine which I have collected is in one of my new favorite small organizing bins - oh, how I love them!!!  But more about that later.  For now, here is the 'tower of terror' . . .

I've had the Sterilite drawer units for YEARS, but they still can't be beat for small things I use a lot.  The bottom row left is . . .

• bottle and tube glues in the bottom,
• sheet adhesives in the middle,
• and rub-ons, chipboard, etc. in the top

The small drawer unit in center bottom holds . . .

• self adhesive gems and such in the bottom,
• loose fancy buttons, beads, gems, etc. in the middle
• Stickles in the top

The drawer unit on bottom right holds . . .

• embossing powders and Versamark ink pads in bottom,
• smaller ink pads in middle,
• and Colorbox 'Petalpoint' ink pads in top

The small drawers on center left are all about tools . . .

• tiny hammer, pliers, jewelery pliers, , etc. in the bottom
• cutting tools like a utility knife, hole punches, etc. in the middle
• the blades for my rotary cutter, and loose batteries in the top

Center right holds . . 

• Tags of all kinds in bottom,
• blank cards in middle
• eyelets in top

The stuff in between is a pack of wet wipes for clean-ups, my 'Silent Setter' eyelet setter, an index card holder full of little templates I've made over theyears for birds, flowers, etc., and the tin holds gel pens and colored pencils.

Next is a shelf I picked up at Lowes or somewhere, and here's where it gets good!  Of course you can see my Cuttlebug on the left, the bird boxes in the center, and the new fave storage boxes on the left!

The boxes hold (from bottom to top) . . .

• buttons
• small bits of paper (soon to be changed out to another place)
• lace
• seam binding

And the new boxe are just GREAT!!!  They are by Sterilite, and the lids lock on with the handles, and they really stay on tightly, too (I know, I dropped one the other day and it didn't come open at all tospill out any of the tiny bits that were inside!).  The best part???  They are at WalMart for a whopping $1 each!!!  And as far as I know, that's not a sale price!

Since aqua, and white with accents of red and black are my dream colors for my play room, and the handles were already aqua, I went with the theme.  Consider it 'planting a seed' for my one day (hopefully) makeover!  So I made red tags on my Cricut (Plantin Schoolbook cartridge), printed out contents on my computer and voila!  Neat organization for things I never knew where to put!  In no particular order . . .

• twine (including bakers twine)
• pins (straight and safety pins), needles, clips (paper clips and binder clips), etc.
• index cards and sticky notes
• glitter
• velvet ribbon
• clothespins
• small silk flowers
• sheet adhesive overflow
• ric-rack and trims
• millinery flowers and small pre-made bows and ribbon roses

I love that things are beginning to come together!  And just so you know, as soon as this last batch of ribbon I have coming in from Hong Kong (yes, seriously - I bought it on eBay!) comes in, I have officially put myself on a button and ribbon DIET!!!  No more until I use up some of what I have!

I've also been working on my papers, and pretty much have the cardstock straightened out, so I just need to re-do the patterned papers.  Of course the next big project is the biggest of all, and that is tackling the closet in that room, but it can wait a day or two while I get laundry done and the rest of the Christmas stuff in the attic.

Don't forget about my giveaway!  I guess it's because of the holidays, but it's sadly lacking in entries, so if you enter, your chances are pretty good!

So, what have you done to start this new year off right???  :o)

Becky

What I've Been Doing . . .

The last week has been really nice for me. I've told you all about the last year or so, taking care of my dad and then how hard his last weeks were, and then after his services I got sick and was sick for a week, and then sick or not I had to get things ready for our camping trip. But now we are home, and this last week has been so very nice!

I got to cook real meals again (which hubby TRULY appreciates) and catch up with the laundry, but I also started working on my office/craft room, trying to get it re-organized so I can actually accomplish something - MAKE something - in here! I've been doing what I call S-O-S-T: Sorting, Organizing, Storing and Tossing. And it feels good to be changing things up a bit, and making things easier to find. But, before I start, I have a confession to make.

YES, I am one of those people!

I am one of those people who, before she throws something away thinks "can I do something with this?". And I am proud to be one of those people. Mainly because, folks, there isn't a lot of extra money laying around here for me to go buy cute boxes and bins and pretty matchy-matchy stuff to make everything pretty enough to go in a magazine! When I say I'm reorganizing, that's exactly what I'm doing - RE-ORGANIZING! Moving things from place to place and then labeling so I'll know where everything is.

Times are hard. I'm not working now, and hubby has taken a cut in pay because of our tanked economy, so I can't go out and spend money on something we can't afford. And if I was working now, most likely I still wouldn't be buying cutesy things for my supplies. I would be buying groceries and paper products, laundry and cleaning supplies, and maybe a bunch of flowers for the table from time to time, or even a nice New York Strip for the grill.

So, with that said, I've been re-purposing a few items for storing supplies. Now, most of these will be hidden in the closet, but they will be stored nicely and safely away. Here's the first of my recent re-purposing projects:



It is the caps from the large wholesale club sized detergent bottles. I save them up above the washer/dryer and when I got enough, I made a nice little sorter. There is one of the older, larger ones in center, and then 7 of the newer 'ultra' sized caps around it. They are glued and then held together to dry with clothespins. This will go on my work table and hold small things like beads, buttons, pins, etc. I'll show you pics of it in use later, as work progresses in the room.

The second and third re-purposing projects were easy, especally the oatmeal box! I just cleaned it out, labeled it and filled it with re-purposed juice and soft drink lids to use in making pin-cushions. It is now in top of the closet, ready for me to grab in an instant when I need them.

The bucket is just what I needed to keep a bit of poly-fill close at hand! It's a 7.8 pound bucket that held the 'oxy' cleaning powders that I use in laundry. I washed it well, dried it, and cut a hold in top large enough for my hand to fit inside. The lid is tight, so it won't come off easily if I grab a large handfull of filler. And it will set on my work table at the ready. I will probably eventually cover it or spray paint it, but for now, it works great!

I've also been moving things around. I have a fair amount of fabric - a large part of it vintage (1950's) chicken feed sack and other vintage (1960's and 70's) fabric. There is also a good bit of small amounts of fabrics I've gotten at the fabric store's remnant bins - oh, how I love those remnants! Anyway, I had the fabric in plastic drawers, and never could find what I wanted, so I cleaned out one of the shelves on my bookcase and stacked the fabric there. Now I can find everything quickly, and I love the way it looks!

And I had a big box of teeny bits of fabrc I couldn't bear to throw away, so the other day when I took Mama to run her errands, I took the bits and a basket and went through them all piece by piece. If it was big enough to make a yo-yo, I kept it, but if not, it went into the garbage. Now here is my basket of small bits, nicely folded and ready for projects.

Ribbon. I LOVE ribbon - am probably addicted to it, but storing it is a booger bear of a problem! Most of the smaller widths of ribbon came on small rolls, but the larger widths came in bundles from a store at a local antique market. So a while back I bought a bunch of clothes pins at the dollar store and started winding the ribbon onto them. But even then finding a place to store them so I can SEE them was a problem. But yesterday I found a solution! I cut cardboard to fit the bottoms of these wire baskets. Covered them with fabric bits, and stacked the pins of ribbon inside. I love the look of it, and I also LOVE that I can see them easily. What do you think???

Here's a better close-up view of the bottom basket >>>

You can see everything, and it's so pretty! This will also go on my work table if (when) I get it cleaned off and re-organized. I still have about 20-30 pieces to wind onto the pins, so guess what I'll be doing at night when watching TV???

So, that's what I've been doing! I've promised hubby a special dinner tonight, so I'm off to the kitchen to get things straightened up and make some crepes for our dessert. I only make this dinner on RARE occasions, but tonight it's Chicken in a Tarragon Cream Sauce, Steamed Rice, Roasted Carrots and Caramel Apple Crepes with real Whipped Cream. Hubby deserves this special meal, though, because he's been so sweet and patient with me this last couple of months.

Okay, now it's your turn. What are you up to these days???