Cubbies

January is the month that I REALLY clean, organize, and purge my craft space.  That includes dusting all the little cubbies in that room!  There are a lot of them!

I found this piece at a Goodwill store a few years ago...it has plenty of room for all sorts of little treasures!  This past weekend I took everything out of it, dusted and cleaned each space, purged a little, and then filled it back up again!

 

Now I just need to finish cleaning, organizing, and purging the rest of the space. 

I'm excited to begin making things again!!

 

 

 

Have a Happy Day!

 

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men...

Colossians 3:23

Almost Finished

It won't be long now. 

Tonight and tomorrow night will find me in here.  I still have at least 1/2 dozen boxes to go through, curtains to hang and baskets to fill.  This room has been a long journey for me...and (wow!) it's almost done!!!

It's  A Wonderful Life!

P.S.

Check out this REALLY cute idea for some decorative lighting ~ my window still needs a little something.  Hmmmm.

Thanks for sharing Carla!

We All Can Dream!

No, this isn't my room....I wish it were though!

This is a photo I took of a room in a magazine ~ I'm sorry I don't remember which one.  It's a wonderful bit of inspiration. My room is coming along. A lot was accomplished this weekend, but not as much as I had hoped.  I seem to be developing a summer cold and yesterday I felt pretty awful.

Today it's back to work.  I have things to do tonight and tomorrow evening so I won't get back to it until Wednesday after work.  

It's been about two years of having my craft supplies here, there and everywhere and it;s been quite a job sorting through it all. I keep finding things that I forgot I had. It's kind of fun!

Anyway ~ I hope that by this time next week I'll be able to show a fairly well organized space.  I can't wait to be able to get back to creating!  

Progress

It's hard work moving everything back in...it was way easier moving it out.  What's up with that? 

I have a very eclectic assortment of storage going on in this room.  I really love several of the pieces ~ like the wood bins under the window.  There's no ceiling fixture in this room. That's not a problem during the day but I need some good lighting once the sun goes down.  I'm not sure what I want yet ~ for sure a lamp for the desk and I was thinking about something that I could attach to the shelves on the right.  A nice floor lamp might work too.  I don't like the one that's in here right now, but it's functional!

There's a lot to do.  Guess where I'll be hanging out this weekend!?  In here! And I'll be loving every single minute of it!

Thrift Store Finds

Thursday is 25% off day at my favorite thrift store. I try to stop at least once a month. You never know what treasures you might discover.  I popped in after work today and found some great stuff!  Look what I found for less than $14.00 !!  A beautiful piece of fabric, a mirror, a safety pin basket, a very pretty dessert plate and a square glass bowl.  One of my favorite finds is the cute little fat bird that's sitting in the bowl.  My very favorite find is picking out in the background.

Look at this wonderful picture ~ all 18 x 24 inches of it!!  The colors are so rich and the frame is carved and beautiful.  I think it will be hanging on a freshly painted wall very soon!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Now it needs a name!

Well, the walls are "cottage white" and new flooring will be going in this weekend.  Then the desk, a dresser and some shelves need to put in place.  Mandy, Katie and Mark will be helping me choose some new storage containers.  I don't want plastic bins anymore and they told me (back in June) they'd buy some new pieces for me as a birthday gift!  I'm not sure what I want yet but I've been gathering a lot of inspiration. 

I recently purchased a few things at the thrift store and I love the look of all the pieces together ~ I love these colors & textures!  This is the "feel" I want for this room.

   

I also recently bought this pretty two tiered tray from Becky of Sweet Cottage Dreams.  She has some great things in her Etsy Shop!  I plan to put my glitter shakers on this.

It's hard to believe that very soon I'll be unpacking all my "stuff" and  filling baskets and shelves with supplies.  I'll be able to display some beautiful pieces of artwork and special treasures from friends. 

I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning!

Hmmmm....what to call this wonderful new space?  I've referred to it as "the mess" for a long time.  My father-in-law calls it my junk room. But it deserves better than that now.  It could be my craft room again, or my workroom. My studio, my creative space, or maybe even my castle (you know, the place where fairy tales come true!).  

What do you call the place where you create?  

Re-post - August 31, 2008

I was going through some old posts and I thought I would share this one again.  The "good old days" reminder is a timely one for me.

The Good Old Days

I got to spend some time cleaning and sorting in my craft room this weekend ~ some day it will be cleaned and sorted enough to earn the name studio ~ for right now craft room is probably a stretch. Storage room would be more accurate.
But, I'm working on it...and I'm rambling.  (UPDATE - Yes, 22 months later and I'm still working on this room ~ sad but true!)

While working I came across this old Good Housekeeping magazine. It's from November of 1948 and the cost of it was ~ 35 cents! Of course the sorting and cleaning stopped because I had to browse through the magazine. Great stuff!! Did you know that "DUZ does EVERYTHING"? and that you should "use SPRY with cake-improver". (future posts may tell you more about DUZ & SPRY and who knows what else)!

This magazine is full of the neatest, sweetest ads, wonderful stories and all kinds of fun images. The little bits I had time to read had me thinking about the good old days, a simpler life, a slower pace, a time when you got free glasses or dish towels in your box of detergent!
Those were the days...those were the good old days!!

I finally got back to the task at hand and after a bit I came across an article I wrote for the newsletter at my church. I wrote it in 1995, at a time in my life when circumstances drove me straight to God and right down to my knees.
He was who I thought of first and who I needed more than anything else.
As I read over the article I again began to think about the good old days, but in a totally different way.

In the book of Revelations (2:4) Christ shows His displeasure for those believers who've lost that fervent desire they once had for all things God. The excitement wasn't there, they became complacent and indifferent. They did things out of duty rather than out of love for the Lord. They had lost their first love. I think that must happen to a lot of us. Probably more than once or twice. Sometimes we may not even realize it. But more times than not I think we know.
I think we begin to experience that longing for a time when each day had joy because each day had Jesus.

Well, I certainly can't go back to 1948 ~ especially since I wasn't born until 1955. I can't get back that kind of simple life or slower pace. However, there is nothing stopping me from returning to the good old days with Jesus Christ. There's nothing stopping me from thinking of Him first and needing Him most and loving Him with all that is in me. Except for desire on my part.
My desire is to follow Him ~ I don't want Him to have anything against me.

"Nevertheless I have this against you,

that you have left your first love."

Revelations 2:4 NKJV

Incentive

I do believe that this may be just the incentive I need to get it done ~ the painting & organizing & re-decorating of my workroom that is!

Karen at My Desert Cottage is having a Party! It's the second annual party and it's bigger and better than the first. I didn't personally paticipate in the first one ~ but I visited the blogs of a lot of women who did. It was amazing ~ the places women create in are as diverse as the women creating. Massive studios to tiny tables ~ shelves and shelves of wonderfully tempting supplies to rubber bins holding secret treasures. I'm really looking forward to visiting all these "creating spaces" again and this time I hope to share mine too!

Visit Karen and read all about ~ it's going to be fun!