Sorry, I've been MIA. I immersed myself in some massive spring cleaning.
Over the years my craft room had been turned into a storage room. There was no floor, no space, nothing else could be shoved in there. To get into the room things had to be moved around just to clear a path.
I had been crafting at the diningroom table for years.
And I was flat out sick of it. Every time we wanted to eat dinner I had to move supplies, move projects, pack things away...it was very annoying. So I decided to clean my room.
Ugh.
It was worse than I thought. I forgot about the family hoarding gene. My grandma lived through the depression and my mother was born at the end of it so I can understand being a bit of a hoarder. But it really must be genetic because we all have it. Even my kids. I had it bad. I'm trying to get better.
Going through my room I realize how bad I used to be. I literally kept everything. Every business card to every person, business, whatever that I came across. Every invoice. Every owner's manual to every item we have (or had) and boxes and boxes of papers the kids brought home from school. I still had baby stuff piled up including a fully stocked diaper bag ready to go (WTF?). My kids are 26, 19 and almost 12.
OMG. I had to sort and sift through everything to make sure I didn't toss anything important. I condensed everything to keep into just a couple boxes and everything else was divided into garbage, recycling, and Goodwill piles. 2 truckloads of things went to Goodwill so far. There will be more because my daughter is home from college and doing a massive closet clean out.
I also discovered that I seem to have an odd affinity for items beginning with the letter B. I have tons of books, boxes, bags, baskets, bottles, and blankets. Weird.
The good news is that now even though I still have way too much stuff (which is now mainly all craft supplies, holiday decor, antiques, and books) it is all organized and labeled in boxes and totes so when I need something I know exactly where it is. Yay.
I also now have a work space where I can do what I want without having to pack it all up even though it is not done. So much yay. I already finished a few crafty projects that I started over a decade ago and found while cleaning the room. I also made a few jewelry projects in my newly cleaned space.
Last weekend I took a break from cleaning and crafting to hit a 60 mile yard sale trail that happens in Michigan annually on the first Saturday in May. It is called the Heritage Trail. It was great.
Everyone found a few treasures.
My husband found an ice fishing shanty for a steal. My youngest son found a vintage wooden baseball bat, a vintage silverware box for his knife collection, and a box of bomb bags.
My daughter scored a mid century vintage Polaroid land camera, in a carrying case with flashes and a whole bunch of original paperwork and accessories for $20. Which is awesome for her, she's a graphic design and photography student.
She also scored an awesome vintage hard cigarette case for $2 which is perfect for carrying money and lipstick.
You know what I found?
Yes, you guessed it. Halloween goodies.
I also scored a stack of wood photo frames for super cheap, like .25 and .50 a frame. I'll be painting those in the colors I want them.
I also got these lovelies which will be turned into something Goth and/or Halloweenish.
So now that I completed my room I can get back to making Halloween creations and writing about all things Halloween.
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