Saturday, October 22, 2011

Softly Falling Snow + Urge to Purge blog candy challenge for you (and me)!

  My piles in my craft room are beginning to make me crazy again.  I need to make time somehow get my craft room cleaned up.  I saw this red linen die cut card on the top of my pile and decided that it would be my card base for this week's challenge at Jingle Belles.

  The fabulously talented Noelle McAdams is this week's guest star at Jingle Belles.  Christmas reminds her of softly falling snow, so she is encouraging the use of "soft" items:  felt, flocking, batting, velvet, etc.  My thought was to use my Flower Soft for snow.  I went in search of a stamp, but nothing jumped out at me.  So I went to my beloved Cricut cartridges.  I found this angel on a cloud and decided his cloud would be my "soft" item.  I applied glitter to his halo and Glossy Accents (can't see in pic) to his horn and wings.

Supplies:
Cricut cartridge:  Winter Frolic (angel), Wild Card (card base), Accent Essentials (circle)
paper:  BasicGrey "Blitzen", red linen card stock (XPEDX), Stampin' Up! whisper white card stock
other:  Flower Soft "Polar White", Glossy Accents, Stickles




Urge to Purge Craft Room challenge:


(I may ramble a bit here, but please read through.  I want YOUR input!)
  The rest of my house is so neat and organized.  A few times a year my craft room is also neat and organized.  I regularly (usually every 3 to 6 months) purge every drawer, closet, and cabinet in our home.  We don't have a lot of storage space, so we keep our home clutter free.  I don't do it all at once.  My dh doesn't feel the urge to purge as often as I do, so I have to take advantage of the opportunity when it arises.  One Saturday at breakfast 3 or 4 weeks ago my husband said, "I think we have collected too many plastic cups."  Our twin girls are 9yo, and fun cups (Halloween, Valentine's Day, or restaurant souvenir) wind up in the cabinet.  I knew we had not gone through the kitchen drawers and cabinets in an entire year, so I seized this opportunity!  We knew we had a very busy day (swim lessons at 9:40am), so we set the timer for 1 hour and worked speedily in tandem.  We started with those cups.  Both of our daughters chew the edges of plastic cups, so we kept 2 of each design that was not chewed badly, and the rest went in our recycle bin.  We actually went a little over (1 hour, 10 minutes), but we ended up with two boxes to donate to a local charity…glasses, mugs, and knives we never use, etc. and every drawer and cabinet in our kitchen was neat, organized, and clutter free.  Purging the pantry also reminded me of items we had not used in a while, and I planned our meals that week around those items.  (I also give myself "freezer" challenges from time-to-time…plan my meals around what is in the freezer.)

  I especially like to purge BEFORE Christmas (to make room for what Santa brings) and before the girls' birthday in June (before school is out for the summer and the girls are underfoot 24/7.)  These are both very busy times of year for everyone, but I have learned three things:

1.  I actually get MORE things done when I am busy, especially when I think I don't have time.


2.  I find once I make myself get started, I am a ball of energy.  All the stress I normally feel with my "to do" list is gone and I have a "Let's do this thing!" attitude.


3.  Setting a half hour or 1 hour time limit is critically important.  I work faster and more efficiently on a timer.  My momentum slows down and my brain actually gets tired if I go longer.

Will you join me?  I would love the moral support.  I am thinking I have too many commitments right now, but then again that is usually the case, right?  I purged a couple of areas in my craft room last May/June.  At that time I donated three boxes of craft supplies and sent off three packages of supplies to my blog friends that I thought would like to have those papers/stamps/stamp pads & re-inkers/embellies.

  The clutter is making me nuts.  I will feel energized if I can even get a small start on it.  I am really not sure where to start, but this is what I am thinking:

1.  I will take BEFORE pictures and post on my blog.
2.  I will find a box for stuff I don't want any more.  I am thinking that I would offer these items to YOU as blog candy.  I hope you might join me, and we can "trade" unloved crafty items.  The more people that join, the better.
3.  I will work on one area each day, but stick to a time limit of 30 minutes or 1 hour.

Time line:  I will start tomorrow, Sunday, October 23, but you can join in any time.  This is a process.   Maybe you don't want to tackle all of your crafty stuff, but just one area.

Let's do this thing!

27 comments:

artfuldelight said...

I would love to join in. I was making a LO last night (first official craft project of my own in almost a month) and I could not find anything. Couldn't find my scissors, my adhesive....well nothing actually. LOL!! My craft space has been added to my dining room so it is critical that I keep it neat and organized. I am in, let me know where we go next. :-)

Your card is fabulous!! I love shaped cards. :-)

SmilynStef said...

Actually, I just started purging my rubber stamps last night before I read your post ... so the feeling must be in the air. I'll be giving away several boxes by the time I'm done. Love that pop of red in your pretty holiday card ... and what a fun little paper pieced angel. Thanks for joining us at jingle belles.

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Girllllllllllll... I am the SAME WAY!! I purge stuff around the same time frame as you...and I HATE CLUTTER! Drives me batty! lol!! I would loveeeeeeeeeee to join you on this!! I am hoping (fingers crossed) to have a partial weekend free SOON!) and I loveeeeeeeeee the card! I am loving the colors and the cloud!! Ohhhhhh and I wanted to tell you...thanks soooooooooooo much for your SWEET comment on my bloggy this AM...*sigh* you melted my heart! :):):):):):):):):):):)

Roberta said...

Woo Hoo! You go girl...I'm here for ya! I'm in the middle of a 31-day purge of my storage unit so I so hear you with being over-committed. My goal is to just get rid of ONE thing/box a day for 31 days. I'm doing it but the hard part has been keeping up with the blog posts...I'll be done by the end of October for sure...lol wishing you all the best, Roberta ;}

Leslie Hanna said...

You are my new hero! I have two huge boxes of stamps for sale but no one wants. I may donate them to Angela again if she still does that crafty supplies drive this year.

If you want any of them, you can have them, but I don't want any more STUFF! :)

CarlaKH said...

I was just trying to think of how to start on mine... so this is fabulous!

~amy~ said...

okay, your shaped card...a-dorable! I'm with you sista...I started at one end of my hallway {that's where I craft} and made my way around the corner so far...I do like the timer idea...I get so overwhelmed...you did see my g-sale pictures, right? I have a ton of stuff. that's for the motivation.

Court said...

Oh yeah!

Linda Breedlove said...

Love your card, dear girl. That Basic Grey paper is perfect for that!
Will join you on the purge, but since I've only been paper crafting a short time I haven't much to get rid of other than scraps. I will do some organizing and cleaning... that is really out of hand!

Linda said...

This is a wonderful idea. But if I get rid of stuff I am not sure I would want more stuff to take its place. The idea of offering it as candy is a good idea because the people who want it will sing up for it. I have a problem. It seems that as soon as I get rid of something. I wish I had it. LOL Great idea June!

K Clark said...

love the idea!!! i don't have too much except I have a ton of pattern paper that I would love to give away.

Missy said...

Love your card June, the shape is great! I'm excited to see your before/after pics!!!

Deborah Frings said...

A super cute angel - love the soft cloud!!

Your urge to purge is an excellent idea and one I'll keep in mind. But I've already done my purge - we've had a grand autumn clean throughout the house - we even got a skip to take away stuff!! And the local charity shops have done well too. But I do feel so much better!

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

So sweet, so adorable!!!!

Tammy E. said...

Adorable card! Great colors from scraps! And woo hoo on the de-cluttering!

Amy said...

Cute card! Wow- you are my hero- good for you on the purging/de-cluttering! I wish I could be more like you- I have major clutter- I procrastinate about cleaning it...I have issues :)! Maybe I need to start small with one drawer......sigh
:)Amy

lauren bergold said...

ooooooooooh what a fabulous & creativ "SOFT" card you have made miss june--i **LOVE** that flowersoft snow cloud especially!!!

ps: way to go on the brilliant "clean out" strategy! you are soooo clever!

Unknown said...

You GO girl! I'm with you, LOVE to be organized and I try to do a major home overhaul/reorganization in early Fall as our boys' birthdays all fall in the Fall & the Christmas hits! Great tips here for all organizers! I find that i'm always changing my "systems" in the craft room as my storage needs change, too! And now, this ADORABLE card, June, it is just TOO sweet! LOVE the soft cloud and the round die-cut card in red, thanks for playing my prompt and for the super-sweet shout-out :)

Arlene said...

Wish I had time to join in on this challenge! I do love this card, especially the cloud! :)

Chriss America Real said...

My scrapbook room is doing ok, it is my PANTRY that is driving me crazy! I would like to get in there, clean it out and donate some food to my local food pantry. But, I will also look around my scrapbook room and see if there is anyplace that needs "purged" thanks for this great idea!

www.chrissandlou.blogspot.com
america57@comcast.net

Candy said...

June, you are so clever! Love your purging ideas.... I will have to try them! I donate scrap supplies to my kids school. Now that I live soooooo far from a decent scarpbbok store I don't accumulate as much as I used to!!!
BTW, love, love yoour card!
Candy

Candy said...

June, you are so clever! Love your purging ideas.... I will have to try them! I donate scrap supplies to my kids school. Now that I live soooooo far from a decent scarpbbok store I don't accumulate as much as I used to!!!
BTW, love, love yoour card!
Candy

Sugarlips said...

I love this idea! I started working on it today. I will definitely be trading a trade box too. That is a great idea. I have LOTS of ribbon, if anyone is interested in that :)

I will try and post pictures as well, just not sure how that will go.

Lisa said...

what a lovely card. I still love Blitzen more than any other Christmas collection :-)

Shauna K said...

too cute! love the textured halo and cloud :D purging is a great idea! I recently reorganized and so I did a bit of that myself!

Lorraine said...

June, I love your card and the fact that at least part of it was made with something that you already had. Please don't look at my entry this week because I'm sure it will only drive you crazy with the mess in the pictures. My room/house is way past due for a good purge. It does make me nuts but it becomes too overwhelming sometimes. I really like your idea of setting a time limit and will give that a try. Thanks for the inspiration.

Marie Bingaman said...

Very cute card June, and I love your idea of purging...too bad I am too lazy to do something like it here! ;)