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!