Office supplies to art

My buddy Ernest knows me to be a hoarder of potential craft supplies so passed on some buttons and fabric samples from his buying office. I peeled off the buttons and fabric and even the backer boards went in the stash.

Look what my mom did with them ~ fleur de lis image on reverse side of the black sample boards. Ernest will be proud.

American Pickers: Pre-hoarder or Post-hoarder?

My new favorite television program is "American Pickers" on the History Channel. Two guys roam the countryside to find treasures and "rusted stuff". It is interesting because history is imparted and knowledge is gained through the owner's stories. (While some may feel the picker guys are ripping off their sources, I give them credit for their knowledge and access to specific collectors. Things their sources of treasures don't have.)
If ya ever watched "Hoarders", you will recognize the gathering cycle at the critical mass stage with old folks and their rusting crap hidden under grass, being ruined with each passing day and unwilling to sell anything. It's just plain crazy. By contrast, the folks that actually let go of dusty junk seem incredibly balanced and sane.
Wondering if the Picker show might be dangerous viewing to a budding hoarder. Would seeing all those hidden treasures increase a hoarder's compulsion to collect more? Yikes.

Bookmark tags

Crafting on the sofa with a remote control nearby, it is the best, I tell ya! On Saturday, while it rained all day, I watched tons of television and made a dozen bookmark tags for my "Girl's Night Out" group.

Just a few rubber stamps, 12 tags and a basket of ribbon remnants.

An outline here, some water color there, a few gel pen accents.

Look closely and you'll see ribbon re-purposed from a box of chocolates, fabric selvage scraps, bias binding and rick rack. Craft hoarding is sometimes a good thing. I feel those Depression era grandmothers and great-grandmothers smiling on me.

(Wh)organizing January motivation

E is for Edit!!

January brings a New Year, Christmas gifts that need a new home, stores filled with big plastic storage boxes and reruns of the Hoarder television series on A&E.
Ready to start organizing and purging? Good!

Here is your cheerleading moment: hoarders didn't fill those godforsaken houses with crap overnight or one weekend nor should you shouldn't expect to complete a full house reorganization overnight. That only happens on HGTV's Clean House through the magic of television.

Tips:

• Start in one space or room.


• Divide into mini-spaces: one wall, one drawer, one shelf.


• Completely finish the room before moving on.


• Dust, sweep, vacuum and mop when complete.


• Stand in the room and admire your good work.


• Move on to the next space.


• When feeling stalled, go look at your first space for motivation.


• Get back to work.


• Best way to complete the project is to do a little each day. If you attempt to finish in one weekend and become overwhelmed, you'll give up and the mess gets worse.


• Set a timer and work 30 minutes every day.


• Have more than 30 minutes? Work for an hour.


• Ready for a television break? Pull a drawer out of the kitchen cabinet or furniture, set it on your lap or ottoman while you watch and organize it. You won't believe how quickly you can plow through. You might even replace the drawer and get another during a commercial break.


• Keep on keepin' on! It feels so good to open a neat and organized drawer or closet that it becomes addictive.

Let me know how it is going!

Would love to know your thoughts and progress.

Hunk a Junque necklace

This necklace has been in my head for a year or so but after recently reading Amy Hanna's fabulous book, I pulled out all that People Give Me Stuff bauble and bead bounty, pilfered an antique watch from my crow-like candlelier and made myself a junque necklace from bits and pieces o' stuff. That's iron pyrite hanging from the shorter silver chain, fool's gold, I tell ya!

I wore my junque chains last night and received lots of compliment but kinda wonder if I look like a crazy lady that collects shiny bits, tin foil and cats and lives in a hoarder house?

Hoarder? Or Not?

I notice that I announce character flaws about myself like calling myself a "control freak" or "anal retentive" or "hoarder" then wonder if I do it to beat others to the punch although I don't really see anything wrong with the first two attributes but dang(!) watching that "Hoarders" series on A&E ~deep breath~~ it gives me the monkey nerves to begin immediately begin clearing stuff to reassure myself that I am NOT a hoarder because those folks are nuts.

NOT my house

Sometimes I think I am sliding into crazy lady territory, accepting all the loot from People Give Me Stuff bounties, stockpiling supplies for future projects and fastidiously ironing vintage trims and ribbon . . . sounds a little obsessive already, right? But the fact is, I enjoy rooting through the stuff, separating the wheat from the chaffe. It may look like a mess for time but while I am greedy with ribbons and notions, I am generous with the things I won't use or don't need. Last night I packed up 3 bags of things for other crafters/sewing chicks with stuff they (hopefully) want. If I thought for a second they were hoarders, the stuff would go to charity thrift stores.


Just because my stuff is organized and labelled doesn't mean it isn't hoarding

I hate waste, I hate when good stuff goes into the trash when it could go to Goodwill so that attitude could be my downhill slide to hoarding but no way do I want to bring it MY house. Someone once said that waste is a lack of creativity and guess that is why I am drawn to alternate use items and art made from found objects. Look at my blog for stuff made with neckties, wine corks, and repurposed things. Yikes, maybe I do have a touch of the hoard.

However, that's why you would want to know me if we were in prison together. I would be that person that knows where to get stuff. My brain stores inventory lists and not just my own, other people's too. My sis mentions that she would like to try a floor steamer? Brother has one. Mom needs to make a "fascinator" for 20's costume party? The supplies are in my craft stash. Friend needs a batch of high school class rings for a Grease skit? Got a dozen or so. Someone needs to borrow a few cake stands for a wedding reception? I know 4 people to ask.


Recently I asked an ice breaker question at a meeting: If you could cast yourself for a television show, which would it be? The answers were very interesting, everything from "Golden Girls" to reality shows to "The Real Housewives of Atlanta".

My revealing answer? "Sanford and Son".

1) I KNOW there is a treasure somewhere in Fred's piles

2) I would like to help Fred organize that mess