Getting Ready for the Fair! And Some Blog Candy!

Next week is the Knox County Fair! This year, I decided to rent a booth in the Commercial Building for my Close To My Heart business and see what I could do.  I've been busy the last few weeks getting things printed, sorted, organized (if that would ever happen for me), and such.

Thankfully for me, I have a wonderfully supportive husband, who does not mind the disaster area that I can turn the living room into in no time flat! It also helps that it's Little Sturgis Bike Rally this week and he's not here! Although, he did see the disaster area when he came home yesterday. 

Piles of products, artwork, and displays.

My "workspace".

My Hostess Kits

I am also VERY thankful that my boys are somewhat willing to help me get things ready.  My youngest has been putting labels on catalogs, sorting through boxes of products, and hunting for various things.  Yes, it usually costs me - today was no exception - I had to listen/watch MLB on the Playstation 2 most of the day. At least he paused it when I asked him to.

I've gotten my recruiting display board updated today, as well as my Studio J board and put my Christmas layouts in an album (finally). 

I also managed to get the prizes together for the nightly drawings.  I'll be giving away FIVE (5) Mini Workshops - one each night!  The winner will get their choice of 5 cards or 1 - 12x12 layout for them and 10 of their friends!

I still have to figure out what I want to do for the Grand Prize Drawing and here's where I'd like your help!  If you won the Grand Prize Drawing, what would you like to receive in Close To My Heart products? Leave a comment and let me know. Sunday evening, I'll pick a random winner for free Happy Forever Stamp Set (July's Stamp of the Month).

If you're in the area next week, be sure and come through the Commercial Building and visit!

Until next time...

Disaster Area Progress {Day 2}

My "enthusiastic" boys decided to sleep in some yesterday morning.  I guess I wore them out pretty good the day before. But once they got up and got moving, and got their regular weekend chores done, we headed back up to the disaster area.

My youngest still did not like how I was doing it.  He didn't like that I was going through things and organizing and purging. He just wanted to start bringing boxes from the overflow room into my main disaster area. I believe he wants his brother out of his room in a bad way. LOL!  However, that's part of how I got in this predictament.  So, he lost.

We went through my cardstock files and finished cleaning them up and organizing. I pulled all my retired colors and papers and put them in a box to go through. I ended up having to pull my Basic group out of the drawers (I did NOT realize I had THAT much cardstock!)  Now, I'm trying to decide whether to buy another stack from For Keeps Sake, or to go with the smaller cubes. At the moment, the Basic group is filed in a filing crate that I do not have a home for (other than the floor).

I also went through the My Reflections filing cabinet and pulled all the retired kits and put them in a box to go through. I started condensing and consolidating, but someone started getting aggitated that it was taking so long, so I just put them in a box to go through on my own at a later date.  The top drawer is now all current kits.  You'll see the stacks on top of the counter have dwindled (and some new stacks added). I've still got to go through the Workshop on the Go kits and pull the completed pages and then file the remaining kits in the cabinet.

We also went through my completed artwork boxes and organized pieces into my cubes.  I also took time to label my cubes so I know what's in them.  I'm not quite sure what to do with some of my 3D projects, but for now they are in a drawer.  I also have an "unfinished projects" drawer. 

We also went through my "alterables" tote.  It's a great big tote that was full of stuff to alter - tins, containers, paint cans, coasters, etc.  We manged to clean it up, repack it AND get a lid on it! I believe I have enough "alterable stuff" to keep me busy well into my 90's if I live that long. LOL!

My oldest worked in my overflow room going through boxes and papers.  He sorted them into piles for me to go through.  I haven't touched them yet, but I'm sure I'll need to take a box up there to turn into a "to be shredded" box.  I'm bad about filing and throwing things away.

While we only emptied 4 boxes yesterday, we did make progress and found more floor.  There's still a lot of work to be done though.  I'm also contemplating a rearrange. I figured out that if I cut my stamp counter down 18 inches, I can fit my cutting counter and stamp counter along the same wall, which will free up the wall where the cutting counter is now for my cubes and embellishments.  I need to dig out my floor plan and play with it some before I make get the boys to help move furniture and have my hubby cut my counter.

I'm sure the boys will convince me to work upstairs again this evening, so I better get some work done this morning so I can accomodate their request.

Until next time...

Disaster Area Progress

While I haven't gotten very far on cleaning and organizing my disaster area, I did manage to get a little done upstairs.  I keep telling myself baby steps and focus on one area at a time - it helps. 

I started going through my cardstock filing cabinet and making sure I had one bag per color and that bag was labelled so that I could pull a bag out and be able to put it back later.  When I ran across an empty folder, I realized that I really should get all my cardstock in one place first.  So, the boys and I made 3 piles on my cutting counter - My Reflections Kits, Cardstock, and Workshop on the Go kits/Specials.  They emptied 2 boxes of paper from the floor and made the piles.  The boys don't do well with detail work, so I'll have to work on filing the cardstock and kits where they go by myself.  My oldest is more apt to help than the youngest, but then it's his bedroom we're working on emptying.  I'm just making them do it my way this time.

You can see more patches of floor where boxes and stuff used to be, as well as the big trash bag full of trash.  There's still a lot of work to be done, but at least now I can get to the cutting table without taking huge steps over stuff.

Here's a better shot of the floor from the computer desk.  Yes, I know the carpet is hideous (maybe that's why I keep stuff on the floor - LOL!) One of these days I'll replace it, but it works for now.

The boys have said they want to work upstairs tomorrow.  They saw what we can get done in about 2 hours and want to keep going. We'll see how enthusiastic they are tomorrow.

Until next time...

Where I Create: An Inside Look at My Disaster Area(s)

I have mentioned a time or two my disaster area(s).  I have also told a few of the gals at my workshops that I would post pictures.  Honestly, I'm sick of taking before pictures - other than the piles, they really don't change much - it's exactly that - a Disaster Area! 

I have the largest of the three bedrooms upstairs (much to my boys' dismay).  Unfortunately, I have also claimed the smallest of the 3 bedrooms upstairs (again much to my boys' dismay).  When my stepson lived with us, he needed a room, so my boys shared a room.  When he moved out, I started cleaning out my disaster area (honest).  I just never finished, or maybe I just added more stuff (LOL!)

I keep hoping to find time (and energy) to get upstairs and start going through stuff.  My intention (there's always good intentions), was to get most of the normal housekeeping chores done yesterday so I could spend time up there today. I figured with the weather being nice that my hubby would be on the Harley and the boys would LOVE being outside.  All we had to do today was groom and bath the cats.  Unfortunately, by the time the kitties got taken care of it was after noon.  And for some strange reason, the boys were "bored". I even tried giving them 30 seconds to decide whether to go outside for 2 hours or come help me clean upstairs.  They didn't like either option!  Kids today - sheesh.

I did manage to get up there and take pictures.  I also managed to get a LITTLE (and I mean very little) done in there today. 

Join me as I take you on a tour of my Disaster Area(s). Warning: if you are a neat freak, organized, or otherwise afraid of messes, I suggest you be sitting down...yes, it's that bad.

This is my bookcase to the right of the door as you walk in.  It houses my Plastic Canvas, Cross-Stitch patterns, albums, mini albums, odds and ends.

This is my computer desk.  The computer on there does actually work (I think), but I don't use it. I just need to get everything off of it and start over.  The corner cabinet houses my CTMH Catalogs, Consultant magazines, and miscellaneous business books and training materials.

My boys help me put together this grid system to house my shipping supplies. It also gained my yarn (stored in recycled 2-liter pop bottles).

This begins my "cutting table". The tower of drawers holds all sorts of things (all labeled by the way). My themed non-CTMH paper goes here (Nascar, Fishing, Marching Band). I also store my page protectors and scraps and blank mini albums in drawers.

The rest of my cutting table.  The 2-drawer file on the right houses all my CTMH Cardstock, arranged by season: Spring, Summer, Basic in the top drawer; Autumn, Winter, Retired in the bottom drawer.  That drawer is from http://www.for-keeps-sake.com/.  The 2-drawer file on the left houses all my CTMH My Reflections Kits arranged by newest first. Theoretically, the retired ones are on the bottom, but I really need to go through those drawers. That drawer is a retired set from Memory Makers (I believe).  The counter top is just a cheap white counter top from Lowes.  My color swatches and sample rings hang from the shelves directly over the cutting counter.  I've also got my Cricut and Bind-It-All store there.  The drawers on the shelves house pre-cut cards/envelopes, incentive stamps, Connection Club rewards, Booking Sets and miscellaneous stuff (all labeled).  The 2-drawer cabinet under the counter houses my clearbags and miscellaneous bags, totes and other diecut 3-d objects (waiting to be used).

My punches are organized in the Crop-In-Style Punch Pals that hang over the closet door.  My Cricut cartridges are in a 3 shelf thing that is attached to the side of my 2-drawer paper file. I did not take pictures of the closet, but it has albums, photos, and lots of miscellaneous stuff.  There are shelves in the closet, so that helps.

The wall in front of my windows has several of the JetMax and Store-In-Style cubes.  At the moment, the cubes hold my Cuttlebug folders and dies, Sizzix Dies, Nestabilities, and cutting pads/plates.  I also store completed artwork in some drawers - standard cards fit really well in the 4-drawer cubes.  I have completed layouts in the 3 drawer cubes.   Sadly, I have to set up a small 2x4 table in order to actually find a surface to work on when I need to create. And even that is a disaster area!

This is my stamp wall.  The big white cabinet is homeless at the moment. I LOVE this cabinet! It has tons of little cubes inside for storing anything and everything. I got my youngest to help with organizing and labelling it. It houses my embossing powders, glitters, alcohol inks, Shimers, re-inkers, etc. It also weighs a TON (even when it's empty).  I would like to sit it up on top of my stamp counter, but I don't think it will support it.

My CTMH My Acrylix stamps are in the drawer cabinets. The right side one is from Lowes from when I first started stamping.  The top drawer houses my CTMH woodies, the 2nd and 3rd drawer contain my alphabets and winter sets.  The drawers on the left are Sterilite drawers from Walmart.  I recylced cardboard boxes for dividers and can get roughly 100 stamp sets in each drawer (no they are not all full yet).

The stamp shelves on top hold all my miscellaneous woodies from various companies. One of these days I'll get back to unmounting all of them.

The dresser contains my cassette tapes, music CD's and unmounted stamps in CD cases (mostly Stampin' Up and The Angel Company).  The storage drawers on top of the dresser hold all my Dimensional Elements (labelled and sorted), and bulk embellishments.  The white locker my hubby found and cleaned up and painted for me. It contains my accessories cases, ribbon rounds, Just Blooms, and other miscellaneous embellishments. The red storage drawers on top contain more embellishments (yes, I'm an embellishment junkie).

Here's a shot of the floor from the window.  My ribbon box is there, along with a tote full of "alterable things", and boxes of stuff that I need to find homes for.

Here's a shot of the floor from the computer desk.  Believe it or not, I can get to almost every area of my disaster area - you just have to know where to step....and step carefully.

Now, on to what has become affectionately known as my "overflow room".  This is the smallest of the 3 bedrooms that my oldest son would like to have back.  We were supposed to work on this over Spring Break, but we had some academic issues that needed addressed and are much more important.

Most of this room is just floor space - other than the bed.  This room gets used when I have to vacate the living room downstairs.  There are boxes of stuff piled everywhere. Most of it, I just need to sit and go through (with a large trash bag I'm sure).

The large blue totes contain stuff for the crops I vendor - products, artwork, displays, etc.

Again - just stuff piled everywhere.

What's left of the bed :) Again, just stuff I need to go through. And my display boards.

When I got my new dining room table, the boys dismantled my old one and stored it up here behind the door.  With a little modification (and a LOT of organizing) it can become a crop table for me in my disaster area.

Thank you for joining me on a tour of where I create.  Now you can see why I call it my Disaster Area.  I'd love to be organized and have a place for everything and everything in it's place, but finding time and energy has become an issue.

I found a blog that has an organizational challenge - My Love Affair with the Label Maker.  I LOVE the ideas. Unfortunately, I got really scared when she mentioned that I need to box up my stuff and take it out of my room. I'm afraid that if I did that, my husband and kids would think I'm moving out. :)  However, I do plan on using some of her ideas. I just can't box everything up and move it out. I'll keep you posted. My goal is to have it done by the end of the summer (as in before school starts next fall).

Until next time...