Saturday, September 29, 2012

I think I have a Supply Hoarding Problem!!

Uuumm I knew the stash was bad, but I didn't know how bad.....

My husband and I are getting ready for a significant move. I've been diligently sorting through things around the house here and there, and getting rid of things I know we haven't used for a while. Most of it has been pretty easy, if It's been more than a year since I wore or used something, it needs to go. No questions asked I've been able to stick it in the yard sale pile.

I have honestly been dreading going through all of my Art, craft and beading supplies.It's very hard to let go of a very useful item that could potentially become something else with a little bit of creativity. My Studio / craft space is the one place in the house where I will shove things in the closet that "might be of some use someday". So it's a big job.

To Make matters worse, I have a huge storage cabinet / table that makes it seem like I really don't have that much. A few years ago, my husband bought me a crafting cabinet by Scrapbox. I happened to come across a really great sale on overstock, and he gave in after catching me looking at it online for the 10th or so time.
It's very deceiving how much stuff is in it. I'm guessing it's going to take a week to sort through and decide what to keep and what needs to go.


I've started with the seed beads. The doors of the cabinet have velcro walls, I thought it would be a great idea to have all of my beads in one place on one of the walls I can velcro it off the wall, roll it up for moving, and be completely organized when we got to our destination.   Little did I know how many seed bead tubes it would take, and how many different colors and sizes that I had!!!

I must admit, I did just buy a large stash of beads from a bead store that was going out of business, so my bead collection did recently grow! But I now know it's really easy to bring home a few little bags of beads in your bead bag and not realize how much they add up over time!!  

Here's what i've come up with so far to store my stash:



So far i'm at 230 Tubes, some are duplicates of colors, but 230 tubes and i'm only 1/2 way done!!! What I thought was going to fit on one door of the cabinet, is really going be put on both doors. It's Back to the sewing machine.

I just ordered Another 100 empty storage tubes to convert the beads from their little bags and other packaging.

What was I thinking!! I had no idea I was such a hoarder!  I know how it happens though, with a great pattern in hand or a project complete, I feel the need to make everything in 12 different colors!! Or The bead shop just got some brand new color in that I've never seen before so I have to have it!

It's a little embarrassing, but I bet everyone has something that they do this with!!  I can't be the only one. Oh well,  Now at least I know what I have on hand and can use it up!! 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Contest Win

I'm very new to blogging so please bear with me. I've been meaning to start a blog for about 2 years now but I kept coming up with excuses. "I like my privacy", "no one will read it", I'm not entertaining enough, I can't post every day etc.  the list goes on and on. I told myself this morning "no more excuses" So Here I am.

I'm a lover of all things crafty and am very passionate about making beautiful things. Some of my earliest memories are cutting construction paper, covering coffee cans, and taking arts and craft classes.
 I would absolutely love to make a full time living doing something with arts and crafts or working with my hands. I do have my days when I wish my passion was Neuroscience or something more desirable. Lets face it being an artist likely wont bring in tons of money but everyone can have a dream right?

I figured keeping up with a blog will help motivate me to push myself further. A website, possibly a book someday with patterns or crafty ideas. Lets see if it works!

Ok on to the fun stuff I recently won a beading contest - The Baltimore bead society Challenge. We purchased a really funky kit of random beads chain etc. and were required to use 80% of it. Let me tell you this was not easy. There were some ugly beads in this thing. Not the best photo but here what was in it:

I spent the entire month of August trying to figure it out. After many many hours, working with different types of flowers and stitches, a lot of help from my beading friends at my favorite store Bead Soup in  Savage MD. I came up with this:
  
 Thanks to Kathy for the wonderful Photo!

This was by far the biggest challenge I've ever done, and it wasn't easy!! It's helped me to realize "  Hey I think I can do this"!!  Here's to more to come!