[Saki.Girl]

ok I was giving this some thought you know how we all buy tons of craft stuff and not all of it we use
what would people think about doing a craft box exchange in the new year

it would run like a reaper
you would make a list of craft items you like for example
paint brushes
stamps
paper fro cards
acrylic paint
glues
you could even add type of project you are working on and items you may need
so on
then we would draw names and people would create a craft box

love to hear what people think of this idea good bad what do you think ?

 

[lizzyborden]

Sounds like a cool idea but it would be a few months before I could jump in on this one. A very close friend of ours passed away the day before Thanksgiving and her husband gave me and a friend most of her craft stuff. I'm guessing at least 100 yards of fabric and probably closer to 200 and lots of other stuff. We stored the majority of it at our shop since it's only a few miles from their home and only brought one load home so far. I know there is no Halloween themed fabric but if someone does quilting or yarnwork, I know I could send a pretty nice stash.

 

[RCIAG]

OMG! I soooo need to clean out my craft room & I'm seriously going to purge things because...well...let's just say that lately I've seen many an estate full of "crap" that no one wants & I can't be that person.

I don't mind if people have to rid my house of all the Halloween & Christmas stuff, clothes, furniture, etc., it's all that other stuff that's gotta go. I don't know if my "crap" will be wanted but a LOT of stuff has gotta go!!!

My husband took some stuff to Goodwill & the guy there said "weeellll...we don't usually take Halloween stuff...buuut...I like this..&that's cool...oh that too....I'll take it." Which kinda ticked him off because 1)we've all bought Halloween things at Goodwill AND Salvation Army so I know that's crap & 2)I don't care if YOU want it, at least pretend you're giving it to the store for show.

I'd be in for this.

 

[Saki.Girl]

Cool guys i think it would be fun I am going to plan on doing this lets say in feb / march 2018 time frame whoot

 

[RCIAG]

I just walked into my craft room, looked around, & went "ugh, ican'tevenrighnow." So Feb/March is a good time. I know I won't get around to it until after the holidays unless I get my act together before then & that just ain't happenin'.

 

[a_granger]

Sounds like a great idea Saki. I know My storage area is filled to overflowing with thinks I need to sort, organize uses or get rid of. I'm really hoping to get a crafting studio set up in the next year and this would be a great idea for clearing out the many duplicates or just never used items I have acquired over the last several years.

 

[RCIAG]

I am hoping to get into my craft room this weekend & box up stuff to pass on to someone.

Then again, I may not & just be all "Istillcan'teven" with that room. If The Furry Ruiner Brothers didn't have their litter boxes in there I'd probably just shut the door & never look at it until Oct. 1!! Which is a shame because I really did need to use it for Christmas but just couldn't go in there to clean it up.

Oooo....maybe I should just install a cat door in the door instead...hmmm...

 

[Saki.Girl]

I am so glad to here you guys like this a little some thing different and will make the craters day

 

[RCIAG]

Welp, didn't get in there. We had an extra cat in our house this weekend & I just couldn't do it since he wanted to be RIGHTTHERENEXTTOME all the time I didn't want him in there because it also houses OUR cat's litter boxes.

Plus, I decided that I have been going like crazy all month, I just wanted a weekend to do abso-fricking-lutely nothing but eat, read, watch TV & sleep.

So that's what I did. With the occasional shout of "HEY! LEAVE AUGIE'S BUTT ALONE!! HE DOESN'T WANNA PLAY!" to the guest cat Jonas.

 

[RCIAG]

OMG I THINK I OWN ALL THE RIBBON!!

I actually went into the craft room & started purging & I have waaaay too much ribbon & that mesh tube ribbon stuff.

This stuff: I have purple, green, silver & maybe red & orange.

Most of the ribbon is either Halloween patterns or orange, black, purple, or some combo of those colors. Most of it unopened. I'm keeping some of it, but most of it is going. It's like I see it in the dollar stores & I'm compelled to buy it.

I also found things I'd forgotten I had but now I'm over it so I don't need it like those generic white plastic masks. I've forgotten what I was going to do with them so they're outta here.

I have just been tossing it all in a big box & will sort it all later.

 

[lizzyborden]

RCIAG, I feel your pain! I seem to find excuses to avoid going into the spare bedroom.

Trying to look at everything and decide whether it has a use or if it needs to go. Had a set of really cute reindeer flannel sheets that developed a hole in the fitted sheet and the pillowcases disappeared long ago. Cut the remaining sheets down to fit my daughter's toddler bed, so successfully repurposed them while saving about $20 on sheets.

Over the years I have amassed a collection of wool and wool blend blankets due to hiking (when was the last time I did that?) and selling military surplus. I decided to just keep two and get rid of the rest but then our electric went out on the coldest night of the year and I piled two of them on top of the blankets already on the beds. The electric came back on after five hours and the house was cold, but we all stayed warm. Sooo... guess I need to find a place to store them again.

 

[RCIAG]

I also have 2 boxes of stuff I used to collect, vampire action figures, other action figures, all boxed & still in pretty good condition. I just need to take pics of all of it & pass it on, either selling it all in a lot or selling it individually.

I got some Rubbermaid-y type storage this weekend & ran by Brother labeler out of tape last nite!!

I also seem to have an affinity for paper which is the exact opposite of how I feel about it at work. At work I want minimal paper but I'm inundated with it. Computers were going to bring us a paperless world, yeah right. At home if I see something in a catalog I'll pull out the page, I literally just did this with an Oriental Trading catalog. I keep greeting cards or at least the cool ones. I print out Halloween stuff too from paper boxes to images I like.

I also have to have thousands of pumpkin carving patterns. I have more than I'll ever be able to carve. I find one I like & print it, put it in a sheet protector & put it in a binder (of course I have a ginormous stack sitting around that needs to be put in the sheet protectors). I have 5 or 6 binders of just those Pumpkin Master books I've bought over the years. I cut them apart & put them in sheet protectors & binders. That way if I want to carve it I just pull out the sheet, make a copy & put the sheet back.

If you saw the room now you'd be "I thought you were cleaning it up." But if you'd seen it before you'd know how much work was done even though it looks & feels like it's not done.

At least now I know I need some display shelves & frame & hang up some of those prints I have acquired over the years.

 

[RCIAG]

Well, they say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem so here goes....my name is RogerClyneIsAGod & I am a pumpkin carving pattern hoarder.

I blame Zombie Pumpkins, Stonykins, Pumpkin Lady & Pumpkin Masters, it's ALL THEIR FAULT for having so many cool patterns!! On Pumpkin Lady alone there's 700!!

http://www.pumpkinlady.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns/

I really just need to toss a good portion of them into the recycling bin because there's no way I'll use the thousands of patterns I have now. Some I will never carve, like all the Batman villains, the Star Wars characters, the cute kids patterns, it's just not happening.

 

[Saki.Girl]

Well, they say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem so here goes....my name is RogerClyneIsAGod & I am a pumpkin carving pattern hoarder.

I blame Zombie Pumpkins, Stonykins, Pumpkin Lady & Pumpkin Masters, it's ALL THEIR FAULT for having so many cool patterns!! On Pumpkin Lady alone there's 700!!

http://www.pumpkinlady.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns/

I really just need to toss a good portion of them into the recycling bin because there's no way I'll use the thousands of patterns I have now. Some I will never carve, like all the Batman villains, the Star Wars characters, the cute kids patterns, it's just not happening.

lol I so understand this lol

 

[RCIAG]

I have a couple of 3" binders full of just Zombie Pumpkin patterns. I'd have to buy another house to fit all of them if I carved them. I'd have to carve 2 a day (give or take) for a year to do just Pumpkin Lady's patterns.

I was making a list of some organizational stuff I need for the craft room & I thought "I need more sheet protectors & to grab a couple of those big binders from work." Then once I started putting some of the patterns in the sheet protectors & in the binders I realized I need a 12 step program & just stopped.

I didn't cross of the sheet protectors from my list because I use those for printed recipes. It's easier for me to just print the recipe, stick it in the protector & have it in front of me & I don't have to worry about it getting ruined, getting crapped up, or worse having an electronic device fall into the batter or sink full of water.

So if anyone would like a bunch of Zombie Pumpkin patterns in the near future, let me know. I'll be going through them in the next month or so & weeding out the ones I don't want or need. I'll even throw in the binder & sheet protectors if you'd like, all I'd ask is paying for the shipping. Just remember the paper will cost less than the full binders.

I'm sure Zombie Pumpkins would hate that sharing idea but I paid for a full subscription for the last 2 years so I didn't just steal them.

 

[RCIAG]

I just went through the ginormous box of stuff to separate out the craft stuff from the Goodwill stuff (old purses, kitchen stuff, etc.) & once I got out all the ribbon & that mesh loop stuff the box went down by 50%!!

Our big tree, the aluminum tree, & almost all the indoor Christmas stuff is still up but that dang craft room is starting to look & be useful again!! I only wish I'd taken a "before" pic.

I still need to dust everything because it's also the litter box room & the litter we were using was super dusty (we've since switched) so there's a fine dust on stuff.

I'm just glad the cats like the new stuff, Arm & Hammer Lightweight Dust Free, because we have one cat who is a Particular About His Litter type cat.

 

[lizzyborden]

I think maybe we need a support group!

Been working on my utility room/workshop for a couple hours every morning before everyone wakes up and throughout the day if hubby is home to keep an eye on our daughter. I can actually see progress too! Threw away nine paper mache experiments/flops that could still be salvaged, but it would be much quicker and easier to start from scratch. Finally brought in the seven totes of my late friend's fabric that we had picked up from the shop last week and need to spend today sorting it out. I plan to keep very little of it, maybe one tote, and the rest will go to my mom first, and then be up for grabs. When the totes are sorted, what's stored in the garage has to come inside and be sorted too.

We have at least one more trip to the shop to make to get the last of my friend's stuff, which is basically some miscellaneous crafting stuff, a few wheeled storage organizers and a rather nice sewing table/cabinet that I can't wait to get home. My present sewing area consists of dragging the machine onto the dining room table, where it will sit in the way until I'm finished with whatever project I'm working on. I'm also sewing machine poor as I also have my grandma's newer machine, her old, old electric machine in the garage, and my great-grandma's treadle machine that needs to come home too. And let's not forget the fancy machine I bought for $3 this summer because it was all jammed up. Yep, I really need a support group!

 

[RCIAG]

Well I think this thread IS our support group now!!

All I keep thinking to myself is "If I died right now how much crap would they have to clean out of the house?" Then part of me wants to collect ALL THE THINGS because I won't be the one clearing it all out, then another more sensible part of me realizes that we don't have that much room & I don't need ALL THE THINGS either.

Most of that comes from having been in a couple of situations just like that, going into a deceased family's house full of all sorts of stuff, from useful to boxes & boxes of really organized junk mail & I don't think I wanna do that to whoever is left after I'm gone.

Now when I'm in a store & see something I like I think "Wait...do I NEED this Santa/JOL/craft item/tchotchke/etc. or will it just sit in a box & never get used?" I've put down quite a few things lately when I answered that question. It's not like I don't live close enough to the stores, if I need ribbon it's a short drive to get it. Or if i I need some weird paint or glue they don't have, there's Amazon.

My downfall are the after season sales, thrift shops & the dollar stores.

 

[Saki.Girl]

lol don't you just love when you go thru stuff and your like wth did I buy all of this what was I thinking lol

 

[RCIAG]

lol don't you just love when you go thru stuff and your like wth did I buy all of this what was I thinking lol

I literally did that last nite!!

We had originally planned to put the "craft room" in a small basement room so I had 2 of those plastic drawer sets down there that still had some stuff in them. I wanted to move them upstairs but I thought I should go through them first & had many of the WTH/WTF moments.

I found....wait for it.....take a wild guess........









.......MORE RIBBON!!!

Only this time it was pink & blue. I also found a lot of baby related things, diaper pins, baby shower signs, etc. I realized it was all leftovers from literally 16 years ago when my SIL & everyone around us was having babies. I used it for the baskets I put together for their first babies who are now driving!!

I found what used to be paint, I think, that is now just a solid mass. I had to toss a lot of that stuff. I also found a couple cool wooden cigar boxes that I'm keeping, a few foam stamps of animals (that was a WTH thing), some fossilized stencil paint & the brushes to go with those stencils.

But my favourite things that I found that I'm definitely not parting with were my Donny & Marie vinyl lunch box with the thermos still intact & my Donny & Marie microphone. I also found my old boxes of Crayola crayons which once opened sent me right back to being a kid again. I even found a little baggie with some discontinued colors in it, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, some variation of those names & colors. I may even actually have a genuine "flesh" colored crayon.

I also found photos, lots & lots of photos. I spent an hour before bed looking at those. I'm not a scrapbooker but I hope to get them into an album eventually.