Yesterday Was An Organizational Tornado

Yesterday was crazy-busy, not just the standard laundry and grocery and making dinner chores, but also working on the craft room. DH had finished the lower craft room storage nooks and replaced my craft bins into them rather willy-nilly. (I do love that term - willy-nilly. Always makes me smile.) I, however, needed to get the bins organized, get stamps with stamps, beads with beads, and art supplies with art supplies. So, yesterday I pulled out every one of the large bins (I have a dozen of them) and started organizing, labeling and consolidating. 

I was just finishing up the trash collection when DH arrived home from work, so it took all afternoon, with an hour off for my weekly, delightful convo with Aearwen. By the end of the day, the twelve bins were back in their cubbies, labeled appropriately. At least two of the bins are a bit of throw-together, not the way I want them to stay, but I need to think about where I need to put things. My conclusions? 

At this point in the sort, more than half of the bins have
already been loaded, relabeled, and returned to my
shelving. In the distance are five bins that I'm still
working on. What a mess! 

I have too many beads. WAY too many beads. Of course, that walks alongside me since I own and operate a store that sells beads, but really! I have racks of beads to choose from, and I ended up with another very full bin of seed beads. My pressed glass beads are overflowing, and my art glass beads (which have now been separated into individual compartments in a different type of storage bin) are drop-dead gorgeous. Oops! Yeah ... maybe that "drop dead gorgeous" theme is the major root of my "too many beads" problem. 

I have a LOT of stamps. I actually rarely use stamps, but I use them for my holiday cards each year, and I have collected stamps for those cards for more than a decade now. The stamps have now been collected in a bin of their own, but they need to be organized because finding anything in that bin will be a nightmare. I'll have to figure something out that won't take a ton of space. *sigh* 

Once the bins are on the shelves, things are wonderful.
Here, five of them are shelved and labeled. The labels
are things like "Bookbinding and Leatherwork" or
"Yarns, Ribbons and Shoes to Paint". Thank goodness
for my label-maker. It makes my life so much easier. 

I have a lot of varied art supplies. I have book binding supplies along with specialized brushes. I have silk painting supplies along with specialized brushes. I have sketchbooks and watercolor paper enough to pave a road from here to Des Moines. Oh, and I have brushes. Did I mention that I have brushes. *sigh* Of course, this doesn't even count my specialized paints which are on their paint stands in a totally different place in my craft area, along with more brushes. I might be addicted to brushes. 

So, I shared two photos with you above - an in-progress, and a "putting bins into their home" shot. Each bin is now labeled, and at least I know what's in each one. My conundrum for the day? I still haven't located my paper dies. I have dies that marry with many of my stamps so that I can do cut-paper work similar to the fox from two or three years ago. Almost all of my dies are missing. A serious hunt is looming on my agenda for next week. I need two specific dies that I know I own. Time to excavate. 

Have a wonderful and productive Thursday. I'm off to grab a quick breakfast, then drop my laptop at the shop and head over for Physical Therapy. It's all good, if he's receive the go-ahead to work on my knee. It keeps getting worse, and I'm not happy about it. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today I'm Living A "Normal Revised Schedule" Change - ARGH

In my "normal revised" schedule since starting Physical Therapy, Wednesday is my day off from the gym and every few weeks I have a PT appointment early (7:00 am) in the morning. Of course, my "normal revised" schedule had to be revised this week, since my PT has a scheduling conflict. I'm going to the gym today, but the rest of the day is still my day off. Tomorrow, I'm seeing my PT at 7:00, but then continuing on to work for the rest of the day. 

Switching schedules is rather like switching lanes in rush hour - difficult,
and fraught with danger while trusting that the others around you won't
mess things up even more. 

Although it might not seem like a horrible mess to all of you, my dear readers, it's a total MESS for me - sandwiching in breakfast before therapy and still getting there on time, and skipping the gym on Thursday. It's already driving me crazy - LOL. So, can you hear that semi-hysterical laughter coming through your monitor? Yeah. That's me trying to deal with this rather silly schedule shift. 

I want to do holiday ornaments for you this year, and found half
of what I need last night. I'm going to hunt for the other half today
while cleaning and reorganizing (and labeling) my art supplies bins. 

Today is my "day off" - grocery shopping, housecleaning, several loads of laundry, and continued work on my space in the craft room. DH wanted one of my bins removed from its' temporary location since that is designated for a different type of storage. I got that done last night, but I'm looking for the materials for this year's Holiday Card. 

I love sending my cards to friends all over the world. My life is a
little crazy right now, but that shouldn't change friendships. 

I still want to send cards out to my friends all over the world, but they're going to be less labor intensive this year by necessity. They're still going to be hand-made, but a bit less hand in the making this year because we've been so busy. Next year's card might also be more minimal, but afterward I should be more on-track for success and be able to return the cool factor. I hope so. I'll be making a "Call Out For Cards" in October, so keep your eyes open for it. 

That's a wrap for today or I'll be late. It's always so difficult to get into a schedule and then have something gum up the works. I'll be fighting this small revision in my schedule for the next 48 hours! Have a totally wonderful day and I'll be back on Thursday. 

Life Goes On

It's finally Saturday and DH is hoping for a good rain while we have daylight so that he can check the changes he's made to our side yard drainage. Normally I'm not a big fan of a hard rain, but if it makes him happy, I guess I'll wish for that alongside him. But the best thing about Saturday is that Sunday will follow and I'll get one day of more sleep and have a bit of time to work on home projects - extremely necessary. 

I normally am not a fan of a hard rain, but we need to see how the
new drainage we've constructed will work in those conditions.
Guess I'm hoping for Saturday rain. 

Did I tell you that our snapping turtle returned again? This time instead of digging her nest in the middle of the side yard, she moved closer to the fencing and dug it between the shed and the concrete platforms where DH will be building the woodshed later this summer. Fortunately she picked the side he won't work on until next year, but it's still pretty close. No choices here, we're under a construction schedule and need to move the chopped wood to the new shed before winter resumes. We didn't have any baby turtles from last year's nest, but hopefully we'll get some from this year's. 

We're hoping for some baby snapping turtles this year. Last year's
next never hatched, or she never actually laid eggs in it. 

So as we nurture potential baby turtles, we're busy fencing and blocking what we can from the rabbits. The bunnies have been going a bit crazy on some of our flowers - crazy equating to the bunnies planting a neon sign saying "DINER" and 'GREAT EATS HERE". We're losing ornamental flowers and lilys and it's really frustrating to watch something grow, then lose it to the rabbits before they bloom. The fencing does seem to be helping, though. A green-colored fine mesh that's three feet tall seems to be discouraging them on one side, a simple barrier at the steps where they would enter seems to be blocking them across from the fence. So far! 

I don't think DH buried the bottom of the fencing, but so far it seems
to be keeping the bunnies away. On the other side we just moved
some top soil bags and our mole trap to the top of the castle wall.
Apparently the bunny barrier needs to be two feet high so blocking
them from the lower steps might do the trick and save my lilys. 

We've been cleaning like crazy people at the shop and I tackled the top of the print drawer unit. It's almost been an interesting archaeological dig as I approach the bottom of some of the stacks. It tends to be the collection point for everything I start and get interrupted while doing, so things stack up in increments - spurts and stalls for everything. By the time I reached the wooden top, I was seeing documents here and there from 2012! That's rather ridiculous and somewhat embarrassing. But it's starting to look pretty darned good now. LOL

I've dug many an archaeological test pit while still
working in the field. It's odd to be doing "urban
archaeology" on my secondary desk top - LOL. 

On that note, I'm calling this done - finding photos to plug in and starting my day. I got up early so that I could catch up with some of my LJ and DW posts and comments, so I'm going to switch over to interactive in a few minutes. Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

Sleepless in Minnesota

For the second night in the last four, I had a very restless and sleepless night. I should have just given up on sleep at 1:30 am and caught up on my emails, but I tried to get that extra 1-3/4 hours instead. It was almost worthless, but I felt I had to try.

I can't stop my thoughts from whirling around just now. Hopefully,
by the end of the day I will have accomplished enough to set them
to rest again for a while. 

Today I'm trying to wrap up a lot of things before I leave on Sunday morning. I will be packing, organizing, making sure I have all of my paperwork and scheduling set, and accessing cash because I don't want to be paying for smaller items on my credit card while on the road. Thoughts about all of that, as well as what I need to have complete before I leave town, are whirling in my brain - thus, no sleep.

Maybe in all of those whirling thoughts, I'll come up with
a bright idea or two (or even three!). 

A short post today, though. My thoughts won't let me settle down enough for a reasonable post here either. Tomorrow will be better ... I will at least have accomplished something today. Have a great Wednesday and I'll be back, hopefully rested, tomorrow.

Destruction Can Be Constructive

Yesterday's tasks were all centered around destruction - very controlled, but destruction nonetheless. I did get to play with my equipment and grind stone - very fun and there's nothing like turning rock into mud, but my major project for the day was my stamps.

I have been cleaning my craft area, and wanted to tackle my stamps and other supplies that I use for my annual holiday cards. They were totally out of control, I couldn't find things, and items were getting ruined because of how I had to store them. That had to change.

Wooden backed stamps are effective, show the image well, and
usually transfer that image clearly. But they take up a LOT
of space and they are a variety of thickness and dimensions. 

One major shift that I did was begin the process of pulling all of my wooden-backed stamps off their wood blocks and remounting them onto pressure foam to be used with acrylic blocks. This doesn't sound like a major task, but it actually is. It's sticky, it's very time consuming to separate the rubber stamp from the block or any cushioning it already has, and then there is the storage issue. I still don't have all of the answers, but I have a large bag of stamps that are in process.

New backing material is purchased in sheets. Here, she is
applying the rubber stamp to a new foam core. This stuff
is VERY sticky. But it holds beautifully. A full sheet
costs a bit under $4. There are several brands available, but
only one that I like and it's hard to find. 

I could be really stupid about the process, just rip off, stick on, trim and be done, but I actually want to know (need to know) what the stamp is - what the image is. That means more prep. In this case, as in many other cases, StazOn pads and ink are my friend. I've used the ink for years with my metal etching work. It makes an impression that is permanent and won't rub off, unlike any other ink.

StazOn ink is pretty amazing. I've used it as a resist for
acid etching for years and it's also the only ink that
can successfully be applied to the back of the new
foam sheets without smearing off immediately. 

Stamping each stamp onto the back of the new foam and letting it dry completely - at least 30 minutes, more if you can - leaves a permanent image. Then, strip the stamp, cut out the new backing, pull the protective sheet from the adhesive and put the stamp on its new backing. Trim, and you're done. Easy, right? Actually, yeah - pretty easy, but not a fast thing to do. The difficulty comes with the quantity. I have more than fifty stamps that need to be remounted - a slow process. So, some of them will come with me to work today and I'll start working on a few every morning to get them finished. Then to figure out a good way to store them.

I have a bunch of stamps that I'm removing from their wooden
backs and remounting onto sticky foam. Then the question
comes - how to store these new stamps so that they stay
perfect? That's the next thing I'm going to have to figure out. 

Unfortunately, the original wood backs of the stamps are toast. I don't have any need for them, and neither does DH. Can't have everything. Yesterday was fun, though, and I did get to play with my equipment for a bit, to bring my project to the next stage which will take place at the shop. Hopefully I'll have an update and a finished project by the end of the week.

Happy Thursday, everyone! Back to the grindstone for me ...

Holiday Cards - Watch Your Mailbox

All of my overseas cards and some of my domestics are going out in this morning's mail. The remainder of the domestics will be in tomorrow's mail. *Whew* (she says, wiping her brow). Another year managed and complete. I'm very pleased with how this year's card turned out and hope all of you who shouted out to me and gave me your addresses agree.

I love designing and sending out my holiday cards. 

Yesterday was the second of three Sundays I have to work this holiday season. At least I was busy so that was a good thing. I even needed DH's help on the sales floor with a couple of people while I was tied up with a lovely young lady who ended up with both a very nice assortment and a high sales dollar amount. It was wonderful to get back home, though. Working six days a week is exhausting.

My international cards get mailed first because they take
longer to arrive. My cards go all over the world to dear
friends both RL and Cyber. Friends are the BEST! 

This week will be quite hectic. I should probably do some shopping because I don't have many gifts purchased, although I have been ordering things for DH for several months and at least have those set aside. DH, on his end, is busy setting up the new shelving he made and cleaning up his areas. He's trying to dictate what I can and cannot use my shelving for, and it's starting to get really annoying. But since I don't have the time to deal with my portion of shelving yet anyway, it's currently a moot point. However, I foresee contention in my future.

We'll soon have the snow to go along with the season,
and I really wanted to get these finished before traffic
was snow-filled and much slower. 

Today's post is brief, though. I'm ready to hit the swimming pool for my mile and then get going on my day. I'm really looking forward to getting my cards to the post office and out to all of you, my friends in far places. Have a really great Monday!

Staying On Top Of Things

Yesterday was a VERY productive day for my holiday cards and I'm so much closer to getting these addressed and into the mail. DH sighed and asked "Didn't you start your cards earlier this year?" shaking his head when I acknowledged that, but also told him that this year's card was the most complex one I've ever done. But it is as it is, and I do see a finish line ahead. Of course, the days just keep coming, so I have to stay on top of it.

While looking for a graphic for "staying on top of things", I came
across this laptop with a rainbow keyboard and fell in love. I had
to share it. I think I want one of these ... just saying ... LOL. 

I received a totally fantastic card yesterday from Shruti, my dear friend who lives in India. As always, I am totally in awe at her artistry. I usually save cards and scan them in a group to post after the holidays, and I guarantee hers will be one I will share with all of my readers. Such an amazing artist, such a wonderful friend, and one of the best roommates I've ever had at shows and workshops.

The only way to accomplish larger tasks is to stop putting them
off and just dive in. It won't be completed overnight, but you'll
get a good start. Return to the task again the next day, and the
next. You'll finish it eventually and be amazed at your success. 

We have another warm day today, although probably with rain in the morning. DH will be working on the second shelving unit he has planned. This one will be shorter (and certainly lighter), but it won't surprise me to arrive home in the dark tonight to a garage that's still full of in-progress work. Hopefully that won't be the case since I really prefer to get home, put my laptop away, and make my dinner.

I do find the strangest photos. The mushroom placement on this bicycle
had me chuckling at 4:20 am! Good grief! Here's hoping you
get a smile from this photo also. If so, my job here is done! 

So I'm off to the gym because two days off in a row is just not permissible for me. I was shopping at Target yesterday and treated myself to a new pair of pants and two tops (sale prices were SO good!). I took a chance and went down another size and was a little bit shocked when I tried them on and they fit! I was totally doing the happy dance - LOL. Here's hoping you have a wonderful Thursday and that your preparations for the upcoming holiday are also running smoothly.

Running With Scissors

DH has been trying to get me organized so that my crafting and art stuff isn't strewn throughout the den, the computer room, and the craft room. I admit (hanging my head in semi-shame) that I have a lot of it. I also admit that I don't use parts of it very often any more. But I also know that I'm a multi-media artist who uses multiple techniques to make those things that I do. I'm always striving for the next project.

This is what DH built yesterday. It's very tall, almost to
the ceiling, and it will have adjustable shelving on the
right side, fixed shelving on the left. He put one of my
four-drawer units into it to make sure he had measured
properly. Pegboard is on the back to increase usefulness. 

Nonetheless, in our unexpected "warm snap" of high temps in the early-mid 40's F (4.4 C - 7.2 C), we're taking advantage of the garage. Yesterday was DH's day off and he spent the day making a shelving/storage unit for me which will hold bins of my supplies as well as two of my four-drawer storage units. When I arrived home from work last night at around 6:30 pm, he still was working on it.

Earlier this year, a month or two ago, he made this unit for my bins.
These hold a variety of supplies such as my stamping supplies for
my holiday cards, sketch pads, and lots of beading supplies. 

I put my things away and came out to help him. We were busy with it until almost 9:00 pm, finally maneuvering it downstairs (not a very easy move at all) and settling down to a very late meal of Thai egg rolls and chicken pad Thai. (spelling optional ... ) I didn't even get to bed until almost 10:00 pm.

So here I am, at 5:45 am, when I should be wrapping up laps 25-30 in the pool. Instead I allowed myself to sleep until 4:30 am and I skipped the gym for the first time all year (except my two bouts with the flu early this past year). One day off won't be the end of my world, and I desperately needed the sleep. I'll be working in the garage myself today, working with very smelly chemicals on one aspect of my holiday cards (I'm averse to using them inside at the house or at the shop).

Remember I mentioned cigar boxes yesterday? Here is my large pile of
cigar boxes waiting to be used. I also have a few in a different space, and I
also use them to travel with - handy things that they are. They need a good
home so that I can actually access and use the beads that are currently blocked
by the boxes. 

So here are pics for you of things DH has built to help organize me (as well as my large pile of cigar boxes). I can hardly wait until after the holidays when I can really get things put away properly, labelled, and cleared up. I'll be running with scissors then! Have a great Wednesday!

Supplies and Organization

It's actually a December heat wave here right now with temperatures expected to hit the mid- to upper-40's F (7.2-9.5 C). DH will be spending the day working in the garage, taking advantage of the warmer temps. Unfortunately, the garage will be cold because it faces north and doesn't get any direct sunlight to warm it up. He's building shelving and storage units for our craft room and the laundry room so that I can re-organize my crafting and artwork materials and (hopefully) get organized and take up less of his space with my stuff. Considering the fact that I'm into so many different media, that's a hard task.

I was very tempted to add another piece of equipment to my craft supplies
this morning. Several of my suppliers are featuring the Heidi Swapp MINC
Collection foil lamination machine at really good prices. It's a new product
that uses heat and pressure to apply foil laminate to pre-printed items
(laser printing is necessary, ink jet won't work). It looks pretty good.
I decided against it right now, though. I don't need another piece of equipment. 

I'm taking the new shelving as my holiday gift, and if I get things organized after Christmas and during the New Year holiday, it will be his Christmas and birthday gift. We've been stumbling over my supplies for a few years now and they need to be corralled and organized.

One of the things that take up a lot of space right now are my
wooden cigar boxes. I have almost 100 of them in various sizes
and shapes. I actually have projects in mind for several of them, just
need some time to actually do them. I'll probably end up selling the
finished boxes, although I'm not sure what venue I want yet. Still -
100 wooden cigar boxes need storage ... 

(Don't tell him ... I'm actually looking forward to getting my things into order so that I can label and find things with greater ease.)

Today's work brings me back to my workhorse - my
Big Kick Sizzix embossing machine. The amounts of
pressure this little hand-cranked machine can apply to things
amazes me and I'm constantly finding new ways to use it.
This one was a good buy and it's getting a workout for
this year's holiday cards. 

Today, however, is Tuesday and it's back to work on my holiday cards. I've received lovely cards from kaishin and Samtyr as well as an old friend from my High School days in Denver. It's nice to have some cards come in. Time to start posting them around my entryway where they will look festive for the holiday season.

I love having my holiday cards out on display, but again, don't want to clutter.
Years ago I started hanging them around the entryway arch and it's
a great area with lots of space. I often get 30-40 cards, so space is
necessary. I love each and every one, though, and look at them often
during this festive time of the year. 

Do you have a special place where you place or display your holiday cards? Do you have any traditions that make your house seem more festive at this time of the year? Everyone celebrates differently, so please share. Have a wonderful Tuesday!