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It�s always time to clean up my craft room and today was no exception. Since I actually had time today I decided to dive in and get busy cleaning. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Last weekend I went to the coast for a weekend crop and took a lot of stuff with me. I volunteered to take a table and chairs. This meant �cleaning� off one of the 2 tables in my craft room. For me that entailed putting just about everything on the floor. My room was already a disaster from trying to pack everything I wanted to take into one crop bag. Although I should admit that my room wasn�t real clean even before that.
So anyway, I spent five hours working hard and diligently. I didn�t get side-tracked at all for a change. After five hours my room is a little over half done and I�ve had it! I am tired and my back hurts. I do try to clean as I go, honest. I am really considering purging again. I figure if I get rid of more stuff my room won�t get in such bad condition.
It seems like no matter how much I try to clean as I go, I still end up with a room that is a terrible mess. I know that part of it has to do with trying to complete a project at the last minute as I�m running out the door trying not to be late going somewhere. And sometimes it�s late at night and I�m really tired and since I�m coming back tomorrow to finish my project, why put everything away tonight? I suppose that living alone doesn�t help, there is no one to encourage me to �put my toys away� before going to bed.
How do you keep your craft room clean? Do you have any ideas or suggestions to give me? There�s got to be a better way, I must be missing something. :???:
I can only offer support, no advice... I haven't a craft room, just a few drawers, closet and a dining table or bed to work on. When I craft, I create more of a mess than anything else! I also would like a better way.
__________________ The only thing I was trying to portray was serenity... Also joy, spontaneity, enchantment and inspiration... Is that asking too much from a rubber stamp? ~ Betty Lou
....our DS is graduating from high school this year so we are having a company in to shampoo our carpets. That is the only way I will get my craft room in order.
I also bought some very pretty, inexpensive placemats each with a seasonal theme. I put that at my work space so I require the mat to be clear so I can work. I don't understand it, but it works for me.
In an effort to get some of my stuff off of my work table and out of the way I bought boards and paint and brackets to make shelves today. I came home with it all and Honey says "You could have bought premade shelves for what you spent on that!" Probably true, but they wouldn't be the perfect shade of Bermuda Blue :lol:
If you could see my work area right this minute you'd die! Heck, I cringe when I walk past it LOL! I'll be watching for ideas for sure.
I make a giant mess on virtually every card I make...which takes talent given how simply my cards are. ;)
But after making two or three cards, when my desk reaches the point at which no square inch is uncovered, I take time to PUT IT ALL AWAY even if I'll probably pull some of it out again shortly. I get enormous satisfaction from seeing my clean work table. Rarely will two days go by without my seeing that table top clear, just so I can mess it up again.
What truly helps me is using pastic drawers to store most everything, and everything has got a place in a drawer that's clearly labelled. Stuff I use a lot is on my large table, easily accessible. My embellies are organized by color, which makes taking them out as easy as pulling the drawer with the color I need...and putting stuff back by color is super quick.
My stamping room is small and I have way way to much stuff. It's never truly clean. I don't worry about it. When I can't see my table I stamp on I clean that. Once weekly I semi clean the room.
My "studio" used to be our dining room so it's in a very central/high traffic area of our house. I have students (music students) over every week and that forces me to keep really clean, but I also frequently organize. (Frequently means at least once a week) I definitely clean up after every project, but not only that, take the opportunity to put away any wayward papers/stamps etc that may be out..
I'm really messy/unorganized in every other area of my life, I just like my craft stuff neat. Don't ask me why.... lol
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SRM Stickers and Deconstructed Sketches.
I make a giant mess on virtually every card I make...which takes talent given how simply my cards are. ;)
But after making two or three cards, when my desk reaches the point at which no square inch is uncovered, I take time to PUT IT ALL AWAY even if I'll probably pull some of it out again shortly. I get enormous satisfaction from seeing my clean work table. Rarely will two days go by without my seeing that table top clear, just so I can mess it up again.
What truly helps me is using pastic drawers to store most everything, and everything has got a place in a drawer that's clearly labelled. Stuff I use a lot is on my large table, easily accessible. My embellies are organized by color, which makes taking them out as easy as pulling the drawer with the color I need...and putting stuff back by color is super quick.
No. I don't have OCD. Why do you ask?
This is what I do also, and I do not have OCD either, but clutter gets to me. especially when I am making cards, Easier to put things away as I go.
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I have actually come to grips with the fact that I am what I am. I am so organized with the "must be" parts of my life and have discovered that the happy side of me is that freakishly disorganized messy stamper that I am. I have too much stress in the responsible part of me and revel in the part of me that just wants to be creative. After all the agonizing about the chaos, I have come to embrace it! I now realize that creating just puts me in the place I want to be and when I feel like "cleaning up" , I do just that but in the meantime I live happily in that one disorganized piece of me.
The key, at least for me, is that everything has to have a home. Then it's fairly easy to put everything back in its "home" each time I use it.
I'm working on a scrapbook right now, so I'm a bit out of my comfort zone having pulled tons of patterned paper, matching cardstock, coordinating embellishments, etc out and having them all packed, ready to crop at a moment's notice. It doesn't make sense to put them all back in their permanent "homes" until I'm done with the project.
I hosted a crop for about a dozen women in my studio last weekend. Even with all that, it only took about an hour to put everything to rights, including breaking down and storing all the tables, putting away all the stuff I had brought out to share, storing all the food, and doing the dishes. ;)
The key, at least for me, is that everything has to have a home. Then it's fairly easy to put everything back in its "home" each time I use it.
I totally agree! Since I organized my craft room, it is so much easier to clean everything up when I'm done. No one looking at my desk at the moment would even allow me to respond, but, for me, the best way to keep things clean is do keep up with it. When I allow it to get out of hand the mess overwhelms and paralyzes me. gail
The key, at least for me, is that everything has to have a home. Then it's fairly easy to put everything back in its "home" each time I use it.
I'm working on a scrapbook right now, so I'm a bit out of my comfort zone having pulled tons of patterned paper, matching cardstock, coordinating embellishments, etc out and having them all packed, ready to crop at a moment's notice. It doesn't make sense to put them all back in their permanent "homes" until I'm done with the project.
I hosted a crop for about a dozen women in my studio last weekend. Even with all that, it only took about an hour to put everything to rights, including breaking down and storing all the tables, putting away all the stuff I had brought out to share, storing all the food, and doing the dishes. ;)
You can do it, I know you can!
I was at Deb's house last weekend for the get together and I can attest that her craft room is spotless and has a place for everything. A most wonderful hostess!!!
It takes a place for everything and the promise to clean as I go. Also, I tend to get rid of stuff about every 3 months. I feel another purge coming on!
__________________ Dear Paperlicious is my blog...with a series on how I'm learning to improve my cardmaking by studying others.
I agree with everything has to have a home. Also I think it helps to put things away after the project is finished. I can't always do this but I do make sure I put it away before I start anything new. I also like to put things away as I go, say I'm working on boxes for someone I'll cut all the black cardstock and put away the scraps and trimmer when I'm done doing that and so on through the project.
I think since I've started putting away after each use it has really helped. I got my mom a plaque that said "creative clutter is better then idle neatness." It so fit both of us. Once she passed away I got the plaque back and now hang it in my stamp room but I've become better at being organized. Now I'm working on the rest of the house one room at a time. Sigh.... it never ends.
If I don't clean up right away or within the next 24 hours, I know I'm destined for a mess. It is so nice to see that I'm not the only one to make a gigantic mess while making one little card. I also try to make sure that everything has a place and that it gets put back in that place when I clean up.
Obviously, none of you has seen my Boynton id photo - it's my all-time favorite Sandra Boynton because you KNOW she was offering the truth to us, as fellow creative minds!
I have to say, what I have found is everything really must have a place to call its own, even if just stuffed in a drawer with like-minded things. I use canned goods cardboard trays from Aldi or keep my smaller, want-it-handy, tools right where I need them. Look at the things around you to see what you can easily - and genuinely - recycle into something to help you organize (don't let it hang around, unused. Use it or get it back out of the room). But also, don't be afraid to admit that some of your hobby money really needs to be put toward some organizational tools. A few sets of plastic drawers can save your sanity. I've recycled a $5 tall, narrow shelf unit from Goodwill to hold my ink pads, markers, glues, and stamp-a-ma-jig. Be patient, understand you're going to change things around a few times as you add to what you're already organizing with, and have fun trying to see things in a different way. Like my life, my stamping area's organization is always a work-in-progress!
My space gets really messy while I stamp, but I clean up after each card.
This is me too. I can't create with a mess on my desk, so even though I will pull out 75% of the same tools I just put away, I have to start with a CLEAN room, THEN I can be creative, lol!
My room isn't too bad, just my desk. It would help if I put everything away after I finish a project so I actually had room on the desk surface! I seem to always have several projects going at the same time, right now masculine birthday cards, Easter cards and Christmas cards. If I could only stick to one I'd probably be better off!
I have a horrible set up for my craft "area" so I blame the mess on that. We are hoping to move soon and one requirement is I have a bedroom for a craft room and my intent is to have it clean. I do work better when everything is organized.
During a project my space gets really messy. After the project, I clean up. The project can last a couple of days or more, so during that process, my papers, my pieces, my embellishments are all out on my desk and my side areas, all within reach. After the project, I put away everything back where it belongs. This is the key! As stated in most of the comments in this thread, everything has a space or a place. Put it there. I have to push myself sometimes to put everything back in it's place but when I do, I am happy!
First, I so like your "Kala" stamp. It took me hours, too, to pick up and clean my space - not fun. I agree that everything should have place and I'm working on that. A squirrel got in our basement and spent some quality time in my room before we noticed - should tell you how messy it was. Anyway, I got it picked up and cleaned. One thing I did was get a couple of those fabric type boxes from Michael's to put things. All the things I need to put away wait in that box until the next time. That helps me to at least make my table top ready to go when I return. Also, I am taking the advice of others about throwing small scraps away because paper seems to multiply the quickest.
It's good to know that there are others who use their dining room table for stamping.
I'm getting my craft room in order, but it is taking a lot of time. It is more of a craft storage room, as the only work space is there is covered with a printer/copier for the time being. JoAnn's has some nice clear plastic storage boxes that are just deep enough to store wood-mounted stamps in. I'm working on getting all of my wood-mounted stamps into those, but probably need at least five or six more of those to get the wood-mounteds into workable storage. Right now, most of them are in plastic "shoe" boxes, which are too deep and don't fit very well on my shelves.
Now and for the foreseeable future, the dining room table and chairs are my actual work space. I did buy some storage tote bags at Hobby Lobby a few days ago, and they have helped with getting the work space mess somewhat organized. The new storage bags hold Diamond Glaze, gel medium, assorted tapes and other adhesives, a brayer, a stampamajig, pre-cut ATCs, ATC sleeves, pre-cut and scored card bases, envelopes, embellishments, packages of clear stamps, etc. I would like at least one more of those zebra tote bags for the work area.
I have a paper tray is used to hold card stock in the work area, but it is always overflowing with scraps and strips of cardstock and the designer paper of the moment. Every once in a while I go through the tray and get the cardstock organized by color and size, keeping the white and cream on top so that those will be close at hand. DP that is no longer of the moment goes back into its storage holder. The paper tray stays organized for a few days, then it becomes a pile of strips and pieces going every which way. Stamps that are of the moment stay on the dining room table. I try, really try, to keep clear stamps cleaned and put away in their original packages when they are not in use.
I recently purchased a plastic holder for storing 12x12 designer paper. in the workspace. I sort the paper by collection. Any strips and scraps that are too big to toss are put into large zipper food storage bags and labeled with the manufacturer and name of collection. The bags fit into the plastic holder right alongside the dp collections. I don't have very much dp, so that system, such as it is, works really well for work space storage.
I aspire to have a craft space akin to Joan B's, as shown on her blog. That will probably never happen, but it would be wonderful to have a place for everything and everything (pretty much) in its place.
i try to put stuff away after each card i make to regain the 6 square inches of workspace i seem to use on my desk. but clean? really clean?? only seems to happen when the in-laws come to visit and they claim my craft room as their own!
one of my new year's resolutions was to make sure that my table was clean every night. and so far it is working better than my NY resolution to lose weight...lol
it also helps that i have 2 cats that get up on my tables to look out the windows...ever try to get cat hair off of clear stamps? plus they knock stuff off.
good luck!
__________________ [FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]chris >"
I really have no choice but to clean up afterwards... I have this cat, "CookieMonster"! She l-o-v-e-s to steal things off my desk and she loves to lay right in the middle of my desk as I am creating! I got to love her! Sometimes I can get away with covering my project with a towel and putting something heavy around the corners to keep her out; until I am finished and that works. I am a organizing FREAK!!! I really think I have OCD!!! I love finding things to put my tools, ribbons, buttons, stamp pads and you name it into... and I love to see them and be able to get to them quickly. Being organized is my key to be able to create better; With that said, I also purge things about every three months and either bring them to our stamp camps or donate them to a Girl Scout Troop. You know those "GOT TO HAVE THEM ITEMS THAT YOU HAD TO HAVE". I also have a 3 1/2 year granddaughter who loves to craft. I made her her own "crafting" basket of sorts. I bought her crayons, colored pencils (so she won't use my good ones), glitter glue sticks, cleaned out my embellishments and gave her some of my old stamps (that I was no longer using) for her to create with. She thinks that's the best... to go to MiMi's and have craft time together. Some of her better pieces I frame and put in my room to remember our moments together. Hope I helped!
My problem is I have MANY projects going on at once. (Currently working on a stamping class for some of my mom's friends (4 cards, 10 copies each), baby-shower-thank-yous for a co-worker (30), graduation-thank-yous for another co-worker (50), and a scrapbook for my Alaska trip last June.)
I'm a multi-tasker - I work a little on this (until I get a cramp or bored or waiting for an order to come in), then work a little on the next one, etc. etc.. So I have "piles" for each project - everywhere. (My craft room is the rec-room in my basement (no kids) - so it's HUGE. It has five work tables - enough room for 10 people!)
I'm good about putting stuff away once a project is eventually done.
I keep frequently used items close by.
And I try to have other stampers over often (I'll clean for them - not for me).
Good luck in your quest (to clean or learn to live with the chaos). ;)
the first post by Kalakitty could have had my name on it instead (just replace her cat with my two standard poodles) and it's my story! No one to answer to but the dogs, and sometimes I think they do tell me to clean it up because they can't get as far into the room to lie on the floor while I'm SEARCHING for something. I've got lots of storage, shelves, bookcases, etc. I just have more stuff than I have storage. Dining table is usually full too because since the 2 countertops along side the walls in the craftroom are full of stuff, I have to stamp in the dining room. I do a clean up once every 2-3 months, but once you (I) have one of those days where I need to get everything out for one or more projects, I'm in trouble. That's when I take a box lid (or box if it's too much) and put everything that's out of place in it, and then slowly put everything back where it belongs. But, that takes time and I could be stamping!
I make a huge mess, it doesn't matter whether I'm making a card, layout or mini album.
I clean up after every project just so I can find the supplies I need for the next one....
sturdy shoebox lids make great trays for wood stamps. my DH made shallow shelves inside my cabinet that fit them perfectly. I sort by type- flowers, birthdays, borders, seasons, sentiments, etc.
All the responses have been great. It's always good to know other people can be "All Cleaned Up" challenged too.
I have definitely got a direction to go in now. I really, really need to follow the advice about everything having a place. If I can't find a home for something then either it has to go or something else will have to go so the other thing will have its own home.
Some of my stuffs' home is in my kitchen and living room. My craft room is way too small (that's my excuse) for everything. My Bigshot and basket of dies live on the kitchen table. My Cricut lives on a table in my living room. At least most everything else goes in my craft room where I keep the door shut. Kitties are not allowed in there without supervision. I have a set of shelves that isn't fastened to the wall and when I went in there one day and saw one of the cats climbing up the front of it I almost had a fit. This set of shelves is not secure or solid. I live in an apartment so fastening things to the wall is not allowed.
The key, at least for me, is that everything has to have a home. Then it's fairly easy to put everything back in its "home" each time I use it.
I'm working on a scrapbook right now, so I'm a bit out of my comfort zone having pulled tons of patterned paper, matching cardstock, coordinating embellishments, etc out and having them all packed, ready to crop at a moment's notice. It doesn't make sense to put them all back in their permanent "homes" until I'm done with the project.
I hosted a crop for about a dozen women in my studio last weekend. Even with all that, it only took about an hour to put everything to rights, including breaking down and storing all the tables, putting away all the stuff I had brought out to share, storing all the food, and doing the dishes. ;)
You can do it, I know you can!
This is key as far as I'm concerned. Luckily, in my small craft room, I have lots of drawers, shelves and containers and I organize by item and color. Of course I make a big mess when I'm working on a project--ribbon boxes out, stamps on the counter and paper on the floor, so I can coordinate stuff. But clean up is fast when it all fits into its home. When I have too much to go where it needs to go, I purge by giving it away, or planning (and completing) a project that will use it up.
Mine's a mess a lot. I clean when I don't have room to stamp. What helped the most was the stamp credenza DH and I built to put my UM stamps in, also serves as more work space. It did help to get storage drawers and LABEL them too. I did it by type (flowers, brads, mica powder, twine, buttons, etc) I'm not sure it would have worked by color for me but I can see that working. I am lucky to have my own room but wish I had more. I have built in desktop that isn't very deep and that's a problem but I'll make due and my desk will be messy and I DON'T CARE!
I haven't been in my stamping room for months. Only because I have some of my stamping stuff in my rolling cart and other containers. And I have been going out my friends house a lot. And to crops.
I really NEED to clean my stamping room! So I know what you mean when you have to clean it.
I try to put things back when I take them out. but needless to say it doesn't always work out.
I would love to have a bigger space...Thinking that would help me keep my stamping room under control. (will it?) Currently my stamping stuff sits in the living room waiting to be used. or for the next time we crop.
Hopefully I will get down stairs to my stamping room and clean it up!!!
How do you do it?
