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I'm wondering, when you work on a project or even when you are just playing around and tinkering for fun in your craft area....do you have a cleaned off workspace or do you move stuff over and start playing?
I find my work space gets smaller and smaller as I go, things pile up on each side of me and in front of me and sometimes I end up with a 12" x 12" open spot on my table to work because of the clutter accumulating.
Am I alone? Do you clear off your space each time you finish or begin something new? I see so many work spaces in the organization section that don't even look like they are used! How do you keep things so tidy? Are you constantly organizing and clearing off? I gotta know I'm not alone here, or I need a major readjustment to how I do things! :rolleyes:
I work at my dinette table and I have Iris drawers behind me as I work. I have to put each thing back immediately after I finish using it or I would quickly run out of space. I have space to leave my paper cutter and Cuttlebug on the table and everything else is taken out as I need it and put away as soon as I finish with it. There are times I may take something out and put it away a few times in a card making secession.
I put strips of black paper inside the drawer fronts so it looks tidy and I don't have the drawers labeled with their contents. But I have taken things out and put them away so frequently that I can just pull open a drawer and I know what is in there
I don't want my dinette area to look like a craft store
I am not a neat freak I have to work with the space I have.
I find my work space gets smaller and smaller as I go, things pile up on each side of me and in front of me and sometimes I end up with a 12" x 12" open spot on my table to work because of the clutter accumulating.
You're doing well to keep a 12" x 12" - when I find I'm restricted to making ATCs and inchies, I know it's time to clear the desk :lol:
If you want further reassurance that you are not alone, there's a fun activity called WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday). I don't take part because my desk is so shameful but lots of people share their crafty workspaces on their blogs each Wednesday - you'll see plenty of creative clutter! It has its home at Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground blog - have a look at last Wednesday's {here} and you'll see there are 100 people linked up to share their spaces!
Oh, I have a touch of OCD so I have to clean everything up in between projects. LOL. I wish I could leave it and keep going but I seem to make quite the mess when I stamp.
I'm with Sherry. I can't work on the next project until I put away stuff from the last one. I don't have a big space, so I'm forced to keep it tidy or I won't get anything done at all.
__________________ ~Nina (product designer for Penny Black, Spellbinders and Want2Scrap)
"O taste and see that the LORD is good..." ~Psalm 34:8 Etsy * Facebook * My Blog
I have a very messy desk, with piles of 'stuff' pushed to the sides.
On one side is memobrillia stuff - newspaper clippings, tickets, programmes etc.
On the other side is embellies which need to be put away, new stuff, stuff I don't know where to put away....
On the floor beside me is stuff I have used - the left over strips of pp & cardstock, sticker sheets, the stack pads, and so on
On the floor behind me are all my albums stacked (currently putting pages in date/year order)
On the floor behind me and to the right is paper/packaging etc to take to the recycling bin or rubbish bin next time I leave the room (and I do)
I have to take giant steps OVER stuff to get out new stuff, and I end up slipping on paper (not a good look) or I cannot find anything.
I really must tidy up.....but then I get sidetracked all over again....lol!
You're doing well to keep a 12" x 12" - when I find I'm restricted to making ATCs and inchies, I know it's time to clear the desk :lol:
HA! That's me! I rarely have the same amount of space that my cutting mat takes up.
However, I do get crazy about once a week and clean the whole thing and start over. I have observed that I'm less creative when the space is empty though, and I don't {{think}} that's rationalization!
12x12 sounds like the space I start with and it gets progressively smaller as I work. I lose stuff constantly in a big mess. Every so often, I clean off the entire work area, put everything back where it goes, pile up scraps, hug the stuff that was lost that's now found. It's a lot of work to be creative, huh.
Mary Beth
HA! That's me! I rarely have the same amount of space that my cutting mat takes up.
However, I do get crazy about once a week and clean the whole thing and start over. I have observed that I'm less creative when the space is empty though, and I don't {{think}} that's rationalization!
I'm with you, Lydia! There is a happy medium! Too clean, and I don't wanna mess it up again! Too cluttered, and I can't think straight! I try to keep it somewhere in between, and until now it has been more frequently on the too cluttered side! Once my new studio is finished and things actually have a home, I am hoping that will change!
I don't have a craft room (yet), so I have to set up and take down (or at least move it to the dining room) every day. The table I work on is about the size of a card table. I start out w/ about 3/4 of it empty but by the time I'm almost done, it's down to about the size of the card I'm working on. The only thing that gets bigger is the black hole in there somewhere. It eats parts and pieces and then I never find them. Too bad it won't take the scraps and slivers.
I have a bit bigger than 12x12 clear, but it gets encroached on quite quickly, even though I feel I tidy every day! I love it when it's clean, but it just doesn't last.
I have to have my area cleared up between projects. I, too, have a touch of OCD and can't stand to have stuff piled up all over. That distracts me so much, that I have to get that done before I can work on my project. I usually am putting stuff back away while I'm working on my projects, that way I don't have anything to speak of to put up when I get through!
__________________ Susan
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As I'm working on a project, my desk space seems to get smaller and smaller! For a while it doesn't bother me and I can keep on creating happily, but once it starts to bother me, I have to stop what I'm doing and clean up. I don't mind though, seeing all that empty space on my desk makes me want to create even more!
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I really try to clean up each time or it gets out of hand. Sometimes I leave things out, but I don't let it get out of control. I had to work on this...it didn't come naturally!
Also, for awhile I was keeping it very tidy and then I didn't want to start a project because it would create a mess!! Not a good thing!
I've found a happy medium.
__________________ All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy!
I clean up my desk and table thoroughly every evening...I rarely have a project that I leave unfinished overnight. I always start with a pristine clean work area and put everything away as soon as I finish with it...it is the same way I cook. As soon as I am finished with something it gets put away, or in dishwasher if it is a dish. I love cleaning up as I go..makes less fuss later.
blessings.
I have about a 2x3 foot open space, though things do keep encroaching - dang gravity! It is about time for me to clean it up though as the piles are getting too high and I'm having to do a bit of gymnastics to get into my chair.
__________________ I'm a natural blonde. God just dyed my hair brown. -me My Blog
As I'm working on a project, my desk space seems to get smaller and smaller! For a while it doesn't bother me and I can keep on creating happily, but once it starts to bother me, I have to stop what I'm doing and clean up. I don't mind though, seeing all that empty space on my desk makes me want to create even more!
Me too! As I'm working on a project, it doesn't bother me to have some clutter on my desk. But when it gets to the point that I can't find things and scraps of paper are getting in my way, then I have to clean up.
12 x 12 space to start with haha if I'm lucky. :P I'm definitely a shove it over type of gal. I typically try to start with a little space but as time goes on it gets smaller and smaller and I do the where the heck did I just set that search several times during a project. Right now I don't have a craft room per say so I have to clean up each time but someday I dream of having an organized space where there is a place for everything that way I can clean up faster.
I clean up space each time I'm finished, unless I'm in the middle of working on a card and then I'll just leave it here and finishe it when I come back again. I have to keep my area clean or the kids will get into my stuff.
I have a very messy desk, with piles of 'stuff' pushed to the sides.
On one side is memobrillia stuff - newspaper clippings, tickets, programmes etc.
On the other side is embellies which need to be put away, new stuff, stuff I don't know where to put away....
On the floor beside me is stuff I have used - the left over strips of pp & cardstock, sticker sheets, the stack pads, and so on
On the floor behind me are all my albums stacked (currently putting pages in date/year order)
On the floor behind me and to the right is paper/packaging etc to take to the recycling bin or rubbish bin next time I leave the room (and I do)
I have to take giant steps OVER stuff to get out new stuff, and I end up slipping on paper (not a good look) or I cannot find anything.
I really must tidy up.....but then I get sidetracked all over again....lol!
definitely a woman after my own heart! yes, I have stuff behind me, beside me and in front of me on the floor, its not just my desk and work table stacked up!
I SOOOOO wish that I was OCD and kept my work area clean!!!!! Nooooo, instead, my laziness is overwhelming and I end up with a work area of LESS than 12 x 12!!! Every few months I will have enough of it and clean up the entire area, but it never stays that way for long.
At one time, I did have a beautiful organization system with little skyscrapers of drawers in front of me, and I DID keep things clean THEN because it was much less effort. But I felt isolated, so I moved my work area out to the family-room table which I share with my husband as he's working on HIS stuff. But because of that, there is just his half of the table and my half of the table, facing each other, which I love, but there is no room for the skyscrapers of drawers to sit in front of me.
I have an 8' folding table set to counter height because i stand to play... my work space is an self healing mat ( i do alot of cuts with an Xacto knife ) so, i have piles in every direction around the mat at any given time...
when i have so many dirty stamps there is no room for another to get shoved to the edge of the top of the mat or the pile of scraps on the right is sliding onto the mat, then i do pick up scraps and clean stamps and put them away... but, i do little things like maybe an prima flower with a die cut butterfly glued to it that i intended to use but discarded for something else.. those kinds of things tend to stay on the edges of the mat until i find an use for them.
I cannot even imagine what it would be like to try to create without anything to play with on the desk.
there feel better now?
oh also clean when i back up and step on a stamp tray or two that needs put away...
I have a very small area on my desk to work - everything seems to spread out or in, actually!! I find if I don't have most things within reach then I forget to use them. I had trouble opening the ruler on my cutter today - there was so much in the way. I can't seem to keep the desk cleaned up - I think I actually spend as much time "making room" as I do creating!!
I start with mine pretty clear, but if I really get on a creative roll I keep getting stuff out and the space to work shrinks! When I start moving packs of DP and stuff to other surfaces, like the spare chair- then I know it's time to put stuff away! That's usually the time that I begin losing things I need in the "pile" like the image panel of the project or my scissors, lol
I have 3 computer units that I use to craft on, so I'm not really cramped for space. However, when it comes to my craft area AND my sewing room, I absolutely will NOT even attempt to work in a mess. Everything, and I mean everything is cleaned off and put back in its place when I'm done working for the day. Card making seems to generate even more clutter than sewing, so it is not unusual for me to clean/clear up midway through a project.
I think I feel compelled to do this because I've got so dang much stuff, that if it is not exactly where it should be when I reach for it I get mad because now I'm wasting time sifting through crap.
I love my sewing room so much, sometimes I just go there as my "happy place".
__________________ A good dog, a sewing machine, and an old guitar......
My space keeps filling up with STUFF until I run out of room and have to clean a new space to work in but then the vicious cycle starts all over again! LOL
I share my stamping room with Addison's (<--pictured) crate, which is just the perfect height to put paper packs, recently used stamp sets, magazine, etc. When I can't see her through the mess, I know it's time to clean up.
And, yes, I do want one of those fancy crates that look like wooden end tables!!
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Fun discussion!
I feel more creative when I have some stuff around. I do have to give it a cleaning once in a while or I get frustrated because I can't find something. I seem to have a black hole that swallows up bone folders. I can't imagine where they all go! I'm sporting another brand new one again..........
Oh, I have a touch of OCD so I have to clean everything up in between projects. LOL. I wish I could leave it and keep going but I seem to make quite the mess when I stamp.
Well I'm the opposite. I have OMD (Obsessive Messy Disorder). I can't seem to clean up during or in between projects! LOL. I wish I could clean it up and then keep going! I try to but then I invariably put the ink away just to have to pull it back out bc I need to stamp the inside sentiment! Or I bring out the Cuttlebug and have to precariously perch it on top of the other cra...I mean, stuff I have out!
So I just keep creating on top of what I already created and don't clean up. This creates an "archeological dig" of sorts when I do put everything back in it's place (and yes, it does all have a place). Basically, anyone could easily see what the last 3 or 4 projects were by my "artifacts" and the "layer" they represent!
It's not easy being me. Somehow I think I manage to create some cool things, though, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself!
I wish I cleaned up after every project! That would be awesome. More often than not I have a space that's about 5"x5". At the moment it's even less than that and as I stamped a card this morning I kept losing stuff I had just set down! So I know it's time to clean it up...which is why I'm here on SCS instead of in my stamp room. Avoidance and Denial!;)
When you work...
