November Accomplishments

This past (yes, past can you believe it?!) November has been absolutely fantastic for me. Between learning a new system at work, spending time with crafty friends, enjoying the season with my DB, preparing for Christmas, holiday swaps and finally getting around to organizing some of my piles of patterns, it has been a month of much accomplishment.

One of the ways that really helped me reach some of my goals last month were getting back to good ol' pen and paper list making. It seems trivial, especially in our days of modern tech, with apps for everything about life, but I was finding those difficult to keep up with. I'm slowly reverting back to wanting cute notepads, sticky notes and memo pads again. These are items I used to collect.

While I do not collect much paper goods anymore, I do collect other crafty supplies, as you may already know from previous postings. Since one of my main goals (and reason for my blog) is to sort through my stash, organize my craft supplies, etc., I began to start this around mid-November.

Frustration soon followed because of my apparent lack of proper storage. Most of my supplies are kept in bins, small plastic totes, baskets and a shelving unit that was born as a towel holder. None of these are easily accessible or decoratively appealing. It was becoming a tad overbearing. I was so wishing for a really cool, sleek and neat way to house all of my supplies. After about a couple of hours, I ended up leaving most of the bins as they were before. ::insert bummed, failed look here::

During the following week on knit-night, one my girlfriends mentioned that Joann's was having a Black Friday sale on some OTTLITE crafting lamps. Since we do not have a store near-by and I'm usually hesitant to purchase items online anyway, I looked to see if Michael's Arts and Craft's had any similar sales. I was able to find a deal on a another OTTLITE lamp. Albeit, finding such an awesome deal was great alone but as I studied their Thanksgiving door buster page, I quickly realized that they had their wooden storage units for 55% off the original pricing! ::insert bright-eyed look here oh! and cheesiest grin too::

Completely ecstatic, I knew exactly where I wanted to shop after our Thanksgiving lunch. Since a friend and I were going there anyway for that lamp deal, it was a win-win! Of course, a gigantic thanks & smooch goes to my DB, Mr.MobileWill for helping me with the purchase.

We were able to snag one shelving unit and one table top unit that comes affixed with a dowel to hold ribbon spools. Later that evening, DB helped me put the units together. Soon after placement, I quickly filled both up which alleviated some space, storage bins and part of my frustration.

In this photo, the main cubicle storage unit now holds my craft books, stationery supplies, and cards. Above the unit is a separate shelf that adds more storage, while also keeping my ribbon spools out of a shoe box. On the far left is what I was using to house everything but it will now hold my fabric. The blue plastic drawer unit holds most of my yarn stash. He is hardly visible, but if one looks close enough, they will see Mr. Brain Slug safeguarding on top.

After rearranging, and storing/showcasing my most used items, I still had quite a few miscellaneous bins left. I was just going to simply let it be but Michael's just had to have another sale for "Cyber Monday!" The funny thing is that they don't sell their products online, but still participate and hold specials.

Yep. DB and I went back that Monday to purchase another cubicle set and a magazine box. We've yet to assemble them, something I have planned for this weekend. I'm also planning to unload the rest of my craft supplies to sort through it all so that I may showcase the process and perhaps post some before and after shots.

I love looking at and reading about craft room/area remodels. DB calls it craft pron. I suppose whatever tickles one's fancy. And crafting, my friends, happens to be mine! ♥

What types of storage systems/units do you have? I'd love to see your set-up and share ideas too.

with peace, love, unity and respect

♥♥♥♥