Cleaning The House and Why It's So Hard!
Okay, you've all heard me chattering on about how I'm constantly cleaning house. The way I make it sound, you'd think a tornado whipped through daily, undoing my hours upon hours of menial labor put in on the weekend. Well, you're partially true. Joel and I aren't gentle on our poor, dear house. However, the biggest problem is the fact that, well, I dip my fingers in far too many pots. I think I dip my toes in, too, because nobody could possibly have this many fingers. I collect (cheap and --especially-- free) crafting supplies like it's going out of style.
For an example, on my way home today I picked up 25 wallpaper sample booklets from a fellow Freecycler. For another example, I spent all of $5 on about 20 yards of various cuts of fabric (including faux fur) at garage sales over the weekend. Those of you who have seen my fabric bins know just how much of the stuff I have (three 50 gallon Tupperwares full and constantly expanding past those boundaries), and I'm constantly pulling it out to plan for this costume or that outfit. Right now, I actually have two piles of 'scrap' and 'remnant' fabrics laying at the foot of my chair while I consider turning them into outfits for Rhianna.
I have a pile of My Little Ponies strewn beside my work area, in varying stages of paint and head-less-ness, working their way to the "bait" stage so I can start modifying them. I have a box of acrylic paints sitting next to my desk from the last project I completed (which I will share just as soon as my swap partner puts up her received post). Little bits of papers are strewn about the dining room: momentos and memories ranging from movie ticket stubs to wedding invitations. They happily wait for me to build my own scrap book so I can actually use some of those scrap booking supplies that are lying in wait... somewhere.
The dining room table is dominated by my half finished clay projects. Baked pieces stand and lie on the table, in various stages of sanding and painting, waiting for me to have the drive again. A couple of bottles of E6000 lay here in there, because I keep forgetting where I put one and wander off to open another so I can use it. I think I have two or three opened bottles at this point.
What I'm trying to say is that my crafting area is a mess, and it has taken over the living room. I want to turn the guest room/spare room (Spaer Oom) into a combination computer and craft room, but I've been putting it off because I never thought there was enough SPACE. So what happens is I clean, and then I go to start some craft project or another and make the house a mess again. I want a specific piece of paper or scrap of fabric, and tear the house apart looking for it.
I want, desperately, to get it organized, but the rolling tray with drawers I have simply doesn't cut it. Heck, the drawers don't even stay on their tracks! And while cute, it's more fit for a child's room than our dining room. Our decor may not be much, but I'd like to think it's more adult than a gleaming metal rolling cart with purple, red, white, blue, orange and green clear plastic drawers!
Well, today I think I might have found my saving grace. It's a high end, classy looking piece of furniture that doubles as a craft storage room and a craft table. I mean, honestly, this thing is deceptively huge. Go take a look at the video up on http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/. Tell me that thing isn't a bloody miracle! I want one so badly.
If the video doesn't work for you (it didn't work for me), here's a shot of the whole thing opened and closed.
It comes in a natural wood color, too. While it isn't as dark as most of the furniture in our house, I think it would be fine since it would be up in the guest room. We don't have any furniture for in there just yet, and it's not like you can get woods to match from piece to piece and still buy the furniture you like.
Still, it's just what I need. The CraftBox is a little smaller, in case the WorkBox wouldn't fit in the space we have. The MiniBox is about the same as the WorkBox, but at half the height. And the EZ View is in a class of its own. Sturdy work table with built in storage, that thing has a lot going for it. While it certainly doesn't hold as much, it will definitely fit in the spare room and give me a lot of storage space to work with.
Added bonus, I might have a chance to win one of the EZ View desks. They have a contest running right now, and I've entered. I'm just waiting for my entry to be approved, and then I'll probably edit this post and make comments to let everyone know how to vote for me. I hope you guys will help me have a good shot of winning this. They're allowing one vote per ISP per day, so just like everyone else who's entering, I'll really be counting on my friends. <3 ::hopeful look::
I might make another post or two over the next couple of weeks about the status of things, to remind people that the contest is still running, or to let people know when the last day is coming up and ask you guys to wish me luck/give me your votes. ^_~ We're waiting to hear back on what some of the rules are, so please forgive me Twitter and Facebook friends if you see daily status updates about this contest from me. I really would like to win, so I'm trying my hardest. It's only running for about two weeks, though, so hopefully you won't mind putting up with me too much until it's all over. XD
EDITED! This just in. My entry is up! Please to be for voting daily, and getting your friends to vote, too, if you can. XD
Vote For Me Here! I'm entry #269.
See? Cute moose fox and squirrel!
For an example, on my way home today I picked up 25 wallpaper sample booklets from a fellow Freecycler. For another example, I spent all of $5 on about 20 yards of various cuts of fabric (including faux fur) at garage sales over the weekend. Those of you who have seen my fabric bins know just how much of the stuff I have (three 50 gallon Tupperwares full and constantly expanding past those boundaries), and I'm constantly pulling it out to plan for this costume or that outfit. Right now, I actually have two piles of 'scrap' and 'remnant' fabrics laying at the foot of my chair while I consider turning them into outfits for Rhianna.
I have a pile of My Little Ponies strewn beside my work area, in varying stages of paint and head-less-ness, working their way to the "bait" stage so I can start modifying them. I have a box of acrylic paints sitting next to my desk from the last project I completed (which I will share just as soon as my swap partner puts up her received post). Little bits of papers are strewn about the dining room: momentos and memories ranging from movie ticket stubs to wedding invitations. They happily wait for me to build my own scrap book so I can actually use some of those scrap booking supplies that are lying in wait... somewhere.
The dining room table is dominated by my half finished clay projects. Baked pieces stand and lie on the table, in various stages of sanding and painting, waiting for me to have the drive again. A couple of bottles of E6000 lay here in there, because I keep forgetting where I put one and wander off to open another so I can use it. I think I have two or three opened bottles at this point.
What I'm trying to say is that my crafting area is a mess, and it has taken over the living room. I want to turn the guest room/spare room (Spaer Oom) into a combination computer and craft room, but I've been putting it off because I never thought there was enough SPACE. So what happens is I clean, and then I go to start some craft project or another and make the house a mess again. I want a specific piece of paper or scrap of fabric, and tear the house apart looking for it.
I want, desperately, to get it organized, but the rolling tray with drawers I have simply doesn't cut it. Heck, the drawers don't even stay on their tracks! And while cute, it's more fit for a child's room than our dining room. Our decor may not be much, but I'd like to think it's more adult than a gleaming metal rolling cart with purple, red, white, blue, orange and green clear plastic drawers!
Well, today I think I might have found my saving grace. It's a high end, classy looking piece of furniture that doubles as a craft storage room and a craft table. I mean, honestly, this thing is deceptively huge. Go take a look at the video up on http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/. Tell me that thing isn't a bloody miracle! I want one so badly.
If the video doesn't work for you (it didn't work for me), here's a shot of the whole thing opened and closed.
It comes in a natural wood color, too. While it isn't as dark as most of the furniture in our house, I think it would be fine since it would be up in the guest room. We don't have any furniture for in there just yet, and it's not like you can get woods to match from piece to piece and still buy the furniture you like.
Still, it's just what I need. The CraftBox is a little smaller, in case the WorkBox wouldn't fit in the space we have. The MiniBox is about the same as the WorkBox, but at half the height. And the EZ View is in a class of its own. Sturdy work table with built in storage, that thing has a lot going for it. While it certainly doesn't hold as much, it will definitely fit in the spare room and give me a lot of storage space to work with.
Added bonus, I might have a chance to win one of the EZ View desks. They have a contest running right now, and I've entered. I'm just waiting for my entry to be approved, and then I'll probably edit this post and make comments to let everyone know how to vote for me. I hope you guys will help me have a good shot of winning this. They're allowing one vote per ISP per day, so just like everyone else who's entering, I'll really be counting on my friends. <3 ::hopeful look::
I might make another post or two over the next couple of weeks about the status of things, to remind people that the contest is still running, or to let people know when the last day is coming up and ask you guys to wish me luck/give me your votes. ^_~ We're waiting to hear back on what some of the rules are, so please forgive me Twitter and Facebook friends if you see daily status updates about this contest from me. I really would like to win, so I'm trying my hardest. It's only running for about two weeks, though, so hopefully you won't mind putting up with me too much until it's all over. XD
EDITED! This just in. My entry is up! Please to be for voting daily, and getting your friends to vote, too, if you can. XD
Vote For Me Here! I'm entry #269.
See? Cute moose fox and squirrel!