Big Clean Up!

A couple of weekends ago (man, has it been that long already!) my upline, Angela, had a cyberstamp/crop on her demonstrator forum for us all. We had an awesome time chatting, and Jayne set some GREAT challenges for everyone. I've been in a bit of a slump creative-wise for quite some time now, and that had extended over to most aspects of my life, culminating in a HUMUNGO mess in my craft area - so I didn't even have a place that was conducive to stamping, let alone actually THINK of something to do.

One of Jayne's challenges was to put 5 things away from your craft desk...when I complained that that wouldn't even touch the surface, she set me the personal challenge of cleaning stuff up every 15 minutes! I couldn't do that that night (due to a whingy child!), but the next day I got inspired.....

I'm about to post some pics of the mess before - if absolute chaos and disorder bothers you - *PLEASE DON'T LOOK*.... I'm really not kidding on this.... it's SHOCKING!!!!



This is the overall view of the desk.....close ups to follow..... note that the chair can't even be gotten at due to the stuff directly behind it - yes I LIKE to work standing up! LOL


This is the middle of the desk - directly to the right of where I sit, and things just get shoved to here..... and moved along....



.... to here! Until they fall onto the floor or the piles get so big they topple over LOL! Wait until you see the floor!


Yep - this is the desk and floor - where the heck did all those boxes come from????


This is a close up of the little area I had left to work on - and people wonder why I don't scrap very much! LOL! Can't fit a 12x12 sheet on there!


Yep its ALL a mess, I couldn't even close the cupboard doors due to all the stuff piled on the floor in front of them..... let alone IN them.....

Phew - now you see why FIVE things wasn't going to make a difference LOL! How embarrassing actually showing you all that...but it DOES get better - I promise!

The next day I got very very motivated (first time in ages actually) and went and took Jayne's challenge and tidied...... and tidied..... and tidied some more....


First thing I did was find these racks from IKEA that had been sitting there for 3 months - well I got the drill and screws out and mounted them - and popped all my SU! inks in them. That cleared out one of the drawers inside the cupboard so I was able to close the drawer....and then tidied all the "stuff" down there so the cupboard doors could close! Made a HUGE difference and inspired me to keep going!


This is as good as it gets people! Took most of the day - but I actually got it done...... found some more containers while I was cleaning so some supplies got a bit more organised while I was going too!


This is now the right end of the desk....... much better - I even found the sewing machine cover!


This is where the sewing machine cover was hiding - along with the rest of the CRAP that was there - found homes for everything, and even vacc'd the rug!!!! The boxes that are left down there are 12x12 kits and Urban Lily and Chatterbox patterned papers (my favs), and the box on top holds all the different size tins that I bought and never did anything with.... that changed the very next weekend!!!

Hmmmmm, so now you've seen my dirty little secret - LOL! I really do owe a big THANKS to Jayne for giving me the motivation to get this done - it has made a HUGE difference to how I feel, and has even gotten me playing again.....