Craft Room Cleaning Fairies?

[piecesandpom]

I've spent three hours cleaning my craft area and I'm still not done. It has to get done because the girls need the table for their school projects; I need to get swaps and craft fair items done. I found some small scraps from Easter projects there! ! ! :blush:

I found that the best thing I could do with some of my recent purchases was leave them in the plastic bags the vendors sent the order in; my wheels have been unmounted and I still don't have enough space. . .the wood-mounted sets are endangered. Ribbons and fibers went in qt size clear baggies so I could store my punches better. I really need to find a cabinet that will fit under our older window sill height, especially since my cat likes to be able to view the world from that window.

Twenty more minutes should do it - but I'm still running laundry, just finishing dinner and running out of steam.

Does anyone know any really kind, caring cleaning stamp craft fairies or brownies? Please send them here. I'll need them to return in November before Turkey Day so I can entertain family for pies. . .:lol:

[Inky Whiskers]

I'm with Karen!!! If anybody finds the number for the Faerie Craft Clean Up Service (or their subsidiary Brownie Organizational Consulting Services, INC), PLEASE post it here!

I try to tidy up at least a couple of times a month & ideally I try to clean up after I finish a project & before I start another, but we all know how it really goes...we'd rather stamp than clean! :))

Kudos to you, Karen for making the effort to find the table & sacrificing precious crafting time to do this for your kids education! :clap:

[stampin stacy]

Everytime I clean, next time I don't know where anything is!:noway:

[alsmouse]

I'm with Karen!!! If anybody finds the number for the Faerie Craft Clean Up Service (or their subsidiary Brownie Organizational Consulting Services, INC), PLEASE post it here!
Yes, please post the contact information of both services. I have the direct line to the headquarters of I.M.P.S.(Impossible Mess Projection Services), who do regular visits. I'm starting to believe that Tucker is calling in their services while I am at work. But every time I ask him about it, he won't rat them out.:)) ~C8>

[Inky Whiskers]

I'm starting to believe that Tucker is calling in their services while I am at work. But every time I ask him about it, he won't rat them out.:)) ~C8>


Maybe Tucker is "helping" by tiding up while you're at work & is too modest to take credit for his efforts. :))

[piecesandpom]

Well, of course I've now messed up the clean space with papers for altering composition notebooks!

[Inky Whiskers]

Well, of course I've now messed up the clean space with papers for altering composition notebooks!

:)) You tried!!!

I'd rather be stamping in clutter than bored in a spotless house anyway. :D

[alsmouse]

Maybe Tucker is "helping" by tiding up while you're at work & is too modest to take credit for his efforts. :))

I guess my definition of helping and his, then vastly differ. He does like to help me create. Usually by grabbing the paper I'm working on & trying to drag it away from me at a critical moment. :swear: But somtimes I must admit there are some interesting effects when he does that or spills something on my project. I just don't want him to get the idea that he can use the same project as me. I'd rather give him his own items to create with. I still haven't sent the craft stick challange that he helped me with. I'm glad distressed is a popular look now. :D ~C8>

[Inky Whiskers]

I'm glad distressed is a popular look now. :D ~C8>

:)) :)) :)) I can totally envision a lovely stamped craft stick project with lil teeth marks all around the edges and lil chocolate rat paw prints liberally tracked across all your careful stamping & coloring!

P.S. It funnier than skiditch to think about, but I know the frustration of discovering that somebody "helped" when you weren't looking. I found Opus sleeping in my good card stock scrap crate yesterday am. This isn't just a box where I toss left over bits. I have each SU! color family in it's own gallon zip bag with each color in it's own sandwich bag inside the appropriate big bag. I start with the scraps when making cards rather than cutting up whole sheets to begin. So having my oldest cat, who dang well knows better, smooshing all my scraps into a comfy nest for his fat cat butt didn't exactly start my day well. :LOL: After chewing him out, he decided that my recycled copy paper box (I use this paper under my stamping & to stamp off extra ink before cleaning my stamps.) makes a safer nest. He's right. I don't care if he smooshes & drools all over that paper as it can go straight to the recycle bin if it gets icky. Gotta love them furry people! :D

[Margaret J.]

My sister offered to clean my brother's house but I think she was making that up. If she wants to clean I'm just down the road, she doesn't have to go half-way across the country!
Margaret J.

[Purnima]

I'm with Stacy... Still trying to find some of my things after cleaning up 6 months ago! I think I had gremlins instead of fairies! At least I still know my Christmas and holiday ribbons are in the soup kettle on top of the fridge... <grin>...
hugs
Purnima

[stampin stacy]

Yep definitely gremlins at my house, they even steal things while I'm at my desk working. I set something down, go to pick it up again a few minutes later and poof it's vanished. Mischievous lil devils those gremlins are I tell ya!

[piecesandpom]

Well, one of the cleaned drawers doesn't slide all the way in. The bags of ribbon on top of the punches don't quite fit! Maybe we need 'magic' storage that expands on its own to accomodate what we want to fit in these spaces. . .I only need a 1/2 inch or so more!;) I finished the desk and hutch myself just last summer. How did it get so out of control?

So far 'Pieces,' short for Caprice, hasn't pounced on the paper for the altered notebooks. Work is definitely getting in the way of my crafting time.:cry: As folks are probably finding out from the swaps, it's rare that I can get a project done without Persian or pomeranian hair in it. My youngest decided to get her own lint roller so she isn't taking a pillow-ful of fur to school!

[ArtKar]

I keep my studio door closed at all times to keep out my cats & dogs.

My basenj Joey is quite artistic, though. He "helped" me with many projects for art school, including offering his critique by destroying one project the night before it was due!!

If anyone tracks down those imps/brownies/whatever. . .I need the secret to keeping my space nea & organized. I actually enjoy straightening it up, but it never stays that way for more than a week. Maybe if I let the animals in more often. . .

[alsmouse]

My basenj Joey is quite artistic, though. He "helped" me with many projects for art school, including offering his critique by destroying one project the night before it was due!!

If anyone tracks down those imps/brownies/whatever. . .I need the secret to keeping my space nea & organized. I actually enjoy straightening it up, but it never stays that way for more than a week. Maybe if I let the animals in more often. . .

Yes, I agree. Our Fuzzy Families are quite "helpful". I still think that Tucker is inviting the imps over to let me know that he wants more mom time & less art time directed to him. I've tried to train other of Tucker's ilk to help keep the space neat but they only learned to take the paper or brushes and stash it in an impossible to reach location under the largest piece of furniture in the house. When I moved from my last place I found a pile of my missing art & a neatly nibbled handful of ex paintbrushes. Silly Roos!~C8>

[j3annin3]

I just finished favors for a largish wedding (125 finished, filled and wrapped, which means that i actually made close to 150 to allow for mistakes and accidents :o). Walking through the door as i got back from delivering them, i thought "Oh! the inhumanity!" I was standing in a startling mess. I've been working on them for a couple of weeks now and hadn't noticed. I don't know how i could have not noticed, really, it looks like King Kong picked up my work room and shook it like a snow globe- it must have have been some sort of industrial strenght tunnel vision. There are so many things on the floor and out of place that i can't quite believe that i alone did all this :shock: It's awesomely a mess!, There is not one single surface that doesn't have something piled on it and something under that......At least all the ink pads are closed and up side down. I hope my brushes are clean. I'm a bit scared to go and look, (I was using H2O's to fill in the flowers.) I usually clean my stamps as i go, so they should be alright.... but OH MY! It's going to take me quite awhile to get it all back ("BACK I SAY!") into cupboards and drawers, maybe i need a whip and a chair?

Still, listenning to you all that have said that your work areas are not picture perfect and magazine ready, i feel a little bit better about my wind tossed workroom. Thank you. Like you ArtKar, i enjoy cleaning up the stuff i use, mostly- though it is easy to be distracted by them. Like peicesandpom, i'm playing catch-up and keep-up...working at getting it all done. And like Inky Wiskers, i'd rather stamp in clutter than not stamp at all, and like the rest of us i'm a happy camper just to know where i put the most of my paraphernalia. It's good to be here! When i'm all by myself -i'm just messy, but when i'm here....i'm just another crafter.

I do wonder about crafters and how we prioritize, - focus our energy onto and into the world. How about the rest of you, do you suddenly wake up from a project and discover that while you thought it was about 8pm, it is actually after midnight? While you are having tomatoe soup do you wonder what would happen to the lovely red/orange if you used it as 'paint'? Do you have a box of stuff that might be 'trash' but is really just too something to toss? ( I have to hide mine, some people are no longer willing to tolerate this part of my silliness :blush:) And finally if the cleaning browies did come and tidy up would you feel (however slightly) put out of sync with your work space?

[alsmouse]

It's going to take me quite awhile to get it all back ("BACK I SAY!") into cupboards and drawers, maybe i need a whip and a chair?
Itried the whip & chair concept. It doesn't work anything like the wand did in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

And like Inky Wiskers, i'd rather stamp in clutter than not stamp at all, and like the rest of us i'm a happy camper just to know where i put the most of my paraphernalia. It's good to be here! When i'm all by myself -i'm just messy, but when i'm here....i'm just another crafter.
I can honestly say that I'm glad you all can't see thru the moniter. A dear friend who was trying to be sweet called me a "clutter bug". I'll take that moniker. It's better than some other choices.

I do wonder about crafters and how we prioritize, - focus our energy onto and into the world. How about the rest of you, do you suddenly wake up from a project and discover that while you thought it was about 8pm, it is actually after midnight? While you are having tomatoe soup do you wonder what would happen to the lovely red/orange if you used it as 'paint'? Do you have a box of stuff that might be 'trash' but is really just too something to toss? ( I have to hide mine, some people are no longer willing to tolerate this part of my silliness :blush:) And finally if the cleaning browies did come and tidy up would you feel (however slightly) put out of sync with your work space?
OK, new question for all to respond. How do we prioritize, - focus our energy onto and into the world? Please list your crafting priority listing, highest to lowest in your needs to be creativily fulfilled. What gives you the most contentment in your creative process? ~C8>