Paper, Paper, Paper for the Paper Fanatic in Me

I admit it - I am a paper freak. So I just had to pass along - if you have a Hobby Lobby near you, you need to check out the paper sale this week. 8/$1.00 for all 8 1/2 x 11" paper and 6/$1.00 for all 12 x 12" paper. I went in for cardstock - one 8 1/2 x 11" sheet makes 2 cards. And I did get cardstock. But then I noticed some of the new patterned scrapbook papers they had in and I was like a kid in a candy store. In the past I've never been too impressed with their paper selection, but they have a lot of new, great papers. They had both Wild Asparagus & kaleidoscope in text-weight papers. Up to now I had only seen them in heavy cardstock weight - and at around $1.00/sheet a bit pricey.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

OK, so my creating days are going to be limited in the near future - not because of work (ok, so a little bit because of work) or lack of interest but rather lack of space! My storage space is so limited that my storage starts spilling over into my 'creating' space. It is hard to get anything done in a one foot square space! I am not the neatest person in the world, and sometimes I feel that if everything is put away, then I won't see it and think to use it. But then I realized that if an item is out but covered by layers of other stuff, it is just as truly 'out of sight, out of mind' as if it was tucked away in a drawer - maybe even more so since I often don't have a clue as to where it is or how to dig down to it!

Every so often I get tired of all the clutter and undertake a massive cleanup. One good think about me is that when I do de-clutter, I don't just move piles from one place or room to another. If I'm going to spend the time, I want to find/make a permanent home for everything. Also, when I'm in that mode I'm pretty ruthless about getting rid of things that I no longer need/want.

But now more drastic measures are called for. Hopefully sometime in the not too distant future we'll be adding on a garage with a room above for both my office & craft room. But if I wait until that happens I'll be out of the crafting game for months! So it's time to work with what I have. The small spare bedroom that my craft space lives in has a very small, very awkwardly shaped closet. I have boxes and other stuff piled on the floor up to eye level, then more stuff piled on the two precarious shelves above. Right now it's almost impossible to get to anything in there. So a closet makeover is in order! And I'm going to do it right - that means spackling and painting before installing nice white laminate shelving. DIY here I come!

Breaking thru the Creative Block

While I love to stamp & create, I often find myself with a fear of starting a project. Maybe I don't have a clear idea of what I want to do, or I think I don't have a large enough block of time to work, or I really need to clean up my work area. I am trying to come up with ways to get past the block and spend time doing what I love instead of procrastinating! I thought I'd share some of that with you in a sort of diary format - maybe that will help me discover the processes that work for me in overcoming my creative block.

Last night I had the whole evening in front of me. Mike was out with the guys, so once I had dinner and walked the dog, the evening was mine. But where to start! My work area was a mess and I didn't know what to work on. So I pulled out a magazine (Stampington Take Ten in this case) - and starting at the back I looked over samples I had previously marked as being of interest. Some I rejected as being too involved from a time standpoint. But soon I found a simple idea I wanted to try - stamping images on patterned paper. I had recently created some cards using a stamp I'd had for a while but hadn't used. I thought that image would be a good one to start with. So then it was time to look thru my papers. In order to prevent becoming overwhelmed (I love papers and have a large supply), I limited myself to my 'scrap' paper stash - any papers that have been used or cut and are no longer 12 x 12. I found some papers I thought would work and started stamping. I decided not to put any pressure on myself to actually finish anything - just play around with the stamps and paper to find some combinations I liked. I could come back another night to work on finished projects.

All in all I was pleased with my progress last night. I didn't turn out any finished projects, but at least I did something! I'll post again with finished projects from this 'experiment', along with photos of the process along the way.