Month: January 2019

Streamlining update and a crafty challenge

As I mentioned in my last post I decided that this was going to be the year of streamlining for me, not a new years resolution as such but more of a long term goal to get things in order to make my life easier. The first thing to be streamlined was my clothes. Now, I’m not one to massively hoard things (except maybe craft stuff but we’ll get to that!) and my drawers and wardrobe weren’t over flowing but things were stuffed into drawers and weren’t as organised as I would have liked. The last few days of the holidays before going back to work were spent sorting and arranging and I am sooo pleased with the result.

This is my new and improved t-shirt drawer and I love it! No more rummaging through a pile of t-shirts to find the one I want. All of my clothes drawers have had the same treatment and all of the shelves in my wardrobe too. It makes life so much simpler choosing clothes in the mornings. Little Miss saw me sorting and arranging my drawers and declared that she wanted hers doing too. She helped me to fold and arrange all of her clothes in her drawers and proudly showed her big brother when he came around to visit. Mr O has since followed suit and rearranged all his drawers too. It really does make me happy seeing things so neat and easy to access.

After the clothes came all of the cupboards and drawers,in the living room, kitchen and hallway. In each of these places we had a sh*t drawer, you know the ones, the ‘open up and shove it in there if you’re not sure where it should belong’ drawers. Well, we no longer have such drawers. All drawers are sorted and organised. I do, however, still have a large carrier bag of bits from said drawers that I still haven’t got round to finding homes for but one things for certain, it will not be going back in those drawers.

Next on the agenda was the craft room. As my stepson moved out a little while ago, Mr O kindly suggested that I could move my craft room from the craft/spare room up into the very spacious loft room upstairs! To say I jumped at the chance was an understatement! Mr O spent a couple of his precious holidays days painting the room and assembling furniture for me and I began the dreaded sorting and moving of craft stuff. Now, I knew I had a lot of craft stuff but pulling it all out of its various hidey holes and moving it all up into the attic room did open up my eyes as to just how much stuff I’ve actually got. I underestimated how much storage furniture I would need and so will need to make another trip to Ikea in the next couple of weeks (much to Mr O’s delight!) before I can completely finish and share pictures of it.

Upon realising just how much stuff I do have and locating wips that I’d almost forgotten about, I decided to set myself a crafty challenge to make no craft purchases for the whole of 2019. That means no wool, no material, no card making supplies. The only things I will allow myself to buy are bias binding for any bunting that I make as I don’t keep any of that in, and sewing machine thread. It really shouldn’t be too difficult as I do have a lot of stuff to keep me going:

3 zenbroidery pictures I was given at Christmas

My huge stash of embroidery threads (I kept finding these in various boxes and really didn’t realise how much I had until I put it all together in my new (for Christmas) sewing box.

This isn’t even half of the material I have, which I’ve been intending to make into bags or bunting for such a long time.

These wool kits had been sat in a trunk for a good few years, patiently waiting to be unearthed and used to create something beautiful.

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg. Once the craft room (or should I say studio!) is finished I will show more photos but already my mind is feeling so much clearer from sorting through it all, seeing exactly what I do have and having it all much more easily accessible.

I’m really excited about seeing what beautiful things I can make out of the resources that I already have, not to mention having a dedicated room in which to do it. This year is going to be very a exciting one for me craft wise, I can feel it!

Karen x x

 

New Year Reflections

Happy New Year to you all, I sincerely hope that you have had a great time this Christmas celebrating with family and friends and that it was topped off with a smooth ‘slide’ into 2019.

As for a lot of people, the start of a new year finds me in a reflective mood and thinking back over the past year.

2018 wasn’t a bad year for us a family in a lot of ways. There were lots of good times, including holidays, visits from extended family and friends, good health and lots of time spent together as a family. One of the highlights for me has been in watching Little Miss continue to blossom into a quirky, funny, often cheeky but very fun and loveable 5 year old.

Whilst there were lots of good times, like any year, 2018 had its ups and downs. In February I came off the antidepressants I had been on for over a year and with the help of exercise, yoga, meditation and positive thinking (wherever and whenever possible!!) I continue to be antidepressant free. Although no longer reliant on the ‘happy pills’ I am not afraid to admit that I still struggle on a regular basis. I have learned that my brain can no longer cope with multitasking and I get stressed very easily, even by the silliest of things. All it takes is a few minor things to go wrong or for someone to tell me of something else I should have done or need to do and I begin to feel as if I have the weight of the world on my shoulders or an insurmountable mountain to climb. In reality all I need to do is focus on one thing at a time and block out all the other things that can wait or are of less importance. With November and December being such busy months both at work and at home in preparation for Christmas, with the addition of the dark nights drawing in, things did get on top of me, hence the lack of blog posts. I just kept plodding on, one day at a time, working my way through things that needed doing and clinging on to the knowledge that with Christmas comes time with family and time to recharge the batteries.

Over the Christmas period with time to reflect, I got to thinking about how I could make life easier and more pleasurable (for both me and my family…a stressed and anxious Karen is a very snappy and uptight Karen who takes things out on her nearest and dearest) and so that I experience less of these times where I feel as though I am hurtling from one thing to another without time to breathe and without ever truly being ‘in the moment.’

The word that came to me was ‘streamlining.’ I feel that I need to make my life more streamlined, to strip away things that burden me. So for me 2019 is going to be all about streamlining. I’m not sure exactly where this is going to take me but I’m going to start with looking at my finances, possessions and how I spend my time. The first thing I am going to look at is my crafty stuff. At the moment we are in the process of decorating the attic room, which, up until November was my stepsons room but since he has moved out is to become my new craft room or as I like to call it, due to its size… my craft ‘studio.’ Every box that goes into the craft studio is going to be sorted through and anything that I’m not likely to make use of is going to be disposed of or given away. No longer will I keep on to anything ‘just in case’ or simply because someone gave it to me. I will try to keep you posted with regular updates of my streamlining and of course will show you the craft studio once its all up and running.

 

Wish me luck

 

Karen x x