Where The Great Craftdown of 2018 is starting from

I realized this week that my first post should have been my starting point.  If anyone starts following this blog, you would never know why this was a needed year long project and challenge.  Without further ado...  Here is my glorious mess!

Fabric wall and charity project supplies.

I know it is out of control.  It is amazing.  I have been super blessed.  This didn't grow over night. 

Many moons and a few houses ago, my room wasn't nearly this size.  I may do a post down the road that shows the 3 proper craft rooms I have had over the years. 

I started out my married life a few balls of yarn and just enough fabric for my next project.  I actually found crafting that way to be very hard.  If I finished what I was working on at 10 pm, I was up the proverbial creek craft wise. 

When we were a little more stable financially, I started to pick things up that were marked down 75% or more.  It started with a ball here, enough for a sweater there...  When we moved in to our old house on Trenholm Rd, I still really didn't have enough to need more than a Rubbermaid footlocker.

The yarn wall and desks

By the time we moved 4 years ago, I had our sun room filled with yarn, poor organization and worse "work space".  I know that saying "sun room" makes it seem like a large space.  It wasn't.  It was part of an old car port that had been built in.  We couldn't figure out what to do with that space because it wasn't large enough for a twin bed and barely had enough room for the card tables and large filing cabinet I had in there.  But it had GREAT light and was cozy.

We moved in the Spring of 2014 or our Landon rental.  We decided that the best room for the craft room was the front bedroom.  It had a small walk-in closet and fronted the house so I could keep an eye out for company and the mail truck.  This was the first time I really felt that I had a space to work in and store my horde in.  Within a year and a half I had bought better storage.  I inherited one of the L shaped desks I am using now, so for the first time I had a stable surface for things like sewing. 

Over our 3 years at that house; I got the cubes you see in my current room and I found the cutting table that is up in my floor right now on 80% off sale.  I also kept buying- "Just in Case", "Oh, it is 70% off", "Isn't this pretty!"- yarns and fabrics.  It wasn't until a year ago I got into paper or vinyl crafting.  For Christmas 2016, my wonderful, loving and enabling husband bought me a Cricut.

Total Side Note-- over our 13 years of marriage, he has never once commented on my horde.  His philosophy in general is, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."  So as my hording of craft supplies got out of hand, he was right there with me encouraging me to get that clearance of yarn; that going out of business fabric; you might want learn how to do that glass work there; you can never have enough beads....

Back to the vinyl and paper horde growth...  It happened over night...and it didn't stop until January 1st, 2018... well, kind of... So at first it was making decals, playing with faux leather that came in the Mystery Boxes that Cricut offers, cutting some cheap solid card stock I got at Joann's during their post Christmas sale...  As my immediate joy in playing started to slow, and I was getting confidant I knew what I was doing, I found Michael's Hot Buy paper pads...  "This is pretty!", "I have to have 2 of these", "This matches that other card I have"...  You get the point.  So, I spent time trying to figure out what to do with all of these gems that just had to come and live with me...

I found Youtubers like Maymay Helms (she will most likely never see this, but I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!  WILL YOU ADOPT ME!!!!) and Lindsey, the Frugal Crafter who use these beautiful products to create cards.  I saw people like Jess at Jess Crafts using the cutest paper in the world to make make oodles of cards to send and donate...  Let me just tell you, I now own so much Doodlebug it isn't funny and I blame Jess...well and self control...but mostly Jess....

Now, I dove in to card making in 2017.  It started with some simple cut and glue cards from Design Space on Cricut and it just went off from there...  I have boxes of cards now...  I sent out Halloween cards to 30 people, Thanksgiving to around 60 and Christmas to around 90-all handmade.  I loved ever minute of making them and I already have my St. Patrick's Day cards ready to finish off.

Curzon wanted me to make sure you know that he didn't pose for this picture

But not knowing what I was doing in ordering, I would order 3 paper packs when I really only needed 1.  I was getting 2 6x6 Doodlebug pads when I really only needed 1.  This isn't even counting all of the 12x12 pads I got just because I was in love and surely I can make cards out of those too....

I went stupid in 2017.  This was the first time I had a truly new craft to play with in years.  I had no idea what I was doing and what I would really need.  So...  A whole corner of my room is taken over with paper and vinyl.

If I get a follower at some point, I am sure it will come up, I am not going to just go and donate my supplies.  If I find things I don't want or don't want to work with, maybe, but I am not doing a purge.  The point is for me to use what I have bought not just get rid of it.  As of April, 2017, I was still really liking or in love with almost everything that made the move and didn't get donated or given to friends.

Well,  I didn't mean to write a novel today.  I did think I should take a moment to explain why, "The Great Craftdown of 2018" was so necessary.