Dining Room De-Clutter

Well, I’m almost there…….got most of my dining room cleaned out.  We’ve actually eaten supper in there several times, even had one of Jarod’s friends over and were able to eat at the table instead of the bar.  I have to admit it’s nice to be able to sit down in a chair and eat instead of on a bar stool.  Our kitchen bar has been the only place to eat for almost two years (or more).

Here are the “AFTER” photos:

See, we can get to the table!  Look closely & you will see several things still needing to be moved.

Still have a few things to move outside.  There are two huge dictionaries – have no idea what to do with them, and then the red & gray containers house jewelry.  May move the dollhouse to storage also.  That corner is still cluttered with my wicker bag that I take to estate sales (which has sheet protectors & page divider currently housed in it) and two small suitcases with art supplies and stuff that need to be carried to the studio.  I’m going to empty the suitcases and then probably sell them.  The small one though may come in handy if I hold an ATC class at my Art Center.

There was a HUGE pile here, lots of it being reproduced Victorian Scrap & 7 Gypsies stock for my Etsy store, The Creative Closet.

  Still have a roombox to find a place for and the bag is the one I carry to the antique store when I go to restock.  It carries supplies like scissors, pens, paper, hooks, tags, etc.

  Not sure what to do with the mini mannequins.

My (almost) de-cluttered table

Almost done.  What you don’t see is that there are quite a few shoe boxes filled with jewelry between the end of the table and the window.  However, there is a place waiting for them in my studio.  I just haven’t had a chance to haul them out there yet.

I spent five days, all day, working on this.  There was almost a truck load of boxes that came out of this dining room alone.  I couldn’t believe so much “stuff” was in there!

Stay tuned!  My studio was in worse shape and I have another two posts that will deal with that.  Let’s just say four truck loads to storage (counting the dining room) and 1-1/2 for Goodwill with two large trashbags full of trash and another one started!

REMINDER Inaugural Altered Box Swap Deadline

Just a reminder that the deadline to sign up for the AlteredPages-Artsociates Altered Box Swap is fast approaching.  Click HERE for more information.

The signup deadline is Monday, February 20th with the boxes postmarked to me by March 3rd.

If you any questions concerning the swap, please email me at mcgoo4@gmail.com.

The Dining Room Cleanup

Okay, as I mentioned, I’m doing a major cleanup this weekend & there was a disagreement concerning the dining room.  Well, when I got home last night, I changed clothes and got to work.

Warning:  LOTS of junk – If Hoarders sees this, I’m sunk!

BEFORE pictures – sorry, forgot to use the flash on some.

    In Front of my Buffet Corner to the right as you walk in Top of Buffet Yes, this was the table! More stuff 
Need I say anything?

  Another Table View Pool Table in Living Room Just outside Dining Room

Horrible huh?  I swear, the stuff multiplied like bunny rabbits!  Plus, I found things my mother snuck in there that I didn’t know about.  Every time I pulled a chair out, there was something in it.  However, I do have a better grasp on what I have now and it’s GOOD!

This afternoon, in exchange for me paying his entry fee into a 3D bow shoot tomorrow, my son will move all this to the new storage rental. 

Want to see AFTER photos?

  
Top of table now – I have a few things I HAVE to send out tomorrow so they will stay where they are.  See, I can now GET to my china hutch!  Nothing in front of it!

 
The small wood cabinets are headed to storage along with the antique sewing machine (that’s the longer case to the left of the gray bin).  They’ll either be used when I can rent floor space at the antique mall or they will be sold.  The white Priority Mail boxes you see are my stock for my Etsy store, The Creative Closet and will be moved to my studio once it’s organized. I can SEE the floor and the table now!  YIPPEE!

 
This small stack (two paper boxes and some smaller boxes) along with the gray bin is my costume jewelry stock for the shelf space I rent in an antique mall.  No, I haven’t gone through 99% of it and there is more in my spare bedroom & in the dining room by the window.  It too will move to my studio (I refuse to put it in the storage rental).  In fact, my entire business operation will move to my studio.  I have a desk area that I’m setting up for my computer, so this area will also be used to price items for the antique mall and for Etsy.

What I didn’t show is the shoe boxes for all jewelry that is between the end of the dining room table and the window.  They are all stacked up nice and neatly and will reside there until the overhaul is completely done.  I have four tables in my studio.  Once I clean out from under them and move that stuff to storage (a dollhouse still in it’s shipping box and some kits, more antique mall stuff),  the jewelry and the stock for my Etsy store will be placed there.  I do have the shoe boxes with the jewelry labeled.  I know what needs repair or is to be used for projects, which ones contain necklaces, which ones contain brooches & pins, and which contain clip on or screwback earrings.  The only boxes I’m not sure of are two that contain part of my cabinet photo collection.  They need to be filed in binders, but I’m currently out of both binders and the refill pages I need.

I’m not sure about the dollhouse.  It’s needs a re-do and I don’t have time for it now.  I may put it in storage and buy a small corner shelf on which to display my roomboxes to place in that corner – they can barely be seen on top of the buffet in one of the BEFORE pictures.

Okay, NOW I can see why hubby wanted the dining room cleaned up.

THIS all came out of the Dining Room!

 
Yes, this was in that small room!

 
Another view

 
My Goodwill Box

 
What few empty boxes  have left.

Well, now back to work.  A quick shower and then I’m headed out back to the studio to start there.  I have a big, empty, blue bin that should take care of most of the junk on the floor.  Yep, I’m taking pictures there too.  You will be stunned, I promise.

This is what happens when you can’t do anything for almost two years.  The stuff creeps up on you!

Say A Prayer for Me – Major Studio & Dining Room Overhaul

Tonight, I begin a major purge, relocation, de-clutter, & reorganization of both my dining room and my studio. 

Why the dining room you may ask.  Because we can’t get to it.  This past year, it became my base of operation for the antique space I rent.  All business related to that was handled from my dining room table.  However, hubby has said “NO MORE” – the business end must move to my studio & the mess must go. He wants to be able to eat supper at the table (no, we didn’t eat there before all the clutter – it was used to play games & cards).

Here’s the rub.  I had already planned a major purge & de-cluttering of my studio.  Therefore I am taking a long weekend (Friday – Tuesday) to accomplish this goal.  I had a PLAN!  A method by which to attack everything.  Lists were made and re-made, options were mulled over, bits & pieces were purchased, a storage space for excess store stock and other UFPs (unfinished projects) was rented…….it was all PLANNED OUT!

Then hubby sends me a text.  “Dining Room is a Priority”! Hold on! Hit the brakes!  Say WHAT!?!?!

See, to get half the stuff out of the dining room, I have to get my studio organized and de-cluttered.  However, I have promised him to get the other half that can go to storage ready to go tonight.  HE thought I was starting with the Dining Room!  HE never asked me.  HE knows now exactly now how it will all go down (yeah, we reached a compromise, I think).  Needless to say, he’s eating leftovers for supper.

I’m sure there will be quite a bit of racket around my house tonight.  After almost 24 years of marriage, we still don’t work well together.  Both of us are too headstrong and stubborn.  It’s a “my way or else” mentality we both have.  Our son will be fleeing to the safety of his church and Thursday night basketball (I say his church because I attend a different one – different faiths, but I digress).

So…….please say a prayer for me.  This will not be easy.  In fact, I’m sure it will be quite infuriating.  My blood pressure will try and rise (I’m on blood pressure medication thank goodness!) & I’m sure my language will unfortunately suffer a slight deterioration.  The dog and cat will probably go hide (I won’t blame them).

I plan on taking Before and After pictures.  You’ll see what I mean.

New Swap Over at AlteredPages-Artsociates

Please join me for a new swap I am hosting over at the AlteredPages-Artsociates Blog.  We will be altering a box, anywhere from 3-1/8” square up to a 5 x 7 x 1.5.

The theme is Housewives. 

There are so many ways you can go with this theme! 

The deadline to signup is February 20th with your box mailed to me no later than March 3rd. 

Again, please go to the AlteredPages-Artsociates Blog for all the detailed information.

Come join me…..it’s going to be a blast!

Sharing Received ATCs–Be My Valentine Swap

I thought I would share some of the wonderful cards I have been receiving lately.

Recently, I hosted a “Be My Valentine” ATC swap on Milliande. It was the first time I ever hosted a swap.

These are some of the wonderful cards I received:

Awesome ATC by Darcy Nalder

Both of these are from Jackie Nichols – Aren’t they wonderful? Can you believe Jackie just recently began making ATC’s?

By Marie – Just Gorgeous

Beautiful Watercolors ATCs by Ruth Dailey

Do you know what the sweetest part is?  I only had two swap partners.  I received several of these cards (& more - pictures at a later date) as “thank you’s” for hosting the swap.  Can I tell you just how awesome that made me feel?  I was walking on air!

Ladies, it’s YOU that deserve a THANK YOU!  You made my first ever hosted swap a HUGE SUCCESS!

St. Patrick’s Day ATC Swap Cards & a Purple and Red ATC Swap Card

I’m at it again.  This time, I needed to make two St. Patrick’s Day ATCs for a swap I was hosting over on Milliande and a Purple & Red ATC for a swap I was participating in on Creative Souls. 

Don’t you just LOVE deadlines?  Makes me get off my rear-end and DO something (& quit blaming my still-recovering-from-surgery back).  I’m remembering now how much fun I have when I’m busy with creating art (no matter how amateurish) and how RELAXING it is. 

Here are the two cards I made for the St. Patrick’s Day swap.  Let me apologize in advance for all the horrid pictures.  It was overcast this weekend, rainy, & windy, so I took the pictures inside.  BAD IDEA.

These will be finding their way to their new owners tomorrow (forgot I had PT today & didn’t make it to the post office).  I used dots of glue and tons of micro beads on the findings in each of the four corners on the Erin Go Bragh card.  I used my favorite sticky back rhinestones & my new love, Tattered Angels, on the St. Patrick’s Day Greetings card.

Here is the Purple & Red ATC – had a tough time with it.  It will be headed on it’s way to Australia tomorrow also (sorry Kaylene, forgot about the PT).

In the next few days, I will be sharing cards I have received for the Be My Valentine ATC swap I hosted on Milliande.  I have received some awesome cards, both from my swap partners as well as others I was sent as “thank you’s” for hosting the swap.  I am VERY grateful for these kindnesses.   Ladies, you are all a great bunch of people and it’s a pleasure to host those swaps for you!

Until later……………….

Call for Miniature Donations–for a Worthy Cause

I received this message through my MiniDolls group.  Please read below for information on donating miniature items for a roombox to be placed at Kettering Medical Center for the enjoyment of all the patients.  Let’s help bring a little joy into the lives of serious ill patients.  Size is 1/12th Scale.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lora is a lovely lady working on an act of kindness and generosity of her own.  She is creating an oversized room box for all the patients, old, young, tall or short, large and small to enjoy.  Did I mention Lora is battling Cancer and a patient at Kettering Medical Center herself ?  She is creating this room box to be displayed in the foyer of the hospital, to share with all the patients and visitors to  bring joy and smiles for all who pass.

The oversized roombox will feature two bakeries, one for adults, and one for children.  There will be Bistro tables and bakery counters.  Everything you would think of in a bakery, from baked goods  and coffee to an eccentric customer or two will be needed.

Would you contribute to this project, too?  My thoughts are baked goods, bad girls and boys, and a sweetheart or two.  Wouldn’t a small floral arrangement on the tables be nice?  Perhaps a dog, chasing a cat, chasing a mouse would bring a smile or a laugh.  What can you think of to bring a smile to the viewers? 

There is a deadline, July 15.  Please send your small (pun intended) contribution to Lora personally.  Her address: 

                       Lora Ruffner
                       1388 Berkshire Drive
                       Xenia, OH 45385

Here is a list of some of the items needed:

Bakery and Store Furnishings
*Silverware/Goldware and serving pieces, tongs, cake servers, spoons.
*Coffee/Latte Cups (& Mugs)
*Square & Rectangular Bakery Boards
*Bistro/Cafe Tables (3)
*Bistro-Style Chairs
*Shop/Bakery Bags.  We need at least 10 in either plain white, or pastel pink or pale green. They just need to be handmade, no writing required as we have sheets of the logos in stickers and rub on forms to add to the plain bags. 

Bakery Food Items
(No donuts please, we have plenty of these items.)
*Pies
*Bars
* CAKES (lots) triple layer, extra large, and sheet cakes. 
Birthday, Anniversary, Graduation
* MORE cupcakes
* Specialty items like Baklava, Éclairs, Cream Puffs, Cake Rolls, etc.
* And Holiday Specialties (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Jewish Holidays, New Year, St. Patrick’s, other you can think of)

* Dolls (employees & patrons)
(All dolls are contemporary 1/12th scale porcelain or polymer clay.  No resin dolls, please.) 
We currently have a girl and a boy toddler for our children.
*Two more children
*An employee (male or female) for the children’s side
*Cashier (male or female)
* One or two more patrons (At least two created in sitting positions for bistro tables) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you all who decide to donate.  It will be greatly appreciated and is for a very worthy cause.