Decluttering the Craft Room Part 3 - Books for Collage & Musty Drawers! 

Hi lilly! It is not only declutter but also a walk back to memory lane……beautiful….in every tear that shines there is a smile of memory. 🫶

this is really satisfying, watched and enjoyed till the end ☺☺

Maybe you can do a fun monthly collage challenge and pick 2 or 3 of your books to create with? :) The illustrations and photos are beautiful, I can see why you picked and kept them! I'd love to watch some videos of you creating something! :)

Well done. Sometimes we need to do this too. It is also a kind of therapy. 💖🐞🇨🇦

Aww Lily, you seem disheartened. Some never even have the courage to open the cupboard! Let alone sort through their stuff, and willingly evoke memories and feelings, traumas, etc. Please try to remember that this is an act of bravery and you are doing this for yourself and to reclaim your creative space. ❤

Hi Twin don't try to rush one step at a time, funny I think we all have hobbies etc that connects us to people who have passed or some trauma happened in our life's but it does pass when we connect with the stuff again and we are able to let it go. You will find your path and hobbies you want to keep in your life it just takes time. I sold all my fountain pens asked son if he wanted them short swift NO so all sold Yay! so freeing (think we keep stuff hoping to pass it on to the kids) only to find they don't want it when asked!!!! Keep going you will get there your doing great, love and hugs ( your right we do both go deep ) lol xx 🤗😘

Sending down loads of Scottish bosies 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 I have a short sleeved, Summer cardigan that I had started knitting when my Dad was ill. It’s still in my knitting bag, there’s not much left to finish it, but………😢 I hope you are getting a chance to enjoy your time off 😊

I don’t do collage but even I’m getting inspired by some of those books ❤❤

Aaaah, sorry, x x I used to card make when my dad was ill, I can't make myself do now really, but like you I have loads of stuff for it. ( Including a Craft Robo !😁, I do still use it for stuff for school sometimes, great little machine) I find letting anything go pretty tough, so you are doing better than me. I'm dont do collage, but I think I'd take out the pages that have something you still like/might use and just keep those bits, then at least you have a pile of loved pages, and thin down the space they use. I've still have a lot of "craft stamper" magazines and cloth paper scissors magazines, I can't make myself let them go, but they do take up so much space! Enjoy your break, xx

Hahaha Naughty Artex box hahahah I have 4 sets of 6 rainbow draws from B&Q to store all my craft things .I have a7 journal and paper from Amazon stickers and washi tape from Amazon. Home Bragins and the Range. However my want monster , wants pencils for hundreds of Pounds water color , Panpastels and more. It is very hard ,as I have limited space and small area . Also I am going to be 49 next year …I understand your internal struggle and turmoil …with crafts and memories xxx Happy declutter and happy coloring xxxx 🥰❤

I think that sitting cutting out the bits you like while watching something on the TV or RU-vid is a good way to start. Then, organize your cut-out bits into categories. Label your categories. It will make it more fun when you have crafting time. Have your area all set for the therapy crafting! 🎨 Life is challenging. Therapy will be needed! 🥰

I have stuff from over 50 years of hobbies; crewel, cross stitch, thread crochet, yarn crochet, wood burning, beading, colored pencils and adult coloring, watercolors (tons!!!) fountain pens, inks, brush pens, acrylic paints and canvases, wax resist, plus files of articles about all of the above plus animals, health, yoga… Ugh. Then my mom died and I emptied her house for sale and added my great grandmother’s, my grandmother’s and my mother’s stuff and tried to figure out what to keep. then my mom died in 2021 and I realized I don’t need anything. So my life has been about how to get rid of all the stuff well. I feel I’ve been decluttering for 20 years and the stuff is still getting in the way of living the life I want. Oh yes, essential oils and accessories for making lip balm and bath sugars and what not. 8 unfinished rough novel drafts… I get the purging of the soul! ❤

Hi Lily, my late dad spent hours pouring over that AA book of the road maps, to plan our family holiday/points of interest along the way, then he’d write down his planned route on paper, with all the places of interest in red, thank you for the memory.

You need an cordian style file and keep your papers in colour order. Only keep one and just re stock when you start running out… you can make you own collage papers yourself with you acrylic paint on copy paper… just an idea ❤

I do want to sort that cupboard, I love organising!! I really enjoy watching your videos. You are doing so well. Do you have any watercolour stuff you don't want/need anymore?

A big hug to you Lily ❤ keep going girl, you need to work through this and sort it all out once and for all….and I don’t just mean the “stuffs” 😉 I’m here if you want to talk anything through, Jackie

Lily, you need to retire so that you have the time to enjoy all your 'stuffs'. I don't want to be maudlin but my sister worked until she was 70 so that she could still afford to buy new 'stuffs' after retirement. She passed away barely 2 years later and you saw all the 'stuffs' I had to sort through! Hope your much needed break is helping 🥰

Lily ❤❤, I feel sad for you, I’m back into an acrylic phase, after saying I wouldn’t do it again after my Mary quant gcse dress made of handprints (I made them all). Life is hard and we tie emotions to things. Firstly opening the door is the starting point, looking inside is next and so on. My point is baby steps, and whilst it may seem counter intuitive do t rush to bin regime and discard things as that can create new trauma, amplifying the old if you think oh 💩 I really should have kept that pen, book, paint, art. You are doing well sorting I’ve spent a year nearly two now doing the same as people very politely were calling me a hoarder, and saying my house was dirty. It wasn’t untidy yes in parts but still fully functional, however I digress, (I even had a to be composted pile, cardboard etc for my gardening hobby). Whilst it was a mess and got worse as I sorted everything actually had a purpose I.e. some things just needed to go through the shredder before being discarded, so I piled as you are, set some boundaries I.e. the composting pile had to be kept in an overflow bin near the composting not in my hobby space indoors and began, finally this year a whole new shredder later I know only have shredding that comes in no backlog the overflow composting bin is empty to the point I have to find thins to compost my alcohol markers are out and stored in my main accessible colouring space, and thus used and enjoyed, not as much as I’d like but that’s life. Most importantly I think before I buy, try some second hand supplies first if it’s something I haven’t got, discard more effectively and realistically as I know what I’ll get to. Most importantly I’m happy with what I have even if the art room still needs work and probably always will. Even more so for me as people were helping initially but I couldn’t keep track and got frustrated as I couldn’t find things, some very expensive alcohol inks nearly ended up in the bin, as my pa thought they were recycling 😂😂, I’m happy and unburdened by what has gone and not anxious about the fact of has something important been binned, will I miss it as I made the admittedly slower, longer and physically harder choice on my own to let things go or sort as I intended when I started the pile. Therefore I was confident in my choices whilst reclaiming those original aspirations. The point to my ramble is I get it keep going, but once a small pile is sorted, maybe even some easy discards, packaging etc, take that as a win, and take your next scheduled sort as true pleasure time maybe a small collage with what you have within reach, to see if the process both brings joy and makes new memories to treasure. Life is for living not sorting, whilst I wouldn’t dream of dislodging your original objective, enjoy the process as well as participate and completing it ❤️❤️.

I bought a A4-ish folder with plastic pockets and organised it into categories: buildings, people, space, etc. I've noticed that I tend to accumulate 'stuff' very fast and then never use it. Still looking for sheets of rub-on/transfer numbers and letters. Back in the 80s, I used them to create my own video covers, but I can't find them anymore!

I’m sure that Arrtx box hid inside that cupboard just to wind you up! 🤣 Well done for making a start on that cupboard. I have 7 kallax boxes of cross stitch magazines to go through…. maybe I’ll make my start next year.😳 I’m not a collage person but I’d read every single one of your beautiful books. Sending hugs to you, it’s been 13 years for my mum and the grief still hits me at times. x