Organization Level: 1

Much to D’s chagrin, I have always been a bit behind the times. I don’t have an iPhone, I play video games on my PlayStation2, and I refuse to get a Kindle. (Yes, I know they are more convenient and  blah blah, but you’ll never convince me to give up the smell of the ink and the feel of the pages! Plus I’ve always dreamt of building my own library ala Beauty and the Beast…*sigh* someday!)

So it was kicking and screaming that D forced me to upgrade my craft organization. I had a system-boxes. Lots and lots of old, falling apart cardboard boxes that swallowed up my supplies and were a pain in the @ss to move. But it was functional enough.

Then Target had a back-to-college sale, featuring all sorts of drawers, cubbies, bags, shelves, pillows, blankets, movies, 60″ TVs, Xboxes, ATV’s, etc etc. You know, the typical essentials for all American college students. On the front page of the circular, down in the right hand corner, was a picture of a rolling 3-drawer organizer on sale for $10. I had to have it-according to D.

“Nah, I got my boxes! They work,” I said.

“…” he replied.

“They work enough…” I countered.

“We’re going.”

So with that, we headed to Target where we proceeded to intellectually argue how many were required. I opened with,“oh, probably just one. I don’t have that much stuff. Won’t even fill it!”

“You’ll need at least two, maybe three. You have stuff everywhere,” was his rebuttal.

“Not EVERYwhere…just, you know, the corner of the apartment!”

“Marella, work with me!”

“Well…do you think they’d let us purchase one and a half?”

“…? What?”

So we settled on two; 50% more than I thought I needed, 33% less than D voted for. It was less a compromise and more a thats-all-Target-has-left-in-stock situation, but it seemed fair at the time.

So we trucked them home and I set to work reorganizing all of my supplies. A drawer for Christmas stuff, another for fall things, then beads and charms and whatnot…oh, that’s the first one filled. Ok, well on to number two! A drawer for essential supplies, and one for birds and bells and buttons, and one for small flowers and another for…uh-oh.

Yes, he was right, I have a LOT of supplies. I still have bags of large flowers and the wreaths themselves are still in a cardboard box. But the bulk of the supplies are organized!And what’s more, I LOVE them! Its so nice to have all of my supplies right there, easy to see and access whenever I wish. And they roll!! Don’t feel like crafting in the living room? Okidoki, roll into the bedroom! No more lugging heavy boxes back and forth. Lately I’ve simply been rolling them around the apartment for no reason, just because I can!

Someday, I hope, I will have an entire room-or at least a large corner-where I can spread out my supplies. Tons of shelves and drawers and cubbies to put things in, and an entire wall of finished wreaths waiting to be sent to their new homes! And one corner with great light that I can stage for photo shoots. Knowing me, though, I’ll still roll and lug all my supplies into the living room and craft there while D plays his Xbox on his 40″ TV!

A Few of My Favorite Things

While I do enjoy rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens, wet flowers don’t rank high on my list of favorites. And D is highly allergic to cats, so kittens with or without whiskers are out of the question.
I must be completely honest with you-the following list doesn’t comprise my entire area of interests. I enjoy things outside of crafting such as baseball, movies, classic literature, puppies, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Nevertheless, these ARE some of my favorite things for one of my favorite activities. And since this is my blog, I will tell you why!

1. Birds
Craft birds add an element of realistic nature without the creepy aspect of taxidermy. In my opinion, dead animals are not art. They are food for omnivores. Craft birds are brightly colored, come in different sizes and if you listen really carefully after hitting your head against the freezer door, they sing! It’s like having a tiny feathered friend, right on your wall! Essentially, they make me happy and I like to put happy things in my designs.

2. Bells

Jingle bells. Jangle bells. Liberty bells. Silver bells. School bells. Glockenspiels! The tingly sound of all sorts of bells are like the sweet sound of laughing angels, usually warning of some sort of impending disaster or alerting people of your demands. Tingle sounds, angels, disasters, demands-all wonderful things for life and wreaths!

3. Sea Shells

I must tell you a secret-I do not really enjoy the beach. To be fair, the only beaches I have been to are the Oregon beach (very cold, buggy and sandy) and Coney Island (very cold, buggy and sandy). In all, one could say they are not my favorite places on Earth. But I DO enjoy sea shells-the natural colors and patterns are gorgeous, and playing with natural elements is a fun challenge, all for the low price of $3.99 at my local craft store. So, I can have the beauty of shells and avoid the cold, buggy and sandy mess all together!

4. Holiday Ornaments
Who isn’t tired of the holiday pine wreaths with just pine cones and a big holiday red bow? Holiday ornaments add a festive touch to the holiday wreath, making the holiday so much more fun! Not quite as fun as Christmas or Chanukah or Kwanza. But holiday is very fun in a generic sense, too!
 
5. Charms
Charms are for more than just bracelets and necklaces. They are tiny, pretty things that enhance the beauty of whatever surrounds them. Which is why women enjoy them-tiny, pretty beauty enhancers rate above flowers and right below expensive champagne. Seeings how I am a woman by conventional definitions, I very much enjoy using them in my wreaths! And perhaps they make me a tiny bit prettier. They’d make you prettier, but I don’t think you could look any better!
When dogs bite and bees sting…well, my wreaths probably won’t help with either of those situations. But they will be beautiful on your walls, and hopefully bring you some happiness and become something you will love!! Get one with a bird, it will sing its love to you for years to come!

(And, you know, if you want to find something you will love, you should check out my store http://marelladesigns.storenvy.com/ Take a look, adopt a wreath, share the love!)

Tis the Season...?

It’s that time of year again! The thermometer is reaching up to triple digits, A/C’s are on full blast and the pools are flooded with children-yes, it’s time to focus on Christmas Crafts!

Wait, what?

This is one of my favorite crafting idiosyncrasies; in order to have enough stock for the Holiday season, you must work out of season. Given that I must be in the right frame of mind, this requires a bit of “environmental ingenuity” on my part. Lately I find myself running around my apartment singing Christmas Carols at full volume, watching Christmas or winter themed movies and starting my Christmas shopping. (The last one never sticks. I will finish all of my shopping by October, but inevitably am lured into shiny shops come the Holiday Season. On the other hand, I am the best gift-giver I know!)

For me, this is great! I absolutely love Christmas, Santa Claus, snowmen, candy canes and gingerbread men. Well. I love them in July. By the time the calendar catches up with me, I am more than ready to shove candy canes down Santa’s jolly throat while throwing burnt gingerbread men into my snowmen ala ninja stars.

Nevertheless, it is July, and I am in full Christmas mode!  And Halloween. That’s the other odd idiosyncrasy-your Holidays tend to run together. I do not know who’s grand idea it was to shove all the holidays together at the end of the year, but I’ll be you a jar full of buttons he was not a crafter! Just the other day I was trying to decide how best to combine spiders and penguins into a wreath. (Trust me, it just looked silly-there are no spiders at the South Pole!)

Personally, my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. No, not for the food (but, wow, I do love the food!!) I love the idea of dedicating a day to step away from the fast rat race called life and just be thankful for our friends, family and life-and all without any expectations from anyone! No kids screaming for candy, no “oh, what a great pair of socks…really!” or demands of flowers and chocolate. All you gotta do is show up and love the people you’re with-and order a pizza, cause really, it’s Mom’s Thanksgiving, too!