Cleaning out the craft room :: Use what you have

I've  been decluttering in my craft room again.  Every time I have a chance to go back through it, I always seems to find more I can get rid of.  And isn't that the point?  I feel like something that you haven't used since the last time you went through can most likely be gotten rid of now.  Since I haven't touched it in months, am I really using it?

I run into that problem all the time, I see something neat and interesting online, a new tutorial, project or design or doo-dad and buy it!  Then it sits in my craft room waiting for me to get around to using it.

Take these clover yoyo makers for example - remember when they were uber popular like 2 years ago?  Yea- they've been sitting in my craft room untouched since then except to take out and stare at occassionally.  I have a hard time starting things that require me to sit down and actually figure it out for more than 5 seconds and those directions are terrible!  They make my eyes cross. =)

Rather than spending so much time thinking about doing something, I should just put in the time to try it!  And if I finally admit to myself that I don't plan on making the time to doing it anytime soon or I'm not interested anymore I should get rid of it and donate it to someone who will. 

I finally took 20 minutes the other day and grabbed my big scrap bin where all leftover pieces go.  Took my templates, scissors, thread, needle and pincushion, sat down and finally figured it out.

So - so easy!  Been making this way harder in my mind than it needed to be.  And now I'm whizzing through them, and they're piling up around me.

Same goes for this cute little patchwork purse kit from Posie - The Tanglewood Bag.  I bought the pattern and fabric patch kit a year ago and I even sourced vintage scraps from thrift stores and quilt store scrap bins to match.  Cut them up and everything and they've been sitting there ever since, waiting for me to figure out how I wanted to lay out the squares.

Sometimes you just need to dive in, take a chance. 

I'm guilty of letting things psyche me out - if I don't know how to do it, rather than figuring it out, I let it stop me.  Sometimes you just need to start something, pick something, for 20 minutes.  Just sit down, and take a step towards completing.

I'm working hard to get to the point where I only keep things in my house that I plan on using within the next 6 months.  Declutter the rest and keep only what I love and plan to use.

Here's to cleaning out that project closet, overcoming our fears and creating amazing new items.

Sew on!  Sometimes the results amaze ourselves.

Comments

[Becky]

We are so much alike! I psyche myself out on new things all the time and they usually end up being so much easier than I image them to be. Right now I'm trying to talk myself into decluttering, too, but I know it's going to take a fair amount of time. Well, the decluttering probably not so much but preparing for the yard sale I want to have (it would be nice to recoup some of my spendage) is going to be a big time suck. I seem to have far more projects than I have time to be working on them.

[Pat]

Yay - your sewing too! I'm definitely sliding into more of a sewing mode - glad to see you back in the blogging world :-)
(I'm in and out, but have been mostly in for the past year)

[Hilary]

This is so inspiring!! I have such a hard time getting rid of things ("But what if I need it some day??"), but I always feel so much better when I do. I really admire your devotion to de-cluttering!

[tiennie]

Oh do I ever have a lot of knick knacks like the yoyo maker to help me with quilting! I really need to get back to it. :)