Saying Goodbye to the Frame People

The Frame People.
You know... the smiling, happy, beautiful people whose photos come in the frames you bring home from the store.

Some of them even stick around for a while. My mom bought me a standing frame that looks like an open photo album for Christmas. I put the frame on display in my living room under the misguided impression that seeing it every day would inspire me to fill it with photos of smiling, happy, beautiful people who I actually KNOW.

And now it's APRIL. And the frame is still filled with the Frame People.

So tonight, on my quest to gather my scrapbooking supplies for a day of crafting tomorrow, I came across a pile of old photos. Like really old. Like before we had kids old.

I grabbed a big stack of photos and started digging. I've always been really good about putting my photos into photo albums (pre-scrapbooking). The huge stack of photos appear to be extra photos. I fished through them and found a few golden gems.

I didn't find enough photos to fill the frame, but I also have two big bins of photos to sort and purge, so I'm sure I'll fill the frame yet.

I love that the frame sits up like a storybook. I think it's going to be hilarious for Aidyn and Eila to flip through the photos and see what Mommy and Daddy USED to look like...

In honor of Easter this weekend, I thought that I would open the frame up to pictures of a beautiful Mexican cemetary that we visited oh so long ago. So, do you have Frame People you need to get out of your life?

Hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend with your families.
Much love,

My 29 Day Organizational SUCCESS!!

Mission Accomplished!! I have been following along with OrgJunkie's 29 day organizational challenge for the past month and finally have the before and after photos to show the drastic change in my space! 

1. What space did you decide to organize and why?
We all have a place in our house that gets filled up with "stuff."  For us, that catch-all room is where our dvds, craft supplies and books/photo albums are stored. It is also the space where random items get shoved until they find a new home.  It was in a complete state of chaos.  This challenge gave me the motivation to make a change.

 

Before                              After

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline?
To make sure I could complete this task in 29 days, I needed a plan.  First, you can't enter the contest until you get a blog - so I started GingerBabyMama.  Then I went old school - got out a pen, paper and calendar.  I checked the calendar to try to find some hours in the month to dedicate to the project.  Then I used pen and paper to map out the space, the furniture and storage options I have and can use in the space.  Then I buckled down and got to it!

            

Corner of the Room               Bookshelf that was moved

                                            from the other corner

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?
The hardest part of the plan was making the time to lock myself in the windowless room while not completely ignoring the kids.  After a long day of working and mommying it's tough to want to clean/purge/organize.

4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
I managed to get rid of three BIG boxes of books, craft supplies and random crap that was stored in the space.  I also purged a huge hutch, a file cabinet and a small shelf.  The furniture found new homes with my mom and sister.  The rest filled up the trunk of the station wagon and off to the VV Boutique!

            

DVD and board games before and after!! 

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?
For me, the proudest moment of this whole journey was my mom saying she was impressed and that the space looks great.  Her house is always spotless and she doesn't craft, so she saw the space as completely insane.  When she was impressed with the improvement, my heart soared!

6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?
I didn't buy any containers/furniture for this space.  I repurposed existing containers and made my own labels with cardstock that I had on hand.  I used baskets and bins to corral like items. 

7. What is ONE piece of advice you’d give to someone else to encourage them on their organizational journey?
The best piece of advice I can give someone wanting to start organizing a space I read on a fantastic minimalist blog - Zen Habits - Start with one space, one shelf, one item and go from there.  Unless of course you want to sort/purge/organize your whole house - in that case, use the PROCESS and organize everything in 52 weeks! It worked on my house!

Here are the links to my progress on this journey:

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/before.html

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/progress-but-still-long-way-to-go.html

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/were-almost-there.html

Thanks so much for OrgJunkie's 29 Day Organizational Challenge - it's a great motivator and now I have this fun blog to fill my time and challenge me some more AND I have an organized craft space!

We're Almost There!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  Last weekend I got to spend three whole hours while Aidyn was at a birthday party and Eila was napping working on the craft storage room.  I pulled apart shelves, I made labels, I sorted, organized, purged, stocked and prettified as much as I could. 

I know that there is still work to do – especially with organizing my old printed photos, and sorting my ridiculously huge sticker collection (and don’t get me started on the amount of paper I have, I know, I’m crazy...) but I feel so much better knowing that all the stickers are together, I know where to find my scrapbook adhesive, the Cricut has a home, and so do the Rock Band instruments, my gift wrapping storage container, and my travelling scrapbooking totes.

I managed to get rid of three pieces of redundant furniture (two to my sister for her organizing projects, and one to my mom’s house to contain some of the kids toys she keeps at her place). 

Thanks so much to OrgJunkie for the motivation and push to get this project going – it was a long time coming, but totally worth the hours and hours it took to sort out. 

Progress! But still a LONG way to go...

Finally!  Progress! After spending a couple of hours last week planning out the furniture I have and the vast amount of stuff I have to organize, I set out on my journey.  I set up the girls in the room next to me with a dollhouse and all of their little Strawberry Shortcake dolls and got to it. Then I stopped, and did the rational thing.  Called in reinforcements.  My good friend and home stager Krista came over to help me figure out where best to put the shelving and the paper rack and the large non-furniture items.  We also went through and purged two big boxes of books, and found a bunch of old photos and letters and momentos from when Brett and I started dating, 18 long years ago!  Wow, we looked Y O U N G!

So, after moving the filing cabinet and empty rubbermaid containers out of the space, it left me with some more space to move things around.  I moved the dvd shelves from one wall to another, took the large, wooden armoire out (it's being repurposed to another house). I also plan to move Brett's and my keepsake container filled with childhood momentos we can't bear to part with but don't have on display in the house.

Then out came the pen and paper.  I drew out the basic dimensions of the space, and also drew out all of the storage pieces that I had on hand.  After bringing a piece up from the garage and using it as a base for the Jetmax (from Michaels) scrapbook storage and the large paper rack, I got the momentum moving! I moved the large bookshelf into the corner.  This shelving is where I plan to store my completed scrapbooks (currently stored in our tv unit downstairs).  I also want to use the space on these shelves to store my other craft gear - paints, stickers, punches, ribbon, cricut, and party supplies. 

Hopefully this weekend will give me another couple of hours to work on the space while the kids are at a birthday party.  Maybe next week there will be containers filled with craft supplies, nicely organized on clean, clear shelves with pretty labels....

I'm linking my progress up on Org Junkie's 29 Day Organizing Challenge Progress Link Up