I’ve been in my craft room for almost three years now. Time has flown by. The craft room is in an addition added to our home a year after we moved in. We were downsizing from a large brick home built in 1867. Tons of room there to store stuff. Even stuff we no longer needed. It was a chore to declutter that house, but well worth the effort.
A shout out to Dana K. White and her wonderful, life-changing book Decluttering at the Speed of Life. I couldn’t have decluttered our previous home without the steps I learned from Dana. She turned my overwhelming job into easy steps.
Back to the subject of this post. I’ve been in the craft room for almost three years. It is time to sort the drawers, declutter, organize and make it fit the stage of life I am in right now.
I previously decluttered the two top drawers to the left of my desk. You can read about those here: Decluttering drawers
The drawer shown below is the third one down on the left side of my desk. “Before” on the left. “After” on the right. This drawer holds some office supplies. Pen and pencil refills, tape, stapler, staples, cord organizers, pins and clips, a scale, and a collection of jump rings in various sizes. Looking at those, I realize they should be stored in a drawer farther away from the prime real estate of my desk area. I rarely use them, but I know exactly where I can store them.
I admit, I don’t always make a final decision about every single item. In this drawer, a small glass bowl holds little odds and ends that don’t have another home. Yet. Among a few other things, the bowl holds the keyring my father gave me when I turned 16 years old. That was in 1970. So, yah, that kind of stuff.
The drawers shown below are in “secondary real estate.” These drawers hold items I don’t need every day.
The first drawer holds supplies for making Christmas ornaments. I classify them as decoupage ornaments, diorama ornaments, and shadow box ornaments. The “before” picture shows a jumbled mess. Projects in progress and supplies needed to make the ornaments have no clear separation.
In the drawer to the right, across the top of the drawer, are spool ornaments, supplies for diorama ornaments, and shadow box ornaments. Across the lower part of the drawer are supples for diorama ornaments, decoupage supplies, and an out of place box of large berry sprigs. They are there temporarily until I make space in the proper drawer. Or decide I can let them go…
The “before” drawer shown below held soldering supplies, finished ornaments, and miscellaneous supplies. I took out the ornaments to give to my children, I donated half the heart boxes, and I kept the vintage Christmas wrapping paper and two rolls of printed craft paper. I also kept a box of pop-dots which I would need if I ever get around to a project I’ve been wanting to make for some time. If I didn’t have space, I would have donated them because it would be easy to buy another box of them, if needed. But I have the room so I decided to keep them. And look! There’s the room I need to store the jump rings!
Life is so much easier after decluttering and organizing the spaces we live in. I feel freer, more in control and more motivated to use the supplies I have when they are at hand, stored so I can quickly see what’s available.
Making putz houses
If you have any questions about my posted putz houses, or about creating your own putz houses, please ask. I am happy to share what I have learned about the art of putzing.
To see more of my putz houses, as well as Christmas ornaments I have made from upcycled holiday cards, please visit my Etsy shop.
All proceeds from my Etsy shop benefit Kenya Mercy Ministries. KMM works with the urban poor of Nairobi, Kenya, particularly the children and their families who live in Kibera, the largest urban slum in Africa. Thank you for your part in helping these children when you purchase items from my shop!
Would you like to create your own putz houses? Check out my putz tutorials for more information. My blog is searchable, as well. You may find turorials that aren’t listed on the tutorial page.
Tutorials / Putz and Glitter Houses
~~Rhonda 🙂