This past month I moved my studio to my home fully, finally, and officially. I really like our house. So does Jason. We decided not to renew the lease on our office. I’ve been slowly moving home the most used things.
March 28th, we moved all the least used things.
And it turns out there were a lot of them…the least used things that is.
So the great thing is that I have a really sweet office and studio set up in my home, which I absolutely love.
Yeah, there is an old piano in my studio. Eventually I’ll get it tuned and maybe potentially learn how to play it :) I want to refinish it first, it has about 20 layers of paint on it.
But then there is the pile, the pile of craft supplies in the basement with boxes and boxes of things. Many of them were given to me by friends, family, and other super kind community members. Others purchased, found, “scored” from local shops and travels.
Granted some of it was purchased for making kits. But really, I don’t sell enough kits to warrant this huge pile.
I feel like I’m part of some kind of craftoholics anonymous group: Hi, my name is Kristin and I’m addicted to craft supplies. By announcing it, I might actually have a chance of doing something about it. The funny thing is, I actually haven’t purchased much of these things. About 70% have been given, donated, gifted, inherited over the last 6 years or so. I’m in big trouble at the pace I’m going. I just have a hard time letting them go. I see possibilities in every little scrap.
It’s time to be more proactive. It’s time to let others be inspired with these fun things. It’s time to destash.
There’s stash busting in the sense of making from the leftovers–which I do most excellently. But I don’t think I could knit, sew, crochet, weave, needlepoint for the rest of my life and get through all these things. I will continue to try though.
It’s not just craft supplies either, I’ve acquired books too. Old pattern books I don’t really care for or books that I have knit the 1 pattern I liked. It’s vintage things and new things and used things. It’s just a lot. I’m ready to pare down.
I’ve talked big about this in the past. I had plans for destashing, but it never happened. It’s funny, but I think it’s actually like an addiction. You can’t actually break an addiction until you are ready. It’s like when some may know you shouldn’t smoke, but still do anyway. I didn’t really want to destash before, I just knew I should.
I’m ready to DeStash
The first option is the Craft Leftovers Shop. I’m going to start taking full advantage of that Stash category by selling cuts of fabric, skeins, collections of buttons, and craft books. I’ll try and get a new group of things listed every week.
Here’s the first batch:
After a few weeks, anything that doesn’t sell will get put up on ebay. After that, it all gets donated. I’m promising you and myself that I can’t keep it. Even if I’m all of a sudden inspired by it, if it’s in the “to go” pile it has to go!
How do you keep your stash from growing out of control? How do you keep it organized?
Now I’m off to sew to try and use up some more fabric so I don’t have to sell it. :)
Happy crafting!
Kristin
Hi my name is cathie and I’m a craft supply addict. :)
I’m so much like you, altho I’ve only been at this for 3 years. And I’ve got enough stuff to last a long time. I’m a complete sucker for remnants. And I don’t even throw out those annoying little bits of fabric that you can’t possibly make anything from and…..I keep them! And use them for stuffing for cat beds!!
I haven’t bought anything in the last couple months only because I got laid off and I’m waiting for the unemployment cheques to start!! But they kick in next week….so I’ll be shopping then! (you may get an order from me ha ha ha)
As for keeping organized. I have everything sorted by type of craft. All the jewelery and bead making stuff on one shelf. Paints and like products another shelf. Fabric, well that’s it’s own wall. It goes my pattern type, (christmas, halloween, solid colour etc). Then if it’s less than a fat quarter it gets cut into squares (2 inch, 3.5 and 5 inch).
OK you are right I’m a craft supply addict with OCD! ;)
Haha, at least you have the ocd to go along with it, I’m a “happy slob” :) I try and get organized, but it’s definitely not my strong suit.
It does make it hard being a generalist too. I love all types of crafting, as you can see from my poor studio shots (I’ll try and get some better ones today) – painting, weaving, drawing, sewing, knitting, crochet, needle work, etc. I love it all. My general plan is to go one box at a time. Try and purge and consolidate as I go, like 15 -30 minutes a day. Then once I have it down to a more manageable level I’ll organize it according to craft type for supplies, fiber type for yarn, and color for fabric. I like the idea of trimming down smaller pieces to squares. Do you quilt?
I should admit tho that there are times when it looks like the tazmanian devil has gone thru the craft area and it takes a day or two to clean it up.
HA I like the term generisit. I tend to think of myself as a jack of all trades, master of none.
Yes I quilt/sew. I’m still a novice at it, but have made some baby blankets, cat beds, a couple big quilts. baby blocks, halloween bags etc.
Moving is the best time to destash. Go through everything, it will take awhile, but now that you have your new office you know how much room you have for storing things.
AS you go through, ask if it’s something you actually need, or want to do. Anything that isn’t goes in the sell pile.
It sounds as if you are already doing this, but to give you encouragement I did this before I moved and managed to:
reduce my canvas stash by about 60% to one tote bag plus about 4 big canvases. I’m keeping the bag as a stash control.
reduce my thread stash by about 25%, mostly by getting rid of threads I hated and threads no longer made (so I can’t use them in my business)
I decided I needed all the books, so I only lightly culled them a few months ago. I also took advantage of reorganizing my studio in January to put many of the things I rarely use or stored under the bed into the garage.
Good Luck!
Keep Stitching,
Janet
That’s excellent advice! My plan is to get all my supplies, materials, and notions down to just the one side of the set of shelves + the closet in my office that’s upstairs. In the picture I definitely took the worst perspective. After my little bit of destashing and cleaning up yesterday I was able to get things a little under control. It’s hard though, there are so many things to go through. One step at a time, one box at a time right :)
I have a box of craft books I want to get rid of. Some vintage, some new. Some I thought I would love and they really just aren’t my style, those will be showing up in the shop soon enough, maybe that will be next week’s focus :)
How do you organize your threads? That’s one thing that always seems to be a tangled mess for me.
Thanks again!
Kristin
You’re not alone! I have stuff stashed everywhere that is ‘potential’ for a craft, but I have trouble parting with most of it! I need to get a kick in the rear and just post the goodies and send them off to new homes, maybe they will get used for something amazing rather than sit here tucked away!
Box pile looks like it could use some organizing love, and it will be down to half the size and be less overwhelming, plus then you will know what is there! :)
Yeah, this is really the pile as it was piled into the room right after the move :) I figured I would show it at its worst so I could really show that “after”. I did spend a little time with it and you are right, much less overwhelming. I’m trying to take it one box at a time so everything can get a home, trashed, donated, or sold :)
Hey now, that sounds like a challenge. I bet I could totally work through this whole pile in just one year….. if I didn’t sleep, eat, cook, work, or continue with my herbalist apprenticeship, or blog. Curious though, it would be interesting to see how long it takes to work through a pile this big.
Don’t do it! Don’t let my stash busting be your stash building, keep to your challenge!
Hi Kristen, my name is Cathy and I am also addicted to craft supplies. I have been crafting (you name it–I’ve done it!) for 30+ years (and that is only my post high school days). I have some of my very first ‘craft supplies’ acquired way back then! Some of it is a bit silly now and way out dated, but like you, I see and believe there is potential in everything. You know—the day you get rid of something, you’ll need it!
I too am moving in about a month and can NOT take it all (although I’d rather go with out food–and have–than part with supplies). It’s going to be hard but somethings have to go—but I think there is hope. I’m going to look for a girl scout group to give stuff to. That’s a good thing. Keep up the good work and inspiration. Cathy