Well, it's been a long time, but I'm celebrating the arrival of an organized pantry. I love old houses but it's a challenge to figure out storage for narrow, odd-shaped closets and crannies.

Oh, and a reward for our new-found organizations . . . mushroom turnovers from Trader Joe's and fresh steamed asparagus with chives from the herb bucket. Mmmm . . . .

The Great Summer Destash 2008

100 Things or Categories I’m giving up . . . my sister-in-law,Marsha, has inspired me to simplify with an article she posted on her blog about the 100 Things Challenge. I told her I didn’t think I could do this – reduce my possessions to 100 things. There’s too much memorabilia and stuff at this point. However, I think I can get rid of 100 things. I’m going to try it this summer – ending with a garage sale and then give all the rest to Goodwill – and see how it goes.
Marsha, you’re my judge – this is the beginning of my list. Do all these count as one thing? Or can I count some as individual items?
1. 1 box of summer clothes that are too small
2. 1 box of winter clothes that are too small


3. non-black/white turtle necks
4. the fancy sofa
5. sewing patterns with no material attached to them
6. fabric with no project attached to them
7. non-matching mugs (ugliness factor)
8. plastic cups (ugliness factor)
9. old lotions
10. big pink pillow
11. old sheets
12. 5 knicknacks
13. 1 box of Christmas stuff
14. bag of candle melts
15. 1 box of other Holiday items
16. 2 boxes of books
17. 1 box of paper (to recycle)
18. 3 games
19. 1 box school stuff (Social Studies)
20. 5 skeins of yarn
21. 5 scarves
22. 5 pieces of jewelry
23. 1 box of scrapbook/craft items
24. 2 kitchen appliances
25. Old makeup
26. 5 hanging shirts
27. 5 skirts
28. 3 dresses
29. 2 pairs of jeans
30. 5 t-shirts
31. 1 box of office items
32. 1 box of memorabilia
33. 1 box of old stuff
34. 1 set of dishes
35. 15 Martha Steward mags
36. 15 cooking magazines (useful recipes saved in recipe folder)
37. 1 box of picture frames
38. 1 box of old tapes, books on tape
39. 4 old towels
40. 1 box of winter clothes I never wear
41. 1 box of summer clothes I never wear



This is not 100 yet . . . any suggestions.

The Upcycle Corollary
As a corollary to this I would like to find 10 things to up-cycle among our trash this summer. Up-cycling is recycling items or material that makes them immediately useful. Wikipedia defines up-cycling here. I heard the word first on etsy.com because their all about handmade and recycling. That's cool.


Here are some examples: leather cuff bracelets, a wool wreath, bird giving ball, plarn and crocheted plarn, journals and much more.


I like the idea of up-cycling, because it requires some imagination to repurpose materials originally used for another. Often the most successful up-cycling requires some artistic expression, but it is also entirely practical.


The bird gift balls are a clever example of this. I’m tempted to buy birdseed just so I can try out these bird gift balls next spring.

Stipulations:
- I will not buy any new supplies in order to up-cycle these items. I will have to use the supplies already on hand in order to complete the process.
- These may be items from the 100 things challenge. They may also be just trash that we would have thrown away otherwise (paper, aluminum, cardboard, etc.).
- The products may be reused in our household or made to sell.
- I need to list these on the blog as they are completed.

She who Cannot Be Contained

Maybe it's an unacknowledged new year's resolution or preemptive spring cleaning, but I've been inspired recently to use pretty much any and everything I can get a hold of to hold my stickers, papers, buttons, yarn as well as the various doo-dads, trinkets, frou-frous and jingle jangles I've got stashed away.  I've pretty much spray painted everything that I gave the dog siezures.  I've even made labels, but I still have to put those on.

Some of my recent acquisitions from the thrift store or free pick-ups include: another oatmeal box, an empty jar of Evan's hair pomade, old jelly jars, baskets, a cassette tape drawer, tins, wooden clothes pins, buckets, empty Killer Bunny Boxes, more baskets.

Can you guess what's going on inside?  

So, what else has been going on outside?  

April's shower (see next post)

I'm just about finished with the Mediterranian cruise PB album.

Working on Evan's V-day album (thanks, Amy for the inspiration)

finished Frey's baby album (see future post)

Several of my upcoming projects are personal:

Havana church quilt

John Deere and Princess PB albums

some accordion albums

Baby Day stuff

But I also have opened a store on etsy.com and would like to build up my inventory for that.  I've got several ideas for albums, layouts, etc., but it's just a matter of getting them done.  

Look me up at thesecretllama.etsy.com