One Thing at a Time

Have you been reading Julie Balzer's blog this week? It's Organization Week and she and several guest writers have been sharing some excellent ideas about how to organize your craft space.  My mind is full of all sorts of ideas about cleaning out and switching my art space around, although most of it will have to wait until February to happen in the physical realm, as I know it will take a large amount of time to get the job done and I'd like to plan a couple of weekends in a row to work on the project as a whole, which I am unable to do this month.

In the meantime, I can work on one thing at a time in short bursts.  Here's what I did today - I cleared off my kitchen table.  I know, it doesn't sound like much, except that said table has been growing more and more cluttered over the past few months and the more stuff that sat on top of it meant the less space there was for me to actually use it for crafting when I needed it.  Not to mention that it is also the spot where Maggie likes to eat her meals, although in this photo she is eating under the table, usually she likes to sit on top of it:

As you can see from the second photo, there used to be all sorts of miscellaneous stuff on the table.  Mostly art supplies that I had used and not put away, but also things like camera bits and pieces, cat dishes, a lamp.  (Believe it or not, the pieces of lasagna noodles on the left are actually a project in progress, although I might have to abandon that task.  I was trying to figure out a way to punch a hole in the pasta without breaking the noodles but I'm not sure it can be done.  I'll explain more at a later time.)  The blue bag hanging off the chair on the left is full of recyclables, waiting to be taken downstairs to be put in the bin.

I gave myself an hour this morning to clear off this space and I finished in about 55 minutes.  Everything got put away where it belongs (in some cases, an appropriate home needed to be created), the dust and cat hair on the table was wiped off, the protective paper was switched around so the clean side is facing out and voila, a clean work space with a five pronged plug added on the right side so the lamp is plugged in and my heat gun is ready for use at any time.  As you can see, Beans was excited about the newly cleared off space as well:

(Funny, none of Julie's posts mention how to organize your craft/work space for the cat's benefit. I think I need to set her straight on that!)