Haleighanna's Hands: Taming the Hoarding Chaos

I recently moved from the Heartland to the West Coast. So, as I am obsessed with my creative life and all the supplies that goes with it, I packed up a lot of boxes of stuff.

I mean a lot of boxes.

My ever-patient husband estimates that about half of our worldly possessions belonged in my studio.

So when I got to Washington, I decided that I would diligently sort and organize my stuff. It took almost a week. But more than the time, it took a lot of hard work and, I am not ashamed to admit it, some tears.

You see I have too much stuff.

This is not all of it.

At one point, I had moved stuff around so that I had trapped myself in the room. I had to move a credenza from one side of the room to the other because the sun from the skylights was going to blind for me for a couple of hours everyday. In tears, I sat in the middle of the floor, and stared at my crap. I was overwhelmed. I was ashamed that I had so much. I was unsure that I had made the right decision to move. But after a cry and a call from a dear friend who told me that she loved me and to get over it, I got up determined to tame the chaos.

I went through everything I own and put all like items together. Then I boxed them up in lovely boxes and labeled things so that I can find them easily. I hid things under tablecloths so that I at least have the illusion of having tamed the chaos. I then surrounded myself with little things that make me happy as well as a lot of my own artwork.

Close your eyes...hear a drum roll...open your eyes!

A new workspace. The tablecloth hides some cubes and plastic containers.

Boxes, jars, and baskets contain some of the chaos.

A lot of my artwork and some pretty baubles.

A reading space (except for mid-day when the sun is blinding). That's right, I said the sun is blinding here in the Portland.

Dollar Store skeleton who just makes me happy.

Under this table is the hiding place for canvases, unfinished boxes, wreath forms, etc.

Yes folks that's the pumpkin from my "Persistence in Spite of Cottage Cheese" post.

A couple of pieces I made and some stuff I love!

 

 

One of the things that I have learned beside the fact that I had enough stuff is that I really don't need all of it to create things. And while I have been to the local craft stores here in the last couple of weeks, it has been to pick up items like E6000. I think it will be a long time before I need to buy some new stuff.

 

Now on to work!