Moved! Starting Afresh!

Door frame growth chart

About a year and a half ago my husband took a new job in a new state. Our large house and, more importantly, several rooms of craft supplies and workspaces had to be packed and moved into less than half of the space.  Downsizing is not easy for most people. But for quilters, paper crafters, and art supply collectors, we may as well be told that we are moving to a deserted island with no Michael's or online shopping opportunities. That is how excited I was, to be giving up my set-up.

Pre-downsizing craft room storage wall

It took a long time to figure out how to effectively store things in that house. After 10 years there, it felt Just Right. Pictured below is one of the areas that worked very well.

Wafer thin metal dies on magnetic sheet on the wall

It is a 24"x 5' long magnet for my thin dies collection. Here is the link to what I bought on  Amazon. All of the Spellbinders, Scrapbook.com, Avery Elle, etc., wafer-thin dies stick on here and are easy to see.  If I see things, I am more likely to use them. And pack them!

Items that almost got left behind!

So the adventure began. Purging and packing. Purging some more. Packing some more. After the moving truck was packed and drove away, I discovered a cupboard that hadn't been packed. I quickly threw the stuff in a box. But knew I'd have a problem with how to move it since my Ridgeline was full. The idea was that I would take valuables, food, and chemicals in my vehicle along with the dog and the 13-year-old kid.  There was no extra room for this box of crap, goodies of metal tins, cards and other papercrafting items. I am not saying that I gave away a box of chemicals to the neighbors so that I could bring my craft items on the 1,400-mile trip. However, that stuff is now stored in my garage waiting to be put away.  What? A year and a half later and you still haven't unpacked? You may be wondering what is going on here! My tale of woe continues. We moved into a house and then it fell apart. More on that another day. With Before and After pictures!

Looking back on these pictures, the only one that really makes my heart constrict is the first one with the growth chart we made in my daughter's closet.  You can see on it that she measured herself (without us knowing) a couple of times over the years.  I wished that we could take it with us. And I'll tell you the truth. I actually shed a few tears when I took that picture. It was the only house she had known and she had many wonderful friends that she was going to miss in Arizona.

Tomorrow, I am going to post some suggestions about purging craft supplies and fabric.  This is mainly for my benefit because I need pep talks periodically and things are finally getting finished here so it is time to purge. Again!

All the best to you! Sorry for the long absence. In all honesty, this has been a pretty rough year and a half for me so I do feel like I need to start anew.