I've been AWOL. Or is it MIA? POW? no, not POW. If anything it would be POP (Prisoner of Pinterest). But I haven't been idle, oh no, not idle. I've been crafting like a mad woman!

We women often remark that we’re particularly suited to multi-tasking, while men are profoundly able to focus. I must be more masculine than I realized, because I’m prone to multi-task in a profoundly focused manner! When the creative gas begins to rise in me, I start projects. Unfortunately, I seem to produce either no gas at all, or LOTS of creative gas! So I don’t start only ONE project – I start GOBS.

Those projects begin at the kitchen table, spread to the counter, then into the laundry room, finally overflowing into the office. Oh – and cooking never seems to produce much creative gas (unless it’s a dessert or something COOL like making cheese)….so daily life becomes a little, shall we say, unpredictable when I’m in full-creative-mode.

Yesterday, when my creative-gas-induced euphoria touched the last fading spark of responsibility, it exploded in a fireball of guilt! I needed to corral my crafting to a more family-friendly portion of the house. So I found myself a corner, and….well, I’ll just show you what I did.

I started with the two ends of our entertainment center (which was too big for our living room, anyway), and a table I had for painting watercolors. I bought three shelves from Lowe’s and spanned the top and two of the shelves with them. I already had two 1x4s (unused twin bed slats) for the lowest shelf. I also had several good cardboard boxes, which I covered with some pretty Christmas Wrap to make everything look nice. (Oh, don’t tell Ed, but I also stole the lamp from our headboard.)

I went to Walmart and got some bins (and some eggnog, with which I fortified myself for the ordeal to come – yes, there was some brandy involved in said fortification). Then I sat down to do a little planning, separating my huge pile of projects and materials into rational piles. (This is always the danger point for me: sitting down and planning. It often results in more projects – and not finishing the current one! Still – planning is important if you only want to do something ONCE.) I limited myself to a simple list of generalities: Tools, Materials, Adhesives, Yarn Crafts, Watercolor, Acrylic, etc…. Then I got up and started sorting.

Here’s how it looks now – and it only cost me $27 for the bins (plus $3 for the eggnog – I already had the brandy). So for $30, I can craft to my heart’s delight in the same room with the love of my life as he works on his computer – and then get up and close the door on it and eat dinner at a beautiful table free of paint, glue, drying racks, or sanding grit. We are both very happy about that!