a Taxing Spring Cleaning

The idea starts out with the best of intention: to toss mail and receipts and articles of interest and notes-to-self into a box, which I will go through and organize at a later date. But the box multiples into boxes, which become a part of the architectural landscape of my creative space, and thusly, become invisible.

This Landscape Filing System is ridiculous, and I know it, and yearly I strive to do better, especially at tax time, when the boxes need to be sorted through.

box of go throughs

I always get the job done, but in the “getting there,” I need a creative diversion to balance the intensity of left-brain focus.

This year’s diversionary project began with this table. Purchased about ten+ years ago for $5.00, I’d envisioned its transformation many times, but never followed through. Until……………………………

Cowboy Table_Before [640x480]

I paired a vintage block of cowboy material with a serape-stripe remnant, which led to a quick trip to the paint store to match the turquoise saddle and the red blanket, with a stop at the glass store for a quarter-inch topper. Three days later……………………………………

Cowboy Table_fabric_paints [640x480]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cowboy Table_After [640x480]

Happiness is this table. Were you to see it up close, it’s not perfect, but it’s steps above my usual bar of “Good Enough!” If only my taxes and the computations required could answer to the same conclusion.

xxea

Tie One On…an apron, of course!

Organizing Chaos

A recent publication of Stampington & Company showcased the inspirational work spaces of very creative and successful women. To a one, their areas were extremely tidy, unlike my creative space, which is a mess. I poured over the feature, hoping just one would reveal her secret to organizing and maintaining order within her surroundings, but no.

My creative space is a jumble with the tools of my inspiration and creativity –
aprons, linens, boxes of photographs, files of research, and bins of patterns and magazines and cookbooks of past decades. Every new year, I resolve to replace this chaos with calm. 2009 is but days old, and I see no light at the end of this tunnel. Although I’ve read articles galore on organizing, I don’t seem to know how it is accomplished and maintained. If you do, please, all suggestions to organizing this chaos appreciated!

xxea
Tie One On…an apron, of course!