I've been lacking in the OUS Department...

I've been wicked busy with craft shows lately and haven't been OUS-ing like I should. But check out what Amy from Mama's Little Monkeys has been up to: 31 Days of Nothing. GO MAMA!!!

I Have a Confession to Make...

... I fell off the OUS wagon. I fell far and I fell hard. For shame!

In my defense, it was a Thanksgiving night sale at Michael's involving 40-70% off plus a 30% off (including SALE items!!!) coupon. $2 rolls of ribbon for 50c? Yes, please. $20 paper pads for $8? I'll take 5. $1 stamps for 60c? Do you think 15 is enough?

So I shouldn't make excuses... but I am. I'm rarely in the States (where everything is MUCH cheaper than in Canada) when the exchange rate is decent (and there are coupons!). So I fell off the wagon. Luckily I didn't get crushed by the horses and I'm jumpin' back on!

If everyone agrees that I should be publicly humiliated, I don't blame you and will take the punishment. ;)

EDIT:

Apparently my penance for cheating is to share my stash. So here it is!

 

*please excuse my ugly couch*

Anyway, I'm back on task after my little binge. And I fessed up so that counts as something, right?!?!?

Patient No. 5 - Athena Vander Wyst of Avalon Studios!

Our fifth OUS Patient is Athena Vander Wyst of Avalon Studios! (HI ATHENA!!!) Her husband sent in this desperate request!

Mr N. Vander Wyst

123 Craft Hoarder Way Please Help Twp, NY 11111

OUS Rehabilitation Clinic

c/o Kaotic Ekko's Curiosities

ATTN: Head of Rehabilitation

555 We Can Help Ave.

Rehab anytime, Anystate 77777

November 13, 2009

To whom it may concern:

Please help! My wife, the Avalon of Avalon Studios, has managed to lose our toddler AND nine year old boy in the huge tidal wave of craft supplies that has taken over our home! This would make the eighth time this week. I have sent her to you in the hopes she comes out a better person.

The list of supplies is staggering. It will take an organizational crew a week of non-stop work just to get through the mess which includes but is not limited to: Beads, ornaments, gems, rocks, findings, dominoes, paints, glitter, fabric, cloth, pins, needles, patterns, paper of all kinds, pens, markers, stuffing, floss, and don't even ASK about the templates she's saved on her 2 one terabyte hard drives...she keeps printing copy after copy after copy!

I have decided to commit her to your facility until such a time as I can find our children and move to a different state and start a new life with new identities. This is the last act of a desperate man. I beg you to please, for the love of all that is holy, make her use the supplies or I fear we will all drown in the sea of them.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mr. N Vander Wyst

Now Mr. Vander Wyst, before you steal off with the children, let OUS have a go! The first step is admitting there is a problem! ;)

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help. 

Just a 'Little Thing', but progress nonetheless!

So I've had this circle punch for a bit and have been waiting until I've had a clever idea for gift tags. Well, inspiration finally hit me this week. But, *gasp*, I didn't have any cardstock! Now, money is short here (just like everywhere else) and the closest craft store is at least 20 miles away. So what's a girl to do? Go a-huntin' of course!

In the spare room I came across some Staples poster board I purchased back when I was trading ATCs. [For those interested: What are ATCs? and some of mine.] Anyway, I ended up not using it because it's glossy on one side and I didn't like it ...but would it work for gift tags?

Success! Run the matte side through the printer, add some hoarded glitter and ribbon and voila!

Available here.

Now I'm working on my second set using glitter glue and snowflake embellishments (which I overbought last year and have been stingily doling out).

I'd like to say a special thank you to fellow OUS Patient Amanda of Dawn Correspondence for inspiring me with her gorgeous gift tags. Thanks sugar! xo!

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

Patient No. 4 - Robyn Selk of Jewelled Trellis!

Our fourth OUS Patient is Robyn Selk of Jeweled Trellis! (HI ROBYN!!!) Her family sent in this emergency letter!

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Dear OUS Rehabilitation Clinic, I am writing this letter to request admission.  I am guilty of multiple craft addiction and hoarding not limited to calligraphy, beading, jewelry making, supply hoarding, cross stitch pattern creation, cross stitch supply cumulation, painting supply collecting, yarn addiction, knitting needle aquisition, fabric and sewing supply agglomeration.  I need help. Admission is requested by husband who can no longer see into offenders craft area, and children who are continually lost in the morass of crafting supplies that dominates this area. She also suffers from "I-wanna-craft-but-I'm-afraid-I'll-mess-it-up" aphobia and a severe case of "but-what-if-I-need-it-someday" itis.  Thank you for considering our application for our dear mother Robyn~JewelledTrellis Sincerely, The Selk family.

Thanks for letting us know Selk family! We promise we'll take real good care of her!

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

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Patient No. 3 - Teri Landow of The Beaded Branch!

Our third OUS Patient is Teri Landow of The Beaded Branch! (HI TERI!!!) Here's what she had to say about being a Craft Supply Hoarder:

Operation Utilize Supplies (OUS)

I have a confession to make.

I'm a craft hoarder. The reason why my office/craft space is such a terrible mess, and terribly out of order is because I can't seem to stop buying craft supplies of many, many different kinds. I can't seem to settle on one craft. Sigh. And after I buy more supplies, I wind up not using them because I don't want to waste anything. I don't want to screw up, make a mistake, and waste (gasp) the supplies.

I have paints. I have paper. I have old books for altered book projects. I have polymer clay. I have ArtClay Silver. I have tools. I have gold and silver leaf. I have a kit to make resin cabochons, etc. I have beads. I have findings. I have wire. I have fabric. I have yarn. I have embroidery supplies. I have soap supplies. I have old watches that I have taken apart. I have stamps. I have stamp pads, inks, dyes, scissors. Pretty much, it's almost a case of if you need it or want it, I have at least a LITTLE bit of it. Somewhere. I even have old Friendly Plastic pins that I can melt down and reuse. Pens, pencils, chalks, oil pastels. Really the list is quite endless.

Crashing head to desk.

I also have about a million half finished projects. Or a quarter finished projects. Or un-started projects. Okay you're getting the picture.

So what?

Well, I came across a group of friends on Plurk who suffer from the same problem! (Yeah, I know. No big surprise.... Crafters are an odd bunch.) And one person has stepped up and issued a "Rehab" for all of us. A blog has been formed for those of us in Rehab by Mel Smith (thanks!!!) of Kaotic Ekkos Curiosities and now I will be able to show what is going on as I use up supplies, and hopefully have some beautiful new creations to sell! Will it all be jewelry? Heck NO!!!! I'm planning on offering lots and lots of goodies to tempt everyone! Now, onto the crafting!

Keep remembering that sand is ALWAYS blue!!!

And check out the "Dirty Little Secret"...look familiar to anyone?!?!

Thanks for joining us Teri! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

OUS Painting listed for sale on Artfire!

Due to the overwhelming response I have listed my 1st OUS painting for sale!

Imperfect: Overcoming Self Criticism

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

Patient No. 2 - Amy Dutsch of Mama's Little Monkeys!

Our second OUS Patient is Amy Dutsch of Mama's Little Monkeys! (HI AMY!!!) Here's what she had to say about being a Craft Supply Hoarder:

Wow. I NEED this blog! I have just recently done my own "Journey Into Minimalism" on my blog http://blog.mamaslittlemonkeys.com (various posts). My hoarding is fabric. It's just to pretty to cut sometimes!! So I have cleaned out, purged, moved my boys into one room and gotten my own clean and organized craft room!! (Pics on the blog)

Can't wait to see what you come up with! :)

~Amy

Thanks for joining us Amy! Make sure you keep us up-to-date!

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

UPDATE from Patient Teresa Gunderson!

Teresa updates us on her Rehab progress!:

In order to jump into OUS with the proper attitude, I have to clean my studio. YIKES! This post is the first installment of this round of cleaning and rearranging. I've already come a long way from this video & post, so keep checking back!

http://gundowerks.blogspot.com/2009/11/studio.html

Thanks for sharing! Keep up the great work!

Project No. 2 :: 6" x 8" Canvas

So a few days ago I primed a 6" x 8" canvas. I've worked on it but am not thrilled with how it's coming out.

Unfortunately the Artwin pen I'm using doesn't make a black enough mark and it sticks to my hand and smudges. (I tried some other markers too without much success) I suppose I can make some kind of sleeve for my hand so that it doesn't smudge, but I already have too much on my To Do list!

Smudges:

So I think I'm going to paint over it and do some kind of collage. I guess I have to keep my ink work on proper paper.

Another thing that I'm trying with this blog is to not fuss with the photos. I didn't run these through a photo editor in an attempt to expedite the blog posting. I have to say this experiment is also painful...but I'm pretty sure that the exposure of the photos is not the important thing here...am I right?

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

Victim, erm....I mean Patient #1 - Teresa Kintner Gunderson of Gunderwerks!

Our first OUS Patient is Teresa Kintner Gunderson of GundoWerks! (HI TERESA!!!) Here's what she had to say about being a Craft Supply Hoarder:

My "Poverty Mentality" and sympathetic magic!

My friend KaoticEkko blogged about something that really hit a nerve with me. I have long realized that I suffer from a serious poverty mentality, which I describe as the subconscious (and sometimes conscious) belief that I am poor, will always be poor, and should never use any of my hobby supplies for fear of wasting them and not being able to acquire more. This comes from so many years of living from paycheck to paycheck, and art supplies were an expensive luxury. I have art supplies that I have had and hoarded for 20 years!

There is a little thing called "sympathetic magic", which is usually defined as influencing something by using or creating an item that resembles what you want to happen, or doing something as if something else will happen, in order to influence it happening. One of my favorite examples of sympathetic magic in my own life is when our sweet Basset puppy fell very ill. He was in the hospital for almost a week, and the doctors told us every day that he would not make it. One day at the store I saw and purchased a puppy bed for him. I brought it home and put it in my son's room, and told him that it was a bed for his puppy when he came home. I bought this bed even after being told the puppy would not come home, I did it to show the Universe (and my 3 year old) that I believed J.D. would get well. He did. I have no idea whether or not the bed had anything to do with it, but it was something that fed my soul and created a much needed positive attitude.

So, in the spirit of sympathetic magic, and with the help of KaoticEkko and hopefully some other folks, I am going to start USING my supplies, with the belief that I can make art with them and be able to buy more and create more. Today I dug out some molds I never use and made up some cabs to bead around. I'm determined to use up my bead supply so that I can start buying better beads and doing more beading work. Tomorrow I start cleaning and sorting my studio, and next week my sweet hubby is taking me to Ikea to look at some shelving options.

OUS (Operation Utilize Supplies) means we use up what we have, we post photos of what we've made whether we like it or not, and we clear the way in our hearts, minds & workshops for new supplies, new projects, new ART. Join us! Let's start believing in our ability to create and grow.

Thanks for joining us Teresa! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Do you need REHAB? Email me your story... we're here to help.

And so IT begins...

My first project(s) came hesitantly but were completed nonetheless! From We're All A Little Mad Here:

Operation Utilize Supplies (OUS) :: Project No. 1

I should get super duper multi points for this post! Because: (a) it's my second post for today; and (b) I've used multiple hoarded supplies!

Firstly, not very excitingly however, I primed a 6" x 8" canvas board and a 2" x 2" stretched canvas. I am hoping to work on the canvas board tonight.

Secondly, and this one is exciting, I've finally cracked into my Doodlebug Sugar Coating Gitter assortment! I've only had it since February and haven't opened it once! I've just stared at the pretty colors in the adorable little jars. The reason it hasn't been touched is because I was afraid that I'd go through the glitter too fast! But there is a deceivingly large amount of glitter in each of those jars! Check it out:

 So I'm over a couple of my little bumps. I shall be using more canvas in the future. I will most definitely be using more glitter in the future! (Probably to Husband's dismay. I'm pretty sure he'll be coming home to glittered cats one of these nights!)

*Deep exhale* So far so good... no crying or throwing things. Let's see if we can keep this up! What Supplies have you Utilized today?

In the Beginning...

The blog post that started it all on We're All A Little Mad Here:

Get Over It!

I have a problem. I think I've mentioned it before. I am a hoarder. I like to "save" my craft supplies: canvas, paper, embellishments... even paint! I'm afraid I'm going to waste them by making something ugly. I hate throwing things away.

I made this last night:

It didn't come out right. I hate it. I was experimenting with crackle medium. It doesn't work on canvas board and it makes it look like I don't know how to paint solid white lines! So what do I do with it? Throw it away?

I could tell within the first few minutes it wasn't going to be what I wanted. I was tempted to give up. But I'm trying something new. I'm trying to use my supplies. But it hurts...like physically. My mind screams, "You're wasting it!" "You'll never be able to find that *insert supply here* again!" "It's ugly...you'll just end up throwing it away!"

So. I'm starting Operation Utilize Supplies (OUS). And I'm going to post the projects whether I love them or not. I'm not going to commit to a daily thing... that's too much pressure. But I am going to post everything... even if it's hideous! However, I still have to figure out what to do with pieces that I abhor... any suggestions?