Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts

Friday

An Organised Craft Armoire


While we lived in Hockessin in Delaware, U.S.A for 3 years we we very fortunate to find some very useful good pieces of furniture which we still have after 22 years and are still in great condition even after being relocated to Belgium for 6 years in between.

One of those items is my Craft Armoire.

But organising is always a problem with crafts.

So

How Do You Organise Crafts?

How Do You Organise a Craft Armoire?





Now when we bought it originally it was a Computer Armoire and that is how we used it during our 3 years in America.

Of course it suited well as a computer armoire for then because of the large computers and keyboards of the 1990s, the fold out desktop was great and the ability to close the doors and hide everything was a great asset but later when computers did not take up as much space I was able to take it and use it for my crafts.

Again the doors were great for hiding the mess within but eventually it really was time to organise it successfully






because even though I tried over the years it never really got much better than this






Yes I had a lot of containers and bags and tubs to keep things in but they were shoved in tightly together most of the time and so it was not very inviting to actually use the crafts.

Still there was the fact that I could just shut the doors and try to forget about the mess and that is what I would do until the next time I needed something.

So last September I decided it was going to get the proper overhaul it needed and it did which you can see here in Too Many Places!

Over the past year it has remained the same - so it must have been a pretty good job and today I thought I would explain more about how it is organised.



How to organise a craft armoire:






CONTENTS:

A.  Top Left Shelf

Embellishments - some wooden, some card, some plastic in containers with compartments and handles for easy lifting out and in and taking to the kitchen table when I need a large surface to work on as in Easy Kids Heart Banner
Small items like this have to be kept separated for ease of use - no point in having to hunt through a box of mixed up items every time.





Punches - these are in two boxes, one for the smaller individual picture punches and one for the larger corner and edging punches.






B.  Second Left Shelf

Wooden Stamps - various pictures, words and sizes kept in compartment boxes and can clearly be seen through the clear lids.  The smaller purple boxes are double sided so hold two lots of stamps.






Clear stamps - various designs and the holders to put them on for stamping.

Stamp ink - various colours, clear for embossing, and cleaners







C.  Third Left Shelf

Plastic Lidded Containers - variety of craft materials for making projects for Christmas and other times of the year.


Two black & White Lidded Cardboard Boxes - I keep larger rolls of ribbon in one and coloured string in the other.  Although these were made especially for the purpose of storing ribbon I think I would like to get something better in the future.




D.  Fourth Left Shelf

Embossing Trays & Stencils 

This shelf is not as deep as others so it is a good choice for these larger or longer flat stencils which would get pulled and twisted if they were mixed in with other heavier objects.






I have the large Fiskars Embossing tray that will hold up to 12x12 sheets and also the smaller Fiskars card embosser.







E.  Fifth Left Shelf


Paper Cutter

This shelf pulls out so is ideal for the paper cutter to have a place of it's own.





F.  Second Bottom Left Shelf

Larger containers fit better on this shelf


Blue cantilever style container - double sided sticky tape, velcro dots, glue dots, craft scissors etc.





Blue tool box style container - lollipop sticks large & small, glue sticks for glue gun etc.







G.  Bottom Left Shelf

Deep Scrapbooks

Boxes of Papers & card 

Because it is at the bottom I thought it more natural to put some heavier things there and things I would not want to lift out so often.



H.  Large Castors

I know this is not storage and not crafts but this is a great thing that my husband decided was needed very shortly after we got the Armoire all those years ago.

We do laugh and say that Fred would like everything to be on castors but definitely in this case it made such a difference for all the times we have moved the armoire as we moved house and also makes it so much easier for cleaning around, behind and underneath it.



J.  Armoire Doors

These doors are great in that they have those special hinges so that the doors will open right back beside the actual sides of the armoire.
(you can see what I mean better on the left side)



K.  Top Right Shelf

Magnetic Memo Pads - these are also items that I have made and materials for making more

Magnets - these are laminated card magnets that I have made and also materials for making more







Bags - a box containing a variety of cellophane bags








L.  Second Right Shelf

Cards & Envelopes - these are ones for use with the kids in church






Greeting Cards - some cards that I had made previously






Black Roll-up Cases for Calligraphy Pens and Markers







M.  Third Right Shelf

Blue Expander Files  - sticker, paper embellishments, cards & envelopes
(I hope you like the labels.  I love to label things even if others laugh at me!)






Various Boxes of Special Themed Embellishments - ones that I have got for special scrapbooks I intend to make




N.  Cubby Holes

I keep some rulers, hole punches, long stapler, staples and odds and ends in these. 

This is the one area of the armoire which is under utilised and I should rethink it better.




P.  Fold Down Table Top

This is so handy as an extra workspace when sorting out things for our Sunday School and of course it is right beside where the paper cutter is kept! 




Q.  Bottom Right Shelf

Scrapbook Albums - these are ones I have bought over the last 5 years and intend to work on when I get some more time!!!!
(guess if you had frequented my blog before you will know how much I Love Arks)






Clear Plastic Box - a box for storing 12x12 scrapbook papers flat.








R.  Filing Drawer

This is the one part of the armoire which is not used for my crafts.

It still contains files for various things from over the years but may be changed later.



I do like to be able to open this craft armoire and see something that is properly organised



I of course would much rather be doing something like this even though it takes time, thought and effort; than doing any kind of housework.





Now just need to get the rest of the things in the study organised like the bookcases, desk, printer unit etc.










Wednesday

No Time For Study! - A Dose of Encouragement


I know that I am easily distracted.

Especially when I am trying to organise my Study which can get into such a mess very quickly and easily.

But also when I'm reading or trying to study something or preparing a talk for the kids at church.






You see I can see something that I have for a kids craft and then it reminds me of something else I saw on Pinterest and that means
  • I just have to go look for that pin again 
  • and then I will just have a look to see if there are any other nice ideas on Pinterest 
  • and then I will just check my emails when I'm on the laptop 
  • and then a quick look into Facebook working on something for the kids in church
  • and then my messages 
and then the time has flown and there is





And by STUDY I mean the verb not the room in my house that is always a mess.


Now all of this really spoke to me about this other type of


STUDY


I can sit down when I know I have a decent amount of time and do a Bible Study and I know that lots of you can too.
But frankly this is not every day.


I can in fact sit down when I don't have a lot of time and read a few verses each day and I know you can too.
But I was also very conscious of the fact that I was always lifting my ipad and checking emails or facebook in the morning before I was picking up my Bible to read those few verses or to sit and study for a while.


Yes I could have been lifting the iPad to read my Bible App first thing but I wasn't.


You see I was too easily distracted by those "dings" and little notifications that keep popping up to draw me back into the virtual world.


So last Thursday 30th October I felt challenged 
to determine that I should make a change in my habits 

- because Yes it was a habit I had sunk into.


I was coming to the end of a month and the end of a blogging challenge so why not go straight into another personal challenge and make a new habit of reading


at least one verse from the bible 


before I do any lifting of the iPad for anything else.


Hence of course I needed to tell Fred about this because I need to have to be accountable to someone but then he is travelling a lot these days so I decided to take it to my friends on facebook as well.


On Friday 31st October I posted this so I would now be accountable to them as well.





And that is how I got myself started.

Each day since then I have got my bible and I'm reading through Proverbs 31 before I lift the iPad.
Sometimes one verse sometimes two verses and making a brief comment my Bible Reading Journal.

Then later when I eventually go to the computer I post the verse(s) and my notes on Facebook.

On the first day I even made a graphic of the first two verses (just because I like playing with graphics).





So I have now today reached verses 8 & 9 which is the end of the first section of Proverbs 31 and tomorrow I start unto the Virtuous Wife section.

I really do hope that by the end of the 30 days it will have become a habit and one that I will not find easy to break.






Why don't you think about this.

Are your Bible reading habits good?

You don't have to wait to start something like this at the beginning of a month - you could start today!

What chapter or Book of the Bible would you start this with?



Just remember





before you get drawn into all the other things in our 21st Century life.





Monday

As I sit at my Desk - Coffee & Conversation


What view do you have as you sit at your computer?


Maybe you have a window to gaze through, maybe you have a wall with a family picture or some other nice thing to look at or maybe you have different views each time because you sit different places to work on a laptop.






I have a hutch shelving unit as part of the back of my desk and on the top of it I have a variety of notebooks kept in place by a set of teddy bear bookends, a picture frame and some videos between a set of bookends which have sections for notes and odds and ends.


I looked up from my chair today and was struck by what I saw (and I have seen this over and over again but today it just stood out more probably due to the way we had been praying at the church prayer meeting last night) so I really had to take a picture of it.






A bookmark I had received some years ago on a Christmas card just saying MIRACLE and a little bit behind it a greeting card from which I had torn off the front part because it has a picture of Noah's Ark (and I love Arks).

So today I was gazing at the phrase Wishing you a miracle and then there in front of it was that plain statement of fact in the bookmark.

How encouraging and inspirational is that to have to look up at as I sit at the computer?

I am just a bit disappointed that so many days & weeks had already passed and I hadn't been struck by those two objects being so close together until today, but I'm thankful I noticed it now.



I do believe God can and does do miracles!










Now I am waiting to see what the miracle (or miracles) will be,



                             because I do believe God can and does do miracles.


 Do you?