Craft fair is over!

I worry about the craft fair thinking no one's going to buy my "stuff". I am always surprised and amazed when people actually purchase something that I've created. People always say "I'm so creative". Me? Nope. I actually get ideas by looking at other people's art. I either change it just slightly so I can say I didn't "copy it" from someone. Or I change the colors or the stamp set or add an embellishment that wasn't there before. Creativity seems to not hit me until the week of the craft fair. Then I'm full of ideas and not enough time to complete them! Crazy!

The Stampin' UP! Fall-Winter catalog season is coming to a close. Just one and half months from now and a brand spankin' new catalog comes out. I've seen the preview already and been drooling the whole time. They've come out with their own line of scrapbook rub-ons, more pretty grosgrain ribbon that I just have to have, stinkin' cute paper and a few of those rubber stamp sets.

I just have to sell some of my retired stamp sets or I'll never be able to purchase new ones. I always make myself promise to sell the ones that I don't want to keep or can't use to demonstrate. People who have purchased them are amazed at how clean they are. They may have an occasional stain somewhere on the wood, but mostly they are so super clean you could probably eat off of them (ha! but I wouldn't).

Today on Oprah I saw the guy from "Clean Sweep" from TLC report about a lady who had a major hoarding problem. My gosh, you would have flipped out if you saw what her rooms looked like. She had been hoarding for 35+ years. Her kids finally took photos and sent it to him and he and his crew of 100 people came and cleared out her house. How bad was it? Well, she had mice nests in the basements, drywall that had to be replaced because of mold issues. I can't even imagine. And yes, she was a crafter, more than one type of craft. When they showed her all her stuff in a huge storage facility, this lady just sobbed. And then they said, wait, this isn't all of it and she saw an additional huge room, she just wailed. The storage facility was the scene of a huge garage sale that netted them $13,000! Can you imagine THAT! Which brings me to this week's topic.

How are you utilizing what you have? Do you know what you have in your "stash"? Are there duplicates of a certain style or color? Have you bought the same stamp twice (ha! I'm guilty of this -- three times!!!). That means you are not organized. I always tell stampers and scrapbookers to look through their stuff at least 4 times a year (every quarter). Give stuff away, trade with a fellow crafter, sell stuff in a garage sale. I'm a visual kind of crafter. If I can't see it, I'm not going to use it. So I have this pegboard in my art studio that I hang stuff on so I can see it. Before I purchase more brads, I'll look and see what I have first. Will I ever be like that lady on Oprah? I sure the heck hope not. But it makes you re-think about using what you have so you don't become a hoarder. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy that cool new looking tool or that sweet paper you've had your eye on. I'm saying that you should use caution when you are in a store and not do the impulse buying thing. Just like me -- I make myself think out my purchases when I'm ordering Stampin' UP! stuff. I think -- will I use it? How many times will I use the stamp set? Is it versatile enough? Will I be bored with it?

Well, it's the end of the week. So don't stress out about the topic. Just think about how you'll get organized this weekend/next week. Take baby steps, maybe start with 10 minutes a day (put on a timer) and clear off one section at a time. When the timer goes off, you stop. I bet you by the end of the week, you'll know what you have, how many and what colors/type you've got.