Top DIY Ways to Clean Craft Clutter

Just a small part of our mess, er, craft.

 

If you are like us, your work space is probably part organized chaos and part chaos. As we recently converted one of our rooms into a central work/craft/office station, we uncovered some challenges. How do you organize space to fit zombie sculptures, glass etchings, jewelry, belt buckles and supplies, like beads, machine parts, wire, and all of the other miscellaneous things we have accumulated?

After scrolling through Pinterest for ideas, rearranging things a few times, I mean a few hundred times, making adjustments to what we wanted to accomplish, and laughing along the way, we finally created a great work space for us.

After we completed our project we took a step back and wrote our own list of the Top DIY Ways to Clean Craft Clutter. We hope these tips will help you create the work space of your dreams.            
                
9). Sell all of your projects. Have clearance sales on etsy, The Craftstar, weebly or wherever you sell your wares. Heck, you may even want to have a yard sale or sell some of your items at a flea market. Remember the goal here isn't to make money, it's to clean out your craft clutter.


8). Give away all of your handmade creations to friends, family, co-workers, strangers on the street- whatever it takes to clean out that clutter and regain some space. It's never to early to start handing out holiday presents! And this way, you won't panic when the holidays do roll around.


7). Donate all of your supplies to your local YMCA, a boys and girls club, pretty much any group that hosts a summer camp is in need of craft supplies. If you have a surplus of things besides glitter and beads (which I am not knocking, just referencing stuff from my private stash), consider donating items to organizations like Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse.  



6). Stop buying, bartering, and trading stuff. Period.

5). If you are that person people call when they want to 'get rid' of things, stop answering your phone. Since we do a lot of repurposing, we are those people. And in our case, we had to temporarily stop checking our mail as customers have sent us items to fix, repurpose, and recreate.
 
4). Stop starting projects. This also includes starting new projects as well as finishing those projects that are halfway done, or even those that are half of an idea. Each time we find ourselves entertaining a new idea, we feel the need to get more stuff. Then at some point we realize we have more projects not started than we have completed. What! How did that happen? And where did that mess come from? See. Stop starting.



3). Stop coming up with new ideas. Just turn your brain off, at least the creative side.

Sweet Goodwill, how I miss you!

2). Stay away from thrift stores, no matter how many times you find yourself singing along to Mackelmore. Even if it was only $.99, it will still clutter that craft room. In fact, avoid flea markets, craft stores, Construction Junction , or any other place where you feel the compelling need to buy things.  








Now the moment you have been waiting for!
Introducing the Number 1 DIY way to clean your craft clutter. Yes, we know there are two number ones. Why? Because they are of equal importance and 'cause I said so.

1).  Stop looking through Pinterest to find ways to organize and decrease clutter, instead, just start working on the clutter. You will be amazed with these results! If there is one thing you MUST DO, this is it.

1). Stop Crafting. This is really the easiest solution. But if you enjoy making things, it may be a little hard, if not impossible.  

While organizing what some may consider the start of a hoard, we had to figure out how we could make our space work for us. We were able to accomplish that with a sense of humor, by trying new ideas, and staying open to the reality that maybe we would have to change some off our habits, not just our collections.

Zombies and Brains: Introducing SS Zombie Apocalypse

If you read our blog or follow us on Facebook, you know one of us loves zombies and one of us, well, not so much.

It's no surprise that we opened a new shop on Etsy. The SS Zombie Apocalypse is a place where we can sell our brains, skull, and zombie merchandise.

Some of the items are a little disturbing, but I can confidently say they are also, from an artistic perspective, quite awesome. Since I write 90% of the descriptions and happen to be the one who doesn't like zombies or blood, you can only imagine how much I struggled to creatively write descriptions about these gory, sick zombie creations. You may also be surprised to know how many synonyms there are for words like gore and bloody.




Before/After

Check out Caroline.

Isn't she angelic, adorable, and celestial?

No, not at all.

Caroline is more bloody, gory, and apocalyptic.

The before and after photo highlights and captures the amount of work that went into creating this beautiful angel more than any words I could write.

Before/After

Next up, Cherubs.

Actually a Zombie Cherub Candle Holder.

No words needed.






In addition to our Zombie Sculptures, our new shop will be a place to find our skull jewelry, brain items, and glass etchings. And as always, we can and are more than happy to do custom work, just send us a message.  

Dancing Shoes, Copper Bracelets, and Sea Shells

In almost everything we create, we really try to up-cycle or repurpose items as there is something quite fun and magical in transforming discarded objects into something new.
Sometimes up-cycling is easy, and other times it requires just a little bit of imagination. Here are some projects we recently created by up-cycling and repurposing. Hope you can find inspiration in our pieces!  

Put on Your Dancing Shoes Earrings

These are perfect for your best friend or the girl who loves shoes!

We created these by drilling a hole in  vintage, toy doll shoes. Then we added  brown and gold seed beads to red jump rings. We even made the jump rings from salvaged wire.

Easy, creative and fun!




The Beach is Calling Necklace

We found this beautiful sea shell on the beach in the Outer Banks. We polished the shell, and used a Dremel to smooth it. We drilled a hole in the top, and used copper wire to add it to the hemp necklace.

The necklace speaks of warm, sunny days spent relaxing on the beach.

 

The Copper and Slate Bracelet

We created this piece by cutting slate into small squares, and then drilled holes into each piece. Once the pieces were formed, we simply added the copper wire jump rings.  

It's a great industrial chic piece!

 

 

What things have you repurposed or up-cycled? 

Brooch Bouquet: Part 1



Some of the pretties!

Pearly clusters!

I love love. And happiness. I also love centerpieces, floral arrangements, chandeliers, and wedding dresses. Oh, and cake!  Whether it's a beautiful wedding cake, a birthday cake or small bites of heaven in the form of a cupcake, I love it! Throw in a little fun, some DIY, a touch of glitter, and Pinterest, and it's really no surprise that I find myself helping several brides with their weddings.






Green gorgeous!

One of the things I'm super excited to start working on is a vintage brooch bouquet! I just adore these glittery, vintage, shabby chic bouquets. In addition to creating the bouquet for the lovely bride, I am creating a boutonniere for the groom and a smaller bouquet for one of her attendants. Yikes! No pressure.

I have read through several tutorials on creating the brooch bouquets, and of course they all seem so easy! But honestly, I have my doubts. There is something daunting and rather sweat inducing about wire wrapping 50-85 brooches, earrings, and pendants in a pattern to somehow, almost magically, create a floral bouquet that is not only beautiful, but elegant and tasteful.



Golden gems!

So follow me as I begin this journey of creating the brooch bouquets and boutonniere. You will see the joys, the heartaches, the happiness, and the frustration. And of course, pictures of it all!




Root Beer Float Cupcakes

I don't know what it is but I find something so therapeutic about baking. I love mixing the ingredients, experimenting with new flavors, and tasting the final product.

When I bake, I just kind of wing it. I usually start with a recipe, but then a few minutes later, I can't help but wonder about changing this, adding that, and mixing in this. While it's fun, I always feel bad when someone asks me for a recipe. I usually just tell people, 'What recipe? I just threw some things together and voila!' Or 'Kerplop,' depending on how my experiment worked.   

Since I post pictures of my creations and I have no plans whatsoever to open a bakery, I think it's only fair that I share some of my recipes. So presenting... drumroll please... My First Recipe!!!!!

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup original soy milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Vanilla extract
Root Beer extract
1&1/3 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt, or three quick shakes
 
Frosting Ingredients:
3/4 to1 stick of butter, room temperature
2-3 cups of powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tbsp. root beer extract
Soy milk

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Depending on how full you fill the cupcake liners, this recipe makes about 9 cupcakes, .

2). In a medium size bowl, whisk together soy milk, sugars, and oil.

3.) Next you are going to add the extract. I filled a 1/2 tbsp. measuring spoon 3/4 full with the root beer extract and then added the vanilla extract right into the same spoon, giving me a full 1/2 tbsp. of both extracts. You can experiment with this by adding a dash of each to the recipe or even a teaspoon of each. Adding both of the extracts makes the flavor oh so smooth, with just a hint of the warm vanilla. 

4.) Mix in the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the liquid ingredients.

5.) Fill cupcake liners. To fill the cupcake liners, I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup so my cupcakes would be roughly the same size.

6.) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The frosting was a little more buttery than normal, so when I make this recipe again, I will probably decrease the butter to 3/4 of a stick and adjust the powdered sugar accordingly.  

1). Mix butter with a mixer, until light and fluffy.
 
2.) Slowly add sifted powdered sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

3.) Once the butter and powdered sugar are mixed, and while the mixer is still on, add a little bit of the root beer extract. Once the extract is mixed in, taste the frosting to see if you need to add more. The flavor should be smooth, and not too overpowering.

4.) Next, with the mixer on, add a few drops of soy milk (2-3 capfuls, one at a time) to the frosting. Adding the milk makes the frosting nice and fluffy, and a little easier to spread on the cupcakes.

When the cupcakes are cool, ice your cupcakes and enjoy!!! You can add sugar sprinkles to the cupcakes, accent them with a piece of root beer candy or maybe even a straw.

  


Have fun trying my Root Beer Float Cupcake recipe. Let me know if you have any question, and if you make some of these fun cupcakes, please share the photos with me as I would love to see what you make. Most of all, just have fun with recipe!

Random Thoughts and Snippets

We had so much fun at the Circle of Friends Event at Trax Farms. Not only did we have the opportunity to talk about and sell our craft, we had the chance to meet some amazing people, both fellow crafters and customers.

From each event, from almost every sale, we learn something. During each show we make observations and create a list of strengths and areas to improve on. Our brains are always working. That being said, I wanted to share some of our random thoughts and snippets of conversations.

One of the things that is always so shocking for us to hear is, 'Oh my goodness! We're friends with you on Facebook! I follow all your posts.' I have no idea why this is so surprising for us to hear, afterall Facebook is this very public, international thingy that runs amok on the interwebz. But sometimes, we just forget. Thank you for reading our posts and commenting. It is so nice to hear that one of the posts made you laugh or that you loved one of our pictures.

One thing we repeatedly heard was, 'What the? What? What is that and who are you?' We've actually said this a few times to ourselves. We get it- sometimes it is hard to understand all the things we do. And it tickles us that we keep you guessing.



New hats from JSpirik Designs

We met so many great artists! Who knew the zombie making, found object sculpture duo would become friends with a talented lady who crochets hats. Secretly, she had Scott the minute she agreed to make him a skull hat. Special thanks to her family for welcoming us! But on the downside, we will need to do a lot more shows just to be able to support our new shopping habit.





During the show, I couldn't help but secretly crush on a few displays, After Dinner Designs, Brown Bird Green String, Papyrusaurus to name a few. Taking in the beauty of the handmade items and the aesthetics, I wondered how each artist made their tables look so appealing, cohesive and effortless.

As I walked around to meet some of the other artists, I was greeted two different ways, 'Um, aren't you with the guy in the Motörhead shirt?' or 'Oh. You're over at that table with those sculpture things that we keep hearing about.' In all honesty, I really didn't know how to respond. Initially, well, I thought perhaps I should deny it, claim amnesia. Then I felt paranoid as to why people were talking about us.

(Note to self, after the show donate the Motörhead shirt to Goodwill.)

From little kids who wanted to play with the insects and guess every part to the people who said, 'My children, my grandchildren would love this,' our found object sculptures were a hit with a variety of demographics.  
 
The telephone monster went to a new home, and even though he was my favorite creation, I know he will bring a smile to his new owner. We really do miss the walrus. He was such a good listener. No worries, there is a hippo in progress. While she may never be able to replace the walrus, I will be able find it inside myself to somehow go on.

Thank you everyone for making this show a success and for making us feel pretty darn awesome.  

The Voices in Our Heads

Like most people, I am sure you have spent hours, maybe even days, wondering what goes through a crafter's mind days before a show. So as we prepare for our first show of the year, I decided to take a moment to share the voices in my head- the thoughts that just magically creep in while I am doing dishes and gazing out the window or when I find myself avoiding a project.

Brain

But wait! Since there are two of us, and I am not the only one experiencing brief moments of irrationality, in a rare, never before documented moment, we decided to share The Voices in Our Heads.

 

The following is a collection of the thoughts we have experienced while getting ready for the show. Some of the thoughts have occurred almost simultaneously, some have been reoccurring, and some thoughts have been shared, almost in a Folie à deux.

 

 In terror, we have thought, 'What if we don't sell anything?' Then two seconds later thought,
'That's silly. Of course, we will sell something!'

 
Optimistically, we couldn't help but think, 'O.M.G. What if we sell everything and become millionaires?'  This thought, each time, was almost automatically followed by, 'Um, you must not be very good at math because even if you did sell everything, you still wouldn't have a million dollars.'

 

As we embrace but sometimes flee from our nerdiness, we couldn't help but ask, 'What if people laugh at us?' which was followed by 'That's almost a guarantee wherever we go.' If you have met us in person, you'd totally get this. You'd even laugh.

 

Three days before the show, I couldn't help but contemplate if I had time to add a few more items because I have this really great idea for new pins, etchings, paintings, necklaces... Fortunately, one of my voices won this battle and said, 'How about you finish the 12 other projects you spontaneously started yesterday?'

Part of our display

 

Panicked we have reminded ourselves to, 'Take a deep breath.'  Then ever so politely said,

'That therapy crap isn't going to work on me, I'll panic if I want too.'  

 

As we completed trial runs of our display, each of us have thought, 'Did I make enough stuff? Should I take 15 necklaces or 12? Should I take all the glasses or none?'
 
The last two thoughts, well, we wish we didn't have to share them, they're just so awful and we are still having a hard time dealing with their reality.


'Did the dogs really just rip open packaging and strew 16 handmade fabric flowers across the floor or have I officially started to hallucinate?'

and

 

'I didn't really just drop a finished, custom etched treat jar. No, No, I am just having a bad dream.'
 
Whatever you are doing, whatever you are working on, it's so easy to get caught up in the 'What ifs' but it's so important to remember to slow down and laugh a little, even if it is at yourself.