I Have So Much Shit

The day I moved to my mom’s house, there were a lot of boxes. I was surprised that my craft supplies only occupied three of them. One small, one medium and one large. All three were rather heavy. The movers even said so.

I was surprised by the heaviness because everything in there is basically a bunch of small things. Anything big like my Cricut or airbrush machine was handled separately. I didn’t move them, the movers did, and they complained. Lol.

The amount didn’t surprise me. I actually thought it would be more. It wasn’t until I started unpacking that I realized how much shit I have. I think I’ve gotten better with my craft supply purchases, but when you’re looking for something specific, the amount of supplies I had to look through seemed insurmountable.

When people offer me things, my DIY brain kicks on and I generally always say yes. I am like an elephant. I remember where, when and why I got something for crafting. Now, I’m going to be more selective about what I take in. I need to be better about this in general.

Seeing everything without a place where it lives really bothers me. Unfortunately, that’s going to be my reality until I get my office and craft space functioning the way I’d like it to.

Our move was on a timeline because we still had an apartment lease, so we weren’t able to do all the things people normally try to do before moving in. We managed to remove the wallpaper from my workspace because we happened to have access to an industrial steamer while other renovations were happening. Otherwise, a lot had to wait.

On top of that, this house was inherited, so all of my mom’s possessions needed to be handled and stored too. There was a lot of shuffling, tossing and organizing happening on large and small scales at the same time. That’s still a reality I’m dealing with, but things have settled down.

Things I Completely Forgot I Had

Nothing really surprised me when it came to the craft supplies and tools themselves. I packed them like a week before. They had also been stored together somewhere I visited semi-frequently.

What I completely forgot was how many things I started, abandoned and then forgot about.

That made me a little sad because I saw remnants of the pandemic and projects I dropped when I was married. I remember feeling defeated and not good enough because of the external forces around me telling me so.

But then the Blonde Asian in me turned that grief into something that could be finished. I have this blog! This is my opportunity to finish what I started.

It’s like finishing a sentence. Just because I stopped talking, that doesn’t mean I can’t finish what I was saying.

I was good enough then and I am good enough now.

I’m also looking at old supplies with my even older eye. Unpacking has actually been really exciting.

The Things I Was Weirdly Excited to Find

I was happy to find my single-hole puncher.

Actually, all five of them.

I like to use a hole punch when I wrap Christmas presents because I refuse to buy gift tags. I use leftover wrapping paper to make my own, punch a hole and thread ribbon through it. My three-hole punch gets a lot more use because I only need the single-hole punch around the holidays.

By now, I think you know why I have five.

Almost every holiday season, I’d forget where I put the previous year’s hole punch and have to buy another one. Again, I refuse to buy gift tags. It’s a hill I will die on.

The funny thing is, one of the hole punchers I bought in June at an estate sale specifically because I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t remember where the others were.

Then I lost that one by November.

I was also excited to find my clay conditioning machine. It’s one of those machines that looks like a pasta machine. I bought it from Mercari, and I’ve never worked with polymer clay.

When I bought the machine, it was a “one day I’ll do it” kind of thing. Finding it made me feel like polymer clay is actually going to be part of my crafting journey. It doesn’t feel like something that’s far away anymore.

Now it feels like if I want boba tea, I could also go get me some polymer clay.

Honestly, since I have a pretty good idea of what I own, I was mostly excited to realize how easily I could make something if I just wanted to. I’ve become more aware of what I own because of this blog, and now I can see so many possibilities in those supplies.

Everything inherently felt more interesting.

Apparently I Have Favorites

I have a bunch of Mod Podge jars in all sizes that are half or more empty. My crafting used to be rather sporadic. I’d do a lot, put everything away and eventually come back to it. I have an affinity for glitter and sealing it, so finding a bunch of half-used jars I forgot about wasn’t exactly shocking.

I also found lots of leftover rhinestones from other projects, including the dance world. I’d rhinestone costumes for students to help, plus I got to keep the leftovers!

A lot of those are colors and sizes I wouldn’t usually use for my own projects. When I did buy rhinestones for myself, I was also terrible at guesstimating how many I’d need. I’d overbuy because I was always worried about color lots.

I still didn’t need that much.

Now I’m even happier that I’m working on my sidequest project.

I also have a lot of jewelry pliers, but I actually use all of them. A few could stand to be replaced, but I’m kind of stubborn about those things. I’d need one to hurt me somehow or Mr. Cute Effect would have to tell me that I’m yelling more than usual while jewelry making.

I think I’m learning that I don’t like being unprepared, I’m stubborn and I lose things.

A lot of my supplies were stored inside something, so I couldn’t see everything I owned. Even in this short amount of time, having more of my supplies visible means I don’t need to source as much.

I want to be more intentional about what I make. I can be prepared and have what I need without building excess.

The Stuff I Don’t Know Why I Still Have

I have a buttload of knitting needles.

I don’t really knit. I got them in a big box of craft things from an estate sale because there was something else in there that I “needed to have.” I don’t remember what it was, but I remember feeling like that.

I can knit, but not very well. I have no idea why I decided that meant I also needed to keep all the knitting needles.

I think it’s time to let those divas go.

I’ve also been destashing mixes of beads and broken jewelry I originally kept in hopes of repurposing them. With this blog, I have more of a direction, and I’m vowing to buy with intention. I don’t have a shop, so there’s no reason for me to keep things on hand just in case.

That doesn’t necessarily make it easier to get rid of things. I could literally pick something up and come up with five ideas for it.

But considering this is a hobby I’m using to build a blogging career with, I really don’t have space for maybe projects. If it’s a maybe, I’m not passionate enough to do it. It can go.

Readers deserve to see things that are made because I want them to exist, not because I’m trying to chase a trend. And if I do something that seems trendy and I’m aware of it, I will tell you.

There are still plenty of supplies I have that could become other cute things I want to make. The difference is that I don’t need to invent a reason to keep everything anymore.

Final Thoughts

Unpacking has inspired me to keep creating. I didn’t think that would happen.

I thought I’d get overwhelmed and feel like I wasted a bunch of money. In a way, sure, I did. Instead of making me feel defeated, though, seeing everything made me more determined to do more creative things.

Having The Cute Effect has definitely changed how I look at supplies. I feel less brain farty. I remember more of what I do because I’m making things consistently, and these posts make it easy to reference what worked and what didn’t.

Also, now that I’m not in my 20s, my experiences have shown me different ways to look at things. Something I once thought could only be done one way might be something I’m willing to approach with an entirely different technique now. I’m okay with failure. I love being able to document the journey.

When I’m settled, I want to be able to see what I have. I’m hoping for a more open organization situation, although it’s funny because I do want it to be more aesthetic than I preach. Lol.

Mr. Cute Effect has been really supportive of my blogging endeavors and wants me to have an ideal working space instead of one I just deal with. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have a computer desk. I want my machines, Cricut, sewing machine, heat guns and everything else to have a permanent spot to live.

The room needs to serve a few purposes. Obviously, I need room to craft. I also need a place to write about my projects, and I want somewhere I can shoot talking-head YouTube videos for this and my other blog. Things need to be easily moved and contained.

TCE is a place for my creative thoughts to exist and be fruitful. Looking at a weird supply can absolutely make me start trying to link it to some future TCE project.

The difference now is that I also have the strength to say no, I don’t need this, and push on.