I am a Rationer

Hi, 

My name is Lauren and I am a Rationer. 

Is that even a word? Rationer? Rationeer? Ration-er? Rationalist? 

I am whatever the correct word is. 

I first expressed my rationing-ness to you in this post about my Sugar Scrub usage. Really folks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

On a daily basis, I ration things like water, food, paper, and office supplies. My family has dubbed me a "Water Rationer". On a weekly/monthly basis, I ration goods and activities such as reading my magazines, using greeting cards, using face wash and other expensive beauty supplies, CRAFT SUPPLIES, etc.

Some people might call it 'hoarding' instead of 'rationing', but I am of the firm belief that there is a serious distinction between the two. By my definition, rationing is using up a precious resource very slooooooowly, at a snails pace even, as to prolong the benefit of the good/activity over as long a life as possible. I am a true savor-er. Seriously, anyone that has ever been around me eating food, particularly creme brulee, can attest to this fact. I will contemplate every morsel of my creme brulee, it literally takes me 20 minutes to eat about 6 ounces of it. 

As I sit here and think back to the things I have rationed so lovingly, they really are the things or activities that have brought me more joy than anything. 

I.love.reading.magazines. I cannot stress this enough. I have stacks and stacks that I scour for little tidbits of inspirations. I read and reread these gems 3 or 4 times just in case I missed something. Then, I store all of the good ones in the basement and read them again at the gym a year or two later). A lot of people have called this hoarding, but its not, I just love the magazines and I USE them!

Now that I've aired my dirty-rationing-laundry, I can explain how this relates to you all. 

You see, I am crafting all of the time. I am taking pictures of these crafts all of the time. I actually craft WAY MORE than I blog. (Blogger and I have not been getting along lately and I am getting a little irritated with exerting the great effort to post something, and then having my entire post not save or disappear). 

So, in my rationing ways, I save up all of these projects and photos for times when I am running a little dry in the crafting department, and then I will post a project I did a little while back so that the blog doesn't go dormant. 

Well. My sister accidentally dumped a beer on my laptop and I lost everything. EVERYTHING. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Of course, not everything before the last time I backed-up (around Christmas). 

I did lose about 6 months worth of un-documented projects. I felt like Carrie from Sex and the City when she never backed up any of her writings. You know, this picture:

 

Anyway. These pictures included finished projects such as, my Chive Blossom Vinegar,  this Embroidered Pillow, and other various projects. I would re-take pictures of these things and make up a post about them and yadda yadda, but I also STRONGLY DISLIKE repeating myself. 

Anyway. I apologize for my absence, as I try to keep the blog peppered with posts and fun, but I have been battling my dead computer for about 2 months now and I am finally calling it. Time of Death 7/30/2012 at 10:00 PM. Time to move on with my life. 

HOLLER! 

Craft Room Look & Feel

I've been really really thinking about what kind of LOOK & FEEL I want my craft room to have. I have been struggling with this thought a lot. What look to I want?  I know what I absolutely don't want, but I have trouble narrowing down exactly what I do want.


Do I want to be vintage chic:

Do I want to be super organized and structured?

 (YESSS!)

Or do I want a more go with the flow attitude?

Do I want to use wire/metal shelving and racks and create a more industrial feel?

 

Do I want to eliminate as much open shelving as possible so it is a cleaner, more streamlined look?

Do I want to have a design wall? More importantly, will there be room?

BIG QUESTION: Do I want a color scheme? I'm not really a "theme" or "scheme" person. Do you have to have theme or color scheme? Is it a must?

 Do I want to display a collection proudly?

What do you think? What do I want? Of all the pictures, I think I like the one below the best. I like the brightness. I like the combo of open shelving and drawers. I like the white wood and the neutral-ish color. I think that it will give as a nice backdrop while working on various projects, maybe I won't have sensory overload with too much going on in the room. I just like it. Also, green is my favorite color.:

P.S. notice the wire baskets? Maybe that's why I like it?!


xoxo

Wire Basket Storage Inspiration

I'm really loving these wire baskets as a storage solution for the bookcases. I am not sure how I want to store my fabrics. I might just fold the fabric and stack it on the shelves, but the idea of placing all of the fabric stacks in wire baskets also sounds like it would give a nice overall look to the bookcases.

Look at all of these beautiful baskets:

Wall-hanging wire storage:

 (I love these! I don't have any brushes to put in one, but I am sure that I could find something just as fun)

 (I REALLY love love this one. I can picture hanging it on the wall and storing all of my mail / receipts in it)

(Isn't this one great? Maybe it would be great for gift-wrap roll storage?)

Baskets for bookcases and maybe fabric storage?:

 (Ok. I won't be keeping lemons in the craft room, but these are the baskets that I envision storing fabric in. These are from the container store, aren't they GREAT?)

Other storage baskets. Not sure that these would actually fit anywhere in the craft room, but maybe for a garbage can? Or a great scrap bin?

Overall look:

(I love how this person lined all of her/his wire baskets with a linen/canvas look material. It really unified the look and softened the industrial feel of the baskets.)

What do you think? Are the vintage looking storage baskets a winner?

xoxo

Ball Jar Inspiration

My first inspirational post is about beautiful ball jars. I love them. I LOVE blue glass. 

This is what my craft room looks/looked like from online pictures of the house. We haven't closed yet, so I haven't gotten in there for good photos. As you can see, there are built-in bookshelves on 2 of the walls. They are currently a lovely shade of hunter green (although they look black in the pictures).

These are my inspiration photos. I love the pretty blue hue of the ball jars. I really love this picture below and want it for my craft room. I do also plan on painting our shelves a white or light cream color and I think that it will look AWESOME with these blue jars.

oooo lalala more ball jars . . . I absolutely love this picture:

 Ok! There you have it... blue ball jars are the love of my life.


xoxo

Goodbye, My Lover . . .

So, remember how I told you that we are moving into our gorgeous first home:

Well... that means I had to pack up everything we own for a while. Naturally, that includes my recent love:

As well as the rest of my quilting supplies:
 

Given that I won't have access to my crafting goodies for probably a month or so, I plan on sharing inspiration photos with you for a while. I hope you enjoy! 

Wish us luck moving. We have packed almost everything we own, except food, some bath products, and clothing we'll need for the next two weeks. I am staring at all of the boxes/garbage bags full of our life and DREADING having to move it all down 2 flights of stairs and then into the house. I also am sick of hearing myself whine about it.

xoxo