Vacation incoming…
It’s Christmas time! Kids are off from school, and many people are set to start vacations and holiday time off. As we head into the two weeks of Christmas and New Years most of us have a little extra time on our hands. Whether you have a million things you want to do or you’re not sure how to entertain yourself (or your family) midwinter offers an invitation into project season.
Get creative…
In these shortest days and longest nights the majority of us will be staying indoors sometimes solo and sometimes gathering with family and friends. It’s the perfect time to pull out all those stored arts and crafts supplies and get creative. Rather than watching TV and movies and eating more than you really want to, try occupying yourself with watercolors, acrylics, clay, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, stickers, colored paper, glue, and whatever else you’ve squirreled away. Make some goofy DIY crafts for a white elephant exchange, or finally try out that relaxing coloring book. Work on your drawing skills. Complete the paint by numbers that’s sitting in your closet. Make refrigerator magnets, or fashion a decorative miscellaneous items try. Still want to watch movies? Get out the yarn! Your knitting progress will spiral away while you enjoy Scrooged, or Rudolf, or Die Hard (or whatever). The possibilities are truly endless.
Get messy…
One of the joys of being creative is getting to spread out over a large area and make a mess. Rather than getting things out to start your project then having to put them all away later, use the extra time to let your space be an art studio for a few days. Turn your home into a Santa’s workshop. Set up little stations you (and your family and friends) can return to over multiple hours to multiple days. Let yourself and others casually start and stop their projects. Just be sure to lay the groundwork: spread a tarp of drop cloth, have a rinsing or cleaning station, keep disaster causing supplies (e.g., cans of paint) away from being spilt, and generally be prepared for some spot clean up to occur. Let it be an easy, low pressure, relaxing experience. If you (or your family and guests) need structure, pull up YouTube tutorials or print directions to follow for your projects, otherwise, just turn on the Christmas music and play!
Get organized…
This is your second big cleaning and clearing opportunity of the season (the first being winter decorating). When I say get out your art and craft supplies, I mean ALL of them, and include anything creatively adjacent (like writing notebooks, or music sheets). Now, with all your creative supplies and tools and resources, you have the best conditions to plan your projects for the shorter and longer term, decide what you want to preserve or save for another time, decide what you want to get rid of or use up soon, identify what you need to resupply, and reorganize everything so that you’re better set up to use your supplies in the future. If you plan to take advantage of project season and engage in some creativity you can make sure to use up the old things or things you don’t want to retain or give those things away to others crafting with you. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Pull everything out!
Try to assemble all of your creative project supplies in one place so that you can survey it all. What do you see? Things that you wanted to do, but didn’t. Things you still plan to do. Things you forgot about. Things that remind you of the past. Things that are left overs. Etc.
Step 2: Plan for the future.
Now that you have an idea of what you have, an inventory if you will, think about what you want to do. Some of those items may immediately register as “yeah I will use that later”, others might remind you that you really wanted to try or make a project or develop a skill, some things might be sentimental, and some things might be junk. Think about your plans for the next couple months and for the next year. Make a list of projects, skills, crafts, etc. that you would like to complete or work on in the future. Your list may include some of these supplies and it may require others that you don’t have. The point is, you now have an idea of what you need and what you don’t need of those supplies for your future projects.
Step 3: Preserve and reserve.
Using your list of future projects, set aside any of your supplies that you need for those projects. That’s it!
Step 4: Use, discard, or maintain.
Here’s a tougher step. Decide what you want to use up, discard (throw out or donate), or keep as a stored supply item. If you take my recommendation and do some projects over the holidays, you can use those items that you want to use up or discard. Either way, sort your items into three piles to either use, discard, or keep.
Step 5: Reorganize.
Your reorganization starts by throwing out or donating (maybe placing into a donation pile) things that are falling apart, expired, dried up, or otherwise has gotta go. Reducing the amount of things you’re working with will help create space to organize the rest. Things that you identified in step 3 to preserve or reserve are the first items you should place back in storage, on shelves, in bins, or wherever you keep your supplies. Place them as up front and accessible as possible. These are your priority items, and they should be easy to see, get to, and use. Next sort your things to maintain from step 4. Follow a similar approach to your preserved supplies. As you place these items back in storage, on shelves, or in drawers try to organize them into designated trays and bins, sectioned containers, etc. that will help you keep assorted items easy to access. Items to use up should not go into storage. They should be placed in obvious visible locations that compel you to use them. Again, set a couple days aside to work on projects and you’ll use it all up before New Years.
Step 6: Make your supply list.
Take advantage of the Boxing Day and remaining Christmas and liquidation sales! You’ll all set to buy the right things because now you know what you have and you know what you need to work on your planned and future projects. Make a supply list and don’t forget to check out Amazon the day after Christmas.
Have fun and happy crafting!
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