Major Craft De-Stash, Part 1

I mentioned before that most of my craft projects on my current list are de-stashing my crafts instead of making.  I’m happy to say that I have just completed half of the job.  I used my basket trick to make it easier (see 2016 Resolutions Update: Round 2). 

Here’s the first few batches.

First batch is patterns.  I actually have several more in storage, but they are almost impossible to get to anytime soon. 

Just sorting all the patterns cluttering up my craft area at home.  A few store bought, some free ones I found online, and several patterns I made based on the other ones.  

And here they are all sorted. 

The ones in the basket are the keepers.  The ones are the right are going straight in the trash.  They are ones that are too damaged to use or those ones I made based on other patterns.  They were mainly made for a single dress and so there isn’t much point in keeping them around.

The small middle pile is actually a pattern for a teddy bear I made from scratch (see Sewing for Baby).  I am going to scan that on to my computer before tossing.  If I do some editing on it, I may post it here. 

That last pile is some patterns I will either sell or giveaway.  I have never used them anyway, and some of them are too similar to patterns I have or can find for free.  No point in keeping them.

The next batch is the most fun.  Lace, ribbon,flowers, buttons and beads, etc.  Lots of pretty stuff.  Fun to sort through, but difficult to part with.

Difficult, but not impossible.

The ones in the basket are all the embellishments I am keeping, and the rest are going.  That smaller pile at the bottom is heading straight to the trash.  Not sure why I kept them so long.  The others I will giveaway or sell.

The last one is full of things like pins, scissors, tools, needles, glue, zippers, elastic, etc.  Stuff that come in handy when making stuff, at least when I actually use it.

Again, the keepers are in the basket and the rest are getting the boot.  Mostly extra pin cushions, needle cases, thread in colors I don’t use much, and random stuff.  Yes that is a box of dental floss, don’t ask.

My crash stash is clearer already, can’t say the same about the rest of the house.  When I say I’m giving things away, that usually means to my family members.  They may need to de-stash soon too.

Here’s the updated list:

• lining
• patterns
• lace
• pins
• scraps
• fabric
• supplies
• uniform

Four down, four more to go.  The next few should be up in a couple of days. Look forward to it.

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Super Cute Shopping! AZ International Marketplace Grand Opening

It would come as no surprise to many that I like shopping at Asian supermarkets.  Love them actually.  Yesterday one of my favorite stores, Mekong Supermarket had the grand opening of their new sister store, the AZ International Marketplace.  Yay!

I had heard about it weeks before hand from flyers at Mekong and checked out the Facebook page for the new store.  It was like every type of ethic grocery store combined into one ultimate super store.  Yep, I was definitely going.

They were giving out free gift certificates for the first 500 people, so of course I tried to get there super early.  Like 6 am early.  There was no one there except for a nice elderly woman whom I didn’t see at first because she had gone to find a restroom.

I got to see what was left of the sunrise over the parking lot.  The place was decorated with little flags of several different countries.

I was there to watch them set up the balloon arch in front of the doorway.

And to watch them later set up for the opening ceremony, I even got to help them set up the table cloth. 

On the table here is a plate of exactly 10 pieces of fruit, an urn full of rice, a plate of pork buns, and several large candles and torches to be lit up during the ceremony.

Here they have the candles going.  Behind the table you can see the head of the whole roasted pig, I spared you the view of the rest of it.

I was the second person in the store, and by the time I got my gift certificate and my raffle tickets the fireworks display was over. :(

I did of course get to see the dragon dance inside the store with drums to accompany them.

Once inside, I didn’t really get anymore photos because I was too busy squealing at the cute stuff and all the great deals.  Here the sale flyer.  At the top it says you get 10% everything that isn’t already on sale, I think that’s what brought most people in to the store. 

Funny thing is that Mekong Supermarket had the same deal for their grand opening, but never actually got rid of it. Even now, years later you still get 10% normal priced items.  So I’m hoping since this is the sister store, that they will do the same thing.

We were there all day, not entirely by choice though.  The sales and such brought lots of people in and sent them straight to the registers to check out with fully filled shopping carts.  This lead to hour plus waiting times just to check out.  When I got home all I wanted to do was sleep.

Well, sleep and gush over what I bought, want to see?

Behold!

First up is this cute wastebasket.  It was advertised as $3.58, and I somehow couldn’t resist something so adorable and actually useful.

The lid is shaped like a bear’s head but the rest has this pretty flower design that kind of clashes with the bear.  I’d be tempted to just use it without the bear lid, but I think it’s more useful with a lid.  Plus it is somewhat amusing to me.

I found this cute set of plastic drawers with the office supplies, normal price is about $5.  They are probably meant for things like pens and stuff, but I could easily use them for storing accessories or craft supplies.  Like the craft supplies I still need to sort through. :|

What really sold me on this was the soft pink color and cute plastic bow shaped drawer pulls.  They also come in other pretty colors too. :)

Speaking of cute pink things, I also got this pink bento box.  They had square-ish shaped ones like this and round ones in pink, blue, or green on sale for $2.99.

There is a third piece inside that comes out to form two separate compartments for food, and yes it does come with a spoon.  This was part of a serious discussion I had with another shopper who was purchasing one as well.

Another serious discussion was where I found this adorable pink cup.  It was actually with the bathroom accessories.  I think it’s intended to use when brushing your teeth to rinse and maybe to keep your toothbrush afterwards. 

It was about $1.50 regular price and it says “Dream, Love makes the world go round”.  I love it when cute things from Asian countries have little English phrases on them like that, especially when the English isn’t very well translated.

The most useful pink item I got?  A hanging laundry drying rack thing.  I already had three of these and use them almost constantly. 

Air drying is better for clothes and for the wallet as well as the environment.  Plus you can hang a surprising variety of items on these things.  Sock, undies, bras, tank tops, knit shorts, t-shirts, small kids stuff, etc.  Naturally when hanging larger items you need to use more than one clip.

Anyway, this rack was about $2.50 normal price and came in other shapes as well. 

What really sold me on this one was the cute heart shaped clips.  I’ve had problems in the past with these racks with the clips breaking off, but still being useful as clips for household stuff.  So I think having cute sturdy looking clips is a good thing to look for with drying racks.

And the cute pink parade ends with this adorable comb.  They had several different colors and patterns, all of them were 89 cents each normal price. 

I’m not sure if I actually want to use it for my hair or just hang it on the wall and admire it.  At the very least, I want to save the packaging to decorate things.  Decoupage anyone?

Since this place is a grocery store, I had to actually buy something to eat.  So I bought…

…Quail eggs?

I love them, they taste really good if you season them and dump them in pasta dishes, stir-fries, etc.  And I’ve found that it’s actually cheaper and easier to buy them canned instead of fresh.  You get more than twice as many eggs for about the same price and they are already hard-boiled and peeled for you. 

This is one of my favorite brands of canned quail eggs (mostly because of price, about $2.20), but the last few times I went to Mekong Supermarket they were sold out.  Imagine how happy I was when I found them at AZ International Marketplace.  So I immediately grabbed two cans and wandered off.

Along with the great assortment of foods to buy, there were plenty of samples available, like these biscuits that were handed out at the door on the way out.  I also got to sample various cheeses, seasoned fruit, and got little bags of Takis chips.  I would have gotten a picture of those too, but I ate them all.

While I was there I noticed a display for sunglasses, specifically I noticed the 40% off sign for the sunglasses.  I really had been in desperate need for a new pair (Summer in Arizona, enough said), so why not take a peek. 

The normal price for this pair was about $10 with many other pairs for about $8.  With the sale I only paid $7, not too bad I think.

The last thing I got were these fans.  They are similar to a fan I bought at SAS last summer that was a godsend.  They were the same price too, about $1.99 normal price and tons to choose from.  The white one is for me, and I have other ideas for the other two.

These fans, like much of what I brought are made in China.  I noticed and found it rather interesting that on the red fan this fact was incorporated into the design. 

Overall, I had a great though exhausting time, but the fun isn’t over yet.  If you couldn’t make the grand opening, this Saturday and Sunday, April 23-24th, AZ International Marketplace will continue their celebration from noon to 5 pm.  They will have a BBQ and music, bounce house, raffles, etc. and of course sales. 

So another chance to enjoy this new store.  And if you aren’t local, why not check out what you have in your area.  Got any great ethic grocery stores or restaurants you love?  Please share. :)

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2016 Resolutions Update: Round 2

It’s now over four months into the new year and I'm long overdue for an update on my resolutions (see 2016 New Year's Resolutions).

Make more tutorials - I think I’ve done a decent job with this one, making video tutorials is super fun.  Total so far:

1. Lace Twin Hearts Hair Clip, A tutorial
2. Easy Bodice or How to Sew a Dress for Any Doll

Two out of twelve, and the third will be coming up soon and possibly a fourth.

Reduce craft stash – I caved on this one a little.  I had a gift card for Joann Fabrics and Crafts and they had a $1 sale on Simplicity patterns.  I only bought 2 as well as some Velcro and some clearance winter gloves.  You will see them when I start sorting out my stash.  The basket trick will work greatly for that too (see 2016 Resolutions Update: Round 1).  I also ended up buying some fabric for Easter, and some impulse craft items (see Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories...and And Now...The Dress).  Oh the shame.

Exercise – Because of how busy I've been at work and how miserably I been doing on my goal, I've decided to put this on hold to focus more attention on my other resolutions.

Stretch –  Same as with the exercise, it's on hold for the time being.

Save money – After much thought, I decided to change up my goal for this one. 

I've realized it matters very little how much I've been able to save if the interest on my credit card is eating a good chunk each month.  So the new goal is to reduce the balance on my credit card to under $1000 by the end of the year, and I have a stretch goal of reducing it to 0 if I can manage it. 

So far my strategy is to pay at least $220/month on it.  The $200 is because that's double the minimum payment amount and the last $20 is because that's how much I usually set aside to save for stuff for crafts/hobbies.  If I'm trying to reduce my craft stash I probably don't need that $20.

I have also been splitting the $220 and making two payments each month instead of just the one.  I’ve read that this affects the way the interest is calculated (Here's a good article on it). 

Clean out my closet – This one I'm quite proud of.  I continued using the basket trick and finished sorting out my closet.

Here's one ambitious basket full of clothes to sort.

Now all sorted.  The basket is full of the keepers, the pile on the right is stuff that needs fixing/mending, and the pile on the left is the stuff to get rid of.

Now all bagged up.  Two more bags of giveaways, and the mending has been added to the ever growing mending bags.

Now this is the final basket and the one I saved for last for a reason.  It's full of all the pretty dresses and skirts I have sewn myself over the years.  Extremely difficult to part with any of them as you can imagine.

Difficult, but not impossible.  Again the basket is full of the keepers, the bottom pile is the fix/mend pile, and surprisingly the top pile is all the ones I am giving away.

Now here’s the three completely full bags of mending with another bag of giveaways on the left and a basket full of keepers on the right.

Now to deal with the mending.  I had decided to re-sort them before attempting any sort of fixing.  No sense in keeping all this if I’ve lost interest in fixing them.

First bag, fixing the stuff on the left, goodbye to the stuff on the right.  The top right will be cut up for rags.

Second bag, top keeping, bottom left giving, bottom right will be used for other purposes.

The third and final bag.  This is the one full of pretty handmade dresses and skirts, but I’m still only fixing the top ones.  The bottom pile will go to good homes.

Now here’s the full bags of mending sorted from left to right in order of difficulty.  Guess which one I will probably get to first?

And of course two more bags full of stuff to give away/donate. 

The closet is fully sorted.

Goal completed.

New goal: Deal with each bag of mending, preferably before the end of summer.  Wish me luck!

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2016 Resolutions Update: Round 1

It’s now more than two weeks into the new year.  I thought it was about time to report how I’m doing on my resolutions (see 2016 New Year's Resolutions).

Make more tutorials - Haven’t made any so far but I am in the process of making three, they are still in the planning stage though.  Look forward to them.

Reduce craft stash – Sadly, the only thing I have done so far for this one is to stay out of all craft stores.

Exercise – I have managed to squeeze in a quick 15 minute run after work 3 times my first week and two times my second week.

Stretch –  I’m doing terribly for this one.  I managed to do some stretching after running, but not the 10 minutes worth for my goal.

Save money – I had a set back on this one, a couple of them actually.  It’s called Christmas clearances and one very particular holiday sale.  That holiday sale was the real killer.  I won’t say what I bought since it will be quite a while before I receive it.  In the meantime I’ve been using it as motivation to help with my spending.  Whenever I see something cute in a store I choose not to buy it becasue I already bought something big and I shouldn’t really need anything else.  Nothing like guilt to keep you on track.

Clean out my closet – I have made progress on this goal quite easily.  I develop a method of organising.  I call it the basket trick.

To do it, just grab a laundry basket and head to your messy closet or cabinet.  Grab a bunch of stuff from it and dump it in the basket.  You will now sort through only the stuff in the basket and completely ignore everything else in the closet or cabinet. 

The point is to break up the big task of cleaning out the closet into smaller easier tasks.

Here’s my first basket.  Full of clothes from my closet ready to be dealt with.

Here you see I’ve sorted it in three piles.  The top left pile is stuff that I simply don’t want.  The top left pile is stuff that need to be altered or fixed that I still like enough to attempt, for now.  The bottom is the pile of stuff that I am actually keeping.

Here are the same piles properly contained.  The few items to keep are back in the basket.  The to-fix items are in an orange tote bag specifically for that purpose.  And the unwanted items are in a plastic grocery bag ready to be given away or donated.

Here’s the second basket, attempted a few days later.  This one wasn’t as full as the first because I didn’t have as much time to conquer it, but that’s okay.

Now sorted.  The pile on the left is the unwanted stuff, the middle is the to-fix stuff and the last pile is the stuff that I can put back in my closet.

Now contained.  The fix-it bag is starting to look awfully full.  I don’t actually intend to start working on the fixing or anything until after I’ve finished sorting the entire closet.  I want to re-sort it all to see if I still actually want to bother fixing and altering everything in there.

The third basket I attempted last week. 

Sadly the results weren’t as good for this one.  I’m keeping half the basket.  The two piles outside the basket are the fix-it pile and a very tiny pile consisting of two unwanted items.

All baged up.  I now have two full bags of mending.  And that’s the third bag of unwanted clothes and it’s barely half full.

Overall, it’s a good start to cleaning out my closet.  I need to go through approximately six more baskets to have it completely sorted.  Then I want to use the basket trick for my craft stash.  Wish me luck.

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