Decluttering the Craft Room Part 3 - Books for Collage & Musty Drawers!

Following on from last video, I delve back into the bottom of the Art Cupboard... discover lots of books bought for collaging and... other mysterious things in the drawers!
Craft Room Declutter 2024 Part 1 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJu0pnVugKlrY68
Craft Room Declutter 2024 Part 2 - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnq6oqWFjsqNnac
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Intro/Outro Music Used:-
Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3976-life-of-riley
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
FTC: This video is not sponsored. All products shown are purchased with my own money and all opinions of the products are my own.
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#CraftroomDeclutter #ArtRoom #decluttering #collage

[@Kreative_Rainbow]

I think that sitting cutting out the bits you like while watching something on the TV or KZbin is a good way to start. Then, organize your cut-out bits into categories. Label your categories. It will make it more fun when you have crafting time. Have your area all set for the therapy crafting! 🎨 Life is challenging. Therapy will be needed! 🥰

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Yes, sounds like a good idea! Little folders will be much less than tons of books! (I've had therapy... helped enormously, recommend it to everyone!) 🥰

[@WarboysWitch]

I don’t do collage but even I’m getting inspired by some of those books ❤❤

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@@WarboysWitch haha! I'll bring you along for the ride! 🥰

[@WarboysWitch]

@@ArtJourneyUKlol I didn’t even do colouring books till I stumbled over your channel. Just finished watching the video I’d never heard of paint dabbers before sounds like they would be good for mixed media over collage 😂

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Ahh paint dabbers, they were great for Art Journaling! 🥰

[@WarboysWitch]

@@ArtJourneyUK I tried Art journaling for a bit but never found I had time for the decorative bits and the writing part

[@ArtJourneyUK]

I rarely did the writing part either. Just slapping paint around and layering paper bits. 🥰

[@BevM7373]

I’m sure that Arrtx box hid inside that cupboard just to wind you up! 🤣 Well done for making a start on that cupboard. I have 7 kallax boxes of cross stitch magazines to go through…. maybe I’ll make my start next year.😳 I’m not a collage person but I’d read every single one of your beautiful books. Sending hugs to you, it’s been 13 years for my mum and the grief still hits me at times. x

[@BevM7373]

Also, when I first heard of Swedish death cleaning I thought it’s cleaning to Swedish death metal music! 😂 x

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@BevM7373 I was convinced I recycled that box!! Must have reprieved it at the last minute 😆 I still have a knee high stack... and a shelf of magazine holders full of scrapbooking magazines. We'll get to them on the way round! 🫣

[@louisescherbain312]

Well done. Sometimes we need to do this too. It is also a kind of therapy. 💖🐞🇨🇦

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@@louisescherbain312 it absolutely is Louise 🥰

[@ringofphoenix22]

Maybe you can do a fun monthly collage challenge and pick 2 or 3 of your books to create with? :) The illustrations and photos are beautiful, I can see why you picked and kept them! I'd love to watch some videos of you creating something! :)

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Great idea!

[@lindaverkade438]

Hi lilly! It is not only declutter but also a walk back to memory lane……beautiful….in every tear that shines there is a smile of memory. 🫶

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@@lindaverkade438 it is exactly that Linda 🥰

[@lindaverkade438]

@@ArtJourneyUK Keep doing what you love Lilly! Especially when it gives you beautiful memories and warms your heart……

[@ChantelleArts]

this is really satisfying, watched and enjoyed till the end ☺☺

[@crossstitchbutton]

Hi Twin don't try to rush one step at a time, funny I think we all have hobbies etc that connects us to people who have passed or some trauma happened in our life's but it does pass when we connect with the stuff again and we are able to let it go. You will find your path and hobbies you want to keep in your life it just takes time. I sold all my fountain pens asked son if he wanted them short swift NO so all sold Yay! so freeing (think we keep stuff hoping to pass it on to the kids) only to find they don't want it when asked!!!! Keep going you will get there your doing great, love and hugs ( your right we do both go deep ) lol xx 🤗😘

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Hehe you had fountain pens too? TWINSIES!! Yes, as you know I've done this before, decluttered the whole house... now just getting through the security blanket of the Craft room! I'll get there! Lighter and Freer already 🥰

[@leonnehaaijman4709]

I bought a A4-ish folder with plastic pockets and organised it into categories: buildings, people, space, etc. I've noticed that I tend to accumulate 'stuff' very fast and then never use it. Still looking for sheets of rub-on/transfer numbers and letters. Back in the 80s, I used them to create my own video covers, but I can't find them anymore!

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Letraset used to make those rub-on letters! Big blue sheets of hundreds of letters in different fonts! A stationery / graphics art shop near where I used to work closed down and sold of all of their stock of those sheets for 10p each, I bought loads! ...now I wonder what I did with them? 🤔😅

[@brittanysmith6855]

Aww Lily, you seem disheartened. Some never even have the courage to open the cupboard! Let alone sort through their stuff, and willingly evoke memories and feelings, traumas, etc. Please try to remember that this is an act of bravery and you are doing this for yourself and to reclaim your creative space. ❤

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Aww Brittany, what a beautiful comment! The cupboard has loomed behind me for the last 10-12 years... and I want to be free of it! I just didn't remember what was in that bottom cupboard... and the time it remind me of! Its has been freeing though and I'm in a very bouyant headspace again! Thanks for such a wonderfully supportive comment 🥰

[@leonnehaaijman4709]

That truly is wonderfully worded ♥

[@deborahjane68]

That Is Lovely ❤

[@wendyscolouring]

Aaaah, sorry, x x I used to card make when my dad was ill, I can't make myself do now really, but like you I have loads of stuff for it. ( Including a Craft Robo !😁, I do still use it for stuff for school sometimes, great little machine) I find letting anything go pretty tough, so you are doing better than me. I'm dont do collage, but I think I'd take out the pages that have something you still like/might use and just keep those bits, then at least you have a pile of loved pages, and thin down the space they use. I've still have a lot of "craft stamper" magazines and cloth paper scissors magazines, I can't make myself let them go, but they do take up so much space! Enjoy your break, xx

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@wendyscolouring I still have a stack (over knee-high) of scrapbooking magazines 🫣 and I'm sure I've still got all my Craft Stamper magazines too. Why's it so hard to let things go? Yes, I've started pulling out the images I want and have bought a slim accordion file to store them in. Made a rule, can't outgrow it. I'm not a huge collagist so only need a bit to play with if I fancy it (and have time!). Hope the beginning of term has been OK for you. All those little year 7s in their too big uniforms 🥰

[@judithfaber2667]

It's so hard to declutter stuff because it may be stuff that could be used at some time in the future! I was heavily into junk journals, I actually made 3 but had enough stuff to make about 300! I got rid of quite a lot of papers & only kept bare minimum. But sometimes regret it! Good luck it's a journey only you can make but we all appreciate how hard it is. Thank you for making the videos I love watching them 😊

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@judithfaber2667 Hi Judith, I sometimes struggle, I am often fighting hoarder genes, but there's only so much I can do / use and I don't like having lots of stuff hidden away in corners. Sometimes I feel a pang of regret over a book or crafty thing but it's only paper... and life is short! 🥰

[@audreyshaw2463]

Sending down loads of Scottish bosies 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 I have a short sleeved, Summer cardigan that I had started knitting when my Dad was ill. It’s still in my knitting bag, there’s not much left to finish it, but………😢 I hope you are getting a chance to enjoy your time off 😊

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Thanks Audrey 🥰. It's funny (peculiar not "haha") how things we were doing at a certain time just stopped and how revisiting them opens a door we never even knew we shut.❤

[@patriciacrumrine5890]

I have stuff from over 50 years of hobbies; crewel, cross stitch, thread crochet, yarn crochet, wood burning, beading, colored pencils and adult coloring, watercolors (tons!!!) fountain pens, inks, brush pens, acrylic paints and canvases, wax resist, plus files of articles about all of the above plus animals, health, yoga… Ugh. Then my mom died and I emptied her house for sale and added my great grandmother’s, my grandmother’s and my mother’s stuff and tried to figure out what to keep. then my mom died in 2021 and I realized I don’t need anything. So my life has been about how to get rid of all the stuff well. I feel I’ve been decluttering for 20 years and the stuff is still getting in the way of living the life I want. Oh yes, essential oils and accessories for making lip balm and bath sugars and what not. 8 unfinished rough novel drafts… I get the purging of the soul! ❤

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@patriciacrumrine5890 Wow Patricia, seems us crafters follow a similar path. I struggle with wanting to find "good homes" for things. But sometimes feel like I just want to hire a skip/dumpster and abandon the whole lot! Here's to us both working through our stuffs! 🥰

[@bethmegansmith4642]

Hahaha Naughty Artex box hahahah I have 4 sets of 6 rainbow draws from B&Q to store all my craft things .I have a7 journal and paper from Amazon stickers and washi tape from Amazon. Home Bragins and the Range. However my want monster , wants pencils for hundreds of Pounds water color , Panpastels and more. It is very hard ,as I have limited space and small area . Also I am going to be 49 next year …I understand your internal struggle and turmoil …with crafts and memories xxx Happy declutter and happy coloring xxxx 🥰❤

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Can you believe I still had that Arrtx box 🤣 I was convinced I had recycled it!! I agree Beth, the want monster is hard to fight sometimes! 🥰

[@bethmegansmith4642]

@@ArtJourneyUK 🤣😂🥰❤❤❤❤

[@emmaswartz6653]

Hi Lily, my late dad spent hours pouring over that AA book of the road maps, to plan our family holiday/points of interest along the way, then he’d write down his planned route on paper, with all the places of interest in red, thank you for the memory.

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@emmaswartz6653 aww what a lovely memory. We had much more tangible things back in the day. 🥰

[@leonnehaaijman4709]

And those books are so beautiful! In the Netherlands, we had a similar book (ANWB's Beste Boek van de Weg). It didn't have just the road maps, but also illustrations and details of trees, birds, insect, etc. I LOVED leafing through it as a child.

[@22libby77]

I do want to sort that cupboard, I love organising!! I really enjoy watching your videos. You are doing so well. Do you have any watercolour stuff you don't want/need anymore?

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@22libby77 I like organising too! But sometimes there is a limit... lol... you can't organise when you have too much stuff! Wait until you see the top section, that's organised heaven... until it got overloaded 😆 Ooo edit... yes likely to have watercolour stuff that will be being offloaded. Add me on Instagram

[@creativeartwellbeing]

You need an cordian style file and keep your papers in colour order. Only keep one and just re stock when you start running out… you can make you own collage papers yourself with you acrylic paint on copy paper… just an idea ❤

[@ArtJourneyUK]

@@creativeartwellbeing Thanks! The type of collage I like doing is surrealist, so fish in helmets with legs type of thing 😅

[@spare_room_studio]

A big hug to you Lily ❤ keep going girl, you need to work through this and sort it all out once and for all….and I don’t just mean the “stuffs” 😉 I’m here if you want to talk anything through, Jackie

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Hi Jackie, Oh I know. I've already decluttered my whole house (as you know 😉) But its so easy just to bung the old craft stuff in the back of the cupboard and shut the door. I remember that time (the 2010-2011 era) really well and have tucked some of it away in a brain cupboard too 😂 (too much to unpack here) but I have worked most of it through...it's just being faced with stuffs from that time that reminds me. It was such a different time to now and I remember that Art Journaling was a bit of escapism back then. Hope you are healing well from your hospital stay 🥰

[@spare_room_studio]

@@ArtJourneyUK understand completely ❤️

[@scottcullen2832]

Lily ❤❤, I feel sad for you, I’m back into an acrylic phase, after saying I wouldn’t do it again after my Mary quant gcse dress made of handprints (I made them all). Life is hard and we tie emotions to things. Firstly opening the door is the starting point, looking inside is next and so on. My point is baby steps, and whilst it may seem counter intuitive do t rush to bin regime and discard things as that can create new trauma, amplifying the old if you think oh 💩 I really should have kept that pen, book, paint, art. You are doing well sorting I’ve spent a year nearly two now doing the same as people very politely were calling me a hoarder, and saying my house was dirty. It wasn’t untidy yes in parts but still fully functional, however I digress, (I even had a to be composted pile, cardboard etc for my gardening hobby). Whilst it was a mess and got worse as I sorted everything actually had a purpose I.e. some things just needed to go through the shredder before being discarded, so I piled as you are, set some boundaries I.e. the composting pile had to be kept in an overflow bin near the composting not in my hobby space indoors and began, finally this year a whole new shredder later I know only have shredding that comes in no backlog the overflow composting bin is empty to the point I have to find thins to compost my alcohol markers are out and stored in my main accessible colouring space, and thus used and enjoyed, not as much as I’d like but that’s life. Most importantly I think before I buy, try some second hand supplies first if it’s something I haven’t got, discard more effectively and realistically as I know what I’ll get to. Most importantly I’m happy with what I have even if the art room still needs work and probably always will. Even more so for me as people were helping initially but I couldn’t keep track and got frustrated as I couldn’t find things, some very expensive alcohol inks nearly ended up in the bin, as my pa thought they were recycling 😂😂, I’m happy and unburdened by what has gone and not anxious about the fact of has something important been binned, will I miss it as I made the admittedly slower, longer and physically harder choice on my own to let things go or sort as I intended when I started the pile. Therefore I was confident in my choices whilst reclaiming those original aspirations. The point to my ramble is I get it keep going, but once a small pile is sorted, maybe even some easy discards, packaging etc, take that as a win, and take your next scheduled sort as true pleasure time maybe a small collage with what you have within reach, to see if the process both brings joy and makes new memories to treasure. Life is for living not sorting, whilst I wouldn’t dream of dislodging your original objective, enjoy the process as well as participate and completing it ❤️❤️.

[@ArtJourneyUK]

Aww thanks for sharing your story Scott, it's so easy to become burdened by all these lovely craft things we have access to. I have decluttered my whole house previously and this is the only room that is overflowing (and in all reality it is not as bad as some I have seen here on KZbin!) I want the room to just include the crafts I love doing now. I think I was shocked about how much "shizzle" was in that bottom cupboard... I don't remember tucking it all away like that when I stopped Art Journaling. But I feel much lighter and freer since going through it all. Have had a little collage play (and am liking it!). Thanks for the supportive comment Scott 🥰

[@purplelorain6180]

Lily, you need to retire so that you have the time to enjoy all your 'stuffs'. I don't want to be maudlin but my sister worked until she was 70 so that she could still afford to buy new 'stuffs' after retirement. She passed away barely 2 years later and you saw all the 'stuffs' I had to sort through! Hope your much needed break is helping 🥰

[@ArtJourneyUK]

ahhh I have plans to retire, don't worry. Not just yet, but before I am 65! I love my job, it is very fulfilling and as much as I want more time to stick bits of paper together, I would be bored of it after a few weeks if that's all I did! My craft stuffs will be thinned out (again lol) to just those crafts I love well before then! Thanks for reminder though!

[@deborahjane68]

​@@ArtJourneyUK I Know You Love Your Job, And I Am Sure They Love Having You There Working For Them But Please Don't Keep Pushing Yourself. Can You Have Another Day Off? So Only Working 3 Days? Think Of You. ❤