Stay @ Home Update #19

Each Sunday (at 5:00 AM) I'm sharing how the week's 10-minute stay@home organizational challenge went. If you don't have an idea what that means and you're curious, you can learn more in my original Stay @ Home Update blog post - found HERE.

Now here's the disclaimer: Some of these daily stay@home challenges are taking more than 10 minutes, but who's counting, right? 

Here's what I've accomplished this week...

Day 1 - SUN, August 9
I have some wood-mounted Stampin' UP! sets/stamps that I've held onto while trying to decide whether I loved them enough to keep them or not. The truth is, if I can't stamp it in my stamping platform, I tend to not use the stamps... so I've debated my options. I finally decided to keep just a few of these wood-mounted stamps/sets and the ones I'm keeping, I'm going to convert to cling mount so that I can use my stamping platform. Today I tended to just a few of them. While I was at it, I also created a informational insert and placed the Darling Label clear stamp set in one of the Stampin' UP! cases.

Day 2 - MON, August 10
Today I unmounted the 28 stamps in the Define Your Life stamp set and added cling foam to them. I'm out of the skinny cases from SU but I wonder if these would fit 2 stamps deep in one of those cases. If it will, I'll likely change them to a smaller case when I have more of them.

Day 3 - TUES, August 11
I discovered a drawer of specialty papers that I hadn't gone through yet, so today I sorted through it, purging most of the papers. I did keep some metallic papers  but I stored them in the file cabinet in my Play Room.

Day 4 - WED, August 12
I've been putting off dealing with the items in this pink bin - but I've gone through nearly every single thing in my Play Room so I figure it's about time I tackle this intimidating bin. What is in it? Several cling-mounted stamps that are only identified by manufacturer name (at least I have that much information). I do not know the name of the stamps. So I'm going to stamp each one out and then determine if it's a keeper or not. If I choose to keep it, I'll do a search in an attempt to discover the name. Then I will add the stamp to my Evernote inventory and place it in my stamp storage system.

Today I went through 4 companies: CC Designs, I Brake for Stamps, Magnolia, and Sweet Pea Stamps. I kept a few and put a few in my sell pile, too.

Speaking of piles... I am soooooo excited! As I've been sorting and purging, I've been saving designer paper, embellishments, and some other goodies for a Preschool Teacher I know. Here's the pile of goodies...

The pile has gradually grown over the past 4-5 months and I was so ready for it to be gone. 

Well, she went back to the classroom this week and tonight after work, she stopped by and picked it up. YAY!

Yes, I'm definitely glad that pile is gone!

Day 5 - THUR, August 13
That pink bin still had/has a lot of stamps in it to identify and decide what to keep and what to purge. Today I went through this pile of them - stamps that were only identified as either Elzybell or High Hope. Of all of these, I ended up only keeping 9 stamps and after some digging, I found the names for all but one of the nine. They are now all inventoried and stored in their appropriate bins.

Day 6 - FRI, August 14
Today I tackled one more section in that bin of unidentified (other than company name) stamps. I stamped each one and decided which ones to keep and which ones to purge. I ended up keeping only 6 of them and was able to find the name for each of those. They have now been added to my Evernote stamp inventory.

Day 7 - SAT, August 15
That pink bin of unidentified stamps is now empty. I went through the last batch of them today - 30+ Whipper Snapper Designs stamps. I purchased most of these years ago as bare rubber - at a bin sale they had. It was so much fun and they were so cheap that I got carried away. That happens sometimes. But it was time to purge, since many of them sit unused. I kept 12 of them. I was only able to find the actual names for 5 of them, even after an extensive search. That just goes to show how old these were, I guess.

* * * * *

My highlight of the week's projects in my Play Room was one born of sentimentality. Remember that paper tower that I shared I was getting rid of to make room for something else? Well, this week it was moved out and my new-to-me treasure was moved in.

This spring/summer while our daughter was here from Alaska, we asked her about some things we'd been storing from her childhood - what she wanted to keep; what could be passed on to someone else. One item that she chose to part with was a Barbie Doll House that my dad had built for her when she was young. It actually was very similar to one that he had built for my sister and me when we were young, so you can imagine the memories that went with it. Of course mine was long gone and now we prepared to part with my daughter's version as well.

My husband set it aside in the garage, preparing to get rid of it, but when he did, he set it up on its end. Hmmmmm... he and I both had the same idea. Why not clean it up (it was filthy from years and years of storage) and remove the carpet and linoleum as well as the picture on the wall. Then it could be repainted and USED AS A SHELF UNIT! 

I can not lie - even now as I think of that and see it across the room, I get a bit teary. It is indeed a treasure!

I've not yet filled it - I'm still deciding exactly what I want to put in it - but it is a piece that I will treasure for years to come as it was a special gift from my parents and built by my daddy. It's not just functional, it is priceless!

Okay, that's it for this week. Stay tuned to see what I accomplish in the coming week.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!