Creatively Organized Spaces for Organizing & clutter clearing tips for simplified living

Happy New Year 2013::FEEL, BE, LOVE…

January 1, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Organize Leave a Comment

Happy 2013!! With the beginning of each New Year many of us are full of resolutions, hopes, commitments, goals and eying up new opportunities.

We are envisioning a year where we accomplish MORE, dream BIGGER and behave BETTER. Maybe we have carried over some resolutions or goals from last year or maybe we are dreaming new dreams!

Whatever you have your heart, soul and mind set on for this coming year, know you are perfectly as you are meant to be right at this moment! Nothing is wrong with hopes, goals and resolutions but as you take the time to set you intention for 2013; ask yourself…

How do you want to FEEL, who do you want to BE, who do you want to LOVE more (yourself, kids, spouse, friends, parents?) and what do you want to LET GO OF in order to really LIVE WELL?

Wednesday’s Word::Soar

December 26, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education 3 Comments

As the year 2012 comes to a close I have been reflecting on everything that has happened and how I feel about the past year’s accomplishments, changes and challenges. Each year for the past 2 I’ve chosen a Word of the Year. I began this tradition in 2010 with the word Clarity as I longed to find a new direction, then last year I continued with the word Soar as we made a big transition to a new place and life. Now 2012 is almost over and I’m thinking of all the meanings behind this years word.

What does it really mean to SOAR?

go with the flow (ride the currents),

flap your wings-easily & furiously,

transition & fluctuations,

shift in perspective,

elevate to new heights,

transcend this world,

dive towards the ground,

suspended moments with out grounding or gravity (zero point),

glide effortlessly,

complete free flight (freedom),

and come into contact with angels!

Wow! I certainly didn’t think about all the meanings intertwined with what it means to soar when I picked the word. Now that I am reflecting back on weather I truly soared I have concluded that I did indeed in more ways than I could have imagined! I had simply focused on a singular meaning without contemplating the up’s and down’s and the rocky turbulence as well as the complete freedom and experience of flying in the presence of angels! As I prepare to choose my word for 2013 I am in awe of how perfect SOAR was for me for 2012. My experiences transcended my expectations of finding ease and rising above my old life, soaring to new heights. This year has blown me away, every experience I’ve had has truly expanded my horizons! I look forward to continuing the practice of choosing a word for the year and in the future I’ll be sure I have a very expanded idea of how the word I choose can be defined, influence, reflect and set intentions for the year. Setting intentions is a a powerful practice and one that I much prefer to creating resolutions (which is a very goal-control oriented way of working towards new accomplishments).

When you set an intention, there is no possibility of failure, only reflection and expansion.

Are you planning to choose a Word of the Year (or One Little Word) for 2013? If so below are a few links that might be useful for you as you contemplate your 2013 Woty.

Danielle LaPorte

Ali Edwards (word ideas)

Christine Kane (writing exercise)

Kim Klassen (an exercise in discovering)

Huffington Post (a broader exploration of this idea within media)

SpaceCraft Studio Makeover

December 3, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: In the Studio, Organize, Organizing Projects Leave a Comment

This week’s makeover features a retail shop I worked with back in October. This was a very fun job for me because it brings together my passions for organizing and crafting! SpaceCraft Studios is a new craft shop and studio where locals can meet other creative people and make stuff! The owner, Allison is already very organized but as you can imagine with any new business she was a little overwhelmed and re-organizing the supplies and storage in the back rooms were just not at the top of her priorities! That’s when she enlisted me to help because she realized that things could quickly get out of hand and starting a new business with good systems in place sets the stage for future success!

As both a craft store and a studio that offers classes there have been (and will continue to be) many donations of materials and supplies. As these came in they began to pile up in the storage room. Creating a system for this area was one of the biggest priorities so that future donations didn’t become overwhelming and un-useful. Without getting rid of anything (because there was an upcoming craft supply swap!) I sorted materials and supplies by category and re-organized how they were grouped and arranged in the space. Adjacent to this space was a smaller area that was storage for tools and additional supplies. Some items in this space were moved out and other tools (from other areas of the shop) were move into this area and re-organized.

[Even the tool boxes got a little makeover!]

The kitchen had become a catch all for a few categories that didn’t necessarily make sense there (tools). These items were relocated to make more efficient use of the kitchen for entertaining supplies, food and storage related items like bags, jars and soap making supplies etc used for some classes.

Most of the organizing I did was “back of house” but I re-arranged/re-organized the resource library (available for students and customers to browse) to make room for a new shipment of product. In this case I sorted books by craft category (sewing, knitting, paper crafting etc). I also worked on labeling some of the smaller already organized supplies in the studio space so that both customers and teachers can easily identify (and return) supplies as needed.

If you find it challenging to organize your craft stash maybe you will get a few inspiring ideas from this post and SpaceCraft Studios!

How do you like to organize your craft/art supplies? If you have any tips or brilliant ideas to share please let me know. For more craft supply organizing ideas I’ve got a great Pinterest Board!

Thankful for my Favorite Holiday

November 22, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Photography Leave a Comment

Today I’m thankful for my favorite holiday! No gifts, no shopping, nothing but friends, family, food and gratitude! I’ve probably mentioned before that I write every morning in a journal, it centers me and no matter where I am I try to find 30 min’s or so of quite time to myself to begin my day this way. The first things I write in my Journal are a list of things I’ve got to be grateful for. Today I’ll share with you some of the top things I’m grateful for this past year.

Moving to a new city that I love~Charleston, SC (The BEST place in the USA!)
Making new friends and loyal long time friends
The excitement of each new client
My art Studio (After 6 years without one)
Living closer to the Ocean
Working for myself~creating my own schedule and having flexibility and independence
The search for a new pet~a rescue dog this time! (and my parents new puppy:)
Living on the Marsh
Having the $$ saved to make this move possible
Visiting Norway and seeing my brother get married
Turning 40~now that it’s behind me I realize it’s not so bad!
This presidential election is behind us and I’m optimistic about the future of our country:)
Amazing and generous family; living so much closer to our grandparents!

I’ve got so much to be grateful for but my focus this year is on having amazing spectacular grand parents!

My husband and I are lucky enough to live within driving distance of all our remaining (3) grandparents and this week we are grateful that we have been able to spend time with all of them while enjoying some warm, sunny Florida weather! This is my second Thanksgiving in a row not cooking and although I LOVE to cook I’m embracing and enjoying this little break. We’ll be eating at a restaurant in So. FL featured on one of the Food Network’s shows and that will be fun!

What are you giving thanks for Today? Hope you have more to be Thankful for than ever!Save

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Finding Electronic Files

November 9, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Digital Organizing, Organize, Paper management, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources 1 Comment

In my previous life as a Designer and Project manager, I witnessed a lot of different filing systems both electronic and paper. Some of these were quite effective but many were very cumbersome and way too complicated. Below, my take away is a system that I created based upon the best of everything I learned. I use this system across the board for all my files (on my computer, on paper and in the cloud- design-business-personal).

Having one simplified filing system that applies to all categories makes it simple to locate what you need wherever you need it.

Inside Level 1:: Broad Hierarchy based categories

You can see I have less than 12 folders that are logically divided by category. These live in my main documents folder (which is where everything goes).

Inside Level-2:: Sub Categories-Business folder (similar sub folders for other categories)

…again not many folders and I’m keeping categories broad but specific to help me quickly locate files.

Inside Level 3::Detailed Categories (Year- ‘Clients’ folder)

This is where all client folders are kept by year. I happen to keep my client folders alphabetically by last name but a numbering or other type of system would work equally well.

Inside Level 4:: Sub-folders or loose files

These are the specific files I need to keep for each category, they could be monthly accounting based or whatever I may need for working files.

I use a very similar Hierarchy system for my email files.

In this case I keep emails (when needed) in Outlook folders. Level 1-Broad, Level 2-Sub Categories, Level 3-Detailed categories

I hope this filing system overview gives you a few ideas of how you can simplify or re-arrange your computer filing systems.

What kind of computer filing systems do you? Are they simple or more complex than this? I’d love to hear about them.

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Textile Tuesday::Knitting in Norway

August 21, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Handmade, Inspiration & Education, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

Traveling back to Norway I want to share with you some of the beautiful knit wear and knitting shops I saw in my travels. A very special stop was made to a wonderful yarn shop called Garnloftet Helle which was closed for the summer but we had a private “showing”. This shop is owned by the super talented aunt of my new sister in law! The Norwegians are known for their talent for knitting, with their cold climate it’s almost a necessity to learn to knit yourself warm clothes for the winter!

A very special lace knitting pattern that was expertly translated from Japanese into Norwegian by the owner of the shop. She did so by repeatedly watching a video of the pattern until she had it down. She teaches a class for this pattern and we got a brief lesson of our own and I’ll be trying this pattern out over the winter. I’m not sure I have the skills needed since I will have to train myself to knit continental to master this pattern but I’m determined to try!

In addition to yarn, patterns and classes there were quite a few knitted gifts ready to buy, like these candle jar covers, fingerless gloves (below), several styles of felted “pot holders” and garments such as sweaters and scarves available for purchase.

Above and below are two beautiful examples of traditional Fair Isle knitting. Boy would I have loved to spend a day here with some more in depth lessons but my mom and I had our guys with us who were quite patient but not enough for a day there! We discovered yarn in quite a few other shops in Kristiansand although we didn’t visit any other dedicated knitting shops. What I loved was that there were sections of many shops that carried a small to medium selection of yarns, patterns and ready to wear knit items. I found these sections in a couple “gift shops” and a children’s store. I love the idea of incorporating this creative hobby into everyday gift giving!

Spectacular stuff, don’t you think? It really inspired me to knit this winter but having just moved to a tropical climate I won’t be knitting too much from wool for myself. I have a big yarn stash that needs to be knit and maybe one day I’ll learn to knit like a Norwegian!

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Friday Fieldtrip::Fjords and Highlands

August 17, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education 2 Comments

We took a LONG day journey to visit the mid-west coast of Norway and were hoping to get to hike to the top of Preikestolen– or Pulpit Rock but in the end the weather didn’t cooperate with us so we took a ferry ride instead. This was not a disappointment though, just a different perspective on this beautiful area of Norway! The fun thing about this adventure was that there were a ton of bridges and tunnels and 9 of us caravaned in 3 cars.

We stopped in a couple spots to check out local sites including Tronasen, check out this fun video of the crazy narrow switchback road we took to the top! At the bottom we came to this bridge, which is the oldest suspension bridge in Norway, built in 1844.

Next we continued North towards Stravanger where we caught a ferry along Lysefjord after feasting on a fabulous picnic on the banks of the North Sea. There are several ferries that run along this Fjord, some for locals who are traveling just to their home or work destination and some ferries travel the length of the Fjord ending in Lysebotn while offering local tourist information along the way. This ferry was about 2 1/2 hours long and the day was partly rainy/cloudy so it made for some spectacular and dramatic views!

Towards the end of the ferry ride we were very lucky to spot these seals lounging along the rocky shore. Once the ride was over we embarked on another windy and steep drive up to the “Highlands”.

That’s what I’m calling it because the terrain was very elevated, there wasn’t much vegetation and there were many sheep, rock cairns, lakes, residual snow, thatched or living roof’s and several rainbows along this stretch. It was what I imagine the highlands of Ireland or Scotland to be like.

As we started to come down from the highlands there was more and more vegetation, especially evergreens such as spruce and pines. There were also many more signs of life, more houses, a few small shops and villages where tourists come to get away in the summer but it was still quite unpopulated (there are only 5 million people in Norway!).

I was delighted to see some of the traditional architecture such as this wooden food storage house called a Stabbur, where food was stored to keep the mice away! The return route home took us through the lakes and mountains smack down the center of Norway East of the Stravanger area through a couple towns like Rysstad (the picture below was taken there) and Evje both popular vacation/camping spots for the summer in Norway.It was about a 12 hour day and we covered a lot of ground but I assure you it was one of the most memorable days of my life! I am so grateful to my brother, his wife and her mother who helped to plan this day so we could experience Norway’s splendid range of beauty!

Friday Fieldtrip::Flowers of Norway (hkpowerstudio.wordpress.com)

Makeovers of This and That

August 13, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Organizing Projects 1 Comment

Today’s just a few misc. makeover projects from both our move and clients. The first is an example of a hall closet that contains some linens and a lot of “medicine closet” items that don’t fit into the bathroom. We didn’t buy anything for this project, just sorted through what was there, relocated some items to other areas and switched things around into containers that were more functional for each type of item.

We relocated all the cleaning products to the kitchen that were spread between there and the hall closet. This cleared up the whole top shelf for bathroom and linen related items. We used appropriate sized containers to hold hand towels, wash cloths, extra personal care items, medicines, make up and first aid items.

We were able to easily fit all the household cleaning supplies under the sink. We utilized on container to hold products that could be taken room to room for cleaning in other areas of the house. Moving along to my own house, I fell in love with this chandelier in our Dining room immediately! Unfortunately I don’t think it had ever been properly cleaned. And by properly I mean dis-assembling it by removing each crystal and soaking them, wiping them with a soft cloth and brush to get off the years of grime. This took me almost 4 hours and there are almost 350 crystals but what a spectacular difference it made!

Finally, this is our master bedroom before and after. It’s a small room and we are not able to fit our one large dresser in here but everything else works well and I love the serene blue of these walls which is almost the EXACT shade of blue we had painted in our MD living room before we left. I love this room!

Moving Monday::Kitchen Basics (hkpowerstudio.wordpress.com)

Friday Fieldtrip::Flowers of Norway

August 10, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education 3 Comments

Flowers are just about my favorite subject to photograph so I thought I’d dedicated a Field Trip exclusively to the flowers I found on our many outings. As a Master Gardener I am constantly curious about the species, comparing familiar plants to those I know and have grown and learning about new plants as I discover them. I don’t know all of them but what was so spectacular was that there were so many things blooming at once. I guess with such a short growing season and such long daylight hours things tend to burst out!

This first group of shots was from a rocky island in the Mandal area and I’m not sure what they are but I love how they just pop up in the crevices.

I’ve never seen clematis and honeysuckle so intense and perfect!

Not sure what this was but it grew all around the rocky shore areas. Ah ha! I figured out that this is called Fireweed!

Thistle of some sort.

Foxglove was practically a weed!

Some variety of daisy type of flower.

Something in the cranesbill family.

Roadside weeds:)

This was the coolest fuzzy flower up in the highlands which in Norway is called Myrull.

More foxgloves!

The sculpture garden on the waterfront in Kristiansand.

Me shooting photos of flowers! I love that my dad captured this.

On Wednesday I’ll be sharing some of the fabulous window boxes! Happy weekend.

Wabi Sabi At Home

August 8, 2012 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

I love the principals behind Wabi Sabi! Do you know about it? Here are some examples of how I embrace Wabi Sabi at Home in my world.

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese philosophy and way of life that embraces the imperfections, the bumps, bruises and “character” that we (as people and our “stuff”) acquire along life’s path.

I recently read a short article that questioned why we don’t apply this philosophy to physical selves. I am very interested in embracing wabi sabi in more aspects of my life and my self.

This is opposite of BOTOX folks, it’s about the wrinkles, the scars and the “patina” that makes us more beautiful!

“[Wabi-sabi] nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”-Richard R. Powell

These objects possess the essential qualities of wabi sabi. The are all beautiful but imperfect and I consider them more beautiful because of their imperfections.

My all time favorite broom! I grew up using one similar (hold over from the days we spent in Asia) and my mom also uses hers from the Philippines (it’s as old as I am!). It’s crooked and funky looking but it works great and I love the shape.

I made this little pot in ceramics in college and it’s a lesson in what not to do with glazes but I love the crackles and drips.

This is a piece of an African strip cloth I got from a family member and I’ve proudly had it displayed ever since even though a whole strip is missing, it’s unfinished and totally crooked yet I find it completely beautiful.

This Moroccan (I think) foot stool came from my husband’s family and we had ongoing household battles of whether to use it or not. As you can see it has been scratched (by our beloved kitties) all around the edges and this is why my husband didn’t want it used but now that they are not with us I love the reminder of them ever present on this piece. The ceramic vase and lamp base also exhibit qualities of the imperfect wabi-sabi aesthetic.

I thought many times about painting this slightly rusted magazine rack but I’m so glad I didn’t.

And this dish was rescued from the ceramics department trash because someone didn’t think it was good enough but I love the color, shape and all it’s imprefections it just as it is!

What do you have in your home that defines wabi-sabi? Is this a definition of beauty that you could cultivate further?

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Happy New Year 2013::FEEL, BE, LOVE…

Wednesday’s Word::Soar