INSPIRATION A to Z (O - Organization)

This post is the fifteenth in a blog series where I’m exploring various aspects of INSPIRATION. When I chose INSPIRATION as my word for this year, my first thoughts were about finding, acting on and (in some cases) limiting INSPIRATION. I also knew I wanted this word to motivate me not only in my scrapbooking and crafting but also in my physical, spiritual and intellectual goals. During my FUN year last year, I published a two-week series entitled Where Does My Inspiration Come From?, which looked at the many different sources of INSPIRATION specifically for scrapbook layouts. However, in this series, I’ll be sharing a word for each letter of the alphabet (from A to Z) that relates to INSPIRATION along with my random and in-depth thoughts on that word and the various ways it relates to INSPIRATION in our lives.

O is for Organization

Organization is defined as "the state or manner of being arranged in a systematic way" or "the act or process of putting the different parts of something in a certain order so that they can be found or used easily." Personally I find lots of INSPIRATION in Organization. The act of organizing often sparks ideas and INSPIRATION. In contrast, when things are disorganized, I have a difficult time finding motivation or INSPIRATION.

I am currently in the process of moving my craft room from one of the extra bedrooms (which I moved into a few years ago) to the front room. In fact, we are moving several rooms around, so this is a huge project that probably won't be completed for another couple of months.  As with most Organization projects, there will be times of disarray as we move things around. Before I could move the shelves from the craft room to the front room, I had to take everything off of them . . . resulting in stuff being piled all over the table and floor!

During this move, I'm making some changes in the storage and Organization of my craft supplies. One of those changes involves my 12x12 paper, which I've stored in plastic drawers for the past ten years or so. I recently purchased paper trays from Scrapbook.com that fit in the sections of my red Expedit.

I have my paper sorted by color, with a slot for solid colored papers & cardstock and a separate slot for patterned papers. I am excited about this new Organization! This shelf unit is right behind my craft table, so I'm able to simply swing around in my chair and pull out the papers I need for a project.

For the past five years or so, I've also sorted my embellishments by color and stored them in color bins. However, earlier this year I realized that I was not using the items in those bins as much because there was so much in them and it all tended to get jumbled together after a while. Some of this is due to the fact that I have a lot of supplies. I decided it was time for a new Organization method that would provide INSPIRATION to use these products.

I purchased some inexpensive plastic drawer organizers for the 12x12 drawers that I'd previously used for my papers and sorted my color elements by size within the drawers.

The biggest problem with an Organization project like this is that I had to really focus on completing the project! While I was sorting and putting all those FUN supplies in the drawers, I found lots of INSPIRATION and simply wanted to stop and scrapbook along the way!

I must admit that I'm having a good bit of FUN as I'm moving and organizing my supplies! While we still have a ways to go with our moving project, my new craft room is set up enough that I can access most of my supplies, and I'm looking forward to a very crafty December.

After hearing and reading quite a few reviews several months ago, I picked up a copy of Marie Kondo's new book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I enjoyed the book, which was a fairly quick read, however I honestly didn't feel that I learned anything new from it. The system the author proposes is different from many traditional methods in that she advocates Organization and decluttering categories of items rather than areas in your home, yet the basic ideas of simplifying and organizing in order to keep things tidy is much the same. Her approach is definitely one leaning more toward minimalism, so there were many suggestions that didn't interest the collector side of my nature. I do like the idea of only keeping things that spark joy, however I won't be spending my time thanking inanimate objects for their contribution to my life. Despite the differences between Japanese and American culture and the size of our living spaces, there's lots of INSPIRATION in the book for taking a closer look at the items we allow to take up space in our homes and how we organize them.

I recently created a Vision Board on Organization for a class I'll be teaching at our local library in January. Just looking at all the beautiful organized spaces on this board makes me smile!

In preparation for the January class, I also read a short eBook by Christine Kane. The Complete Guide to Vision Boards (available free HERE) describes what a vision board is and provides step-by-step directions for preparing and creating your own vision board. I don't particularly agree with the idea that things manifest in our lives because of the vision board, rather I believe the board provides INSPIRATION that encourages us to seek out the items or goals on the board. 

In summary, Organization and INSPIRATION often work together. Organization can provide the INSPIRATION to create, and INSPIRATION for change can begin with an Organization project.

Do you have any ongoing Organization projects? Please share your thoughts on  Organization and INSPIRATION in the comments. 

Click HERE to see all my INSPIRATION A-Z posts, or click a letter below to see individual posts.

A(Art)   B(Baking)   C(Creativity)   D(Drawing)

E(Experiences)   F(Finishing)   G(Goals)   H(Hiking)

I(Immersion)   J(Journaling)   K(Knowledge)

L(Learning)   M(Movement)   N(Nurturing) 

O(Organization)   P(Planning)   Q(Quiet)   R(Reading)

S(Style)   T(Teaching)   U(Upcycle)   V(Vacation)

W(Work)   X(Xciting)   Y(Yuletide)   Z(Zzzzzs)