Crafty Goals Progress Update - Spending Freeze & Some Ideas

3 weeks ago, I posted some of my crafty musings and goals, so I thought I'd post a little update on how I'm doing - as well as share a few more ideas on how I'm planning on keeping myself on track.

I'm now officially on a spending freeze, and have not made any crafty supplies purchases for a week. A week doesn't sound like very long, but I'm excited because I haven't felt like I wanted to buy anything for an entire week either. This is pretty major for me, as the last few months I've caught myself buying a bunch of stuff and then going back the next day (or next hour!) to fill up the cart with another bunch of things I "needed". So, having a week where I didn't think about or plan a shopping trip is pretty amazing. I'm hoping that I can keep up this momentum and resist rushing to the store when new product releases happen.

I bought a few notepads and pens, as well as a basket to help me stay better organized and on top of my use-everything project.

One of the notepads is my "idea" place. I plan to jot down ideas and concepts for stamps, make quick card layout sketches and write down color and pattern combinations I want to try out. Since I'm avoiding Pintrest, I thought it would be very useful to have something I can look at when I feel like I'm running short on creativity or when I want to try something new.

Another notepad is my "records" place, where I will write down the different cards I need to make or ought to have in my stash -- things like holiday cards, birthday cards, sympathy cards and so on. I'd like to avoid having to make a card quickly 30 minutes before I need to give it to someone, and a good card stash will help with that. I'm also going to write down which stamps and papers I've used already, so I can avoid always using the same things.


The basket is going to hold the material for my next card. Last year, I had toyed with the idea of taking up knitting as a hobby -- didn't quite happen, as I got to paper-crafting first. But one of the things I remember watching at the time is a craft room video. The crafty knitter had a basket out where she kept the yarn she was planning on using next. She mentioned that seeing the basket reminded her of what project she wanted to start next and kept her from only grabbing her newest yarn (because she remembered it best).

I decided to take this idea and turn it into a card project basket. The basket will have the materials I'll need to make my next card, and I will fill it up with new project materials after I've made the card. What I like about this is:
- it eliminates that time I spend just staring at my supplies to try and figure out what to make, or the likelihood I'll feel like I have to sit down and look at Pintrest to get inspired.
- I can go with a concept from my idea notepad, or I can challenge myself by just pulling random supplies.
- I can make the next project a little easier by die-cutting some things ahead of time, or by coloring things in ahead of time.

So, this is where I am right now -- very excited, brimming with ideas and right on-track. :)