Paper Hoarding

This is my desk on what was typically one of my neater days. Yeah, not very neat, I know.

Paper crafting is synonymous with paper hoarding.



Piles and piles of papers. Paper stacks. Card stock. Cards in progress. This pile beside my printer was a constant nuisance. I'd clean it up, only to have a new pile take its place the next time I started crafting.

And can we talk about the scraps?



I never had a very good system for scraps. I'd put them in these hanging files in my desk, and there they'd stay, never to be seen again.

Yesterday was my paper liberation day. I emptied those files and dumped a ton of little scraps of precious paper. Old card stock. For those of you who speak in the language of Stampin' Up, I should confess that I saw some pretty old colors in there...mint melody, orchid opulence, and more. It was like an archaeological dig, sorting through all of those years of scraps.

Why did I save so many scraps of paper? Because that is what this craft requires. I would think about throwing them away, but then there was that famous hoarder's statement that would come so easily from my lips.

You know the one.

"I better save that. I might need it some day."

:)

Well, some day never came. I threw away my "some days", and found a few pretty pieces of mulberry paper to donate to Sam's art teacher.

After a lot of work and a lot of digging, I reclaimed my desk for its intended purpose!



A nice place to jot down a few thoughts or sort some important papers.



Nothing to keep the printer from doing its job.



Hanging file folders are now home to all of the piles of paper that accumulated on my kitchen island because they didn't have a proper home. I have a file for each boy and each school or college. Nice, neat, and organized.



When my husband came home after work, I told him "Honey, there is something you have to see in the office."

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a desk! It was hidden under all of those piles of card stock and paper scraps!"

I can't begin to tell you the joy I feel. It feels like opening a window and letting a fresh breeze blow into the room. Space. Glorious space.

I unearthed a page-a-day calendar under all of those piles of paper. And here is what it had to say:



I can feel myself growing and changing in this process. My thoughts are shifting. I feel such a sense of calm and peace and clarity. Maybe that is exactly the person that the Lord desires me to be.

Blessings on your day!