Still doing what I love....

When all of my work started last summer to prepare my house for sale, and during all of the yardwork, packing, planning, looking for a new home, travelling back and forth to and from Astoria (and other towns around Oregon), and the actual move here, I still managed to find the time to do what I love...... and that is to papercraft!

At one point after I had listed my house in August, I put almost ALL of my crafting tools, papers and everything else in between, away... with the thought I wouldn't have time to use it. I did keep a few of my most used tools in a little bag, "just in case".  I immediately, within one week, started going through "crafting withdrawals"!! I had put every bit of my paper away, even my smaller 6x6 paper pads. After a few weeks, I just knew I had to go to the store and pick  up at least one paper pad and a couple of packs of doo dads to use as ephemera.

Off I went to my local JoAnn's, and do you think they had ANY paper pads that I liked? Nope! In fact, they only had one pad of any sort of  designer paper, and it was a masculine "camping out" sort of paper. I couldn't believe it!  They must have been right in the middle of restocking their supplies. I bought it anyway! I made a couple of cards, and dressed them up with some lace and buttons, and also did make one masculine card for my nephew (forgot to take pictures!). But believe me, it did satisfy that itch to craft!

A couple of weeks later, I went again to find some shabby or feminine paper, and found one pad that I liked, so bought it. Mind you, I was in the midst of getting ready to move, but I still HAD to craft! This was much more of a shabby feminine paper.

Looks like wallpaper, doesn't it?

I made a few little album/flipbooks, just for fun.  (I  had also purchased a little 6x6 paper pad with pretty florals that I used).

Mini photo album.

Tag "flipbook" to hold small photos.

After I was in my new home, the first area I unpacked and organized was my craft area! I wanted to make Easter cards and some Hershey Bar pockets (for the shop in Madras), and I really enjoyed that!

These Hershey Bar Pockets didn't have the candy bars inserted. I had to mail them, so the shop owner purchased the candy bars and put them in the package.

I made some very simple Easter cards with the scraps left from making the Hershey Bar pockets. I sold all of them at our potluck dinner right before Easter! I hadn't planned to, but took some for show and tell, and they were well received!

Needless to say, I'm still passionate about and enjoying my papercrafting!

Now it's time to go and unpack some more.........

Marilyn

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One room at a time.....

It's been a little over a month since I last wrote. I've gotten ALOT done in that month!

I was on such a mission to get all the boxes unpacked in my house. So far, I've done really good, but my spare bedroom is still not a bedroom! One side is piled to the ceiling with boxes, though I'm slowly emptying out one or two at a time.

The little bookshelf to the left of the window holds my overflow of crafting supplies.

Ironically, the big white cabinet still sits empty! That is where I'll be storing my fabric and projects, and hopefully squeeze in some craft supplies.

Right now, the spare bedroom is still my "cat room"! 

My bathroom needs updating. It wasn't painted like all the other walls in this house. It has that wallboard that you see in mobile homes, with the slats up the seams. I DON'T like it! And the cabinet is a dull blue which I also don't like. Painting that will come hopefully this summer. 

For now, I think my bathroom is OK, and I was able to get most of my stuff in there! I'm pretty happy with how it looks, and will like it much better when I get it painted, and the cabinets painted white!

The wood shelf for my towels was really a floor standing bookshelf. My son suggested he put it up on the wall and I like it! 

I love my white wicker shelf I bought at a yard sale many years ago. It holds many things that I couldn't find room for in drawers.

My little bookshelf  holds misc. things. I've since moved it!

No drawers in this bathroom, so I'm using my plastic drawers, and also a new cabinet down below that has one drawer and a cupboard with two shelves.

Of course, the first area I set up was my craft space! I love it. I still don't have EVERYTHING out of boxes, but for now, this works really well for me. It's along the one empty wall in the kitchen, next to the pantries. 

I used half of my wall space so far. The wall to the left of this area had some moisture in it, so that needs to be pulled off and fixed. I'm trying to keep it empty for now.

This photo was taken before I put up the brown 3-shelf display shelf, to the right of the tall narrow wood shelf. I had it earmarked for another room, but decided I needed more shelf space! I've used every shelf I could find, that had been used in other rooms in my other house!  I could actually use my dining table!

I even used the side of my white wood pantry, that I brought with me from Madras. It's made of solid wood, and it's mine, so why not put some nails in it to hold more stuff!

Of course, room for a sign from one of my dear blog friends, Marilyn from Mountain Top Spice!

Trying to take advantage of every few inches of space. I bought a narrow rolling cart from Amazon. It's just the right size! Holds almost all of my punches and trimmers.

My bedroom is still a work in progress. Next post I'll showcase my living room which I really am loving, with my furniture the way I like it, and my new rug!

We've had almost a week of sunny days this last week. It gave me the opportunity to break down all of the boxes that I had thrown out to the porch, and take them to be recycled. That was my second trip!

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. I'm looking forward to some warmer days so I can plant some flowers..... who has planted flowers already?

Hugs... Marilyn

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Arrival at new home

And the move began........... on February 6th

I said goodbye to my house of 8+ years..... was kind of hard to believe I was saying goodbye. 

My husband and I had thought it would be our "forever" home. I thought it would be either of our forever homes, once the other one passed. But with time, I realized it was not a safe home for an older person, and just too big to handle. It had a super steep driveway, uneven rock steps with no railing, and weird angled steps up to the front door. Not safe, as I can attest to when I fell in November of 2022! (on the steep driveway on black ice). Although the yard was a small lot (5,000 sq feet), it seemed huge to me!

I was in such a dither on the day of the move, I forgot to take pictures of loading up the moving van! I hired a moving company, and they had to hire the UHaul themselves. It worked fine and they were fast and efficient! I had planned to just pay a few guys who were friends of friends, etc., and rent the Uhaul myself, but it was HARD finding anyone who wanted to do it. That's why I ended up using a company.

Here are photos of the 840 sq foot mobile home on the day I first looked at it back in November. It was a dark rainy day, and the pictures look a little dreary, but I really liked the layout, the bay windows in the kitchen, the large new shower, and the new wood floors and wood blinds. It actually had a decent sized 2nd bedroom which I liked alot, and a nice large covered deck. I also liked that it was in a 55+ mobile home park out in the country.

COLOR ALERT! I did NOT like the color of the kitchen cupboards! Painting those is one of the first things on my "to do" list, once I get boxes unpacked!

Shiny new stainless fridge - love that!

View out of my bedroom window which I loved!

Looking from living room towards the kitchen. Along that right wall will be my crafting area.

From realtor website - it is gray now!

My arrival! There is my Van.. it made the trip with me!

I think I was more excited to see this neat big shed built onto the home, with lots of cubbies to store things! Not having a garage or even a carport, I knew I'd need every bit of this space. There is also a 10x10 shed out in the back. Notice that the yard is all gravel! Not sure I like that, but it can be changed.

I remembered to take pictures, once the truck was almost unloaded!

We got to Astoria in the dark.. it was a good 5 hour drive. I drove my Van... my son and fiance had come to help, so she drove my car back, and he drove his truck back, which was full of most of my outdoor furniture and misc. things (forgot to take a picture!). We were so blessed to have a nice day for the move, with sunshine and no rain or snow! It had been weeks since we'd had a nice day like that and I had been praying for moving day to NOT be full of snowy and icy roads.

Move in night - kitchen was FULL of boxes!

Even though I had all the boxes labeled in detail, it was still a nightmare to try to find things!

My dining table was buried for weeks!

I made a spot for the kitties to lay on my coffee table.

My bedroom closet. 

I had given up my king bed in Madras, as I knew it would be too big for my bedroom here. I slept there on the floor for a good week, then slept here on the floor for at least 3 weeks, until I bought myself a new double bed.

My bed at the Madras house!

My bed here..... finally got my new bed after about 3 weeks. I was READY to get up off the floor!

Views from my kitchen windows, these are all huge cedar trees!

I did downsize, that's for sure. Going from a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, with a nice big yard and a single car garage, to a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, single wide mobile home, in a park, is quite a change!

But.. this is what I wanted, and I've realized my dream of living closer to my son (16 miles apart), in a climate that is green and lush, with the mighty Columbia River 1 mile away, and creeks and rivers close by, deep woods all around me, the sounds of rain pattering on my roof, and the ocean only 20 miles away! 

Here is the Bible scripture that helped me make the decision to move:

Proverbs 13:12-18

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

I count my Blessings.

Until next time...... 

Marilyn

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PLEASE DO NOT COPY MY PHOTOS AND IMAGES INTO YOUR OWN POSTS WITHOUT FIRST LINKING TO THIS BLOG AND MY NAME.