"Buy No Supplies" January

Story #1: When I was in college, I had no money (said all college kids, ever), but I still did arts and crafts projects and made these incredible, often 3-D cards for my then-long-distance boyfriend. I had oodles of creativity because I worked with what I had, and I was so good at transforming random things into amazing other things. I don't have that kind of creativity anymore, I don't think, and I miss it. I lost it when I got the means to buy what I wanted instead of having to come up with some way to make what I wanted.

Overflowing fabric and yarn closet. Those bins are for yarn. It's all spilling out of the closet into my husband's work space. Oops.

Story #2: As a stay-at-home mom, I'm often looking for something for the baby and I to go out and do- it gets lonely (and the days get long) when we stay at home all day while daddy is at work. Aside from necessary errands like getting groceries, the thing we most often go out to do is go to crafting stores like Joann and Michaels. Usually I'll go to get one small thing, like a zipper, and end up spending $50 on three yards of fabric, two zippers, a picture frame, some elastic, and a bottle of chalkboard paint. I started feeling guilty about this habit a few weeks ago, and also, my stash of crafting/sewing/knitting stuff no longer fits in its designated spaces, so it's time to make a change.

Big ole' bin of quilting fabric for all the quilts I don't make.

For the entire month of January, I'm planning to buy zero supplies. No yarn, no thread, certainly no fabric, no paint, no ribbon, nothing. I will make things from my stash and only from my stash. I'm hoping that this will a) help me stash down and clear some clutter, and b) spark some of the creativity I feel is missing. 

These are full, and there are three more like them. 

I already have some ideas for what I want to make in January. I'm also hoping to find gems that I've forgotten about- I think there's some laminated floral print in there somewhere that was meant for a rain jacket, and I know there are about 10 different large stripe knits, and I think I've got some gorgeous sock yarns I'd like to use. I'm serious about this- no cheating and buying thread or something. Either make do with what's here or make something else! Related to that, I'm hoping to tackle the pile of mending as well. Made do and mend, and DIY before you buy, amirite? I'm gonna go cross-stitch that and hang it on the wall. 1950s, here I come.