Confessions of a Craft Chaos Casualty: When “Alexa, Find My Phone” Becomes Your Mantra

March, you were an absolute beast, and I am glad you are over. The hardest hit area in the house was my craftroom. Craft chaos is piled everywhere. EVERY. WHERE. Everything just… piled up. Work deadlines, laundry deadlines (let’s be real, those are always there), actual physical piles of stuff… it was a deluge. One thing after another, like a relentless tide of obligations and forgotten coffee mugs, lost glasses and my missing phone.

Now, April? April is going to be different. I have declared it! April is the month I get out of my own way. The month I purge, organize, and finally, finally reclaim my craft space and my sanity. I can’t CREATE in this CHAOS!!

Step One Of Operation Reclaim Sanity: Clean up the craftroom.

This has been a goal of mine way too many times, right? A beautifully simple, inspiring, blog-post-worthy goal. “Here is my sparkling clean crafting sanctuary, full of organized glitter and prioritized ribbon!” Ahhh in my head I see pictures with twinkles that prove it’s so clean! It sparkles.

Except… this is the craftroom. This is the place where good intentions go to die under an avalanche of fabric scraps and half-finished projects. Everything I tried to hide during the month of March. It’s A MESS! I can’t describe the mess. So… with a shudder…. here is what it looks like today. I can’t even…. I’m so embarrassed.

Let’s talk about March’s lasting legacy. March left me with… let’s call it a unique filing system. The “stack it all, everywhere, all the time” system. It’s highly sophisticated. It’s based on the principle of “I’ll clean it tomorrow,” which, as we all know, is a lying liar from lying town. Added challenge of HOW high can I pile this crap, these trinkets and treasures before everything tumbles to the floor?

“I will put that away tomorrow.” Was a lie. I didn’t put ANYTHING away. NOW, I’m paying the price.

The result is a landscape of creative chaos so profound, it should be designated a archaeological dig site. There’s a spool of turquoise baker’s twine that’s been in the exact same spot for three weeks, yet I can never find it when I actually needed it.

Put It Away! One Layer At A Time

Looking better. I wish I had done a time lapse video. Picture me clapping my hands when I found the container of missing buttons. Then the “ohhh nooo” look when I found the t-shirt I told The Husband I would mend and never did. I found the sketches for a scrapbook layout that I started in February and have completely forgotten the context of. Ohhh but the room is looking good.

SOMEWHERE under this pile are my sewing scissors, a new dog toy for Walter, and, of course, the piece de resistance: MY PHONE!!!

I’m convinced that the craftroom is a black hole for mobile devices, scissors, and my glasses. I swear I have my phone, I walk in, I touch one spool of washi tape, and it’s gone. Poof. Vanished into the craft-ether.

This has led to a ritual in my craftroom. A sacred, repeated, and frankly, kind of pathetic ritual. It’s the one phrase that is, without a doubt, the number one thing I ask our friendly neighborhood AI every month.

“Alexa, find my phone.”

It’s my cry for help in this MESS! Alexa is so calm, she doesn’t judge me. She just helps me. THANK HEAVENS she can’t SEE the mess. I can just hear what that response would be: “OH CONSTANCE! Peace out! You are on your own.”

I Have A SOLUTION!

A very, VERY, pretty solution. No more having to ask Alexa to find my phone. I have a PINK!! YES, PINK, robotic, magnetic phone stand for my PHONE!!!!!

An all-metal MagSafe stand offers rock-solid support for my phone. This puppy has a wide base which means no matter which way I have my phone, IT STAYS PUT!! An adjustable arm means I can send a text, watch a ‘how to’ video, start, stop, pause, rewind, on my phone, and it DOES NOT JIGGLE!

My phone DOES NOT fall off the stand. It holds securely and it’s SO PRETTY!!! (I know I keep screaming at you but, it’s SO PRETTY!! It’s PINK!!) This stand has a low center of gravity. Non-slip pads on the base. A stunning (wait for it….) sandblasted matte finish. A PINK finish. (Other colors are available… I mean, IF you feel the need)

Here’s to finding my phone easily because it POPS! It not only has that perfect PINK POP of color, but it also shows up (Iike a little peek-a-boo phone stand) on the table!!

Here is to finding my creative spark in April. Keeping up with laundry (that made me laugh too!) and maybe, just maybe, getting Walter potty trained. I would like to actually finish sewing my Cricut machine cover, make a puppy snack pouch, laser etch a flask for my son, and oh, yeah, mend that dang t-shirt. I’ve REALLY GOT TO WRITE this list OUT!!

Wish me luck, I’m hoping to keep this room organized. (MAN! I crack MYSELF UP!!)

For the record, my craftroom is organized, it may not look like it but it truly is! Everything is where it belongs. I swear! I didn’t just hide it behind the shelves or in the laundry room. I actually put everything away! I even got 2 FULL loads of laundry done! I think it was the robotic phone stand…. It inspired me.