My Pink Box

I am definitely not a hoarder. I like to purge and clean and organize too much to qualify for that category. But I am not an minimalist either. You should see my armoire full of fabric and the boxes full of crafty goodness. And my bed has tons of pillows which require my removal each and every evening before I can fall asleep. It's sort of a pain but it looks pretty so....

A few years ago my friend Little's grandmother passed away. She and her parents went to Grandmother's home to clean it out and get ready for a sale. Granny apparently had a LOT of stuff. A lot for them to keep and cherish and a LOT to get rid of in any way, shape or form. I was living in DC at the time in the tiniest apartment (but totally the most awesome- oh how I miss my tiny home on the Hill) and Little called to ask if she could send me a box of craft stuff from Granny. Um, of course! I love craft stuff- old, new, wrinkled, whatever. So a week or two later three large boxes arrived. Three. And they were filled to the brim with every imaginable odd and end. Tons of fake but fun beads and pearls, ribbons, cigar box hand bags, baskets, lace and more. It took me forever to sift through the boxes and decide what I wanted to keep and what just needed to be tossed (she told me I could toss whatever and that she just sent it all to me with that in mind). Of course I kept most of it. Clothes I can purge but craft supplies, Heavens no!

Over the years I've used various items from Granny's stash. The first thing I did was take apart all of the old pearl necklaces. That took eons and was crazy messy. But it gave me bags of pearls to make three necklaces and bracelets. One for myself because I love me some pearls. One for Little and one for Little's cutie momma. It was both a thank you and a way to remember Grandmother in a more up-to-date fashion. Old red ribbon was used on Christmas gifts one year. And the baskets have been used for just about everything one can do with a basket. But my most cherished possession is this pink box. The moment I opened this, I gasped with delight. It was my version of crack to a junkie or candy to a four year old. Vintage. Jacquard. Ribbons. And lots of them. Tiny prints, large prints, never before seen prints, now duplicated and crazy expensive prints, and drool I am in love with you prints. I've used some of the ribbon on belts and gifts over time. But if you receive something from this pink box, you know you are the bees knees in my book. This is the box I open and play with but rarely use. I just love it all sooooo much. Do you have a "pink box" in your life? Something that you use sparingly because you want it to last forever. Part of me thinks I should just use the stuff. If I kick the bucket tomorrow, all that saving was for not. But you can pretty much bet I will continue to use the contents of my pink box sparingly until I find a "worthy" cause. I think I am secretly waiting for a little girl to come into my life so that I can decorate dresses and keepsakes accordingly.

But that's not to say I don't love new jacquards too. I do. Just yesterday this arrived from JCaroline. I can't wait to see her new ribbons that she is having produced exclusively for her fabu online shop!

And last but not least..... For anyone in the Capital Region (or Bennington or Manchester or wherever....) who is without a pink box and too impatient to wait for an online purchase, run to the Walmart up on Hoosick Street. Their fabric department is leaving and everything fabric and ribbon is 75% off. I went this morning because I was told (in a very hush hush manner I might add) that today all fabric would be marked down to 50%. But when I arrived, it was all 75% off. They still had about 3/4 of that back wall full of fabric. And all of the ribbon was still there. Or until I gobbled it up anyway. Let's just say that this year everyone will be receiving some sort of made-by-me Christmas gift and I also have every ounce of ribbon needed to wrap said gift. I seriously got fabrics for under $0.50 and polka dot ribbons for $0.08 - $0.15. Too crazy to pass up. I wouldn't wait until tomorrow though because women were calling friends and family from the store to inform them of the markdowns. I was laughing so hard. It just struck me as rather funny. Of course I was in line not once, but twice to get a huge pile of stuff cut too. I love getting the discount but do you know that they are taking out the fabric department so that they can have room to sell beer? Yup! As if we need another location to buy stinkin' beer. Ridiculous! I mean, I didn't get much fabric there (until last week when I found it all 25% off and then today....but I digress) but I would rather see pretty fabric than beer any day of the week.