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While listening to a podcast, the guest asked, “If you are old enough to remember, who were you before you had a phone?” She then encouraged listeners to reconnect with that pre-phone person.

Now to start, I have nothing against technology or phones. My phone allows me to promote my blog, stay connected to friends who don’t live close by. I love making a tasty meal using one of my Pinterest recipes or vegging out for a few minutes with my farm game.  I noticed however, that my phone has the ability to make me incredibly anxious and angry, especially the social media and new feeds. I acknowledged that there is no need to throw my phone completely out the window, but I need to start limiting my use, especially the mindless social media scrolling. With travel being off the table for the near future (pandemic), I needed to find some non-screen activities to occupy my time.

I am old enough to remember life without a phone. That pre-phone girl was a creator. She lived for acting and theater.

She sang in choirs and played the piano (though never well). She devoured books, filled notebooks with poems and stories, sketched and painted (also not well).

If there was something to create, she created. I didn’t realize until that podcast question, how much I missed that pre-phone girl, and how much I longed to reconnect with her.

I started out with music. Something easy, that wouldn’t take up a lot of space. I purchased a ukulele. At least once a week, I have ukulele night. It doesn’t matter that I fumble my way through songs, or that I’m still not good with strumming patterns. I simply enjoy the process of putting chords together and hearing a song emerge.

During our visit to Anchorage, Alaska, we stumbled upon a cool, painted, rock.

I picked it up and noticed instructions on the back. You could keep the rock or re-hide it for someone else to find. Unexpectedly encountering that rock brought a little burst of joy to our day. We took the rock home and re-hide it during our trip to the Bahamas. I did a deep dive and learned that kindness rocks are a popular thing. Wanting to be the person who added unexpected joy to someone’s day, I started painting rocks.

There were other non-phone/screens, creative things I wanted to give a try (card making, watercolor painting…), but accessing my supplies was an arduous task. Everything was in storage tubs, stacked and crammed into a spare bedroom closet, overflowing with “stuff.”  Locating items involved digging out the correct tub, riffling through its contents, sometimes having to pull everything out, just to find the bottle of blue paint I needed. I began having fantasies of what it would be like to have everything organized and easily accessible. Thus, the craft closet idea was born.

Craft closet task one, sorting through the excess “stuff.” With a strong conviction to purge, I kept what I needed/wanted, and sold or gave away (Facebook Marketplace is a wonderful use of phone) the rest.

The hardest craft closet task, was completed by my wonderful husband, who fully supports my creative endeavors. He did all of the tearing apart,

painting, and shelf building.

The craft closet is exactly what I envisioned.

Having a small house, part of the closet is still dedicated to general storage. There’s a place for my costumes, extra jackets/coats, and some clothes that I only wear when traveling.

It’s no Home Edit,  but I think the craft side turned out great.

There’s a shelf for picture albums and picture boxes.

I have a rock painting section.

A paper craft section.

I bought this fantastic organizing caddy on the cheap on Facebook Marketplace (it’s neat how something someone no longer wants can be the very thing you need).

I added a sewing section (thanks Meg),

and a spot for miscellaneous supplies (thanks Paulette for my adorable sloth caddy).

Why have a yarn basket, when you can have a kitty yarn basket?

It’s a major improvement.

Now when I need a brush, or paint, or some fancy scissors, I can grab them right off a shelf.

My wish is that the organized shelves and easy access keeps me inspired, and continues to fuel the desire to connect with that creative, pre-phone, girl.