Sure Signs of Spring.

It's not the buds on trees or blooming flowers that signal the arrival of spring (at least not for a few more weeks here in Colorado!) But there are a few tell-tale signs that warmer weather is just around around the corner.

First, you should listen for the husband threatening to severely reduce his wife's wine budget unless she gets her side of the closet organized (a task she's only been putting off, for, um, about four years now?) And then you might hear the wind stir and rise as she furiously flings clothing from the rods, and fills a disturbing amount of garbage bags with the discarded attire in a feat Stacy London and Clinton Kelly would applaud:

Yup, the closets has been purged of everything outgrown, outdated and out-of-style (and good gosh, there was plenty of each!) and awaits pick up from the local charity.

Of course, there are a few bags of the good schtuff awaiting a trip to the consignment store. Because apparently (for future reference) mama needs to stash away some cash in an Emergency Wine Fund.

Spring styles have been moved to the front of the closet and if you look closely, you'll see there's actually empty hangers in there. Up until now, they have been an endangered (if not extinct!) species in my closet.

At the risk of affirming I might have a slight a addiction to cardis, my beloved sweaters are now organized by color family and actually have some room to breathe on their shelves. And while hubby might call it an addiction I prefer to say instead that I am simply prepared for chilly Colorado's spring weather.

I've even discovered the elusive "space-between-hangers" concept, which should help reduce future encounters with the dreaded Ironing Board of Doom. Can I get an AMEN?!

So yep, I'm in all-out, full-force spring cleaning mode. And while cleaning doesn't usually induce feelings of happiness and euphoria in this houseworkaphobe, I am feeling pretty dang upbeat about having a closet that looks a lot less like a black hole it used to be. Next up? The scrapbook room. Oh lordy. Look for more on that Thursday.

Also making me happy? My scrappy creations with this month's JBS Mercantile kit. The contents definitely got my creative mojo flowing. One of my favorite pages was this one, using Jenni's new perforated stamp paper (which is now available at Two Peas!)  I misted the stamps with Brown Sugar and Weathervane inks before decorating each one with little bits from the kit:

S U P P L I E S :

And with that, I'm back to the Big Spring Clean. Motivated, of course, by the rather large glass of wine that awaits me at the end of the day, thanks to the now-secured wine budget funds. Cheers!