Well, I did it. It took far longer than I would've hoped but..... I finally have my happy place unpacked. I still have a few projects to get the room totally complete, but I am happy for now. I have to say the final stretch was the most difficult. I purged lots of stuff, organized, re-organized and organized again. I still have some labeling to do which I actually enjoy so I look forward to that. I just purchased some Provocraft Vinyl, so I plan to add some quotes to a couple walls when I figure out what to say. So this room is definitely a work in progress. My goal is to host my club and downline meetings in my Happy Place, so I don't have to disrupt my family and dining room so much. Many people post pictures of their crafting spaces, so here are lots of mine. It's a large space so there are lots of photos. I have tried to take some close ups of a few things that I get asked about a lot. I look forward to sharing my space with you.
Before I start my tour I should say I LOVE my space and look forward to spending time here. The pluses of the space are: it's size, storage, light, 10ft ceilings, greenbelt view, locale in my house (next to the playroom), and piped in music from house surround sound. The only downside is that there is no closet, so there is no where to store big awkward things like my large collection of SU bags, rollings totes, display boards and other non-pretty things.
Enter my room here, through the double doors. A quote will be added above the door very soon.
Once through the doors turn left and see my main desk and computer area. My husband will use this space on the nights we decide to hang out together. (Normally he is down the hall in his office). To accommodate this arrangement, I had to add another crafting area.
Once through the door, if you look the other way (right) you see my alternate stamping space, paper storage, ribbon storage and additional built in shelves and cabinets. (Yikes a light bulb is out, just spotted that.)
Here is a closer look at the main desk. I have broken down some the elements of this space into smaller pieces to show. Keep scrolling down. :)
I plan to add another white shelf here and put something pretty on it. The Stack and Store Caddies hold my Stampin' Up! embellishments. The big jars hold glitters, acrylic letters and other cute small embellishments. I have my desk top Ott Lite here as well. Can't live without it.
This is my heat tool holder. I always get lots of questions about this. My husband built it for me a few years ago. Isn't he awesome :) It stays plugged in, so all I have to do is grab and heat.
Scraps- What to do. I get asked this question A LOT!! Here is how I organize mine. I create a pile on the corner of my desk. When it gets too big to handle, I file by color. The files are grouped by color family. Neutral colors have drawers on the shelves, so they don't go here. I also have a basket that sorts the 1/2 sheets by color and a box that hold 1/4 sheets. Hope that makes sense.
Here is the other half of the desk. My non-SU (gasp, I know. I do have quite an assortment of non SU things) embellishments go in the tool box. The card holder on the wall is from Pottery barn. I plan to add a metal bar to hold my favorite punches as well. Just need a trip south to get one.
Next to my desk are some built in shelves and cabinets. They are up-lit which is really nice. Here I store my current SU stamps, Primas, Pretties, etc. The blue boxes all store specific supplies. i.e. Envelopes, Cello Bags, Fibers, Wheel Cartridges, etc. The plastic drawers, store the ink refills, watercoloring tools, beads, neutral scraps etc. In the cabinets I store my alphabet stamps, background stamps, unmounted hostess/SAB/Mini catalog stamps, adhesive refills, tidy trays etc. On the end of the cabinet I have hung my small punch storage system.
This is my business supply area. The printers reside her as well as my office supplies, workshop folders, forms etc. I was also able to fit my ink pad caddy on the end right next to my alternate crafting table.
This is my alternate crafting table. For now it is a folding table we got at Costco. If I end up using this space often, I plan to replace it with a more permanent desk. It stores my Carl cutter, 1/4 & 1/2 sheets of cardstock and a tool holder that spins (by Creating Keepsakes). Next to my table is my two Show on the Go boards. I find these hard to store since I don't have a closet to hide them in.
Next to my craft table I have two sets of shelves I got at Ikea years ago. They happen to match my desk. Here is where I store my cardstock and papers. The literature sorter has all my SU 8.5" x 11" cardstocks sorted by color. Two colors per slot except the neutrals. I am also a big supporter and user of vertical storage. All my 12"x12" papers are sorted in these. I have tons of them. They all store different things and are labelled accordingly. Up above is also where I store my "keep forever" retired SU stamps. I sell off the ones I am no longer in love with. These are the few survivors of 10 years of collecting. I sell about 100 sets a year to make room for new. The cabinets below store all the items I have purchased over the years to alter. Someday I will. :)
Here is my ribbon storage and wheel storage. I have had these for years. My husband made them for me. I get a lot of requests for these as well as my heat tool holder. I store my ribbon by type and status. Current and Retired, SU and Non. The wheel rack is my design that he executed for me. I like it because I can grab, go, and put away without moving anything else. Plus I like that I can see what I have. (This rack also serves as overflow ribbon roll storage at times)
Next to my ribbon rack is another window and set of built-ins. This is where I store my bigger tools and scrapbooking supplies. My Cricuts both reside here along side my Cuttlebug, Xyron, Zutters, and scissor sharpener. My reference books and old catalogs live here as well. I have a gazillion packages of chipboard that take up a whole shelf. Each blue box has things like cutting tools, adhesives, coasters, powders, eyelets etc. The one small cupboard and the left is what is left of my non-paper crafting art supplies. My candle making, soap making, cross stitch, bead making etc. The other cupboard hold miscellaneous stuff. I have hung my large punch holder on the end facing the door. One fun fact, I have two secret cupboard in the room. The corners of both my built in shelves have false fronts. So, I can store my wrapping paper and other small things I don't want people to see or find in here.
So that's it. I apologize if I don't schedule a stamp camp this quarter. I really needed to do this for me. Now, hopefully my creative juices will start flowing and I can bring you new and exciting ideas and samples. Please contact me if you have any questions about how I store something.
For this sample I backed the die-cut flower with Grooy Guava Designer Series paper. Then I stamped and cut out the small flower and adhered it to the center along with a half pearl from the Pretties Kit. The vines are stamped off so that they are subtle. They also have a teeny bit of glitter on the berries. I back the whole card onto some Certainly Celery Cardstock and finished it off with some white Taffeta Ribbon.
In Honor of the chipboard special this month we did this birthday card with the chipboard flower. The flower is inked in white craft ink. The center of the flower is actually two pieces of chipboard that we covered together with So Saffron Prints paper. We stamped the verse 3 times then punched it out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. Then adhered to the circle piece of chipboard with a glue stick and sanded the edges.
While cleaning my room I found me beloved Watercolor Crayons. I love these things. Then I realized I hadn't used one of my favorite Mini Catalog Sets- For Father. So we watercolored the image after we stamped it in Basic Brown ink on Shimmery White cardstock. Colors used: Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa and Summer Sun. We distressed the edges of the white piece with the cutter kit and then sponges the edges. The ribbon used is the Chocolate Taffeta tied through a piece of our retiring Hodge Podge Hardware. The background is done with the Sanded bg stamp (Close to Cocoa on Soft Sky cs). I have given this card to some of the men in my life.
Enter my room here, through the double doors. A quote will be added above the door very soon.
Once through the doors turn left and see my main desk and computer area. My husband will use this space on the nights we decide to hang out together. (Normally he is down the hall in his office). To accommodate this arrangement, I had to add another crafting area.
Once through the door, if you look the other way (right) you see my alternate stamping space, paper storage, ribbon storage and additional built in shelves and cabinets. (Yikes a light bulb is out, just spotted that.)
Here is a closer look at the main desk. I have broken down some the elements of this space into smaller pieces to show. Keep scrolling down. :)
This is my heat tool holder. I always get lots of questions about this. My husband built it for me a few years ago. Isn't he awesome :) It stays plugged in, so all I have to do is grab and heat.
Scraps- What to do. I get asked this question A LOT!! Here is how I organize mine. I create a pile on the corner of my desk. When it gets too big to handle, I file by color. The files are grouped by color family. Neutral colors have drawers on the shelves, so they don't go here. I also have a basket that sorts the 1/2 sheets by color and a box that hold 1/4 sheets. Hope that makes sense.
Here is the other half of the desk. My non-SU (gasp, I know. I do have quite an assortment of non SU things) embellishments go in the tool box. The card holder on the wall is from Pottery barn. I plan to add a metal bar to hold my favorite punches as well. Just need a trip south to get one.
Next to my desk are some built in shelves and cabinets. They are up-lit which is really nice. Here I store my current SU stamps, Primas, Pretties, etc. The blue boxes all store specific supplies. i.e. Envelopes, Cello Bags, Fibers, Wheel Cartridges, etc. The plastic drawers, store the ink refills, watercoloring tools, beads, neutral scraps etc. In the cabinets I store my alphabet stamps, background stamps, unmounted hostess/SAB/Mini catalog stamps, adhesive refills, tidy trays etc. On the end of the cabinet I have hung my small punch storage system.
This is my business supply area. The printers reside her as well as my office supplies, workshop folders, forms etc. I was also able to fit my ink pad caddy on the end right next to my alternate crafting table.
This is my alternate crafting table. For now it is a folding table we got at Costco. If I end up using this space often, I plan to replace it with a more permanent desk. It stores my Carl cutter, 1/4 & 1/2 sheets of cardstock and a tool holder that spins (by Creating Keepsakes). Next to my table is my two Show on the Go boards. I find these hard to store since I don't have a closet to hide them in.
Next to my craft table I have two sets of shelves I got at Ikea years ago. They happen to match my desk. Here is where I store my cardstock and papers. The literature sorter has all my SU 8.5" x 11" cardstocks sorted by color. Two colors per slot except the neutrals. I am also a big supporter and user of vertical storage. All my 12"x12" papers are sorted in these. I have tons of them. They all store different things and are labelled accordingly. Up above is also where I store my "keep forever" retired SU stamps. I sell off the ones I am no longer in love with. These are the few survivors of 10 years of collecting. I sell about 100 sets a year to make room for new. The cabinets below store all the items I have purchased over the years to alter. Someday I will. :)
Here is my ribbon storage and wheel storage. I have had these for years. My husband made them for me. I get a lot of requests for these as well as my heat tool holder. I store my ribbon by type and status. Current and Retired, SU and Non. The wheel rack is my design that he executed for me. I like it because I can grab, go, and put away without moving anything else. Plus I like that I can see what I have. (This rack also serves as overflow ribbon roll storage at times)
Next to my ribbon rack is another window and set of built-ins. This is where I store my bigger tools and scrapbooking supplies. My Cricuts both reside here along side my Cuttlebug, Xyron, Zutters, and scissor sharpener. My reference books and old catalogs live here as well. I have a gazillion packages of chipboard that take up a whole shelf. Each blue box has things like cutting tools, adhesives, coasters, powders, eyelets etc. The one small cupboard and the left is what is left of my non-paper crafting art supplies. My candle making, soap making, cross stitch, bead making etc. The other cupboard hold miscellaneous stuff. I have hung my large punch holder on the end facing the door. One fun fact, I have two secret cupboard in the room. The corners of both my built in shelves have false fronts. So, I can store my wrapping paper and other small things I don't want people to see or find in here.
This is a simple card with the Blooming with Happiness set. I just got this set and love it. It's so cute and easy to use. The background paper is Spring Fling with Pretty in Pink cardstock. I stamped the images onto Vellum cardstock and colored them with markers on the back side of the vellum. The vellum is attached with Pretty in Pink eyelets. The ribbon is the pink taffeta ribbon attached with a Mini Glue Dot.
This is a lollipop turned upside down and secured with eyelets in folded cardstock shaped as a pot. I saw these at convention last year and thought they were cute. I was going to create a template for the pot myself, however I found the newenglandstamper blog and she had already done it and posted it for all to see. The flower is a diecut bloom with layered stamped and punched flowers. I added faux stitching on the flower. The ribbon is double stitch Wild Wasabi. The tag is done with the tag punches. The stamp sets used were Big Flowers, Little Flowers and Blooming with Happiness. BTW- the pot is designed to stand up so these would work great for place settings, party favors, treats for desks etc.
This is a card I completely copied off of SCS (by JennD). I love how the designer broke up the background but the focal point remained focal. This cards uses River Rock, Blue Bayou and Purely Pomegranate. A great combo of the current In Colors. The background stamps used (inked in River Rock) were Tres Chic and Canvas.
My stamp club did these top loading lunch box tins. The tins are the perfect size to fit cards and envelopes in. Everyone was given pre-measured and cut Summer Picnic Designer paper and matching ribbons. The paper and ribbon was adhered with Sticky Tape. We didn't embellish the tin although I encouraged everyone to when they got home. These are cute gifts when filled with something being cards, recipes, chocolate.....
I think this is the last of them from camp. This gift card holder is made with a circle folded in to create a pouch. The circle was done by tracing the large circle from the Ginormous Pieces Chipboard set. The belly band is Pink Passion cardstock with faux stitching around the top and bottom. The flower on the belly band is a Diecut Bloom with the flower rubbed on and layered with a Felt Fusion Flower and flower ribbon slide from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware. The Olive Polytwill wraps around the belly and and through a hole in the flower and then tied to keep the flower pieces together. The inside piece slides out and has a pocket to hold a standard gift card.
I like to intermingle some simple projects into the camp. This card using the Priceless set is super simple. I cased it directly from our monthly demonstrator magazine we get. The ribbon is white grosgrain with the edges colored Certainly Celery. The colors used are Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava, Barely Banana, and Certainly Celery. The base of the card is done with Textured Cardstock. If you have tried this cardstock yet you should try it soon. It's wonderful to work with and looks very finished.
This is one of my favorites. It is always hard not to design all pink and brown projects. I used the Boho Backgrounds and Priceless sets. The card is highlighted with lots of sponging and distressing. Whisper White, Close to Cocoa and Purely Pomegranate Inks, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretties Kit, Scallop & Circle Punches, Berry Bliss Designer Paper and Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip Cardstocks were used to complete this project. Wish I had more beads and hairpins so I could do a bunch more of these. Boho is growing on me :)
Here is a card with one of my favorite new sets: Embrace Life. It is such a pretty set and so easy to use. We watercolored the background images and added a little Apricot Appeal color to the edges of the big flower for definition. Notice the Polytwill? Can I say love it again? The white cardstock is Shimmery white which is my favorite white to work with. Very elegant. The bottom of the card is wheeled with the Jumbo Wheel Rough Edges and the sentiment is stamped and punched with the Word Window Punch.
Here is a cute project I cased. We used the new Diecut Blooms featured in the Occasions Mini Catalog along with Summer Picnic Designer Paper, Build-a-Brads, Real Red Striped Ribbon, Circle Punches, Pretties Kit and Colored Brads. The stamp sets I used were Big Flowers and Little Flowers. I love the Diecut Blooms and am crossing my fingers that they make the new catalog in August- or at least something similar.
