Studio Tour: Part 6 – Fun Details

I’ve had some questions about some details in the Studio Tour (and the sneak peek collage from a while back)…

Here are some more fun pics to show the details…

Mom made the kitchen witch for me when I was in high school. Mom put incredible detail into this little lady… all the lace trim, the slippers and even the wart on her nose. She has lived in my hope chest/moving box since then… I finally pulled her out and found a new home for her in my studio as my “Scrap Hag”. Hopefully she will chase away the “Mojo Thieves” and general “Anti-Crafty Monsters” that live in the utility closet…

This is my canister that holds silk flowers that I snip off and use on cards and projects. The beaded lady hanging from it is my Crazy Lady. I made her at a cute little shop in Historic Valley Junction, Iowa. When I am having a bad day or feeling blah, I look at her and grin… besides, she’s ALWAYS having a bad hair day! :) The little magnet is a round mirror that says “Look to the Glory of God”. It helps ground me in times of “puffed up-ness”.

I love this photo of Brent and I. It is the first photo that we ever had taken together… It was taken at UVU’s “girls choice” Spring Dance (aka Valentine’s Dance). We’d been dating a couple of weeks… Maybe 2? Anyway, it was also the night of our first kiss. *grin* Look how skinny we were, too!!! I’d love to get back to that size!

This is a fun little E that I made from a wooden letter from Robert’s (Provo) Craft. I covered it with pearlescent pink cardstock and then blinged it out by outlining it with rhinestones and then adhering silver glitter balls to the edges with Liquid Glass. Note to self… don’t use those silver glass ball things next time… they have real silver in them and are now tarnishing. :( The cupcake was made by Linda Cummings.

Just a fun photo of the paintbrush bucket… and detail of the tag label of misc blingy things. :)

I filled the “sharp things” bucket with white beans. This helps keep my scissors and sharp things from clanging around and nicking each other. It’s also quieter when putting things away in the bucket. :)

The candles are apple/cinnamon scented. I love burning them while I’m in my space… They add a comforting sense of ambiance and smell delightful :)

I store my colorful ribbon scraps in a big crystal candy jar from Poland. I love how you can see the colorful ribbon scraps through the jars... like little bits of candy. The little candy jar holds my Tiger Wire and stretch wire and misc jewelry making findings in little baggies. Mom gave me the crystal …. we bought it at a Polish Market on the border of Germany and Poland when we were living in Berlin (1989-1994).

These are one of my many sets of Matryoschka dolls that I collected from various markets while living in Germany. I have a large variety of sets including a set of Jesus and his Desciples, the Russian presidents, and tons of traditional dolls. (One of my favorites is the Turnip family... It "tells" teh story of a family pulling together to pull a giant turnip from the ground for their dinner. ) They were so cheap in Germany!!

I believe this set was purchased at a black market in Berlin (formerly East Berlin) 1990. Hehe! These pretty ladies add a fun bit of color and design to my space and remind me of some very happy and fun times in my old stomping grounds.

Inky Smiles!

Studio Tour: Part 5 – It All Fits Together In This Small Space {full reveal}

So now we’ve made it through the details of how I organize and function in this space… here’s the full reveal of my creative space. I know, I know… how long have I been promising it?? {I hereby pinky swear to never promise anything on a time schedule ever again…. }

This is a wonky, odd shaped, small space that I share with the family office at the bottom of the stairs in the corner of the basement. {Ok, mostly I’ve taken over..} Here’s the “official tour”. Thank you for your patience. I hope you like it as much as I do and I hope it inspires you in some way to do something fun with your creative space, no matter what wonky size or shape you’ve got.

{You can click on the photos for a larger view. They should open up in a new window.}

{Edited: All of the details - pattern # for curtains, paint color, etc., are listed in the posts linked under "My Studio" on the left side of this blog.}

Peeking down the stairs from the first level. All the crazy colors in my house meet in this small little space… Thankfully the tin box of silk flowers breaks it up and blends all the colors together and makes it work! {Yah, I know there’s no carpet on the landing… LOL! When Brent got laid off in Jan we put the remodel finish on hold. Now that he is full time employed again we are gearing up to choose carpet for the stairs after we get back from visiting my folks.}

When you hit the bottom of the stairs and look left, I have some fun clipboards hanging on the angled wall with pics of my favorite people to keep me company.

Looking straight ahead from the stair landing is the office workstation. {I must have been jamming to tunes on winamp.. it’s up on the monitor. Today’s blogging tunes are a variety of hits from Ace of Base and the Beatles… Winamp is playing in alphabetical order this afternoon… hehe!}

And we’ll go around the room from here…

And that view again from the hallway into the studio….

And back around… here you can see the antique window and what I did with it. Originally I had wanted to do a “wall of E’s” all cutely decorated and altered, but as the studio re-do progressed there wasn’t a wall that really worked for just “E’s”. I thought the window was a fun place to rest some of the previously altered E’s. I’ve got to work on some more.. just gotta find some cool looking letters.

A bird’s eye view of the whole space. It’s hard to get an accurate photo of the place because of the wonky size/shape.

This is my space. I love it. I am so very grateful for a sweet husband who helped me customize it and agreed to the fru fru and fun colors in the open space. It took a long time to pull it all together. {Life happens that way sometimes… and the cleaning and purging and organizing was a bear!!} But it came together and it fits my creating style and it works for mE.

Thanks for coming along on this tour with me!

Inky Smiles & Happy Crafting!

Studio Tour: Part 4 - Bookshelf and Desk Organization

I’m so sorry for the delay in posting. I got rather busy with work, the business, getting the yard in shape, the garden ready for planting (and some planting done), and life in general.

I wanted to show you how I organize my stuff that’s “out in the open” in my bookshelf and in my desk. I have plans drawn up for a really cool big, red bookshelf to replace the small brown Sauder one that’s currently in the space. I “kinda” ran out of money for the red bookshelf during our remodel because I chose a more expensive faucet set for the tub/shower/sink in the master bath AND ended up putting in a granite counter top… so, I guess I didn’t really “run out” of cash, I “reallocated it” … lol! Anyway… some time this summer when we find some time, Brent and I will build the big red bookshelf! Until then, this is what I have in the space and it is working fabulously for me.

BOOKSHELF ORGANIZATION:

The current bookshelf sits at the end of my desk. Here’s a view of it from down the hall that goes to the rest of the basement. My closet is on the left. You’ll see the first photo again in the next post when I put it all together for the full view. :)

{Click on photos for large views"}

The bookshelf is a GREAT example of how I like to have things visible/open/out in the open but contained and everything has a home.

I have gobs of ribbon because I "*think* I might be addicted…. It’s stored in 3 places: extra weird ribbons and fibers in the closet, scrap pieces and tiny spool in a jar (coming next post), and spooled ribbon in the RibbonStak from Stamper Storage. I have not decided on a color to paint it yet, because it depends on the red bookshelf making it in the room… so it sits in here naked… next to the lovely white Magpie storage from Quickutz. I flipped the silver boxes upside down and use it to contain a variety of items such as: mini metal alpha charms (for jewelry, crazy ladies, and papercrafting), a large grommet setter, extra shuttles and blades for paper cutters, metal rimmed tags, etc. There’s a jar of beads, an old soda bottle that holds my red buttons and some red silk flowers that I snip off to use on cards and a metal bucket with odds n ends blingy things like sticky rhinestones, etc.

Movin’ on down the bookshelf…. to my “cutting station”. Some folks have a dedicated table/space to cut with their Cricut/Wishblade/Silhouette, etc…. I haven’t decided what I want for an electronic cutter yet {well sorta leaning towards the freedom of a Silhouette} so I just cut and emboss everything with my Cuttlebug and a little elbow grease. The Cuttlebug fits neatly between two baskets {recycled from the family/media room} which hold my various cutting and embossing dies {Nesties, Sizzix, and Cuttlebug} and odds & ends stamps. I was having a hard time keeping track of what CB embossing folders I had… could never remember their names, so I looked them up online and wrote my name and the name of the folder on each folder with Sharpie. Works great now! I keep the Nesties banded together by shape.

I store my CTMH square packaged stamps in an AWESOME set of drawers that Brent built for me for Christmas. Again, no color decided yet and I’m searching for the perfect drawer pull handles for the fronts. These are amazing little drawers… I think the super packed middle drawer holds 23 sets of stamps. That’s a lot in one little space! I’m out of space for these stamps already and thankfully there are pieces for a second set of drawers cut out in the workshop.

There are several white photo boxes on the next shelf down that hold a variety of extra goodies. I like being able to pull out a box and set it on my desk while I’m working, then toss all the goodies back in the box and put it neatly on the shelf. Closed and contained! I store my embossing powders, adhesives, etc in them. {It’s funny, glue sticks are awful for scrapbooking and I really don’t like them, yet I have a zillion of them… lol!}

Bottom shelf - My paper is all neatly stored in Cropper Hopper vertical boxes. I sort most by color and by brand in individual 12x12 file folders. Patterned papers are stored together by general theme; polka dots, stripes, vintage, wedding, red patterned, pink patterned, etc. I keep my CTMH kits/packs in the plastic bags they came in. It helps me keep track of what goes with what. :) {I need to do some purging of the paper collection… there’s paper in that collection that I will probably never use!}

DESK/WORK SPACE ORGANIZATION & SET UP:

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my humongous desk and work station. Brent and I built it several years ago to fit this wonky space. It has a bunch of drawers and cubbies for all kinds of great organization. The far end is used for computing and Stamper Storage business work, but the end closest to the closet and bookshelf is my fun creative space.

The InkStak is a custom build by my sweet husband, Brent. Regular InkStaks can be customized at Stamper Storage, but this one is super special. Brent custom built the trim on this sweet baby and picked out “just the right pink” paint. {I tell you, I am the most handicapped paint color chooser on the planet.} This InkStak holds 90 inkpads and 60 + markers {or 10 more inkpads to total 100 inkpads, which is likely going to be happening soon and the markers will find a new home!} I love my InkStak, the inkpads slide out easily and stack nice and neatly. Currently mine are sorted by color and brand with StazOn, etc down at the far right. I love being able to reach up and grab a color, then reach up and put it right back away so that I don’t have piles of inkpads all over the place while working.

A bar and bucket rack from Ikea hangs below my InkStak. I saw this in the store and immediately knew I had to have it! Bought it, took it home, and waited until I had a place for it to go… lol! It sat in the closet for nearly a year!

The buckets hold all sorts of crafty tools and supplies. They are visible and easily accessible, yet contained neatly to appease my “need for neat”… hehe! The scissors and knives are stored point down in a bucket of white beans. The beans seem to help keep the points sharp and from banging against each other. I love having my “most often used” tools, liquid glues, and gadgets easily accessible here.

There’s a drawer and cabinet in the desk to the left of my creative station. Here I’ve organized more fun gizmos…

I keep my punches and decorative scissors in a bucket/basket {which I have outgrown since this photo and need to rethink} in the base cabinet.

The drawer holds adhesives that I m currently using, acrylic blocks {under the double scrubber}, heat gun, sponges, 12” trimmer, glitter and beads. The glitter and beads needed to be stored as close to the creative station as possible to keep the “glitter dust” confined… Brent is really good about everything in our home {including the dog} being covered in glitter from time to time, but I gotta keep it to a minimum… ":)

Oh, and I have this HUMONGOUS drawer in the center of the desk spanning a double door base cabinet where the computer and printer live.…. I can’t seem to keep it neat. What’s the matter with me? Keeping it real here…

And that, my friends, is how the bookshelf and desk are organized. I tried to pare down supplies and make it an efficient working space. I hope you’ve found something here that has inspired you for organizing your space!

Next Up: The whole shabang… Part 5: How it all fits together in my small space.

Studio Tour: Part 3 - Organization “The Closet” - Post #300

{Forgive me if my typing is a little wonky.. I just got back from the eye dr and my eyes are still numb… I will try to catch all my spelling errors and typos…. lol!}

I have this rather big closet at one end of my studio. It’s a 4x4x8’ space that Brent built shelves in several years ago. For the longest time it was just a “holding place” cram packed with schtuff. I couldn’t find anything in the closet. I just had piles of schtuff in there in various boxes and baskets and binders.

EVERYTHING was out of the closet after our little sewer back up and had been tossed willy nilly into various other boxes and containers for storage during the clean up and subsequent remodel. When I finally unburied and pulled out the “various other boxes” and looked at all the schtuff, I decided it was time to pare down. Nothing was going back into the closet if it didn’t have a home. {Clean Sweep, baby!}

I repurposed and reused most of my old containers in the closet and added a few new window front boxes from Ikea. I was able to clean out a LOT of junk and move my new Bernina sewing machine and basket of sewing notions into my closet and up off the floor. {Eventually I will sort through my two bins fabric and pare down so it can also be stored in the closet.}

Looking into the closet:

Top half of closet. The very top shelf is where I keep my archived family and business files.

Second shelf – idea books, misc. scrapbooks, TJ newsletter binder, old magazines {I did pare down a bit, but can’t chuck those yet… working on it.. hopefully by the end of the summer I can get thru them and pull out the ideas I’d like to keep and chuck the rest.} I also have a split shelf on the right side… I store my extra baggies, misc glues and adhesives like Mod Podge and Xyron that don’t fit with my other adhesive stash here. Below that is envelope storage and misc craft supplies like mini notebooks and post it notes.

The third shelf holds my favorite card sample ideas, misc projects, CTMH Solos alphas, misc envelopes for RAKS, a box of misc ribbons and fibers that don’t fit in my RibbonStak, and a basket of misc camera supplies {my old film SLR and lenses, etc.}

Bottom half of closet. Bins on the floor hold misc items. Left bin holds “items to scrap about/put in albums”. Right bin holds misc items to sell/give away/etc.

Top shelf {actually shelf #4} keeps my Paper Sticker Binders. One binder holds image stickers and embellishments and the other binder holds Alpha/Number/Word Art stickers and Journaling tags from when I actually PAPER scrapped.. {I prefer digi scrapping now and use these items for misc craft projects and cards.} Next to the PSBs are how I store my bulk 12x12 and 8x11 cardstocks. The accordian folder holds my scraps which are sorted by color. Next to that are 3 window front boxes from Ikea. {I LOVE THESE BOXES!} The top white box holds Altered Ego/Alterable Items such as tins, mini boxes, mini albums, etc. The bottom white box holds Chipboard, Chipboard letters, etc. The pink box on the right holds my open Owires for the Bind It All. {The unopened boxes are kept in the “store” room upstairs.} I keep my BIA machines on top of the Owire box.

The bottom {5th} shelf is my sewing and painting shelf {for now}. I keep a box of patterns, a basket of misc sewing notions and scrap fabric, my sewing machine, and two boxes of acrylic paints. The paper trimmers have found a new home sitting on top of the acrylic paints.

What you can’t see very well in the pics is that just below shelf #3, in front of the BIA box is a paper towel holder that I’ve screwed onto the wall. This comes in handy for messes and is tucked neatly out of the way. My reinkers are stored in a very shallow shelf that Brent built from scraps in the workshop. {It’s the prototype of a new Stamper Storage project.} There is a hook in the wall next to the paper towel holder that I hang my craft apron on. The back of the door is also the perfect place to put a removable Scotch/3M hook to hang my Fiskars rotary cutting mat and acrylic ruler. {I had them tucked behind my desk previously and they were getting warped.}

So that’s my closet in a nutshell…. It works for me! There’s no fru fru or expensive stuff going on in the closet, in fact I didn’t even paint the MDF shelves or put the baseboard trim back in it. It’s tidy, it’s organized, and most importantly everything is ACCESSIBLE.

Next up: Part 4 – Organization - Bookshelf and Desk Organization… {papers, misc blingy things, my “cutting station”, etc.}

{edited} PS... Did I mention this is my 300th post???!! Hot diggity dog!

Studio Tour: Part 2 – Organization I “Works For Me!”

 
I graduated the Inspiration Phase:  I learned what inspired me and I began to gather up my inspiration ideas and was ready to put it all together and organize it.  So when I sat down to tackle this huge task I decided that my old organization methods weren’t really working and that not everything was going to make it back to my creative space. 

And thus the many moons of sorting and purging began.   {Have you ever seen Clean Sweep?} I now have a big laundry basket in the bottom of my closet that holds a bunch of items that are going to be finding new homes.  Some items will be donated, some sold, and new in package items will be gifted!

The day finally came where I was ready to get organized.  {Keep in mind that the last 1/2 of last year & first part of this year was spent remodeling our house after the sewer back up in the basement.   We repaired the damage in the basement and replaced every square inch of flooring on the main floor, plus added a master bathroom remodel to the mix.  I did not feel much like blogging, scrapping, crafting, or organizing.}

Somewhere along the line, Alisha Trussell pointed me in the direction of a VERY COOL BOOK, “The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker” by Wendy Smedley {See link in left sidebar.}  There’s a super cool “workbook” that comes with the book choc full of quizzes and questions to help you learn about your style of scrapbooking and organizing.  THIS WORKED FOR ME.  I’m freakishly logical about how I think out these types of things and love to make lists and write out my ideas.  

Here is what I discovered:

1.)  I wanted to figure out a better way to store, organize, and make better use of the products that I already owned so that things did not get lost in space.

2.)  Clean and Tidy – like a “store”.  I like things lined up neatly and want to be able to “shop” for products from my stash.  Everything has a “home” to return to when I’m finished with it.

3.)  I don’t want to have to sort through stacks and folders and piles to find a product that I want to use.  I want things to be easily accessible, yet also able to be put away and tidied up easily when I need my space to resemble some type of an orderly office.

4.)  Current categories that work for me:
       *Color – embellishments and papers.
       *Topic – some papers and stickers
       *Activity – embossing, adhesives, machines, stamping, cutting…
       *Projects – current and past
       *Chronological – Photos

5.) Storage Solutions that work for me are things that are generally closed and visible or open and partially visible.  Some items I like to see out in the open, but they must be contained.

6.)  I need to be able to tidy up quickly before changing projects.  I can’t create in chaos (hence my lack of recent creation posts!).  I get overwhelmed by mess.

7.)  Matching containers is nice… however, realistically it’s not always financially feasible, so eclectic and fun was going to work for me.  You never know what you might find that inspires you or fits your space!

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In the next couple of parts I will show you how I organize.  I do not want my studio tour to be about “look at all my schtuff… I got loads of schtuff”, rather “here’s how I organize and here’s my fun space”.  Do you know what I mean?     My goal for my studio makeover was to pare down, clean up, and create a well organized, happy and bright space for myself.   I think that for ME this works.  Maybe it might just inspire you.

Next Up:  Part 3 - Organization II - The Closet 
(It will be posted today, cuz I’m working on it right now… :) )