Finished! Termine'! Fertig! Acabado! 完成した! เสร็จ!

 I am finally finished with my room!  It is clean...it is neat...it is weeded out...there has been major purging...it is organized....I know what I have...

Makes me almost want to go in and create!  But now I'm afraid because I don't want to mess it up! LOL!!!

So now I will give you the full tour of my "studio"...lots of pictures here so bear with me.

I don't know why I feel the need to put studio in quotes.  I mean...it is a studio according to Webster's which states a studio is  "A room where an artist, photographer, sculptor, etc., works." I am an "etc." and I work in my room so maybe it is a studio after all.  It just sounds so much hoity toitier than just plain old "crafting room".

Anyway...doesn't  matter what you call it...I am lucky to have a nice big room.  This is also a problem because it just means you have more space to junk it up. Which I did a great job doing!  But now that I have pretty much been through every nook and cranny I am once again aware of the things I have.

That's a good thing...know what you have.

Our tour begins as you walk into my room.  This is what I see when I enter:

My work area is over to the far right where you can see my ink pads.
Below is from the same spot...just face on to the wall across the room.  You can see my heater on the floor.  It gets way too cold for me in my room.  I have to heat it even when the temps are in the 90s outside.  Otherwise I will get frostbite.  I love my heater....it has a timer on it so it goes off automatically and it is totally safe.  (I hope.)

I have very little wall space in my room....there are 3 doors and a big window so not much room for hanging things.  Well, we hung a bunch of shelves but every inch of wall space is just about taken except for this little while where  I have YET MORE RIBBON!  I have one of those Clip it Up ribbon holders which holds my spooled ribbon and then below it is the side to a baby bed that I have cut pieces of ribbon on.  It looks way more impressive in real life than it does in this photo.  I promise you.  A story....many years ago my friend Holly and I decided to buy all the grosgrain ribbon that Stampin' Up had...cut it into pieces, bag it up and resell it for profit.  We made $1, I think.  LOL....and we both ended up with a boat load of grosgrain ribbon! LOL!!!  So I've taken all mine apart and hung it over the slats of the baby bed.  Ingenious...huh?

I use an old microwave cart (I love repurposing!) as my embossing station.  I have my Big Shot set up on it.   Works well for me....  On the shelves below are my Becky Higgins Project Life kits.

In one of the drawers in my cube to the left I keep my embossing folders.  They are all in their own little file area and make it easy for me to locate the one I want to use.

Below that is a drawer with most of my Spellbinder dies.  I need a better way to organize these.  I've tried CD holders and leaving them in their packaging.  I need to still work on this.  I just want a way to put them in this drawer so I can find them! Any ideas?  I guess I could cut magnet sheets to fit the drawer and put tabs on them.  Hmmmm....maybe I will try that....

I have two 4 foot tables pushed together for my sewing machine, my Silhouette and my laptop.  I kind of have a u-shaped work area with a swivel chair so I can easily get behind me to my Silhouette.

Hurricane Debbie who helped me reorganize my room had this great idea to put all my paper kits or coordinating papers in either page protectors or Zip Loc bags.  They had been in all kinds of locations in my room and I had no idea what all I had!  Now I can just look through these easily and quickly and pull out what I want to use!  THANKS, DEBBIE!!!

 See?  Isn't that Close to My Heart paper pretty?  Forgot I had it.  Don't even remember buying it!  LOL!

That blue basket bin sits right next to my paper stacks which I shared yesterday.  On top of the paper stacks are a couple of plastic containers with some new things I still want to use...some stamps, dies, kits, etc.

Under the table with my laptop and Silhouette I have a rack shelving unit with some containers with pens, Stickles, paints, etc.  My label maker definitely got a work out today!

 

This is what I see when I face forward at my table:

This is what I see when I look to the right:

And this is what I see when I look to the left:

And this is what I see if I swivel my chair to get to my laptop and Silhouette:

I bought these many years ago at Target....It's just those little drawer units you get in the tool section.  It has always worked well for me...it holds Qtips, pins, Fray Check, needles, my embossing buddy, extra trimmer blades, etc.

And lastly....this little guy keeps me company (the photo got a bit of glare on it...but you get the idea... :)).

I really can't wait to do some creating in here again....but I just didn't have the energy to mess it up today.  I think maybe tomorrow....

Ack! I just realized I didn't show you where I keep my embossing powders and distress inks!  Maybe tomorrow. ;)

Happy Crafting to you!

Bigger Than Expected!

My whole craft room/studio redo has required so much more time and effort than I ever dreamed it would!  Yikes!!! And I'm still not done!  But one thing I've learned is that I can only do it for about an hour or so a day and then I gotta get outta there!  HAHA!

But it really is getting close to being done and I think I will really like my new organizational systems.  At least for now.  One thing I've noticed is that paper crafters generally love to organize and reorganize. What's up with that?!

The other day I posted "Taking Shape" and showed a picture of my nice cleaned off table.  Then Hurricane Debbie showed up and my room was again torn up and destroyed.  Debbie is a good friend of mine who is fabulous at organizing and she saw a great need to redo just about everything I'd done.  LOL!  So...for the next 5 days my table top was never to be seen.  But it has all been worth it and I'll share my progress to date.  Here it is in bits and pieces.

First of all....I love paper stacks although I am not buying 12x12 any longer (well, except for the cute one I got half priced at Michaels the other day. LOL!).  I do love the stacks I have though and had them in a basket crate thing but bought this 56 qt Sterlite container for about $7 the other day.  It's too heavy to lift but I don't plan for it to go anywhere anyway!  It sits under the table where my paper trimmers are.  I write the name of the stack and manufacturer on the binding with a Sharpie so that I can more easily pull out the one I want.

This container works well for these stacks and with the top on no dust or other particles can get in.

They are a perfect fit!

Next is a cube that I got at Michaels a while back and I have my white, brown and black cardstock stored in it.  I kind of wanted all my cardstock in one place but for now it didn't quite work out that way....it is all about an arms length to the right and to the left of where I sit.  I may work on that arrangement but that is what it is for now.

On my cutting table I have this very cool heat embossing station that my friend, Cyndi, brought me back from Kansas City.  I am known as the Fire Starter with my heat gun so she is doing her best to try to keep me safe.  Thanks, Cyndi.  Come to think of it...since I got this stand I have not burned any carpet!

Ahem....I do love 6x6 and 8x8 paper pads and here is my collection of those.  Right within easy reach. I love having all these because I might make a card one day.  (Waving at you, Cyndi!)

I have my plain 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock in magazine holders...some are labeled if the paper is oh so special and some are not.

I store most of my buttons in mason jars on a Lazy  Susan (I always took issue with that term! LOL!).

To the right of where I sit I have some wire racks and cubes that I purchased at Target a long time ago...long before Michael's came out with the nice cube system.  I'm really trying to use what I have, though so this still works for me although sometimes I wish it looked a little better! LOL!
On the right is most of my ribbon (oh, yeah...I have way more on the other side of the room which I'll share in another post). and it's in boxes and labeled.  Debbie did a great job of organizing the boxes by color.  It's so easy to see what I have.

 There is also a box with Baker's twine as well as boxes for embroidery floss and fibers.

 And...at the very bottom I have my colored 12x12 cardstock as you can see here.

 In the middle section of the wire racks I have card packs and envelopes (yes, I have a lot...and now they are all in one place! Hallelujah!).  Below that are some Hero Arts cards and products.

I have this old Cropper Hopper file box that I am using for vellum, acetate, and other specialty type papers.

 Back over near my white, brown and black cardstock I have a large box that holds my paper scraps.

I try not to keep the smallest bits but these scraps are wonderful for die cutting and I go to my box often! They are all sorted by color.

 I store my punches in the over the door shoe racks.  I have tried other ways to store punches....boxes, drawers, etc...but this works well for me because I can easily see what I have.  I have another hanger over another door with my Martha Stewart punches.

 On my table I have this little storage thing I picked up at Goodwill for a dollar which holds my Copics and my Distress pens as well as my acrylic blocks.  To the left of the little storage thing is a CD rack with my Papertrey Ink stamps.

 And here is a picture of my work table again....and you can see my ink pad storage.  I  need to paint the top one at some time...some day...maybe... LOL!  I'm probably a little more about function than I am about looks so for now this is just fine! ;)

Still a good bit to do but if I put my mind to it I think I might be able to be done by tomorrow.  I'm having crafting withdrawal but I really need to finish up before I start any new projects.  That's the deal I've made with myself anyway! ;)

I hope you've enjoyed a little peek into my studio!

Happy Crafting.

Taking Shape!

When my husband and I moved into this house it was a bit overwhelming as about any move can be.  My husband, Mr. Positive, would always say "taking shape" whenever a box was unpacked or a picture was hung on the wall.  I think he said "taking shape" 3,803 times.  After about 8 times I'd had enough! LOL! And I wanted to tell him where he could take his shapes!  I'm bad....

So earlier today I posted a picture of my scrapbook/craft room and it was a very disturbing picture.  Stuff everywhere!  But I've worked hard on it....and it is "taking shape".

Here is my work area now....at least you can see the table surface!  Yay me!

Still needs some organizing which my friend, Debbie, and I will work on tomorrow....but it IS getting there! I'm happy! 

I'm still a couple of days away from crafting but I'm getting excited about my reconfigured creativity space!

Happy Crafting!

Where in the World....

....is Susan?

...hidden under an avalanche of scrapbooking and cardmaking items in her craft "studio"! Please send in the National Guard.  She needs to be rescued! ;)

Here is an in process photo....I  have just been piling up stuff on my work surfaces so don't think I work in ALL this mess.  I do get messy but I'm not this bad!  LOL!

Scary, huh?
Why is it when we get the urge to organize that we end up making an even bigger mess than when we started out???  This has been a several day affair already....and I am ready to go immerse myself again.  I'm hoping to get everything out today that I'm getting rid of....and then my friend Debbie is coming over tomorrow to help me organize and get my work flow right!  Yay, Debbie!

I will take pictures when it is all cleaned up and neat again!

Hopefully I'll see you all in a few days...I'm missing my crafting!

When You Outgrow Your Systems...

I think crafter's love to organize and reorganize.  We love cute little containers, bags, boxes, etc...and we spend huge amounts of time making everything look cute and perfect.  The problem is if you are like me, you keep purchasing more stuff...so the cute little perfect system you have may still be cute but it certainly isn't perfect!

Take my punches, for example.  I used to keep them in a drawer in an Iris cart.  Well, that was about 10 years ago when I only had about half a dozen punches.  Then I went to a couple of boxes...then bigger boxes...etc. 

A while back I bought an over the door shoe organizer...and that lasted me for quite a while.  Until Martha Stewart, Fiskars and EK Success started making those wonderful border punches!  So, I've done it again...bought more to hold more.  LOL!!! 

I was at Tuesday Morning the other day and found these bright and cheerful over the door shoe organizers (it is difficult to find them with clear pockets anymore...now they are all fancy linen and different prints.  That was not going to work because I need to see what I have, right?).  So they are on one of my doors in my craft area and will hold quite a few punches. 

See?

You'll notice there are no Martha Stewart punches here...well, they are in an organizer on another door!  This system will last me at least 4 more punches (notice the top row on the right?).  I hope I've bought some time!

Happy Crafting!

Time is Just FLYING By!

It's been a week since I posted...where has the time gone?  And what do I have to show for it!  Not much exect for a clean closet!  Yep, this was the week of the GREAT PURGE....I have a relatively large closet.  What does that mean?  Simply that you can stash more and more stuff in it.  It got to the point that I was stepping over stuff to get to what I needed.  I'm not a hoarder but sometimes I do keep things for the "well, I might need it again" reason.  But I do love to purge, too...and I had a great time going through stuff.  I'm one of those people that needs a good kick in the rear at times to get going but once I do I'm good to go!  I basically took everything out of my closet and started all over again!  It took a long time (like 5 hours, I'm embarrassed to say) but it's done...and it's pristeen...and it looks great.  And no you are not going to see it.  HAHA!

But I will show you a scrapbooking mess.

Yes, I've admitted before I'm a paper addict.  This is the area I keep those great paper stacks in that I just have to have!  And my system just isn't working any longer.

OK, that brings up a whole 'nother point.  We scrapbookers and paper crafters LOVE to organize.  What is it?  We organize and are happy with our systems but then we go buy new stuff and have to REORGANIZE to make room for the new things.  It's a never ending process, isn't it?  You know exactly what I mean!  I had the BEST system for organizing my Cricut cartridges, books and overlays.  I bought little boxes at Target and made files...everything was so nicely organized and I could locate my cartridges and books in a jiff! That was great when I had only about 45 cartridges.  100 plus cartridges and 12 boxes later...well, it was taking over my room...so I had to come up with another system!  HAHA...

Anyway, back to my paper.  What I decided to do was to get a large box (thank you, Michael's, for a 50% off coupon) and store my stacks in that.  I wrote the names of the stack on the binding (and some look terrible because it is quite difficult to write on some of those bindings!) and it may look messy to you but it is legible for me so I can easily find what I'm looking for (and yes, I recognize "easily" as a relative term!).  I have my cardstock stacks at the back...and my prints at the front.  The one on the side is one I'm using right now for a project so I just slid it in the side so that's it's handy.

Here's a photo of what it looks like now:

Not pretty and warm and cozy but certainly functional!

Now I need to decide what to do with all the 8x8 and 6x6 stacks!  Hmmmmmmm....Maybe Michael's has a matching box but a tad smaller.  Now where did I put that 50% off coupone???!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Organization Part 2

I continued to work on the organization of my embossing folders.  I had several sets of border folders as well as some of the 2" x 2.75" folders.  I decided to purchase some plain white CD sleeves (I got these from Office Depot...a pack of 50 was under $4 (they may be cheaper elsewhere).  I thought they worked just fine to hold the smaller folders as well as the border pieces.
Here is how the sleeve looked with the samples embossed on it:

And here is my drawer loaded with easy to find and identify folders!  I think this system will work well and I shouldn't outgrow it any time soon!



I also used the CD sleeves to put my Spellbinder dies in.  I basically cut apart the folder that the dies come attached to when purchased.  The dies are  held on to the folders with double sided tape so I just kept that portion of the card because it holds the dies in place.  Then I cut the front part of the card which showed what the dies looked like and adhered that to the front of the CD sleeve.  I also made little file tabs with the name of the die set on it.  They aren't exactly "cute" but they are functional and I think a better way for me to keep up with my 'inventory'.

Happy Crafting!

I Love to Organize!

Most of the scrapbookers and paper crafters I know LOVE to organize.  We are always on the hunt for the perfect organizational items...and we do all kinds of things to make everything look cute!  It just has to be cute!  I love to get my supplies organized...I'm good at organizing...the challenge for me is always to maintain the organization.  Part of the problem is that I keep outgrowing the systems I develop or create!  I know I'm not the only one with that challenge.  :) 
This evening I decided to work on the organization of my embossing folders.  I had them all in a Crop in Style file box but I never could find what I wanted and I quickly outgrew that system!  I decided I'd use the 4 drawer Jet Max cube I showed you here the other day for my embossing folders, my Nestabilities dies, and the other static dies I have. 
I cut chipboard to 5"x6" pieces and cut some paper scraps to the same size.

I glued the pretty paper scraps to the chipboard (I mean we just have to make it cute, right??? We've already been over that! 

Then I ran each embossing folder through my Cuttlebug with a piece of white cardstock and adhered it with a file folder tab to the top identifying exactly the name of the folder.

After many hours of cutting, embossing and using my ATG adhesive gun I finished the A2 sized folders...

I sorted them alphabetically and put them in one of the drawers. 

Voila!  Cute and functional!

And now I need to get to work on the border folders, the mini folders, the little dies, the bigger nested dies, and, and, and...

But before that I need to get to JoAnn's and see what Cricut cartridges I might "NEED"!



JetMax Cube

Like most scrappers and paper crafters I am also addicted to organizational products!  I always think it will magically make my life simpler...but of course organization is only good if you maintain it!  So since I do not maintain my organization I am always re-organizing!
I have picked up a few of the JetMax cubes at Michael's when they are on sale (which is often!).  I picked this 4 drawer unit up the other day to use for my static dies (Spellbinders, Paper Trey Ink, Sizzix, Cuttlebug, etc) as well as my embossing folders.
I put it together all by myself.  They are easy and the directions are good...
The only problem I had was that MY HUSBAND did not put the electric screwdriver back on the charger so it was DEAD and I had to use an "OH MY!" manual Philips head screwdriver!
I opened the box and extracted all the pieces which were all marked with letters of the alphabet (how clever!).
Basically you take one A and screw it together with 2 Bs, etc.  Easy to follow directions, thankfully!
(Bad photo ALERT!)...

Here are some of the pieces.  They are sitting in my favorite chair because I needed to assemble in the comfort of my living room!  I could have assembled it in my craft room which have made better sense because of course once I got this all put together I had to carry it to my craft room!  It's a good thing I am in such great shape because these little cubes are heavy! (Joking....about being in great shape...not about the pieces being heavy!)
So I started assembling...

Heheheh...half way there...all 4 sides on and secured.

And above with a partially assembled drawer...

\

3 drawers down...one to go!

I did finish it and all 4 drawers in in and ready to be filled!

I am going to use it to store my embossing folders and my static dies (like Cuttlebug, Paper Trey Ink, Spellbinders, etc.)  I need a better system than I have now so what I plan to do is to make file folders and label.  We scrapbookers and paper crafters love labeling don't we???