Shame to Serenity ~ My Craft Room

 I can't believe I am going to do this.  Back in October when I was having an especially creative flow of cards and scrapbooks I found myself working with just a tiny scrap of space.  Have you ever found yourself in this predicament?  Where you create yourself into just a tiny scrap of table that isn't covered in the mess you haven't put away?  Perhaps it's just me.   I hang my head in shame.  LOL.  Part of the predicament is that I went from being predominantly a scrapbooker to catching the card making bug.  My room was set up more for scrapbooking, but my card making supplies were taking over with no place to hide.

That's when I made a couple of decisions.  While I was ahead of the game in cards for my blog I did the following

1. I decided to hit the scrapbooking hard and whittle down my stash.  Less to put away.  ;) 
2. As I was scrapbooking if I came across a paper, embellishment, etc. that I wasn't likely to use I put it in a give away box.
3. I began looking at my space differently and while I was in my scrapbooking corner I started thinking about how I could convert it to my card making space. 

Here are my photos of shame.  (or bliss if you are a paper crafter/collector) ;)


Cricut/BigShot/Cuttlebug Corner

As you can see, my Big Shot isn't even here.  I have it on the Formal Dining Room table so there is enough room to run my dies through them.  The cuttlebug is something I purchased before becoming a demonstrator, and needs a new home.  Any takers?  CLICK HERE
 
My Cricut is used mostly for my scrapbooking and yet it is on the OPPOSITE end from where I scrapbooked.  Crazy, huh?

Here is my after.  I still need to get a couple of things to make this space more functional, like a tool caddy for my Cricut tools, instead of that purple bag that is falling over on top, but it functions much better with a clear space in front of the Cricut and most of non-SU paper stored beneath.

The picture below shows were my card making station was, in the middle of my space.  In my (meager) defense I've always done a little card making, so when we designed the room this was my little spot that had shelves to hold my supplies and a bit of counter space.  I was not very good at making cards so I didn't make very many.  It wasn't until I dived into Stampin' UP full time that making cards well finally clicked for me.  In the process my supplies exploded in this area.  The biggest problem with this area is it is a narrow room and my husband sits behind this area when he is in the room and we are constantly bumping into each other.  There's also no space to put my supplies or set up my camera.

Look up on the wall and you will see the 2 reasons I have changed things around sooner.  My sweet hubby built me those shelves and they were built to fit the SU punches.  In the scrapbook area I don't have as many rows for my punches.  Reason 2 is the lovely Create Wall art I got from SU.  I love looking at it every time I sit down to create.   Silly reason, I know.

Here is the problem though, I don't have room on the "table" for my inks and stamps, so they sit in boxes at my feet.  Not very convenient and a pain for hubby when he is in the room with me.  Plus I have stuff under the table I will never use.  Time to gift or sell them to somebody else.  (or possibly just throw them away. lol)

By switching where I scrapbook with where I make cards I was able to change that space into this:

All my supplies for scrapbooking are together.  I have table space to spread out and the floor is cleaned up.   :)   I want to get another shelf to put on the wall under the ones my DH built for me.  Then I could get even more things off the counter, but still have them within reach.

That brings me to my old scrapbooking corner.  As far away from my Cricut as it can get in this room.  Full of wonderfulness and items I may never use again.  Styles change and new (better) products come out.  As I said in the beginning of this post I just needed to use up what I have and as I go through my stuff, pull out what I won't ever use. 

****Can you tell I wrote the shame part of this post before I started working on my room?  I was going to do a page of "before"s and then a post the next day with "after"s, but I'm putting them all in one long post.

While cleaning the room I have also been researching ways to store my stampin' stuff.  My DH is going to help me build some custom shelves for my ink pads and ribbon, but for now they have a place to go that is off the floor.  The boxes they come in work pretty well for now. 

A box of sheer goodness relegated to the floor. :( Those stamp sets deserve to be up on a shelf where I can see them and use them!)

Now they are on display and within easy reach in my new stamping corner.  I also have a place for my Big Shot to spread out.  The basket on the lower right shelf holds all my dies, framelits, embosslits and embossing folders.

So there you have it.  My shame.  (aka chaos)

To my Serenity.  (aka Bliss)

There is still work to be done and I will be tweaking things as I use the space to be sure it fits my needs, but I can now begin crafting in my special room again.   This room is definitely one of the blessings in my life.  Thanks for joining me in my room today.   Hope I didn't scare you too much.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

P.S.  I thought about clearing off the counters even more and putting things away that aren't as pretty, but I opted for showing you my functional (in progress) space.  We crafters can be a messy lot, but only when the creativity is flowing, right?

Time for me to go see about making a couple more cards and finishing that scrapbook.
 

Organized New Year

Between Christmas and New Year's is family time at our house.  We enjoy spending the week playing with our new toys and just being together.  Lots of movie time, creating in the hobby room, and playing with whatever new toys the kids get.

Things shift after January 1st.  There's just something about starting a New Year that makes me want a fresh start.  I often spend the first week of the new year putting away all the Christmas decorations and packages, then I deep clean the house once everyone goes back to school/work.  This year I got a bit of a jump start on my cleaning in the hobby room because I had made such a mess before Christmas that there was no room to get Creative.

Here are my organization tips for today:
1. Keep things out that you use all the time, put away things you only use occasionally.  (ex: adhesive-keep within easy reach/Embossing Powder-put away)
     Bonus- This tip works well in the kitchen and bathroom as well.  Use your toaster daily?  Keep it on the counter.  Use your bread machine once a year?  Put it in the cupboard above the fridge that nobody ever gets into.  (tip: this might be a good place to keep the chocolate)

2. Rotate seasonal items (ex- Christmas stamps go into drawers under my work table, now that it's over.  Valentines stamps come out.) For scrapbooking I have my paper/stickers organized by theme so I can easily take out, for example, my winter folder when working on snow pages.

3. Think vertical AND horizontal.  If you have a table/counter/desk to work on you can use the space under your flat surface for storage.  Personally I like having rolling totes so I can move them.  If you have a permanent space you may want to think about building shelves under your work table.  Along those line, look up and across.  If you near a wall, you can use shelves to add loads of storage.  Even if you don't have a wall you can still build up.  Try putting a small bookshelf on your table or maybe a cookie rack to give a little lift.  Think outside the box.

4. Give everything a home where it belongs.  If you don't have a place to put it away, it won't likely get put away.  Even if it does, you might not be able to find it again.  (okay, maybe this is just me.  lol)

5. Put things away as you go.  Putting away your supplies after every page/card project will go a long way in keeping your space organized.  Plus, the cleaner the space is the easier it will be to create more!  This may not sound like fun, but how fun is it to spend a couple of hours cleaning when you could be creative?  I can tell you that I have avoided the hobby room for months because it was such a mess and I didn't want to spend my "fun time" cleaning up. 

6. Donate/Sell box.  Consider keeping a box near your craft area for items you no longer use that can be donated or sold.  When the box fills up, remove it from your home.  This will clear out space for items you are using and reduce guilt when you want to buy something new.  :) 

7.  Stick with the same brand.  It truly is easier to store items if they are made by the same manufacturer.  Stamp cases stack nicely, punches line up, paper is the same size, ink pads all fit, etc.

8.  Reward yourself with some creative time.  Set your timer to clean for a set amount of time, then set your time for your "reward time".

Now that you have read my long post, here is something to look at.  My sweet husband built these shelves for me about a year before I got my first Stampin' Up! punch in the new style.  I LOVE the new style of punches.  I loved their previous style too, but I like the new ones even better.  When I was reorganizing my space I discovered that the shelves my husband built fit the punches perfectly when I laid them on their side!  Yippee!!!

These punches stack nicely on top of each other, and I was keeping them on my table, but with my last order I knew I needed something different because I was running low on counter space around my stamping area. 

Inspiration to fill in the gaps.  When I get more punches I have room for them on the shelves. 

One of a kind shelf.  My dear husband carved "To my only Love" into one of my shelves.  Doesn't he melt your heart?  I know it's sappy, but every time I look at it I am reminded of his love for me.  <3

First Stampin' UP! Order

My first Stampin' Up order arrived a little "wet" last week.  At least that is what the UPS man said when he gave it to me.  Looked like it got dropped into a huge puddle.  I was a bit concerned that something might be missing out of that big hole or damaged due to the soggy box, but only 2 cases were broken, and nothing appears too damaged.  (Stampin' Up did a good job of packaging, thankfully)

  It was so exciting to get my first package full of stuff with an additional 10% off on top of the regular 20% discount demonstrators get, because it was my first order.  Even though I still haven't played with everything that was in my starter kit on Christmas Day. 

Just look at some of the things that fit in that little box!  Can you spot some of my new "goodies".    One of the other "perks" of being a demonstrator is I was able to order early from the new Occasions Mini catalog being released next week.   SU even gave me free Sale-A-Bration items for every $50 I spent.  (I won't tell you how many $50's I spent, but let's just say Merry Christmas to me, and thank you to our parents for sending me $$$ for Christmas.)  Sale-A-Bration doesn't even start until the end of January.  The more I explore this company the more I like it.  I had to hide the items that haven't been released yet, because I'm not supposed to show them on my blog until they are.  ;) 

The first thing I did after opening everything up and getting a tad bit OVERWHELMED was to clean up my creative space and find places to put things away.  You can see I started with the ribbon since I got the Ribbon Keepers on clearance.  Once I had regained some counter space I was able to make a card, then I had my kids and husband come look at how clean my side of the hobby room was before I made a big mess again.  :)

Come back tomorrow to see how I am storing my punches.

P.S.  The Ribbon Keeper storage system is currently on the clearance rack in my Stampin' UP! store.  If you want one for yourself you should get it now, before they are sold old.  I've decided I need to order another set of Medium and one of Large. 

Ribbon Keeper