A Tour of My Craft Studio WARNING LOTS of Pictures !!!!!

 Hello & welcome to my little studio. I have been promising for ages that I would

take some pics & share them with you all & I have finally got around to it.

Better late that never !!!!

Now as a lot of you would know, I retired back in May this year and sold my

scrapbook shop after eight long years. After doing nearly all the design work

for the shop, teaching 5 to 6 scrapbooking classes per week, plus 2 to 3 card

classes per month over an eight year period, I had a considerable amount of

 equipment & yes I had to fit it all into my room at home !!! It wasn't easy I

can tell you. So for about a year now I have been searching for great storage

solutions to fit all these goodies & I think I have achieved it.

You might think I am being a little self indulgent, having all these supplies,

but doing all the designing & teaching at my shop, it was necessary.

So here we go on my little tour.

The previous picture (above), is my desk where I sit and create & as you can see it is

swamped with light with full length louvre windows. When it gets too sunny in the

afternoons, I just drop the blind.

Now as you can see I don't have too many things out on my desk. I hate clutter & I

need to be organised, thats just the way I am. These are the things like tools & mediums

that I use all the time & most other things are put away in boxes, as you will see.

I figure if things are out they gather dust & I certainly don't like making extra work.

When I am creating sure I make as much mess as the next person, but as soon as I

am finished I like to put everything away so it is all neat & tidy before I start over.

After a recent trip to Ikea a few months ago I purchased this fabulous metal rod with

the stainless hanging pots on it. Love this. Definitely one of my favourite items. I

also got this cool lamp at Ikea too. It is also Stainless Steel & was under $20. It is 

adjustable & sooo effective at night.

On the left of the desk is my sewing machine.

To the left of my desk I have this great four shelf metal stand that I used to have in my shop & on the top I have all my mists. These are standing on a clear plastic shop  display stand that is staggered. Old as the hills but does its job brilliantly & you can see exactly what you are after. You could probably pick up something like this on ebay.  

   Underneath the mists I have my printer, dies & other bits & pieces. I also got some of these big black fabric covered boxes at Ikea too. They fold flat for storage & are the perfect size for holding 12" x 12" layouts that are waiting to go into albums etc.!!!!  

  I thought in this post I would include a few ideas that I have implemented in my studio too. I have created these swatch tags that I have put onto rings &  I have all my mists, inks etc with the name written on so that when you  are looking for a particular colour to match up with something, it makes it  so much easier than trawling through numerous bottles to find the right one.

Now on the wall behind my desk there is a 3 door tall cupboard, a two door unit & then an open
bookshelf. Now all the furniture in my studio I purchased at our local Bunnings Hardware in their
kitchen department. They come as a flatpack & are really cheap. Everything in this room was a
budget price. Just goes to show, if you look around there are bargains to be had.

  On the middle cupboard I stand my Big Shot machine & I store a lot of my sewing things.  The bookcase on the end as well as my desk, were given to  me by a dear friend & they match my cupboards perfectly.    The bookcase houses albums, magazines & books, jars of flowers,  boxes of ribbons, trims etc & more of those great black boxes.

 

Here is another good storage solution. I keep all my dies in these two ring binder

albums on magnetic sheets inside plastic sleeves. This is one of the best ideas.

 Because I have taught card classes for soooo long I have accumulated so many dies &

 this was the perfect way to store them & it is sooo easy to find what you are looking for too.

   Just back tracking to the three door tall cupboard, this is its contents.
the two door section stores all manner of things. I bought these great clear plastic 
storage boxes with a lid & a handle & I use these to store, Perfect pearls, Silks
paints, Distress Inks, Stickles, Embossing bits, etc etc etc.

Behind the door on the right I store my stamps. Now I have been a little
self indulgent with stamps over the years I will admit. I used to store them
in that middle two door cupboard as well as several shelves in another
cupboard too. Then I came up with this idea to throw away all the cellophane
packaging, it always gets torn anyway. I just keep them on the piece of acetate
 that they come on & I bought a heap of those Project Life plastic sleeves in two different sizes to accomodate different size stamp sets & now they ALL fit onto three small shelves. This took me weeks to actually do, planning, sorting etc  but it is probably the single best thing I have done in my room. It is sooo good to actually be able to find what you want.  

   I think the secret to having everything sorted into these cupboards is LABELLING. If you don't have everything labelled you firstly, forget what you have got, "out of sight, out of mind" but it also makes it easy to find everything.

  Here is another example of me being, shall we say, "anal"!!!! I have all my inks etc labelled so that I can see the name on the side but I also made an actual colour swatch & stuck it to the bottom of each one. Sometime the colour shown on the package doesn't give a true indication of the colour. Hence, problem solved.  

 Now at the other end of the room is a three door built in wardbrobe & I have removed the

rods that you would normally hang your clothes on & fitted them out with some more of

those metal shelves that used to be in my shop & yes, you guessed it, more labelled boxes.

In the left hand picture I have two sets of those cheapie plastic drawers & I have just

stacked one on top of the other. Now in the far left you can see some skinny black

shelves. These were a great find. Another Ikea purchase. These measure just 12"

wide & come with seven shelves. I got two of them as they are perfect when you only

have a tiny space but you don't want to waste it. Perfect solution.

Now you can see the inside of the two doors on this wardrobe I have also utilised this

 space  too. The one on the left I have staggered some hooks to hang stencils & things.

 

   The door on the right  holds these great adjustable spice racks which I got  in the kitchen department at Bunnings Hardware.

 These are perfect for paints etc. I used to be a folk artist for many years,

 this is why I have so many paints !!!!

 

Moving around the room we come to the door and I have not wasted this space either.

Although I don't seem to use them a great deal these days, I have collected so many

punches over the years for my card classes & I can't bear to part with them.

I know I should cull these, but hey, they aren't taking up any room !!!

Found this idea on Pinterest. Metal curtain rods & small curtain rod

brackets to hold them. Normal size brackets would let the punches fall through.

To the left of the door I have the second one of those 12" wide shelf units I spoke

about before, that I got from Ikea. This piece of wall would have been totally wasted

if I hadn't got this shelf unit, & look how much it holds too.

There is my little dog Tilly, whenever I am in there, so is she.

  This is how I store my paper & cardstock. I have tried all manner of things. I used to have proper paper racks but they were a pain. I have made dividers for these to help identify whats what. This just works for me.

  This two door cupboard  holds my "card making" stuff !!! Also I used to be heavily into beading so all that is in here too. This one is overdue for a tidy up so I won't show you the contents.  

  So there we have it, & we have ended up back where we started, at my desk. I hope you have enjoyed the tour & have got some ideas along the way for your own  craft space. Yes I know I am a neat freak, but it is what it is. I like to be organised & tidy. I lead a busy life but I wouldn't have it any other way so I need good  organisation around me. This room has taken me just over a year to put  together & I think I can finally say "I am happy with it". It hasn't cost me a lot, but collectively I think everything works together.   Thanks for taking the time to go through it & I would love to hear your comments on whatever things you liked.   Until next time.