Craft Room Studio Reveal

It is finally time to reveal my studio space. The room is small but it is the perfect size for me since I have a little bit of a lot of Stuff. The room is just off of my kitchen with French doors that lead out to the garden. My computer is off to the left. On the opposite wall are my 49 Junk Drawers which you can see a little part of here and here.

The image above is the right side of the room. The chair is a $5 thrifted treasure. The tilt bins along the walls were from a scrapbooking store that was closing many years ago. These hold ribbons and dimensional embellishments. There are 170 tilt bins.

This photo shows how small my space really is. Luckily, almost* everything fit. On the left of the desk is a vintage biscuit tin that hold my Grunge Paper and Grunge Board, larger stencils and thicker chipboard pieces. On the walls above my desk are my Elfa shelves from the Container Store. I installed these myself before I met Dear Handyman. They haven't fallen down yet! I realize that I have three types of projects that I usually work on; Scrapbooking, Upcycling and Altered Art. The bins on these shelves are labeled with these categories. I usually work with the French doors open so the bins keep out the dust.

The thing that finally made everything come together was when I moved my vintage cart into the room as a mobile work surface. On top is my paper cutter. My thin dies are organized on the middle shelf. My Sizzix, Fabi die cutter and autographed Vagabond are on the bottom shelf. FYI: I love the colors of the Fabi machine... aqua and soft grey, sweet! And it works exactly like a Big Shot or BIGkick machine but prettier.

Big News Plus My Studio Remodel

I have been missing from my blog for a while now. I apologize but some wonderful, big things are happening in my career and life.

Besides continuing as the Senior Graphic Designer and Brand Packaging Specialist at Sizzix / Ellison, I have been promoted to Senior Product Designer as well. What this means is that I will now design my own line of dies and stamps. I am so excited! I have crafted my entire life so this makes me feel so complete.

But what this also means is that I am busier than ever at work. I am still creating all of Tim Holtz's packaging plus his catalog for the upcoming Summer trade show. I am so thankful that the company and Tim wanted me to continue working on his lines.

Designing my own product also means that I want to stay very close to the crafting industry trends and eventually share my vision of how my designs can be used. This gave me the incentive to reorganize my tiny studio at home. To begin, I have been spending a lot of time pouring over images of craft studios.

Here is a sneak peek of the first stage of my studio remodel:

Living With Less in 2015!

2015 started off with great intentions. My 2015 goal is to Live With Less beginning right now.

Well, that was my intention on December 31st around 8 p.m. I started cleaning one part of my Studio. I was quite happy with the results.

Organizing My Stash

I spent a couple of days sorting and organizing my stash of buttons and spools. This gave me some ideas for future projects. Plus I found some hidden stashes of spools that I forgot I had.

I found some unique spools so I decided to display them on the old cash register drawer/shelf.

Detailed photos.

Office Decorating Update - Button Magnets

I have been slowly adding more repurposed vintage items to my office at work. First I created my non-corporate nameplate using Scrabble tiles and an old ruler. Then I repurposed a painter's dropcloth as a backdrop to my cubicle walls and added rosette clips here. And then I repurposed a vintage doll suitcase as my inbox.

Recently I started using a vintage metal child's chalkboard desk as a bulletin board in my office. Here is what it looked like originally. I am using just the desktop part as the magntic board but it needed some special magnets.

I searched through my button stash and used almost all of the aqua buttons for this project. I glued them into stacks of either two or three button high and then onto magnets. I can also use them for the office Bingo game.

This project was so simple and it just brightens up my office wall.

This is linked to:
Bowdabra Blog, Cherished Treasures, Craft Envy, DIY Showoff, Hey Whats for Dinner Mom?, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Marvelously Messy, Mod Vintage Life, Sew Can Do, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative and The Southern Institute

Biscuit Tin Organizer and CHA Preparations

I've had a couple of vintage biscuit tins sitting around just looking pretty. I knew they made great storage solutions but with a bit of luck I discovered the perfect use for them.

If you're a paper crafter then you know that some scrapbooking supplies come in 12"x 12" sizes. Papers are easy to organize by theme or color but what do you do with things like 12" Grungepaper or 12" stencils or 12" chipboard alphabet sheets?

I discovered that they will fix perfectly in a biscuit tin. The larger sheets are in back and the smaller, bulky items fit in front.

My biscuit tin is sitting on a wooden stool that was my chair when I was a toddler. I like that it places the container higher so that I can tuck some sewing supplies underneath.

The two strawberry canisters hold vintage millinery supplies. On the wall to the right are some of my Tilt Bins holding items like acid free drawing ink and Glimmer Mist. I'm slowly but happily organizing my studio.

On a personal note: I finally completed the two catalogs, 47 packages and three booklets for Tim Holtz's new Sizzix lines for CHA {Craft and Hobby Association trade show} this weekend. This should explain why I haven't had the energy to do very many creative projects on my blog recently. I love working with Tim but his "creative genius" brain keeps me hopping. {Luv ya t!m} Hopefully I'll get my studio organized and be back making projects soon.

And in a few days I'll be at CHA in Anaheim, California and have a chance to meet up with some talented friends from the crafting industry. Hopefully I will get some great sneak peek photos of what is new and trending in the crafting world. It is very exciting!

This is linked to:
Coastal Charm, It's a Very Cherry World, Mod Vintage Life, Savvy Southern Style, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The Thrifty Home, Thrifty Decorating and Very Merry Vintage Style