Saturday, August 29, 2009

Getting Organized

When we moved to this Ozark oasis two years ago, we went from an eleven-room Victorian with lots of space to a 2-bedroom ranch. In the Victorian I had a 7'x18' office and a 10'x10' crafting space. In the new house, this all had to fit into a single 11'x15 space. I decided the best way to accomplish this was to create two separate working areas.

On the East and South walls I have an 'L-shaped' counter space for the printer/computer/stereo. The counter is anchored on both ends by base kitchen cabinets. Lots of storage for all the paper and computer programs a writer could need.

The West wall is a large 3-sectioned unit of shelves from a video store close out. The unit is jam packed with books to be read (TBR pile), research books for my novel writing and collectors books - many of them dating back to the late 1800's.

When my daughter left home the year before we moved, she left behind a large entertainment center. Leaving it behind was much easier than taking it apart. :-) Her loss was my Gold Mine. I knew this is where all of my rubber stamping/ scrapbooking supplies needed to fit. So in this new house, the Entertainment Center took on a whole new life along the North wall.

I laid out all of my stamp/scrap supplies and designed drawers for everything to fit in. Then I gave the dimensions to my capable hubby. Using the shelves we removed from the old craft room and sheets of underlayment, he constructed the drawers. Here's what my Creative Space looks like now.



The only difference is the computer is no longer in that center cubby. This now houses all of my inspiration books. The drawers on the left hold inks, paper/cs scraps, adhesives, punches and embellishments. Here's a pic of one of the embellishment drawers...

The right side of the unit is all stamps and fibers...

I also have added a 8-drawer scrapbooking cabinet that sits at the end of the table (drawers facing out). I covered the top with slipguard shelf liner in a matching blue. On top I keep all of my SU ink spots and ink refills. The drawers each hold color families of the 12x12 SU cardstock.

Since my daughter and granddaughter moved into the basement, I don't get the frequent use of the space but when I do, it's nice to know where everything is.

Do you have a space to call your own? Post a comment and include a link to your site and share yours with us!

Creative Blessings!

Kelly


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Returning to Normal

Whatever normal is or as close as it will be for awhile.

I'm finally making time to play with my toys again. The keyword there is 'making'. I have to make time to play, to read, to watch my favorite TV show... whatever.

With that foot-to-the-floor decision came a sense of peace. Ink on my fingers, hearing the blade slide through the paper trimmer... ah bliss. Well, as peaceful as it can be with 70s music rockin' on the XM Direct TV channel. hehe

I'll have pictures to post in a couple days and as promised, a couple people to introduce you to. So hang with me. It's going to be FUN!