Over at CASology, we've been giving everyone a peek into the design team members' craft spaces each week. This week, it's my turn!
Talk about a mad dash to clean things up! With four craft loving children, I share my space and they have a way of covering every flat surface with their projects (must take after their mother...ahem.)! I have had a variety of craft spaces over the years and it wasn't until we moved into our current home that my dream of having a craft space like this one became a reality. My dear hubby helped me plan things out and together we came up with a simple layout that could serve a couple purposes other than just crafting. Our basement is a work in progress, but my craft room and a bathroom are completed so far!
In our area, basement bars are popular. We don't personally drink, but we wanted to have a bar in the basement for future resale if/when that time comes. We decided my craft space would fit quite nicely in this room! I tend to stand when I craft, so having a desk is not a top priority for me. An island is perfect for this habit. Plus, the kids can hop up on those bar stools and be close enough to supervise (& grab my supplies)!
As you enter the room, my faithful JetMax cubes (now a different brand at Michaels) reside on the right hand side. The canvas photo you see is on dear hubby's honey do list to hang up one of these days. I'm in the process of purging and reorganizing my craft space, so some of these drawers have very little in them right now. As any crafter knows, however, that probably won't last too long. I keep refills, wooden stamps, embossing powders, inspirational books, old Sizzix alphabet dies, binders for cling stamps, cards waiting for a home & a few old scrapbooking supplies in this area. These are things that I don't need close to my workspace on a daily basis.
To the left, as you enter the room, is an armoire that has been with me for several years now. It used to hold my crafting supplies, but now it holds the kids' craft supplies and my last few scrapbooking supplies (from before I went digital). This seems to keep things fairly contained and it's an easy way to keep the mess from completely overtaking the room!
This is my workspace (notice the coffee pot?!):
Like in the kitchen, I prefer to have my most used supplies close at hand at all times. The counter is an L-shaped one with cabinets and one drawer and then I have a Closet Maid cube storage unit under the window.
I have a thing for Closet Maid cubes. They are such a practical way to organize and I have one of these in the laundry room too for storing each family members' winter gear (mittens, hats, etc.)! Love these!!! I keep my rhinestones and smaller embellishments in clear plastic jars on top. This adds a pop of color to the room. The buckets hold washi tape and newly acquired supplies. The lower baskets need cleaned out because there are some stray items in those that I don't recognize!
To my right, as I stand in my workspace, there is another set of Closet Maid cubes which house the majority of my stamps. These are alphabatized by manufacturer name. I used some chalkboard bin labels to label each fabric bin with letters. On top of the unit, I have my cardstock and Copic markers. This space is actually designed for a refrigerator, but I'm happy to use it for other things!
Above the countertops are two cabinets. The one on the left holds my sparkly, messy things such as glitter, spritzes & Stickles. I also store my watercoloring supplies here. The little buckets contain smaller tools such as sponge daubers, aqua painters, blender pens and the like.
The cabinet to the right contains stamps in dvd cases. These are alphabetized also. See a trend here?! Below the cabinets are my ink pads. I like to keep those closeby and within arm's reach.
Under the sink, I keep my bigger, often used tools such as paper cutters & a Scor Pal. A pan organizer helps keep these in order. I also have paper towels and cups here for messes and little treats when the kids are crafting with me. I also keep spare dvd cases in a metal bin to remind me that I need to get my Paper Trey stamps organized.
Right now, my Paper Trey clear sets are in their original packaging and my next project is to get them all into dvd cases, labeled and put in alphabetic order by name! I keep these in the lazy susan that is in the lower cabinets.
On the lower shelf, I keep extra buckets. I personally love buckets for organizing and will often grab one for odd and end items that need a home. I also use them for stamp sets that are currently being used for design team work.
To the right of the lazy susan is a lower cabinet which holds my die cutting supplies & embossing folders. I also have a little bin of cardstock scraps.
The one drawer above this cabinet holds the crafting supplies & tools that I use most every time I craft.
As you can see, I keep scissors, Wink of Stella pens, adhesive and acrylic stamp blocks here. These are organized with drawer organizers. I like these to be easy to grab and easy to put away.
That wraps up my craft space tour! In the future, I'll share more details about what I've used to organize my supplies, but I'm still in the process of organizing everything since moving into the room. It all takes time and I don't often know how I'm going to organize certain things until I've used a room for a while.
I hope I've at least provided a little inspiration for you. I like to have my supplies out of sight and a clean craft space so I can start fresh each time I walk in the room!
Have a fabulous Friday!
