Where the Magic Happens

No silly, not like on MTV's Cribs!

Today, I finally finished cleaning my scrapbook room. Luckily it wasn't too messy, and I had tackled most of the worst piles over the past few weeks. Last night I got smacked with insomnia again, so I made myself useful by working on the little things that literally have been neglected for a year or two - the random junk tucked here and there that didn't have a home for the most part. This afternoon I tackled the last of it and dusted EVERYTHING.

Organization that works for you is important, but man, is dusting all that organization a pain in the patootie!

I thought since I had done all that hard work I would take pictures to document the current incarnation of the craft room. It's definitely a happy place for me right now even though it's very full, and very busy. I had someone tell me they had to take a break from it once because there was just too much to see at once! HA!

This is my main work area. Since we got rid of the coffee table in the living room, this is the place where my computer lives. I move it off to the stamp table next to this table when I'm working on a larger project that requires a bit more room in which to spread out. The table is just a cheap folding banquet table. There is a self healing mat that I put on it to protect it if I'm using the X-acto or anything that could mess it up. I learned the hard way that the heat from the laptop was not good for the mat. Whoops!

The baskets on the shelves contain miscellaneous art supplies, tools and other things, such as the pump for my exercise ball, that I forget on a regular basis. The stuff on the top shelf is mostly for decoration because it would be a pain to get stuff from up there. I'm vertically challenged! I love the colors on the Coach shopping bag, and the MAC Hello Kitty is just plain cool.

The pendant lights are from Ikea and only cost about ten bucks each. I don't see them on the website so maybe they got discontinued. They're plugged into a power strip on my desk that makes it easy to turn them all off at once with just the flick of a switch. They're halogens, which means that they're super bright. I'm not one to work under a lamp - I need bright light, and lots of it! The only downside is that sometimes they can be a bit warm. Trust me, you don't want to accidentally brush against one of those metal shades after they've been on for a while! They also make the webcam on the computer have fits sometimes because they're so bright.

This is the stamping table. Most, but not all, of my stamps are housed here, as well as the heat embossing gun. The little wooden drawers are called Fira from Ikea, as are the Stripa shelves. (Those bozos apparently discontinued both of those too!!! grr) The bottle of tequila on the top shelf was purchased on my first and only trip to Rocky Point for Spring Break because it was like three bucks. Should have gotten something better, but then again, I'd probably have imbibed it by now.

There are metal mesh file crates under the table holding all of my patterned paper. The paper is sorted into oversized plastic envelopes by color and by theme. I got the idea from Jennifer McGuire over on Two Peas. Above the window is a mini shrine to consumerism/materialism, because I have no shame! HA! There's also a little wooden frame that I decorated that says Live ART Fully. Happy stuff.

Ugh, it is so hard to get a clear photo in a dimly lit room when you're not using your flash!

This is storage for a mish mash of various supplies. The large shelf with the paints was originally purchased from Ikea to house my stamps. The idea was that as my stamp collection grew, I would get more of them. Yeah, by the time I went back for a second one they had discontinued it! It's okay, I think the Stripa ones work better anyway. Too bad I won't be able to buy any more of them!

The big nine cube shelf came from Target. It's kind of cheaply made, but the openings are just the right size for those three drawer Sterilite units! Those hold some tools, such as small punches and scissors, as well as lots of different scrapbooking embellishments sorted by theme. There are also a bunch of spiral notebooks leftover from when I was in school (I liked to have one for each subject so my notes would stay together) and some boxes holding photos, blank cards, and various envelopes.

There are two pink bins at the bottom. One holds cards that I've made that are supposed to be getting sorted into boxes for a gift. Yeah, been working on that one for about three or four years now. The other one contains things that I want to decorate one day, such as plain white tee shirts, plain bibs, little clipboards, etc. There are also random things in there that can be used to decorate things, like quilling supplies, miniature glass knobs, etc.

On my husband's closet door is a rack holding a set of Creative Memories circle cutters, my husband's hat, my old Canon AE-1, an apron from the last scrapbook store where I worked, and my Husky-on-a-Noose. My husband went to the University of Washington and I like to harass him about it sometimes. Harassment has, in the past, included taking the Husky to football games (ASU vs UW) and waving it around as we whooped their butts.

You know why they call it U-Dub? It's because "university" and "Washington" are REALLY BIG words! HA!

At the top of the wall you can see part of my "f" collection. Whenever I come across one in a new font or style, as long as it's not too spendy, I buy it and add it to the wall. If it's plain, I'll embellish it in some way before putting it up there. I have metal ones, fabric ones, wooden ones, papier-mache ones, and chipboard ones.

My favorite thing in the room is this card catalog. It was a gift from my awesome former boss. Maybe it's the OCD, but I love anything with lots of little drawers and compartments! On the card catalog I have my vintage Royal typewriter in it's case. I'd love to display it but the thought of getting it gummed up with dust freaks me out because it's nearly in mint condition. On top of that, I have another vintage typewriter that I bought for $5. It doesn't work, but since I loved the color and since it was so cheap, I figured it would be good for display. The card catalog also holds a very large Ikea jar full of fabric flowers, a smaller jar of Heidi Swapp tape (that I can't ever bring myself to use because it was printed so poorly and uneven), and some miniature Hello Kitty Christmas ornaments. I'd like to frame those in a shadow box and add them to my mini gallery that has been started there.

Also in this photo you can see more of the "f" collection, some Store in Style cubes containing ribbon, adhesives, and rub ons, and my sorority composites. I didn't get to be in the one from 2003 when I was historian, so that one is missing. Boo.

Here are the shelves over the computer desk. They contain some storage, but mostly serve to house odds and ends that make me happy to have around. For instance, the pink aluminum tree that I got for $10 after Christmas one year at Urban Outfitters and a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff. The shelves also hold my Silhouette, a small flowerpot holding lots and lots of random pens and pencils, and small Sterilite drawers with sewing and stamping supplies.

The letters on the top shelf spell out ATELIER, which means "studio" in French. I just like the way that word sounds! The original plan was to alter these in some way, but then I decided that I kind of liked them in the plain kraft brown. The bottom shelf holds another "f" in progress.

This is the big Expedit shelf corner! I love love love these shelves because they not only look good, but they hold a LOT of stuff. The smaller Expedit mostly holds magazines and idea books. They also have embroidery floss organizers that hold embroidery floss, various fibers (oh, remember when we all had to have those??? Now I never use them), chalk, and small letters.

On top of the Expedit are two smaller white shelves that hold more things that make me happy, including the party hat I made Bubba for his first birthday and Gidget's rain boots. There are little bottles of Doodlebug glitter in one pink metal tub and brass embossing stencils in the other. I also have the adorable wooden purse that my friend Danea did for me up there as well as Bubba's first pair of teeny tiny Chuck Taylors.

In front of those shelves is a milk glass loaf pan containing flat frames for scrapbooking. There are metal ones, card stock ones, heck, even leather ones in there! On the bottom of the Expedit there are two large green Kassett boxes, also from Ikea. One holds refills for the Xyron machines, and one holds miscellaneous fabric and sewing stuff.

This is the big Expedit! On top are little plastic drawers, originally intended to house screws) that hold my chipboard accents. There is a drawer for each letter, as well as drawers for other shapes. I also have some tags up there as well as a set of Sizzix alphabet dies that I forget about. On top of those units there is a small guitar that I want to get restrung for the baby. The Mrs. Fehling sign came from my husband's aunt who is a retired school teacher.

Next to those units there is a basket containing a bunch of mini books that I've made over the years. I made the art sign too. The shelves themselves contiain unmounted stamps (both rubber and clear) in three ring binders, all of my solid colored card stock, foam stamps in plastic document boxes, two Xyron machines, a few different die cut machines (hey, anyone want to buy an old Sizzix?), and a few other odds and ends. The large green boxes at the bottom contain yarn/knitting supplies and more paper related art supplies, such as plain white cardstock, printer paper, and transfer paper.

Oh yeah, and that's a pink dance (stripper) pole in the corner. No room for it anymore with little man around! I sort of miss it.

Here's the exciting Behind The Door shot. I have one of those over the door shoe hangers full of larger punches. Does anyone actually use those things for shoes? I'd imagine the plastic would keep them from breathing and make them all smelly, but that's how I think sometimes.

Behind the door is also my bulletin board. I keep various odds and ends on there that again, make me happy. There are my little finger puppets, some scrapbooking patches (Make Scrapbooks Not Dinner!), a photo from our wedding, a handmade rosary that was a gift at my confirmation, Happy Bunny buttons, the tassle from my high school graduation, and miscellaneous pins and buttons. My favorite things are the strips of photo booth pictures. We had one from the state fair for every year since the year we got married. The practice stopped the year the baby was born because I did not want to waddle my 38 week pregnant behind across town to go to the fair. My luck I would have gone into labor, and the fairgrounds are over an hour from the hospital so it was out of the question!

Just for fun, here's a perspective photo of the embossing powder shelf. It was an old shot glass display shelf that someone was going to throw out, so I asked if I could have it. It's the perfect size for those little jars. Unfortunately, I seem to have way more embossing powder than it holds. I actually kept coming across more little containers of it as I was cleaning up! I have to keep an eye out for another one of these.

And finally, a fun shot of the acrylic pen holder on my desk. This was a store display piece from when I worked at Recollections that was going to be thrown out, so I asked if I could have it. Score!

Now that it's all cleaned up, let's see if I can get off my behind and actually MAKE something.