Craft Room Update

Last month, I had the idea of moving my craft room, and Simon's home office into our dining room. We don't use it, and we both love working together. Well, sadly it didn't work; not really enough space for two rooms to be combined into one.  So with a very understanding hubby; I moved all of my craft room back upstairs.

I've had a little shift around, and I managed to clear a lot and I mean a lot of crafting stash that I no longer used or wanted; so here is the end result.

Simon made this unit many years ago for me, from a clipping that I saw in a Creative Keepsakes magazine.  Becky Higgins had one similar, and I though it would just be perfect, and I've loved it ever since.

Marshmallows on hand :) and I'm trying to keep my everyday essentials out in front of me, rather than hidden away in pretty boxes.

All my quilting fabric is in one place and rather than keep my silhouette on my desk as before, I think this will work better. I can just move it when needed.

Mum and Dad's old cassette storage units came in handy for my inks and pens. In the IKEA cart, I'm trying to keep all the latest and greatest stash that I'm loving at the moment, and at easy reach.  Also, I bought a couple of boxes from TKMaxx the other day (they're on the top by the pin board) and I've kept my latest Studio Calico Project Life kit in the larger one and all blank labels in the smaller.

Easy access to my typewriter too, which means I shouldn't need to move it, to use it. I need to sort though all my scrapbooking paper still, and I've just put the albums here which I'm working on. 

I may move my ribbons to another place later ... but for now, they're fine.

There you have it, I'm happy here. I've tried to make it so that wherever I look, I see something pretty or creative.

I just need to work on my inspiration board and put up a few scrapbooking pages on the walls.  It must be working though, as already, I've completed 2 project life spreads.

Me on a Monday

Do you remember I listed my goals for August! ..... Tell me, why do I bother?

This weekend saw that all change. Last month we moved Simon's home office and my craft room into our dining room.  In my head it still sounds like the perfect solution; we both hate working in rooms away from each other, and it would mean the bears could be with us all the time.  Sadly, in reality, it just didn't work.  Simon needed more space for computers and papers; and well, lets face it, you can never have enough space for crafting bits.  Plus, with 2 big tables in the middle of the room, it meant you couldn't walk around very easily.  So this weekend was actually spent moving everything back to where it was.

The bears were at the groomers; and we visited the most amazing warehouse I've ever been too.  I'm looking to buy a church pew; and I found a place selling mainly church antiques, but oh so much more, and not that far from us.  I truly could have lost myself in there for hours.  So here it is; a little snapshot of our weekend.

Oh and while I'm writing this post, this is happening outside right now :)

I'll be back during the week to show you more of my craft room and it's progress. I'd say I'm 80% done and to be honest, I'm happier in there than the dining room.

Have a lovely week x

Actual scrapping

yes, you read that title right ... I actually scrapped again at a recent crop.  Probably helped by the fact that there was no Starbucks near it, that meant I actually got on with crafting.

So thinking of what got me crafting at the last crop I attended, I did the same again, and took only a small amount of stash.

I also decided to scrap my recent Day In the Life photos ... so here they are, just the first few days for now (mainly as I've still to do Friday onwards);

I managed to include a little bit of the memorabilia that I collected each day, but I was going to include receipts etc., but decided against that. 

That's it from me for now, I'm madly catching up with Project Life at the moment ... and here is a shot of my desk in all its chaotic glory. 

  

So all it needs now is me sitting in that chair, with a tea in hand.  Better go and put the kettle on then, I think. 

Craft Room revamp

For a while now I've realised that my craft room doesn't quite work.  I regularly have a shuffle around of stash, or have a clear out and clear up, but for some reason it doesn't quite gel.

Well, a few things happened recently. Firstly, when I went to a local crop, and I took only a small amount of stash, and found I was more productive than I usually am when I take nearly half of my craft room.  So that got me thinking.

I need my craft room to stay as a room so that I can craft in it everyday, without unpacking a crop bag and searching in boxes and draws ... and that sadly means "forget the pretty, it needs to be functional".Also, I need to keep on hand ready to go supplies for crops. To be honest, most of the time that will be my Studio Calico kit. But .... all this means, I need to get my act together and get things sorted once and for all!

So firstly, I tried doing a sort out in and around the mess, well that didn't work. So I decided to almost empty my room completely. I did at one point worry this was a tad drastic, but I'm pleased to say, I'm getting there. I'll share with you some photos over time, on how I'm organising it, but its still very much a work in progress, and is going to take me some time but I thought I'd show you first how I've set up a little work station for me to crack on with Project Life.

I was very lucky to win on Instagram, a place on the Big Picture Catch up class, and they have a set of pre-challenges, and one of those is to organise your basic supplies, and start printing out your photos. So this is what I've done

This was the table that my sewing machine was on, but for now while I'm on the class, I'm going to keep my album here and my everyday project life basics.

My photos, inks, stamps and things that say a certain month or season, are kept in here.

 Here are my everyday project life stamps

This little folder is where I'm keeping my photos, in weeks

And this little box will hold my memorabilia, that is going to be slipped into my album. 

So there you have it, my project life station.  I'll keep you posted with the class, and how well I'm doing with catching up.

Hope you're all having a fun weekend. I'm hoping to be back on Monday with a Me on a Monday post. 

The completed craft room

Well it took long enough, and I'm rather shocked at just what stash I had, but then every crafter says that, right?  Anyway, finally on Sunday, I finished the room - and with an armful of goodies given to next door, who's just been bitten by the scrapping bug - I can finally move in my gorgeous room.

The room was decorated and finished about 5 years ago, and my clever hubby built the shelving from a picture I pulled out of an old Creative Keepsakes, and as I'm sure you'll understand, every now and then I have a need to re-organise.  But I think this will keep me happy for the rest of the year :)

 But for now, I'm just going to stand and stare at my tidy room :)

Big Clear out ... and scrapping

I had a fabulous day at the crop yesterday, even managed 2 and half layouts, plus as Jo will no doubt tell you, I did spend quite a bit of time in Starbucks and Sainsburys ... plus the ladies room, cleaning up my blouse after the starbucks cup leaked all down the front of me! But I did manage week 2 weekly challenge over on UKS - which was to use a sketch provided, use a star, a group of photos and use the letter "H" in the title. So here it is my take on it

Now onto other matters! ... I wanted to show you the before photos.  I did a bit more scrapping today, to suddenly realise I was again spending far too much time looking for what I wanted, and also that I'd hemmed myself in to such a small space, when I have a lovely big desk.  So in a funny five minutes, I decided enough was enough, and I was going to have a clear out! Plus I have gorgeous stash, which I don't use because it's hidden away.  So I thought I'd share with you my room at this moment in time.  I'll be back later in the week, to hopefully show you the finished article.  And when I say "hopefully" - as I now I wonder, if maybe I should have done a small area at a time .. oh well, might as well roll up my sleves and get on with the job.

So here you are in true Blue Peter fashion ... the before shots.

Hope you're all having a great weekend, and I'll share with you during the week the other layouts I completed at the crop, and also how I'm getting on with my clear out, but now I better get back to clearing :)