Saturday, January 26, 2019

After the Purge, Part 2


Thanks for the lovely feedback and questions about organization! I answered comments on After the Purge, Part 1, and will be happy to answer more after today's post.

Note that Part 3 of this series will include the other side of my craft space, which includes my desk, embellishment storage, paper trimmer, etc. In Part 4, I'll go into more detail on some of my favorite products and storage details (including the birthday card organizer that several of you asked about!).

For Part 2, let's take a look at my big bookshelf and the baker's rack. Here's the before photo.

Before the Purge

The bookshelf is a 7' tall shelf, so it holds A LOT of stuff.


After

1. The white photo boxes on the top two shelves hold wood-mounted stamps. Very few of these were purged in The Latest Purge as I've already purged wood-mounts so many times. Most of these are classics...timeless and wonderful. Some clear stamps get put into the photo boxes, especially very specialized stamps that only get used occasionally (Valentine's Day sets, for instance, and vintage sets).

2. The two little boxes on the right of the second shelf are full of random ephemera. The boxes originally held Christmas cards from Barnes & Noble. The lids are magnetically sealed and lift easily. The contents are useful for those rare shabby chic/collage cards I make. Their contents were seriously purged to include only small stuff that will work on cards with lots of white space!

3. The green boxes and wire CD case on the third shelf contain clear stamps, organized by theme. These include Autumn, Odds & Ends, Food & Drink, Graphics (borders, backgrounds geometric shapes), Botany, Birds & Bees (actually all animals), and Christmas. I purged enough sets that I might be able to move the Christmas stamps into the green boxes and eliminate the wire CD rack, but just didn't think of it before looking at the pictures. (Edited to add...I did eliminate the wire rack. YAY, me!)






4. The fourth shelf contains four white photo boxes: office supplies (post-it notes, pencils, erasers, binder rings, staples, etc.), Christmas cards I make throughout the year, Karen's Card Shop cello bags, and miscellaneous cards I've made for my own use, organized by theme (thank you, get well, etc.). The two green plastic baskets contain Cuttlebug accessories and dies. As I said last post, I'm trying to have a minimalist approach to dies: I'm not going to go wild with them. So far, I've held to that resolution.

5. The fifth shelf holds a three-hole punch, corner rounder, basket of bottles (alcohol, Friskit, rubber cement, etc.) and empty CD cases, and two pretty aqua-colored boxes full of Zentangle supplies.

6. The bottom shelf contains books and magazines of a crafty nature and my super-long metal ruler for cutting large sheets of watercolor and bristol paper.

And now for the baker's rack.

After

1. The large jar on the top shelf holds washi tape and my natural-noise sound machine. Love the ocean waves setting...very relaxing!

2, The second shelf holds my Buddha board and a basket of blank A2 envelopes.

3. The third shelf stores my paper. In the green hanging file box, we have specialty papers such as glitter paper, handmade inclusion papers, vellum, map pages, old book pages, marbled papers, and such. One of the Cropper Hopper accordion files holds smaller watercolor paper, and the other holds scraps of colored card stock. The Cropper Hopper vertical paper holders obviously hold whole sheets of card stock, starting with the white card (Papertrey Ink, Neenah 80# and 110#, and Gina K) and then colored card (StampinUp and Papertrey mostly). There are extra packs of Papertrey white on the far right because I get hives if I have fewer than two back-up packs.

4. Across the bottom of the baker's rack reside four 12x12, three-drawer storage units. They hold things like stencils, Creative Memories circle and oval cutters, fabric and accessories, cutting supplies (spare blades for trimmer and craft knife, eyelet setter, and such), odd-sized envelopes, washcloths for cleaning stamps, small punches in basic shapes (circles and squares). These are supplies I use but not all the time. There's also a large pad of watercolor paper tucked on the floor between the baker's rack and bookshelf.

5. Tucked under the baker's rack are a couple of dumbbells and two 12" squares of plywood. These make a lovely book press when I'm covering boards or need to flatten watercolor panels. I just wrap whatever is in the press with waxed paper, put it between the boards, and place a dumbbell or two on top. Works like a charm!

For context, the entire craft nook looks like this:


A bit of explanation of the overall organization. First, I don't want everything to be too convenient for me as I sit at the desk. For instance, if I am sitting and get an idea, I have to stand up and cross the space to pick paper, stamps, and most tools. If I decide to use the Cuttlebug, I have to stand up and move. I can't sit and trim or score at the desk...I have to stand up. This is all by design. I have some back issues and sitting too long isn't good for anyone. 

As I'll show in the next post, the stuff on the desk is super handy.

I feel so blessed to have this dedicated stamping space. It's fun and functional and not horribly expensive. The sliding door behind the curtain is HUGE (the ceiling is 8.5'), and the door looks out on a four-stair walk-up to our backyard (a dreary sight right now, not to mention the mess of giant muddy paw marks all over the outside of the glass...hence the closed curtains!). The natural light is fabulous, and I'm out in the open of our large finished basement, so I'm not isolated even when on a creative binge! Also, there's a wet bar to the left with a sink for convenience and a Keurig for refreshment.

Because coffee is warm liquid happiness.

I'd love to know what about your craft space makes you happy. Please share!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

19 comments:

  1. Your space looks lovely! The sense of accomplishment from purging so much and tidying everything must be exhilarating. All those orderly rows make me happy, and I'm just looking at them!

    I totally get what you mean about structuring your space so you have to stand up and move around. I put my trash and recycling bins in the far corner of my room for that very reason, and all my supplies are on the opposite side of my desk from my chair. Having to get up to fetch something can be inconvenient, but since card-making is fairly sedentary, those few steps back and forth are valuable.

    The things about my crafting space that make me happiest both have to do with light. The first is that my desk is angled right beside a trio of east-facing windows that look out over the backyard and the woods beyond. The clear, tranquil morning sunlight is perfect for crafting, and it's always a treat when I can make cards during those hours. The second happy thing is that when the room dims in the afternoon and evening, I have an OttLite desk lamp that shows colors truly. That has been a lifesaver when I've had a birthday deadline that required coloring at night. I believe I first heard about OttLite from you, so thank you for that!

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  2. My craft space HAS to be changed, purged and organised due to refurbish work being carried out on the house. I am grateful to you for sharing your space with us as I hope to make a start on my room soon. Thank you so much for the inspiration.

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    1. You're welcome, Christine! And good luck with your refurbish work!

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  3. My craft space HAS to be changed, purged and organised due to refurbish work being carried out on the house. I am grateful to you for sharing your space with us as I hope to make a start on my room soon. Thank you so much for the inspiration.

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  4. We live in a very small house and until last year 5(sometimes 6) people lived here. DH & I became empty nesters just before Christmas and after nearly 30 years I got a craft room. It's small and a work in progress but I am thrilled. My big splurge for my room was a desk and storage tower from Ikea which holds SU stamp cases perfectly. I had to google Buddha buddy, what an interesting concept. Thanks for sharing. Liz

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  5. I'm enjoying this oranization series. I'm glad you will be including favorite products. Looking forward to future posts.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your space. I love the white boxes. Can you tell us where you got them? P.S. any new pictures of the dogs? Love seeing them. :)

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    1. The white boxes came from Michael's. Dog pictures coming up! Thanks for asking for them.

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  7. Cacia and I lead parallel lives evidently! I also love the eastern light from the big window in my craft room, aka guest bedroom. The view across my 1/2 acre of lawn is to a neighboring tree farm, so I watch deer and wild turkeys and the occasional elk come and go.
    I also have an Ott light when I need more light. I reorganize my craft space every other year, and after we get back from a trip to Seattle, I am going to do it again, Marie Kondo style. The closet is the first to get the treatment! I think reorganizing themes within some stamp storage tubs might be good too. Fortunately I love to organize. Thanks, Susan, for nudging us along.

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  8. I'm loving the tour of your craft room. I like your easily accessible stuff. To me that is a must. It is okay to get up and walk around and have my room set up similarly. Right now I'm grumpy about my craft room so I'll say the best thing about it is that it has potential. Wait! My favorite thing is the 3-drawer lateral file cabinet I got at a used office place. I took out the rails and don't hang things in it. I keep paper in it, laid on its side with file folder dividers between it. The top drawer has punches, card bases, and my big shot parts in it. The top makes for a lovely standing workspace so my paper cutter and big shot live on top of it. Love that!

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  9. I'm enjoying your posts and seeing the before and after of your space. I had to look up what a Buddha Board was. Wow, that would be perfect to practice my Sumi-e painting and calligraphy.

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    1. The Buddha board is lots of fun, and the images evaporate quickly. I'll bet it would be good for practicing Sumi-e!

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  10. Thank you for sharing your studio and all your storage ideas with us. While my studio is often a mess, I have three favorite things: the small closet in which I store large and infrequently used items, a stand-up desk, and elfa shelving on one complete wall. It is easy to install and totally rearrangeable. Oh, one more: a large Alex drawer unit from IKEA that I store large sheets of paper in.

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    1. I've had my eye on a stand-up desk for a while now. Glad to hear you like yours!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!