Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Can organizing your supplies help kick start your creativity?


I am currently taking a fabulous Online Card Class called Kick Start.  It is a two week class that focuses on helping to find our creativity and “mojo” when it has been lost. Today is day 3 of the class and so far I am really enjoying it! Today’s class is all about organizing our supplies. I don’t know about you, but when my studio is a mess, I tend to be much less inspired to create. One of their suggestions when you have a creative block, is to clean and organize your craft space. I know it has helped me in the past!

I have posted photos of my studio before, but I thought I would post some again to share how I like to organize many of my supplies. (When I can see my supplies, I am more apt to use them.)

The photo above is a shot of one side of my room. I moved the chair out so you could see better, but I actually spend quite a bit of time parked in my computer chair in the corner. (I guess it’s just the old Graphic Designer in me.) *Ü*


Here’s another quick shot of that side of the room. My hubby has a small spot in the left corner where he has his computer and his own desk. He was nice enough to let me have the rest of the room. (I figured that since he lets me park my car in “his” garage, the least I could do was to let him have a small part of my studio. LOL!)


Between our desks I have two Making Memories shelves on the wall that hold my most used ribbon, paper flowers, buttons, and embellishments. I also store my most used punches on top.


If you don’t have one of these, you MUST get one. This is CTMH’s Exclusive Inks Organizer and is one of the best organizational tools I own! It stores all of my Close to my Heart exclusive ink pads and markers, and has a tray on top to store re-inkers or other tools. I love it!


The photo below shows my book cases from Ikea that hold many of my albums, stamp sets, cardstock, and a few other odds and ends. Most of the drawers have my CTMH business paperwork and tax stuff filed in them. The cupboards on top have binders, photo paper, computer manuals, etc. On the very top, I have a few more ribbon holders. (I have so much ribbon that it is stored all over the room.)


Here’s a close up of one bookcase. I have most of my stamps stored in CTMH’s great My Acrylix Organizers. They are two levels deep so I have 16 boxes filled to the brim. I also have some of my most used sets in one of the drawers for easy access.


I have my cardstock organized by color in some Cropper Hopper organizers.  The rest of the holders house some older paper packets and kits.



I just got a couple of Close to my Heart’s new organizers and LOVE them. I still need to find a place for them in my studio, but I love that they hold so much and are portable. There are currently two sizes, medium and small, but we were told they would be coming out with a large one early next year. Yay! You can also buy foam inserts to put inside to hold your acrylic blocks and the small craft boxes as well. I can’t wait to reorganize all of my embellishments and ribbon into these cool, stackable boxes! I’ll post more photos later when that task is done. *Ü*



On the other side of the room, I have three sets of shelves from the bathroom section at Target (bought a few years ago) that hold all of my envelopes, extra ribbon, some boxed stationery sets, and a few other random things. I store one of my Cricut machines and mailing scale on top.


I bought these cool cubbies at Staples a while back and I love them.  I store my favorite catalogs, how-to books, and creative magazines on the shelves and store many of my other crafting supplies in the drawers. I also have jars on the top with ribbon scraps in them. This works out great if I need a small piece of ribbon that is no longer on a spool.



A friend of mine gave me this awesome wire rack that I use to store the most current paper packets and layouts that I am working on in addition to my Paper Trey Ink cardstock. Since it is in the center of my studio, I have quick access to papers and projects that I am currently using.


Dare I let you peek into my closet??? Oh my! This thing is jam packed and really needs to be cleaned out.


I have everything stored in here from older papers and kits to my larger tools (Cuttlebug, Sewing Machine, Bind-it-All, etc.) I also have my rubber stamps stored in the drawers along with adhesive and non-CTMH products. On the top shelf I stacked some white boxes from Walmart that house my photos, alterables, old cards, and anything else that I couldn’t find a home for. Check out all those tins piled up. I love tins but really need to stop buying them. LOL!


On the inside of my closet door, I hung an inexpensive shoe holder from Target that holds many of my punches.


And last but not least, I hung some little white shelves on the inside of my closet to hold my re-inkers, small ink pads and older embellishments.


It may not be the largest, cleanest, most beautiful craft room in the world, but I love having a space (almost) all to myself where I can go to create. One day when we move to the midwest, like my hubby really wants to do, I will get a large basement where I can spread out and get as crafty as I like. But until then, I am happy with my humble little west coast studio. *Ü*

I hope this post gave you a few new ideas and ways that you can organize your space and help bring back that mojo when it disappears.

42 comments:

  1. Can I move in!!! LOL!!! :O)
    Weezie

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  2. What a fantastic room! I have a craftroom, but not nearly as big, or as nicely organized! Your space is awesome and I'm sure you must never want to leave! LOVE it!! :)

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    1. Thanks for your nice comment! I never want to leave my studio when it's clean and organized. But when it is a mess, which is more often than not, I end up crafting downstairs where isn't not so chaotic. LOL!

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  3. Wow, some day I hope to have a room like that.

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    1. Glad you like it Lannette. Thanks for "visiting." *Ü*

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  4. Beautiful room! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. WOW!!! Great space and so organized!! This inspires me to re-organize my scrap room! Thanks so much for allowing us to come in a take a look!

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    1. Thank you Gina. I'd love to see your space too. *Ü*

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  6. OMG....your room is beautiful!!!!! Love it! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. What a great room! I dream of an organized room. Right now I've got a ton of stuff stacked, sewing supplies, fabric I can't leave at the store, cross-stitch and of course the never ending paper and necessary items that go with that. I'm trying to purge, but I love everything I've bought!

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    1. Kelley, I know the feeling. I too have waaay more than I know what to do with. I am constantly trying to purge, but it is so hard. *Ü*

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  8. Thank you for sharing your space Lisa! I love seeing where everyone else crafts. I also liked your response to a comment that you craft somewhere else if your room's too messy. I do that as well. I've got a pretty large room, but I'll drag a bunch of stuff up to my dining room table and make it unusable for several days. ;)

    I do have a question for you. How do you store your cardstock scraps? And what size scrap is the smallest you hang on to? I tend to keep everything and it's a bit much. Thanks again!

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    1. Kandi, if I can just pipe in here. I love the Iris 12x12 boxes to keep my scraps in and it's wonderful to have all different shapes and sizes and patterns for when I'm doing paper piecing with punches or die cutting or just stamping!
      Obviously, you were hoping to hear from Lisa, but I love my scrap bin, so I felt compelled to respond!

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    2. Hi Kandi, I actually keep my cardstock scraps in a rolling drawer unit that I got at Costco a few years ago. It is actually downstairs with the rest of my "stash" and supplies. I separate the drawers by color. I will take a photo of it and post it for you tomorrow. *Ü*

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  9. Thanks for sharing Lisa. Great job on the organising. Love it :)
    Samantha

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  10. Awesome room! Thanks for sharing. Kandi had a couple of great questions about keeping scraps that I would like to know too. Just curious, what are the deminsions of the room overall? I have a craft corner in the basement of our mid west home and I LOVE IT! Although I don't have nearly the supplies you have. Do you own every stamp CTMH has ever made? Do you use them all? Thanks for sharing your space all neat and tidy. What does it look like when you are knee deep in a project? Thanks for the inspiration (and maybe jealousy). Angie

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    1. Angie, I am not sure of the exact dimensions of the room, but I think it is about 18' x 15' or so. I'll have to find the plans for the house and let you know for sure.

      I don't have every CTMH stamp but one might think so. I actually just purged a ton of them and have them downstairs in my "cash and carry" section. I need to update my "for sale" list because I have LOTS that I am selling. (A girl's gotta make room for new stamps somehow. LOL!)

      I don't think you really want to see what my room looks like when I am knee deep in a project. You should have been here today. I just packaged up all of my monthly kits to mail out and before I went to the post office, my room was a MESS! *Ü*

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    2. Lisa, I am confident that even on your messiest day, it's still a GORGEOUS ROOM!!! **SO POST SOME PICTURES LOL!!**
      And you actually "GET RID OF SOME OF YOUR BABIES!!!!?!!?!?!!!! Ohhhh myyy... LOL!! I could never part with mine... Always the potential to make something again... But then again, my arsenal is smaller than yours... Weezie

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  11. Lots of great questions and responses here. I'm grateful to have room to keep my craft supplies out so I can just start working whenever the mood strikes. I'm trying to keep that at the front of my mind and not the fact that I've got about 50 sq ft of room for storage and working that is useable in my house...Thanks so much for sharing, Lisa! It looks like an inspirational place to be!

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    1. Thanks Ruth. I know many people who don't have a room at all. They use their kitchen table or a hall closet. I am thankful to have my "happy room" but would still be creating even if I only had my kitchen table like I used to. (Although my family would have to find a new place to eat. LOL!) *Ü*

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  12. Thanks so much for sharing, Lisa. I have some time off this week and tidying my room is one of my major goals. Seeing your room is just the inspiration I needed this morning! One question, though - I see you organize your CTMH stamp sets by color group. With the new, all-the-same-color packaging how are you handling that? Do you have any suggestions? Also, do you index your stamp sets in any way (like a binder of pictures or something) so you can quickly see what you have rather than going through all of the containers to find just the perfect stamp??? Thanks again! Cindee

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    1. P.S. sorry my "one question" turned into 3!

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    2. Yes, I'd like to know too... I find myself searching, and searching.. I have mine narrowed down to Holidays, or Florals, or Words, but still.. alot of searching when I leave them in the packaging envelopes they come in... Weezie

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  13. What an awesome room. I got inspired by the class to do a little reorganising and now I'm in a muddle and feeling overwhelmed.

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    1. Oh dear. I hope you are feeling a little better today. I hope your room looks much cleaner now and that you are feeling more creative. *Ü*

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  14. WOW! I absolutely love your craft room! I wish mine was big and roomy like that! Just have a question about your exclusive inks organizer. Does it hold/fit other ink pads as well like stazon etc? I've been looking for a really good ink storage solution and this one looks amazing!

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    1. Hi Simone, I love my inks organizer, however it doesn't fit my StazOn, SU!, or PTI pads. They are either too tall or too wide. But it does work perfectly with my CTMH pads of which I have way too many! *Ü*

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  15. so where do you do workshops? in your studio or some place else? oh and I love it!

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    1. I usually do my workshops downstairs in my dining room. If I have a lot of people I set up tables in my living room as well which works out great because it really is just one large room. The only thing I wish I had though was a downstairs office so that I could have my craft room/studio right next to my workshop space. Someday (when we win the lottery) we may add on to the house though and I will get my downstairs office. *Ü*

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  16. Lovely space Lisa. I really like the furniture from Ikea. Do you know what that unit is?

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    1. Thanks Peg. Sadly I can't remember what unit it is. We bought them so long ago. But I do remember having to measure to make sure the shelves were deep enough to house my 12x12 albums and paper.

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  17. Um...WOW! That's a huge room, and so well organized!

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    1. Thanks Carmen. I wish it looked this organized all the time. LOL!

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  18. Wow, what a great and large craft room! And so organised! My space is about 1/4th of this and I have te clean up every time when finished a project, cause my working space on the table is just a little bit more than a large craftsheet...That's why I really have to think hard if I want to buy more stuff, 'cause I don't have so much space to put it. I would really like a studio like yours! Enjoy your crafting there!

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    1. Having a lot of space is a mixed blessing Gerrina. I tend to buy waaaay too much stuff. LOL. *Ü*

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  19. Thanks so much for sharing, Lisa. I have some time off this week and tidying my room is one of my major goals. Seeing your room is just the inspiration I needed this morning! Some questions - I see you organize your CTMH stamp sets by color group. With the new, all-the-same-color packaging how are you handling that? Do you have any suggestions? Also, do you index your stamp sets in any way (like a binder of pictures or something) so you can quickly see what you have rather than going through all of the containers to find just the perfect stamp??? Thanks again! Cindee

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  20. Love your studio space. It makes me miss my whole room. At the moment I have a mud room turned studio but alas I love it and it holds all of my goodies. I love that you give your hub a little room and your closet and comments about that made me laugh.

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  21. Hi there, I just becam a Follower: your room is my dream..it is so functional,adorable with so many great storage containers. That's so sweet that your husband has a spot, so does my dog :)
    You are so talented ,I just love your work Thank you

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