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.
