Im a file-a-holic

I love love love Tinas cute displays and storage from yesterdays blog post. Its all so natty and pretty. Im afraid my storage is all too prim and proper in some respects to be that pretty. I so dream of having a room where storage is uniformed and in neat little wicker baskets with fancy tags denoting whats inside the box. I dream of a WINDOW with white surfaces and more cupboards to disguise the clutter! I dream and I dream big!

I'm grateful that my husband converted our adjoining garage when I outgrew the small box room upstairs almost 2 years ago. I had amassed so many supplies from working on various DT's that I simply had to expand. It doesn't help that Im not very good at purging because I like to hold onto things, especially when lots of it was donated by manufacturers and magazines. But I did purge this year and gave away a lot of supplies to friends and family plus I donated a huge box of paper and card to a local nursery; that felt so good. And yet I still have all this staring at me and making me feel guilty for not using it all at once! My excuse for having so much is that its my job to make stuff everyday as I am a freelance designer working for Crafts Beautiful magazine plus various manufacturers in the UK.

So, my storage...........I work in this office every single day. As I open the door I see this down the left hand side
It is here that I also work on both on the PC/Mac for most of the day as I do graphic design work for some logo companies and web sites.
And this is down the right hand side. Those Ikea expedit units were totally made for scrappers. TOTALLY. I have three x 16 cubby units and that table at the end? It was designed to attach to an expedit unit; also available from Ikea. Long live Ikea!
This is what lays on top of the units. I know its all cluttered but this room is full of my stuff and I love to be surrounded by my favourite objects and pictures.
My favvo part of the room is within this work station here. This is where all the creating happens...in the far left corner of my office
And the the right of that corner is more workspace... so I can spread out a little (or a lot!)
My favourite view in the work station is this. It is by no means uniform but its colourful and all my tools and nick-nacks are to hand.Along the long left hand counter of my room I can lay 5 layouts and work on them simultaneously to keep the creative juices flowing evenly. And so to my Studio Calico kit storage. Well, you see that cubby hole with what looks like long flat, stacked boxes? All those are packed to the brim with every single leftover of my kits since Oct 2007. I will not throw anything away, these kits are far too delish for that.
Each box holds like for like items such as card stock, stickers etc and you can see some of that in these boxes below:

This is my embellishment box. Im sure you will recognise all the bits in here!My stamps - oh, my stamps. Im not a BIG stamper but I will keep these forever. They are far to unique and special to toss in the binI store my papers in two ways. Large sheets in one box and cut offs in another.
My ribbons, felts and threads box
I have two chipboard boxes. I love chipboard to death!Rub ons and strip in this boxI promise to make a huge "mini" with all my lefts overs again this year like I did last year HERE with all my leftovers.

Parting with these pieces will be such sweet sorrow.

Member Spotlight: MandieLou

How about another fabulous member spotlight? Maggie and I both thought it would be fun to spotlight the members we lifted in this month's gallery. I loved learning more about the talented Lisa and I want to share some things about Mandie Pierce AKA MandieLou. Mandie's gallery is full of scrapbooking goodness...I had a tough time choosing one to lift, because there were so many great ones. Here is the one I ultimately decided on:

I asked Mandie to answer some questions so we could learn more about her:

1. Where do you live and what do you like most about where you live?

I currently live in Cabot, AR - a small town outside of Little Rock. What I like most? Hmmm... Mean Pig BBQ. It's our favorite bbq place. They've ruined us for all others! (Seriously... we've tried others!)

2. Tell us a little bit about your family.

I have been with my hubby (Troy) for almost 13 years. We met as cashiers at Kroger. He was a senior in high school, and I had just graduated. We have an (almost) 10 year old girl named Claire, an (almost) 5 year old boy named Noah and an (almost) 3 year old boy named Collin. We are an Air Force family; so, we move a lot! We are about to move to the 5th state we've lived in since we got married 8 years ago - Georgia, Texas, Alaska, Arkansas & soon to be California.

3. How long have you been scrapbooking?

I've kept books with ticket stubs, cards, pictures, etc in them for as long as I can remember. I started scrapbooking, as we know it, about 9 & half years ago when my daughter was about 6 months old. (oh, those pages are horrible!)

4. When did you become addicted to SC kits and what do you love most about them?

I discovered Studio Calico last May - right before the June reveal. What do I love most about them? This is a tough one... What do I NOT love about them?! I love how they put together things I totally wouldn't have thought of or would have passed by, if they were on their own. Oh & there's the SC paper and stamps... Mmm... there is so much to love!

5. What's your favorite technique and/or something you always add to your pages/projects?

I almost always sew on my pages - that and/ or ink the edges. It just seems to "finish" the page!

6. Is there a technique or style you'd like to try, but haven't yet?

I am so not a techniquey person. I wish I were. I'd love to try the mists & be successful with them. There are so many lovely layouts the Studio Calico girls have made with them. I've bought some mists. They sit on my shelf, and they taunt me...

7. Where do you scrap?

I share a playroom/ office with my kids. Nothing too fancy, but it's a great space. I am really going to miss it when we move!

8. Where do you find inspiration for your scrapbooking projects?

I find inspiration in all kinds of places... other people's layouts, the photos themselves, the products or my Studio Calico kit. Sometimes, it's a song or movie or something one of my kids said. It's everywhere!

9. What are 3 things you could not live without?

(Other than my family & friends, of course!)

1- Coffee

2- iPhone
3- my Canon

10. Do you have any other hobbies?
Does moving count? No? I love to read, though I rarely do it. I love photography & have taught myself what I know about it. I love learning more about it all the time. Cupcakes - I love baking/ decorating cupcakes. I would love to try my hand at knitting, quilting, cake decorating. One of these days when I am not shuttling around 3 kids, I guess!

Solutions?

One of my biggest problems has always been the individual storage of certain supplies. How do I store alphas so that they look nice, are easy to reach and stay neat? Where do I put all those wood mounted stamps? Where do I put all the acrylic stamps? How about ink? What should I do with that? I finally just made a list of all my "hard to store" items and came up with solutions for each of them. I'm definitely still working on conquering the list, but I'm finally feeling like I have a little more control over my space.For patterned paper and cardstock, the vertical orgaziners from Cropper Hopper have been a life-saver. I previously had all my paper stored in a pull out drawer type organizer that meant I had to pull out the whole stack every time I needed a piece.Recently, I found some rectangular baskets for storing sheet type alphas. One for Thickers and one for all others...and the best part? They can sit right on my table within reach. Previously, they'd been stored in a file folder in a file box...not quite as handy, right?
I have to be honest...I've tried EVERYTHING to house little embellishments like buttons, flowers, brads, glitter...and nothing ever seemed just right for me...until I found that the two tables I bought each had one giant drawer. Before the tables all the small embellishments had been housed in an empty spice rack and a garage organizer--which meant they both had to be up on a shelf. With the little left over drawers from the garage organizer I found that everything fit quite nicely into the big open drawers in the front of my tables. How handy is that?

Obviously, we all have our own solutions. You saw Nik's basket of paint, Stephs mattress spring page holder and some of Dav's storage solutions, too. What I want to know are what are your favorites? Where did you find them, did you make them? What are you still looking for storage solutions to?

Remember that RAK I promised? Well, I've just given you another little surprise snippet above!!! Just upload a picture of your space to the Studio Calico Member Gallery (by Sunday 8/10 at midnight PST) and your name will be 'on my list'.

Vintage Style

One of the things that always wows me about the Studio Calico DT girls is their knack for vintage flair. Sadly, I have none, and it makes me all the more appreciative of those who do. When I asked them to send me pictures of their spaces, one thing really seemed to be a theme was the quirky, vintage goodness of their organization. I'm thinking rather than spend a lot of time typing about it, I'll just show you!!

Let's start with a few from Steph, I know none of this beauty will surprise you--she's so clever!!


How about that Nik Harper? You wouldn't be surprised to find this in her space would you?


Finally, let's take a little trip through Dav's storage options. Her space isn't quite done yet, but viewing these little gems makes me know it's going to be marvelous!!



One last quick note, I am LOVING the spaces you're sharing with us, if you aren't quite sure where to post your pictures, go right HERE. Keep them coming!!!

Remember When...

We got to see April and Scarlet's highly inspirational scrap spaces and bits of Scarlet at work? I thought it was so fascinating to get a little 'bird's eye view' of their personal and work space. Maybe it's the nosy part of me coming into play, but I love seeing how other people work, organize and decorate-I'm hoping that some of you enjoy it, too. I've been working on the other dt gals to send me some pictures of their spaces, but I thought for today I'd share bits of mine with you.

When we moved into our house eight years ago, we had one room set up as a formal dining room. When I got back into crafting, I claimed it as my own. Out went the table and chairs and in came some scrap tables, a desk and my computer. It's evolved a bit, new furniture here and there, new solutions, new wall color (from butter yellow to aqua blue), but for the last seven years it's been primarily my office and work space. I love that it's open to other rooms in my home, making it easy for me to work and still be a part of the family!

Currently when not working on any pages/projects, I have two standing height tables with flip tops that line up together under my magnetic stamp wall and pegboards. When I'm working on say...Studio Calico projects, one table gets pulled out and the top flipped open. Right next to the tables are some drawers and some shelves that hold various supplies (as you can see, I could benefit from an organization fairy).

I also have one of those Ikea Expedit bookshelves that seemingly every scrapper on the planet has--and for good reason, they're handy! I keep all my albums, more supplies, old family albums and some photo gear, books and magazines all stored in it. I also have all my paper and cardstock stashed on top of it (very handy for that).

I have a few more pictures that I'll post in the gallery for you, I didn't want to make this post too long...I mean, after all, I need to include a litle RAK info, right?

RAK info? What RAK info? Oh...you mean the RAK that I have for one lucky person. Yes, if you upload and share your space or a portion of your space with us on the message board or in the gallery (say by Sunday August 10th midnight PST), I will put your name in the hat. For what? Well, something I've picked out for you...it might even be featured (not super prominently) in one of these photos...and how about if you think you spot it, email me and you'll get two entries. :)

April's Scrap Space

I can honestly say my scrap space isn't near as colorful or as cute as Scarlet's, but I do think you'll see that it fits my style. My scrap-space is one end of our bonus room above the garage. When we were in the planning phases of the house plan, I immediately claimed this 10x12' area as mine. It has great lighting and is connected to the TV room, so I can stay in touch with what's happening at all times.

First, the view when you enter the scrap room and 2 elements that I think make my scrap-space ideal:
Next to my bookcases, there is a piece of slat-wall. I got it from my dad's bookstore, just a scrap that they were going to throw away. I snagged it, painted it white, then ordered hooks online. I used to have it organized by manufacturer, but now, I've arranged it by type of item: sticker alphas, chipboard alphas, word stickers, embellishments, bling, you get the idea.
On my shelf, I have a collection of stamps. The ones I use most often are out of the cases and in front.
Now, to my desk. Like Scarlet, I stand when I scrapbook, so I don't need a chair. Above my desk is some cool art and a magnetic chalkboard I ordered from Pottery Barn a long time ago. I got tin containers from ProvoCraft (not sure if they make them anymore) and adhered magnets to the back so they stick and I can see what's inside. Mostly brads/buttons/small items are there.
Just a view inside my most often used drawer:
And, the other side of the room: a table and 6 chairs plus some wedding photos.
Hope you all enjoyed the tour of my space and if you'd like to see more, I'll post a couple more images on my blog.

Scarlet's Scrap Space

Since I recently became organized (and we won't even talk about what I was before that) I thought I would share a bit of insight into my scrapbook storage system. I should also mention that I just completed a major purge, keeping only the essentials close at hand. I wish I had taken a photo of my three-foot-tall stack of patterned paper and cardstock before I packed it away for a future yard sale. My paper stack has now dwindled to about 6 inches (plus a couple of boxes of Studio Calico goodies that I can't bear to part with yet)!

My reorganization coincided with a move into a charming little house, where my scrapbook space resides in my dining room, so clearly it must be functional and visually pleasing at the same time. I purchased a pub table to use as my workspace. I like to stand when I scrap, so my new table is the perfect height! Right now the only thing that stays on my table is my rack full of stamping ink pads. I envision adding one or two more little stands or baskets to keep my favorite items (or possibly the goodies from the current SC kit) within easy reach, but until I find the perfect solution, I am content with what I have.



One of my favorite things in my scrap space is my display of rubber stamps. I have seen similar ideas on blogs and in magazines, so when I spied this old printer's drawer at an antique store, I knew exactly what to do with it! Before Nadiya was born, I was an independent demonstrator for Stampin' Up!, so as you can imagine, my stamp collection was pretty large. I had always kept my stamp sets in their original plastic boxes, but when I reorganized, I purged all of the stamps I didn't want and discarded all of the containers. The small ones found a home on my wall and the rest were tossed into a couple of galvanized buckets, where I can dig through them pretty easily.



Another major piece of furniture in my scrap space is my new white hutch. With glass doors and shelves in the top and drawers and cabinets in the bottom, it is perfect for displaying some things while hiding others. The top of the hutch is where I keep my pretty things, such as jars of embellishments and thread, stamps, fabric, and several of my favorite books. Down below is where I keep my paper and tools and other randoms like albums, magazines, and more embellishments. I may not have a lot of space, but I think I use it well! Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to answer them :)





Here's a little sneak peek at how I have combined scraps from my Studio Calico kits with other items from my scrapbooking stash to create art for the walls in my dining room. Please stay tuned for more...