Studio Calico

Workspace Wednesday | Julie Campbell

Need ideas for organizing in a small space? Julie Campbell is sharing a video tour of her attic workspace : 

 

workspace wednesday

Hi everyone!  Amanda here sharing some pictures of my workspace that hopefully will help you in organizing your workspace.  My workspace is a shared toy/computer/project room that fortunately gets plenty of light and has a good amount of space for me to work with.  Here's how I organize my supplies:


I use this container to house my current kits or any journal cards, pens, envelopes, or alphas that I know that I want to use in the layout I am working on.  I also store my scissors, my piercer, and my bone folder here.


The small kraft drawers hold paper die cuts, organized largely by shape as well as a drawer full of labels.  The acrylic organizers on top hold miscellaneous embellishments.

These acrylic organizers are great for storing sequins, veneer, clips, clothespins, and other small embellishments.


I use this basket to hold my thickers and other large-scale alphas.  


And this basket holds my washi tape collection which seems to grow by leaps and bounds as the days go on.  Who doesn't love washi tape?


I use these wood containers to hold miscellaneous envelopes, tags, and baggies.  They containers came with some silverware I purchased a few years back.  They work out well to hold small things in plain site.  Plus, they were essentially free. Can't beat that.

This tower holds stamps in the basket up top and the plastic drawers contain more die cuts, paper scraps, and chipboard embellishments.


I got the acrylic organizer to the left in the housewares aisle at Publix. It works great to separate enamel dots, journal cards, and other tags and ephemera.   The wooden box holds more labels, smaller alphas, and smaller sticker sheets.

When I am working with a kit or a specific line of products, I separate the embellishments into smaller containers so that I can access them easily.

And what would a scrapbook room be without an Ikea Raskog cart?  I stalked Ikea for weeks before I finally found one available for purchase online.


I use the top shelf to hold envelopes, tags, labels, miscellaneous embellishments, twine, ribbon, flair, and buttons.


The middle shelf holds stamp pads, Mr. Hueys, and miscellaneous tools including punches, adhesives, and staplers. Not pictured is the bottom shelf which I use to hold 6x6 paper pads.

Thanks for taking a peek at my craft space. I hope that you found some great ideas to incorporate into your space!

-Amanda Caves

workspace wednesday

This month's guest designer, Lexi Bridges, is letting us take a peek into her scrap space : 

Until 1.5 months ago I was scrapping on a concrete floor in the world's messiest scrap/storage room. "Hoarders" would not be proud. Or maybe they would. Anyway, it wasn't pretty. We turned our john deere room (an extra room in your basement to drive in your lawnmower for anyone not in the midwest) into a new space for me to scrap and teach. (I homeschool part of the week.) The room had concrete floors, part concrete walls/part unfinished walls, no light to the outside world and an unfinished ceiling. Not pretty. I've only been in this space about 6 weeks, but the remodel was well worth it. 

The desk is Ikea. That might be the theme of this room: Ikea. An orange vintage Herman Miller chair might have been the best birthday surprise ever. 

This clear container came from Target, bathroom section. It has some current favorites and project life stuff. My much used selphy printer sits right beside. 

I made a few simple shelves with just pine boards and Ikea brackets. They serve a decorating and practical purpose: a place to put books I never have time to read...

a spot for my instax camera so I remember to use it, gold dinosaurs (because every room needs a gold dino or two, right?)...

and my ever growing collection of wood veneers. Jars are from Hobby Lobby. Lego robot from my son :)

My top two desk drawers might be my favorite. They hold my newest product. I also have a drawer that has a secret candy/snack stash. Shhh... (It's the fourth drawer on the left in case you ever come over.)

To the right of my desk is my cameo and paper. Yep, the paper you see there is seriously it. Shocked? I was purging paper into piles on my floor, it rained, flooded my new room and all the paper was wet & ruined. Hey--it's a quick way to decide what to get rid of.

To the left of my desk is the cart of the moment. I use mine for stamping: small stamps in the top, bigger ones in bins below, and ink at the bottom. If I don't see my stuff I tend not to use it, especially stamps, so having a station like this I can wheel it over and actually use them. Thickers, small alpha and label stickers are in a wire basket that I still need to hang. 

Behind my desk is the ever popular expedit unit. Mine is filled with vintage wire baskets.

I think my favorite basket is B88.

 

At the back of the room is one of my favorite pieces ever and it was free, so that's a huge bonus. I was told it was an old mailer sorter. 208 cubbies to fill. Currently ribbon rolls and punches reside here. 

But...let's be real. This is a serious illusion. My room is never, EVER this clean. Ever. On a good day it looks like this :

....and usually it looks much, much worse. And that's with the floor covered in junk, too. Just thought you should know ;)

Thanks for looking around my room today! If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. -Lexi Bridges

workspace wednesday

Hi! I'm very happy to show you all my little craft space today!

I do NOT have very much space to spare in my home, so I craft in the corner of my bedroom. Over the years, my space has grown and grown from that corner and you have NO idea how much I would love a space of my own! Haha! But for now, it's my little, happy corner of the house!

The first thing you'll notice is my bed in the bottom left corner and my husband's dresser to the right. This is very much my bedroom... you can craft from anywhere, people! :)

You'll also notice the lovely phone and headset sitting on my desk- I use this area for my day job, too. I'm currently working part time as a call center agent from home while I finish school- I spend A LOT of time at this desk.

Since my space is fairly small, I am really strict with myself about what I keep- if I don't have an immediate use for an item, it gets donated! My son's art teacher LOVES me.

I LOVE these wall shelves that I found at Michael's a couple of years back. They aren't exactly the same (the shelves are different), but they are just right for what I use them for. On the one to the left of my desk, I store ribbon, twine, washi, buttons, and some other miscellaneous things. Love how colorful and pretty everything is on the wall, and it makes it super easy to find things!

 

Ribbon makes me happy....

I also love the little wooden spools that I store extra twine and ribbon on- they were really inexpensive (I think I got them from Ribbon Carousel) and they are perfect for those little bunches of twine you can get!

I got the idea to store my buttons in these little jars from Dawn McVey. The jars are PERFECT for small embellishments like buttons and the lids are wide enough that you can easily dig through to find just what you want.

 
On top of the shelves to the left of my desk I have a carousel caddy that I keep markers, pens, scissors, and ribbon scraps in and an organizer for my "TO USE" products! This is the really fun stuff, folks! This is where I keep all the current kits for the month and any other products that I blog with for the month. It's the happiest spot in the room.... sigh.... makes me smile. Ha! Gotta love new stuff!

To the right of my desk is a shelf that is literally FULL of ink and markers... lol! I have *a little bit* of a problem when it comes to ink pads- gotta have them all! I also have my Copic markers, Distress markers, Distress Stains, Mister Huey's, and embossing powders up there. I reach for this shelf OFTEN!

I created these very helpful little color labels for my ink pads with coordinating cardstock- love the way they look all lined up in a row...

I keep all of my Project Life supplies in a basket that tucks in nicely under my desk. I very rarely work on Project Life at my desk because my desk is pretty small. Keeping the stuff in a basket makes it easy for me to tote out to the kitchen or living room to work on it.

I keep all of my page protectors in clear envelopes that are labelled with which design it is and a small sketch of what the page looks like. This has really helped me to use the pages that I don't reach for as often.

And above my desk I have a board where I display all of my projects for that month along with some family photos and notes from friends. I love looking up to see what I've made for the last release- so much fun!

I hope you all enjoyed the tour of my bedroom/office! Thanks for stopping by! :) 

-Stephanie Washburn

workspace wednesday

Hello there everyone!

Welcome to my little space in our little cottage...

A few years ago, Darryl, my wonderful partner, allowed me to take ownership of one of the bedrooms we have in our cottage and set up a craft space.  Darryl has been slowly building all the furniture in my room and I cannot tell you how well made it is, he is so talented and has the patience of a saint LOL.


This first photo that you see is where I sit to craft, this is a large table that is able to house a wood stamp storage, that has a tired system and allows me to view all those wonderful stamps.  Darryl built this storage system to not just house the wood block stamps, but also has draws that pull out to house my Mr Huey's Mists, Distress Stains, Ink pads (my most used ones), Zing Embossing Powders, Perfect Pearls, H2O's, Crackle Paint, Stickles, Liquid Pearls and so much more.  It really is a fab little storage centre and I love how everything is at hands reach. 

I also have my Copics, pencils off to me on the left and to the right is my Making Memories Carrousel...

Here is a few close up photos of the pull out draws and my Copic storage unit..





Off to the left of the table where I sit to craft, I have a hook that I have a heat gun on and I also found these Crop Bags that Studio Calico stocks, this I find is a fabulous way to store my latest Kits that I am currently working with and also the latest products that arrive from Studio Calico.




Also off to the left of me when crafting is a card stock storage centre.  Darryl, was able to build this so that one side was all uncut card stock and to the other side I am able to store my scraps of card stock, I also house any pattern paper down the side in Cropper Hopper's and have my main Embossing Powders that I work with.



On top of the card stock storage centre, I have 3 boxes that house all my clear and cling stamps, and yes I do own a lot of stamps LOL, I am slowly moving some of these stamps into my new storage centre, this one that you see below.



I can see that if I ever fill this stamp storage, then I am in trouble and really have a problem LOL, there is so much room for this to grow more stamps..the above photo shows how I store my stamps (thanks to Jennifer McGuire for the wonderful tip).

Moving past the card stock storage centre, I have what I call a cutting station, as you can just see I have my Cuttlebug sitting on top of this shelving, the shelving underneath, houses punches, dies, embossing folders, buttons and a few odd little bits and pieces.



To the left of the cutting station, I have my Original Silhouette Machine and Printer.



Keep going left and we now come to more bench space with a huge embellishment centre that has a lot of product in it..



Underneath the embellishment centre, I have a ink storage centre, here houses my Distress Inks, Jenni Bowlin Inks, Hero Arts Inks and a few odd stamp pads, each of these pull out to house more ink in the back.



Moving to the left again, we now find an island that Darryl built, this houses a lot of product in the draws, everything from paper pads, twine, pan pastels, glue, flowers, embellishment, washi tape and the list goes on.



Here is a close up of a couple of those draws.





This last shot if you are still hanging in there with me, is where I blend using Distress Inks, it is also another spot for someone to come on over to craft, not that it ever happens :)



So there is a look into where I craft and spend my spare time creating...I love the fact that I can come and go and shut the door if I have to when it is really messy...

Thank you for looking at my crafty space.
-Joy Taylor

workspace wednesday

Hello ladies! Welcome to my space! First of all, apologies for the bad photos, I don’t have good lighting in this room. So this is where it all happened and here’s my desk where I work on my pages. I have my favorite products that I use regularly on this desk, always within reach.

I found these small wooden racks that in a vintage goods store during my trip to Singapore. They fit perfectly on my desk and I store my life cards, a few clear stamps, mini alpha stickers, ink pads, and paper pads.

I use these stackable acrylic drawer box from Muji to store mounted rubber stamps, wood veneers, buttons, and other embellishments. I love that it’s transparent so I know what is inside each drawer and the size is perfect for embellishments. I like that they’re stackable too.

Everything else are in this shelf. I also like to use shoe boxes to organize them and label the box. They’re sturdy and it’s such a waste to throw them out. I’m also this close to using SC boxes to store some supplies :)

There’s not much but I hope you’ve found some new ideas for storage and organization :)

-Natalia Bun

workspace wednesday

Hi everyone! Last year, we built a little house in the woods of Maryland. Our goal was to build a home where we used every room, every day. Because of that, my office also doubles as our guest room. It's tucked in the back on the first floor of the house, which is perfect because when I work from home, I can hear the kids with a sitter, but they usually forget I am there! I also love the big window that looks out on to the backyard. 

My desk is "old school" Pottery Barn. It's got a shelf that slides out that I do most of my scrapbooking on, and the drawers hold some art storage cases for scrapbook supplies. The shelf below the desk has IKEA baskets on it that hold supplies, office stuff, etc. And under the table, I have SC boxes that hold my project life supplies and layouts waiting to be filed.

Here's the exciting-inside-the-drawer shot:

To the right of the desk, I have a storage cart with drawers that hold stamps, embossing powder, washi tape, thread, etc. The baskets hold patterned paper and folders that I have all my SC supplies filed in.

 
Then, to the right of the cart is my sweet, sweet storage closet. In case you can't tell, I like to have clutter stored away. Far, far away. Every bedroom in our house has a big walk-in closet. I had extra shelves installed in this closet, and that's where I store a whole lot of stuff, from scrapbooking supplies (stamps in CD cases, mini albums, etc.) to gift wrap supplies. I also have a cart in here that holds a lot of my sticker sheets, stamps, punches, and my printer. Then I have these big, huge baskets that hold all my scrapbooks.

Oh, and if you want to see what's in the other corner of the room, here's the guest bed, which also doubles as my second desk when I'm trying to get things organized!

Thanks for taking a look at my little room!

workspace wednesday

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today we get to peek into the workspace of Allison Waken, our December guest & new Project Life Creative Team member! Here's what Allison has to say about her space :

We moved recently so I haven't really felt "settled" into my crafty space yet. It's in an open room so I have to contain all my storage into a closet or drawers. I try to keep it simple so it doesn't compete with the rest of the house (my mess already does that!). I cleaned up after a big crafting session and snapped these photos so no real staging was done - this is it, right now, picked up. I love the drawers from IKEA they hold SO much. I stand when I scrap and go between that and the computer. I always have little boy craft supplies mixed in here and there so they can feel free to create when the "need" arises without getting in to my stash. I'd love more desk space but this is what is working for me now with what I've got!

Thanks for letting us visit your room, Allison!

workspace wednesday

Hello there!  Dawn McVey here!  I'm happy to get to share my studio with you today!  I cleaned up just for you!!  Haha....I always say having company is the best motivation to clean things up and so, dear friends, I've tidied things up a bit and I'm happy to welcome you to my studio...

This is my desk.  It's actually an antique library table, but I love it for how deep it is.  It allows me to have a shelving unit (salvaged from an old computer desk) on the back side of the desk so all of my card stock is close at hand, while still allowing me tons of desk space on which to work.

I have a vintage baking tin holding washi tape at the moment, though as you can see, it's about time to come up with a new plan for my every growing washi collection.  :)

I use vintage style penny candy jars to store rolls of felt on the top shelf.  The jars are from Wal-mart and were somewhere in the $5 range.  You'll see as we work our way around my room, that I really like to have all of those gorgeous colorful supplies out where I can see them!  It makes for a much prettier room to work in and I find being able to look at my supplies to be very inspiring.

We were at Paper Source one day and I fell in love with some shelving units they had on the wall, holding stacks of ribbon just like this one.  Sooo, I asked my sweet hubby if he could make me a custom unit to store my Papertrey ribbon collection, and he did!  We designed it to fit on the wall, in the space between the two windows in the studio.  This also just happens to be immediately to the left of where I sit at my desk, so everything on these shelves, is also easily accessible from my chair.

In the little file cabinet that sits right behind my chair, my laptop sits on top and in the top drawer, I store all of my Papertrey dies.  They're kept in CD sleeves and labeled by collection or individual die.  These are also easy to flip thru right from my desk chair.

On the wall opposite my desk wall, I have two bookshelves (purchased years ago at Target) that house cards, Studio Calico wholesale goodies, Studio Calico kits and even my yarn stash.

I use a vintage drawer to hold my Mister Huey's spray mists.  Goodness, I love those little guys.  They look so cute all lined up in rows!

On the wall as you walk into the studio, I have a couple more file cabinets.  On top is my Vagabond (die-cutting machine) and printer.  On the wall above, are shelves filled with my Papertrey Ink stamps (the stacks of CD cases) and other miscellaneous items.  As I make cards for each month's release at Papertrey and at Studio Calico, I line the cards up on the shelves.  That way, I can enjoy them for a couple weeks before it's time to take them down and start the process all over again.  ;)

The framed magazine covers on the top shelf are ones that I've been blessed to have a card on the cover.

To the left of that wall, brings us back to my desk wall.  This is a second desk in the room (it sits just to the right of my library table desk) and basically serves as my sewing station.  The cubby unit above the desk is from Pottery Barn and houses my mini canning jars filled with Papertrey buttons.  The jars are also from Wal-mart and come 4 in a box (found in the canning supplies section) for about $4.

I hope you've enjoyed this little studio tour!  Pop in again any time.  :)

workspace wednesday

Hey everyone! I'm here to show you a few photos of my scrap studio. Well, It's not actually a studio, it's a balcony off my living room. I love it anyway. This is where I usually spend my days when the kids are in school.

This is how it looks from my living room. Space is limited in Singapore, as you can see. I crammed as much as I can in that little space (it's about 7 x 7). I still have albums stored someplace else. This here, is also as clean as it gets. :)

The IKEA tubs are my favorite. They can fit a lot of stuff too. The one marked 'thickers' has about 65 packs inside it. Definitely can fit more, but I will want to pare down before that happens. :) Cardstocks and Studio Calico embellishments (far right) are in file box and containers bought from the $2 shop. I store all my ink pads + thin dies inside the document drawer (far left), in that same cube, you can also see my beloved cursive typewriter and scoring board. The red tubs has random embellishments. I say it's random but I know exactly what is inside. Just the way my brain works.

All my Mister Hueys + Sharpies + Twine +and the 'vintage' 7G stamps that I still love, live in this wooden drawer. 

On top one of the expedit, my Jelly Belly dispensers, Big Shot and metal Coke bottle holder. I got that for free from one of the shop owner in Thailand (I made Sam ask if we could buy it, because I'm quite shy. Ha!).  She refused to take our money. How kind was that? This is the kind of stuff that I will remember. :)

Washi tapes + baby wipes. My best friend made the washi holder for me. Think I need another one, eh? The ones I recently used are in the wooden box. The frosted plastic container holds paint brushes, extra scissors, distressing tools.

Wooden veneers! I love these! Love the wooden box, love the veneers! Can't get enough of them. I'm hunting for maybe another box exactly like this so I can have them all in one place. Currently, I have the cameras and hearts and arrows in two little glass bowls.

And here are what's always on my table. My enamel tray so I can have all the embellishments I'm currently working with in one place. Saved me a lot of time crawling under the table looking for that die cut/brad/punched out piece. You can also see magnets in the tray, I'm really big on making sure things stay where they are supposed to be, can you tell?

This box holds my finished layouts. I usually put them into the album once they're about full or maybe after every 15 layouts? Around there. This is a good compromise. I don't have to put them into albums straight away, but I also can't let them spill out of the box, because it will drive me crazy.

Here, I display some photo magnets my sister made for me, a sweet note from a friend, the letter S I got on clearance. I also hang some stuff I use frequently with some S hooks. Printers tray was not supposed to be there, lol. Neha still need to rearrange her room so I'm holding onto that for the time being. The metal white tiered unit holds some adhesives, some pens, some mist droppers, some tags. Basically random, but I know exactly where is what.

That works for me

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my tiny scrap balcony. I'm always changing stuff up, rearranging. The space will be a work in progress forever, I think. :) 

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section and I'll be happy to answer them for you.