Studio Calico

Maggie's Storage Tips

I love to use bowls and other serving dishes (like cake plates and cupcake stands) in my studio! First of all I love that they look cute and add some style and anyone who knows me knows I am addicted to cake plates! You can find them in almost every room of my house, so naturally they found their way in here too! But then from a functional standpoint I also love that they keep all of my little "bits and pieces" organized and right at my fingertips!


The larger bowls also work especially great to house all of the small embellishments from my Studio Calico kits each month! As soon as I open my kits I put all of the small things into bowls and then they go right on my scrap desk so they are ready whenever I have a chance to dive in and get creative!

Tina's Storage

Organizing and I do not get along so well. We mingle but we've never had a long term relationship. Not that I don't work at it, it just always end up to be a nasty break up.
My tip is more for scrappers like myself who don't really have a rhyme or reason to their madness.

When I really got into scrapping and crafting, I found that having a desk with lots of storage to be my biggest workhorse. I only stumbled upon the one I have now by a sporadic garage sale stop. It seems when I'm not looking for something, it magically appears. And there he was amongst used pots and pans and old copies of National Geographics. A huge, solid wood desk with 7 nice sized drawers and a large surface area. My craft room is fairly small and this desk took some coaxing to fit in thanks to my patient husband. It was total and complete love once it was placed by the window.
It took some time to get the drawers filled to my best advantage and it does change overtime. Currently one occupies all my punches.
One is dedicated to all my adhesives. The others are filled with other favorite "go-to" items such as well loved rubber stamps and mixed media supplies. The reason why I love this system of organizing is because I'm a dumper. I basically just "dump" things in boxes, bins and drawers. I also like my mess sort of hidden. That's why my large desk with lot's of storage works for me.
I also like to keep smaller bits and pieces in glass bowls that sit on top of my desk. I try to clean these out every few months to keep things fresh.
Organzing, especially when it comes to scrap supplies is such a personal thing. You have to do what works best for you and that may take some time figure out. Don't be afraid to change things up if somethings not working for you. You'll eventually find an organizing system that suites your needs.

Designer Spotlight

Name: Emily Pitts
City, State: Thornton, Colorado
Blog: here i am, here i am

How long have you been a DT member?  This coming November kit will mark my second anniversary on the Design Team. I have been a member since the very beginning, I think I'm member #23.

Favorite SC product? I think I love the Documentary line the very best.

All time favorite SC kit? It's a tie between these three... Red Carpet, Bibliography, and Garment District.  BUT November '10 may be edging one of these three out!

Any rituals when your kits arrive? My kits usually show up while I'm taking my daily nap (it's not because I'm a leisurely and bon bons kind of person, the nap thing. I have to take one for health purposes and it really tends to get in the way of the rest of my pursuits, but it keeps me healthy and so I continue to take that daily break). Which means it usually walks in the door with one of my first piano students of the day. Which means said piano student will get to see my kit as I open it during the lesson. It's a day when multi-tasking comes in handy. Each bag gets opened, the contents explored. My boy students could care less, my girl students will usually ooh and ahh with me, especially if there are sparkly things in the kit. When I'm all done looking through the box, I try to carefully put it all back together for it's trip upstairs to my scraploft once lessons are done for the day.

Three products you can't live without:
1. Mists and not in the traditional sense of spraying your background. I like messy, but can't seem to embrace messy misting. Instead, I have come to love misting because I can change the colors of things. They stretch my scrapping supplies more than I ever would have guessed. I also like masking w/ everyday things using mists. Much more cost effective than buying a bunch of masks.
2. Mini alphabets. You don't realize how much you love them until you use your last E. I wouldn't have put this on my list a year ago, but I use them a lot now.
3. Punches. Again, a product I wouldn't have put on my list a year ago, but when you need an embellishment, punches make life so much easier. I especially love my Fiskars butterfly punch (unfortunately it was a limited edition, so if it breaks, I'm in a sad place).

Three people you get scrappy inspiration from:
1. Kelli Crowe: I love how she infuses humor into her scrapping, her wicked ways with the paper piecing, and well how could I not love a fellow Jane Austen fan?
2. Laura Kurz: Her elegant style always reminds me to take one element off my pages. I tend to be a simple scrapper, but can get carried away sometimes (OK lots of times). Laura reminds me it's OK to stop. I don't have to have 5 things in a 2 square inch area.
3. Gillian Nelson: because she's the master of skeewampus and she can always make me laugh out loud. And she comes paired with a cool sister to boot.

Three goals you have:
1. Raise two really good kids who know and love God and Jesus, who know they are loved, and can identify any fruit or vegetable placed before them, no matter how exotic.
2. Take to heart the concept that everything should have a home, i.e. keep my scraploft clean for more than a couple of weeks.
3. Have a really cute house, decorated like all my pictures I've saved in Tumblr.

And here's a little peek into where Em creates her masterpieces...




Wouldn't you love to go hang out with Emily in her fun space?