How I Organise (or try to LOL!)

I can be good at organising but then again I can be utterly crap at it too LOL!  My goal for the revamped room is to have EVERYTHING organised.  I am still working on this same as everything else in the room.

I wanted to share just a few things that have been with me for a long time plus something very new that I made today (end of post).

I purchased several of these wicker/reed baskets when I first turned our spare room into my craft room and they have stuck with me ever since.  I love them for my punches because not only do they sit neat and tidy on the shelves under the cupboards but it's so easy to grab a basket down onto the desktop, use a punch and pop it straight back.  Plus after a class I can bring my punches back home and they go away in seconds.

I know lots of people keep theirs in racks on walls or doors but I don't want them on show like that so these are staying.  I have them further organised into small, medium & large, giant and specialty & favourite punches.  I am now on the look out for more of these baskets but so far I have found similar ones but not exactly the same.  Hopefully it's just a matter of time.

This storage system is one of my all time favourites.  My sister Sherilee bought them for me for Christmas one year and I've had these a while too.  They're a series of stacking boxes that hold loads of pull out containers kinda like 'tic tac' containers but in all different sizes.  As you can see these work great for gems, eyelets, brads - all that kind of thing and because each one is in a seperate container I can grab them, throw them in my craft bag and take them with me plus put them straight back when I get home.  They all stack in the cupboards so they're easy to get at and easy to store away.

Getting all my various gear back in it's home after a class is a real challenge for me.  In the past I've tended to 'dump it' and grab fresh each time.  Why do you think I still have soooooo much to sort through LOL!

I recently sold some of my craft drawers so I could free up space on the desk top and I am replacing them with these.  They fit into the cupboards plus I think I'll use more with this system because while I'm looking for one thing I'll be reminded of all the lovely fixins like these metal bits that I already have.  With my drawers I'd stop when I found what I wanted and often forgot all the other things I had cos I simply didn't see them often enough.

This is my stamping box - proof that things don't have to be expensive as it was a charity shop find.  Hubby added the handles for me tho.  I like that this can sit closed on a shelf or desk top and then.....

Once it's opened up all my blocks and pads are revealed - well some of them at least - I'm still finding these everywhere too.  Of course it doesn't take larger ink pads but I have them in a basket elsewhere so that doesn't matter.

What does matter about this box is that it opens and stands upright with everything easily at your finger tips - perfect for a stamping session I think.  Since I want the desk tops to be virtually clear of anything it means I have plenty of space to grab something like this box down, open it up and work with it plus I can put it all away easily when I'm done.

I had always intended to decorate this box up at some point and how cool would it be to make it look like an American flag?  That'd look pretty neat sittin on the shelf.

Well this is the new item I mentioned at the start of this post.  I decided since I'm still stuck at home and was getting really bored now that I would try a bit more sewing.  This morning I shortened the pretty net curtains for the room and then decided to look at that fab book Pauline gave me for my birthday.  I remembered seeing something like this and had enough scrap left over to make a couple - one for each work space so this is how the first one turned out.

I wish the colours were better but the flash does weird things - sorry.  Anyhow this is a close up shot of the pockets and the vintage lace that came from a whole box my Aunty Ann gave me years ago.

Here's the fabric organiser loaded up with about 15 of my most used tools.  I'm undecided about just what to put in it for now so I'll see how these work out.  I do have a spinning tool for my gear but I don't want it sitting out on the desk top so it's stored underneath ready to pull it out if I need something more than basic.  I plan to hang the other one on the other side of the room so I always have a pair of scissors and basic supplies like embossing tool, craft knife to hand.  Because I teach I generally have several basic tools so I have enough to have a couple sets here and there close at hand which ever side of the room I'm working at.

And I thought I'd share a shot of how it's all suspended.  I have re-purposed these rods and wing nuts.  I had hubby drill holes and cut rods so I could thread my ribbon spools onto and hang under the shelves but that system got so messy with ribbon tails hanging down, unravelling and I couldn't cope seeing it all a mess so while I was re-organising the room I passed these to hubby and said I didn't want them anymore.

I had to quickly go retrieve them today so I could use them to hang my fabric organisers from - a much better use for them - soooooo glad he almost NEVER throws anything away. He's such a pack-rat! Guess maybe sometimes that's a good thing - but I'm not tellin him that LOL.

And this was the page that inspired me to make a fabric organiser.  Mine is probably a bit more busy but since it's going into a craft room I think I can just about get away with it.  Well it's mid afternoon and I think I deserve a well earned rest - all that sewing has just made my head spin! But I feel like I am doing sooooo much better than yesterday - things just might be looking up finally!

Blessings

Suezie



Craft Room Update

This is probably super boring for some of you out there but I thought I'd share a picture or two and an update on my craft room progress.

The bed has arrived today - can't move in my hallway cos of it - and come hell or high water I'm clearing the room to put it up and see how it fits for size.  Okay let me re-phrase that LOL! - I'm not hubby is - poor guy!  Jess is due on Sunday so we have 2 evenings and just 2 full days to get the room habitable for her.  The bed's all packaged up or I'd share a photo but I will at some point.

I've settled on using a very lightweight denim fabric for the curtains - I have yet to buy it but I know it's out there somewhere - I haven't exactly been able to get out and look at the moment.   I have been struggling with an accent fabric so I decided to shop for a wallpaper border instead.  Hopefully once it's up I'll get a real feel for something to compliment plus I'll also have a swatch left over to shop with.  I thought you might like to see a photo of what I ordered.

Click on the image for a better picture

Since the room is a multi-purpose room as in 'guest room/computer room/craft room' and hopefully a 'quiet place' for reading or prayer and with a slight 'Americana' overtone I knew as soon as I saw this border - all 7 3/4" depth of it that it would work for just about every aspect as well as add a wonderful splash of colour to the room.  Hopefully by now it's reached my sister-in-love and she will re-package it and send it on to me asap (thanks Deb).

The upper portion of the room is painted in a cream, the lower in a denim blue so this border should create a lovely divide between the two and bring in the bit of vintage red/burgundy I'm hoping to accent with.  I just love that it incorporates so much of what the room will be about and it's beginning to get really exciting!  We have lived in our house for just over 15 years and it's been soooooo long since we decorated anything - okay the bathroom about 3 years ago - but it will be lovely to have a fresh, new room to look at!

Hope hubby gets home quick this evening so he can work on that new bed - I'm desperate to see some more progress and I know it'll spur us on.  I think I'm gonna find another 'organising' project I can do while watching a movie this afternoon.  I'm very limited as to what I can do right now but every little helps huh?

Oh Scrap! (just smaller)

Just wanted to share a quick picture of a smaller version of my new scrap storage - like you really wanted to know - I'm sure LOL!  But what the hay?  It's MY blog - besides I'm enjoying the feedback where you're sharing your own 'scrappy' ideas.  I love to know what other crafters do just as much as the next person so keep sharing please.


On my way home from work yesterday I stopped in at a store that had baskets in the window and I couldn't resist a small basket.  Not exactly the same as the ones I have (and not as good quality either) but it's not far off so that was what swayed me in the end.  I was still looking for a place to store my smaller scraps - you know the kind you grab when you need to mount a sentiment, need a small block of colour on a card or just want to die-cut or stamp a flower.

I liked my large paper basket storage idea enough to want a smaller version to sit on the smaller work area.  I may have removed the large desk from under the window but I've had hubby build in a smaller organised work area on the opposite side of the room.  That way I can pull out equipment such as my big shot onto the work surface and use it without interrupting my project on the main desk.  Well that's the plan anyways.  We'll see if it works or not won't we?

Hubby and I watched a movie together last night - Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief - we missed it when it came to the movies so we picked it up at the store over the weekend.  It was really good by the way.  Anyhow I sat and created a smaller version as I watched the movie. 

I decided to do these ones by colour groups and printed off a sheet of names of colours to punch out into tabs.  I still have a few more tabs and dividers to add but this should make sorting out my mountain of papers much easier.  Hopefully this weekend I can I create my paper rack labels and share a picture of that system.  Paper is still very much one of the craft items I buy especially when I see a super cute design to add to my collection so it's really a big deal that I'm finally getting it all organised nicely.

One of the things I particularly like is that I even have room to store one of my mini guillotines - did I spell that right? in this smaller basket  This one is from Creative Memories and has a storage drawer that pulls out.  I may just keep a few adhesives in there for quick crafting.  I have frequently been known to pop into my craft room for a 5 minute 'fix' before going to work.  Yeah - I'm really THAT bad - shame on me!

I promise the next post will have a craft project for those of you who are sooooooo not interested in my craft room/storage stuff.  I did say I didn't want to bore anyone didn't I so I won't.  Having said that I love that some of you are sharing your ideas for storage right back with me.  Thanks for sharing :-)

Blessings

Oh Scrap!

Well - just how do you keep track of all your scraps?  I thought my last system was pretty organised - two tubs one plains, the other patterns, all in plastic bags by colour scheme - but you know what?  It didn't take long for me to make a mess out of that system.  I didn't put things away properly (too much of a hurry) and getting it in and out was a pain so I eventually started SHOVING!  Pretty soon I didn't use my system cos it was almost unrecognisable!!!

Revamping my craft room is making me think twice about what goes back in, where it goes, how I store and organise it so I thought I might share.  I have collected some really useful and pretty looking baskets over the years that take 12 x 12 easily so I've decided they will be allowed to 'sit out' and be made good use of.  Much as I would LOVE to have EVERYTHING out of sight and neatly housed somewhere I can't avoid that some things NEED to be out and at hand - I'm coming round to the idea - just slowly!

This is one such basket.  In fact this one matches several of the other baskets on show on shelves and under the desk plus it has a divider which will let me keep 'most used' items in front and handy to grab.  These were actually baskets I treated myself to when I first created my craft room but I never made better use of all of them.  All that's gonna change tho.  It should look quite neat and everything 'upright' once it's full.

I'm also making good use of the equipment I've had for some time now.  This is a tag punch from StampinUp! that I use a lot.  Most everything in my room will be labeled in one way or another so I thought this punch would be perfect for creating tabs to organise my scraps.  One advantage of making your own tabs and labels is that you can change them any time you like.

I'm making good use of my computer too by creating text for my many labels.  To begin with I am using masking tape to write on and then once I know what I need I make up a sheet ready for punching out.  I used a simple word document set on the narrowest margins, inserted a table with 4 columns and made them 5.5 cm in height (just in case you have this punch and wondered about positioning).  I used a size 14 font 'Calibri' I think and placed my text at the bottom of each cell.  I then added 3 lines below each text to raise it just where I needed it.

I created several labels including one for class.  I bring supplies home from YTOC for working on class projects and I like to keep these seperate from my own stash.  I also thought it was useful to create some blank ones in case I think of anything later that I missed.  I can always replace these with printed ones once I'm done.

And finally I stapled my tabs to large 12 x 12 pieces of card to create sturdy dividers.  I chose to staple my tabs rather than stick them because I can simply remove a staple and easily replace a tab if I need to at some point.  I need my system to be flexible as well as neat and tidy and user friendly. 

This will be my second attempt at trying to keep my larger scraps organised.  Most of these scraps are left over from pages and projects and I often get in the mood for certain papers or colours so I hope to make good use of this storage system.  I'm planning to reduce some smaller papers to uniform 6 x 6 and also 8 x 8 sizes and store those slightly differently but I haven't got that far yet!

Room Revamp (sorry likely to BORE!)

Thanks to my darling hubby my room revamp is well under way and so far so good.  I'm determined NOT to bore anyone out there with picture after picture and day by day updates - trust me I've had my e-mail box full of that kind of thing but I will share a couple of early pictures and then maybe a finished one WAY down the line.

First of all I wanted to share my 'vision'.  I'm big on sketching out things - although NOT very good at it.  It also helps me share what's in my head with my hubby who just doesn't see it otherwise - he ends up shaking his head at me - in fact he shakes his head at me about most things. LOL!  Gotta love im' - and I do :-)

The top sketch is the main crafting side of the room and in case you can't see it - in big letters I've written DE-CLUTTER!!! across the centre.  This is my goal!  The other side will have a couch and a bit more storage as well as some pretty wall decoration.  We need a nice place to display DH dad's flag and my sister-in-love gave me a lovely Thomas Kinkade picture we have yet to find a happy home for so I have a slightly 'Americana' theme and colours in mind.  They will work nicely with several things we already have so it's do-able within a non-existent budget and with some family pieces added I'm hoping it will feel a little like 'home' (what we still think of as home anyways).

The desk area is already in situ underneath these cupboards.  DH originally built it out of reclaimed furniture and it's in a 'L' shape but I'm halving and streamlining it and incorporating my paper racks to just the one desk.  My shelves directly under the cupboards are also staying because I have lovely long wicker baskets that store all my punches and things.  It's always been super easy for me to grab them down onto the desktop if I need to and they go back neatly and easily. 

My aim is to remove from site anything that doesn't serve a purpose and look good on show so ALL the wicker baskets stay.  Plus I've discovered the only things in my existing craft room that stay tidy and organised (or are at least easy to tidy up) are the things that have a 'home' so this is my starting point.  I've also discovered that the MORE space I have the MORE space I can mess up too LOL!

I've managed to unload just 1 box so far and I know I'm gonna arrange and re-arrange the contents of these cupboards again and again before I'm satisfied.  They're smaller in height and depth than my last ones so I want to make use of every possible space.  This is just me getting a feel for what they'll look like right now but believe me this kinda thing could keep me occupied for many an hour just shifting things from here to there.  This is the kind of thing hubby's military background is good for - he'd have it done in a flash and all fitting perfectly together too but darn it! - it's MY room and I want to do it!

These are some of the few things that have always stayed organised - boxes, labelled containers that kind of thing so once I know what's staying and what's going hopefully every cupboard will look something like this inside (just more full).  I HAVE to get serious about this so we can reclaim the room - AND my kitchen table since I mostly craft there cos my room is such a mess!

My room is very much about re-purposing things - it has to be cos we have a budget of practically nothing to do this with.  Despite having several days of work DH is still job hunting so now's not a good time to be spending money on this kind of thing; but I think we can pull this out of the hat just fine without except maybe the couch and that will be later anyhow.  When my mother had a new kitchen fitted I promptly reclaimed some of her cabinets which is what got the ball rolling again and I think they look surprisingly neat all lined up along one wall.  DH still has to adjust doors and the of course there's the rest of the room to do yet and maybe when it's all finished I'll decide if the doors stay or need replacing.  I have to see the whole thing first before changing anything.

I hope to make new curtains from old and get my hands dirty with paint at some point - same colour scheme - just a fresh coat and maybe by then it'll be done but that's likely to be several months down the line.  I have massive amounts of craft stuff to sort through first.  I can feel a car boot sale coming on as soon as the weather's good - any money I can add to the revamp budget has gotta be good huh? 

Something tells me I might also be very glad to finally be rid of some of this clutter!  My new motto should be 'if I don't use it (won't use it, haven't used it) I can lose it!'.  Words to live by.

I Treated Myself

Yesterday was my last class for a few months and it was so full we had to teach it downstairs rather than in the classroom. I have taught bigger classes before on several occasions but I do get concerned if there is a lot of equipment sharing which slows things down or a lot of 'newbies' cos there's only one of me. I hate to see a queue at the table and am real conscious how many times I hear myself saying 'I'll be right there' or 'I'll be there in a minute'. It takes me way back to cookery classes which were always a struggle cos I always needed the teacher and she was ALWAYS busy with someone else! Needless to say I didn't enjoy cookery very much at school.

Anyhow it went really well and having class downstairs worked too. In fact it was kinda nice and people were able to shop and wander around easier afterwards. I was busy but I enjoyed myself.

I managed to shop for myself as well. I had decided to use the money from the sale of my cupcake boxes to treat myself to a spinning tool.

I've been uummming and aarrhhing over whether or not to get one of these for a long time now. I know they're good but since I have at least two craft bags I wondered if I actually needed one. Since I am doing most of my crafting at the kitchen table these days (despite having an entire craft room) I thought it would make life easier and I could have things at my finger tips easier. Well that's the plan anyhow. I can tuck it away in a cupboard downstairs or maybe even make a cover like the one I made for the coffee machine so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

This is the state that just one of my craft bags is in. This was after a recent crafting session and there was no way I wanted to tackle tidying it up to take it along to class last night. It could definate use some help huh?

I know from experience of gals who own a spinning tool that you can put a ton of stuff in one. So I wasn't surprised when I got my entire craft bag contents plus a whole bunch more stuff in it and still had a ton of room for more! I am sooooooo NOT a neat freak (far from it) but I do like the saying 'a place for everything and everything in it's place'. At least it starts out that way.

This is the view inside. I have a minimum of 7 punches in this baby at the moment and I could add even more! Of course I will probably change my mind several times on just what I want in it but I do know I need to go get a few more clear pencil cases. I use a couple of these to store several similar smaller items in (try saying that 5 times real fast!) so I can just grab a case, open it, take out and use what I want and then pop it back in, zip it up and shove it in my bag - yeah I did say SHOVE. I also like that I can see what I'm grabbing through the clear plastic.

I can throw several of these clear pencil cases in here easily. I do try to be organised IF I can.

Well I have a busy day ahead of me today. My kitchen smells delicious since I'm already baking stuff for my b'day lunch with the girlies this afternoon. I will have to be strong and not eat anything before then but it smells soooooooo good fresh from the oven.

This is what I have for breakfast this morning (the yellow one which I'm told has yummy lemon curd inside is mine). Rosemary, one of the gals in class made a whole tray of yummy cupcakes and I got a chocolate one for Dave and saved mine for this morning. Wasn't that so sweet? NOT the healthiest breakfast today I know but hey - ask me if I care? At least NOT today I don't.

Well groceries are due to be delivered this morning so I need to go get showered and get even busier. I am demonstrating my last demo for a while this Saturday so I might see some of you there.

P.S Get over to Claire's blog at Waltzing Mouse Stamps (link on right) and check out the new stamps. I am definately gonna have the Lil' Buddies set if I have any b'day money left over. If there's still time check out the WM blog hop and giveaway too. I enter these things - never won yet mind you - but it's still kind fun and exciting taking part. I just love Bonnie's creations best - so, so cute!

My Craft Space

I am desperate to revamp my craft space and today I made a purchase that just might push me to get it going. I sure hope so anyway.

We live in a 'tiny' 2 bedroom town house (on a good day it's actually 5 minutes walk from town too). When our last daughter moved out I couldn't wait to get into the room to take over and finally have a craft room. My hubby spent ages building in long 'L' shaped desktops with all sorts of units underneath including a custom made paper rack. He then built in cupboards above and shelves just underneath these - all following the 'L' shape. The smallest fraction of the room was reserved for when the grandkids came to stay by way of bunkbeds tucked as far into the opposite corner as I could get them. It may be a small house but they're double bedrooms.

While a whole room to yourself might sound like a dream come true for many crafters, after several years I now feel like this all dominates the room and I'd like more spare room and LESS craft space.

Why? I have NO wall space to hang my creations up and I'd like to. I have WAY TOO many cupboards that I just fill with stuff I NEVER use. Getting rid of a few would give me display room. And I'm finally ready to seriously reduce my crafting stuff to just what I want and need and maybe minimise this area of the room as much as possible.

This was my purchase today at £7.99 from Dunelm in Ipswich. I have actually always wanted one of these - not for photos as intended - but to use for my cards so I can display my creative work and be inspired when I look at it. I do have at least 3 notice boards but they just get 'junked' up with everything else besides and now I HATE to even look at them!

Just to see how it worked I decided to tuck in a card I am presently working on using those scrummy Cosmo Cricket papers. It has 3 pockets on the front so I still have 2 tags to create and a few more flowers to add as well as a sentiment before it's finished. I'm hoping to make a matching gift item cos I know someone who is owe'd a 'thank you' gift asap (mom I haven't forgotten you).

Right now it's temporarily pinned to my inspiration board but I can't wait to find a permanent home for this baby so I can have lots of cards on display!

While we were back home earlier this year I purchased 2 of these hangers in a little scrapbooking store - the very last 2 she had - otherwise I'd have gotten more at just $2.95 each.

She used them in her store to display both pages (from jump rings) and cards (tucked into the double wire loops). These match the hanging heart perfectly so when I eventually get brave enough to rip the cupboards off the wall I can have a great display area. Then I can get to ripping part of the desk out and move on to prettying up the room for company plus a few other projects Dave and I have in mind for the built in closet.

I Think I'm Goin' Mad

I think I'm goin' mad. I have all kinds of food to prepare and preserve still, a whole bunch of class projects to get done, a house that needs cleaning and I can't believe I've started re-organising things in my craft room! What the heck am I doin'?

Yesterday I found myself sitting on the floor knee deep in reels of ribbon, buttons and punches. I seriously don't have time for this!

Even so I really enjoyed makin these cute tags. I may be disorganised for the most part but there have always been some things in my craft room that have always had a tidy home no matter what. That means that I don't technically need labels for some things but then it doesn't always equate that I put the right punches back in the right box for instance so they do eventually end up muddled.

I printed the text on my trusty 'puter' , inked the edges, added 'faux' stitching and stapled on some string. They are only plain ol' brown labels but I think they're cute. I tried adding flowers but it looked silly although I'm not ruling out the possibility of adding a few small buttons but I can decide that later.

I decided to put my punches back into the wicker baskets that sit on the shelves just underneath the cupboards. This actually works best cos they are at a good height and I have split them into several baskets so they're no way near as heavy to grab one down.

Thanks to the new labels I can now put the right one back into the right basket even if I'm in a hurry. I made labels for small, medium, large and specialty & favourite punches. This last basket holds my Martha Stewart and StampinUp! punches to name a few.

I have now put reels of ribbon in the lower white wire basket where I had previously moved the punches to. The drawer was so heavy with the punches I struggled to pull it open and these reels are no where near as heavy plus they're next to a set of baskets that house more ribbon just in jars so it's all together.

These are the wicker drawers (baskets) that Dave got me and built in to a unit under the desk. I have previously just had them filled with junk so I never made good use of them. I had to make a pretty big mess to begin with but I finally cleared them out. See how cool they look all labelled up?

While I like the idea of all the pretty colours and shiny glass jars sitting on a shelf when I put them up I end up wanting to pull them down again and tuck them away. Finally I can do that because these wicker drawers a a good size and go way back. I have bigger jars in the top and smaller jars in the bottom plus my lovely new mini button jars and there's even room for 10 more (if they still have them in stock).

I still have a whole bunch of labels and a whole more stuff to label up but I might get around to that another day. For now I have other things to do and I'm happy I'm a bit more organised than I was a couple of days ago. I like how they're looking but I'm sure it's just an illusion and that my mind is tricked into thinking I'm now super organised! Yeah right!

Gettin Organised

Organised - I AM NOT - but I sure would love to be. If I could wave a magic wand and make it happen believe me - I would.

This is as much cleaning as I have done in my craft room so far this morning and by golly you'd think that 'I think' I deserve a medal! Isn't it nice to see them all neat and tidy though? Can't guarantee they'll stay that way for long.

Do you know how much restraint it takes for me to avoid the computer ( and the internet) on my day off? I usually fail miserably at some point in the day and if it's first thing in the morning then the battle is already lost. I'm not tellin who's winning the battle today but it sure ain't me!

I've made it as far as the second basket and just about made a start. My excuse was that I wanted nice labels on the computer instead of the temporary ones I've tacked on (bottom of photo). So the computer went on for the second time this morning.

I still have more dies to put away and then.......

...I've set myself the next challenge of sorting out about 4 baskets of punches. These things seem to quietly multiply and they get BIGGER too! So glad I started collecting nestabilities that all fit neatly into a CD case and then inside a CD box with a lid - now I don't seem to have any trouble keepin them organised so I think I've cracked that one.

Of course all this barely scratches the surface so I am off to recharge with tea and toast (couldn't find chocolate anywhere this morning) before getting back to it.

AND TURNING OFF THE COMPUTER - right after this post!

Yeah right! (there goes that phrase again - must be the theme for the day I guess)

I am SOOOOOOOO in trouble today.

Inspiration Board

I have a couple of notice boards up in the spare room that Dave and I both use but they get so 'junked' up that it's hard to see anything properly. I have a lovely framed board on the wall to the right of my cupboards (in plain sight when I'm at the computer too) that I just never used despite thinking I should. Either that or take it down completely.

Well when I came home from visiting family in America with several crafting goodies, I had to find homes for them. I put most of them away but decided to put this notice board to good use. It not only provides a bit of extra storage but I can pin things on it that I plan to do or that 'inspire' me to create. OK so it's a little bit junked up now too but I HAVE used several things on it simply because they're in plain sight. I bought 2 of these lovely hangers which make an ideal place to display cards (in the spirals) and to hang a page using hinged rings if I want to. I love to display new pages and cards so I can enjoy them for a while. It often encourages me to create something else as well.

I have the perfect stickers (tucked behind) to create this lovely little mini album and seeing it reminds me that I still have it to do. I also have really cool red boards for a recipe collection using my Bind It All to do as well. In theory once I have done my projects I will remove them from the board to reveal the ones underneath or to add new ones/items to inspire.

These are a really cute set of rub ons that I'm hoping will inspire some adorable cards as well as a page. When I run across just the right paper next time I'm rummaging through my stash I will know just where to find the perfect rub ons.

Don't know how long this 'inspiration' board will keep working but so far so good. Why didn't I think of it sooner? Sometimes it's the simplest things!

Eye Candy

Just wanted to share my 'colourful' storage since I filled a few more jars last week when I was tidying up (didn't get very far though).


I added a jar of black, brown, white & silver and cream & gold colours to my shelf. I also managed to fill a couple of really small jars with buttons. The jar with the yellow buttons is plastic and I would sooooooo love more of these - then I could have all my buttons in pretty jars.
While I would REALLY like all my craft stuff neatly behind closed doors and maybe two thirds of it is - I do love to look at all the lovely colours, buttons, beads etc. Eye candy is definately the way to describe it!


My sister gave me the clear square containers that hold loads of different smaller sized containers similar to tic tacs. I have these filled with eyelets, brads, buttons, beads, snaps - just about anything that will fit basically.

I managed to empty one really large plastic tub full of ribbon so now I only have another one left in the cupboard. I filled the empty tub with several smaller tubs of embellishments so I now have about 4 empty containers and a bit more space in one of the cupboards. Yeh!

My Creative Space

I decided to add pictures of my creative space. It's loosley called my craft room but the truth is that the other side of the room (not in the pictures) is taken up as a spare room - bunkbeds for the grandchildren and the usual storage of bits and bobs that go into a spare room.

Yesterday was my day off and since I knew I was spending it with Eliza - our new curate's wife - I decided to get my housework done before I went out. I am also away at a women's christian retreat this weekend and I just couldn't bear to leave it as it was - a mess!

I don't get to see it looking like this too often.

I still think it's crowded and a bit untidy but it's about as good as it's going to get right now. All I want to do is play in it but I don't actually have any free time. I went to my daughters yesterday evening to paint and she now has a dining room thats a lovely shade of blue.

Dave bought these drawers on sale at a DIY store a couple of years back and brought them home to me - how nice was that.






My sister Sherilee bought me the square containers for Christmas one year. They have lots of smaller containers that all fit neatly inside. I am still getting used to the jars for my ribbon.

I keep several baskets on the shelves. This one's filled with punches but some of the others hold adhesives, more punches and specialty craft tools.

This is the typical view inside one of the cupboards. I DO TRY to be organised but it ain't easy!

I try to have basket inside the cupboards for organisation as well. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't

No craft space would be complete for me if it didn't have a trusty computer in there somewhere. I just love to craft using my PC.

I'm not crazy about these wire baskets but my daughter Jessica gave them to me. I guess because you can see through them which looks untidy to me.

This is how I choose to store some of my papers. I helped Dave make this rack!

I bought a rack storage system at a car boot sale for £3. They actually made cubes that stacked and clipped together but I wanted the wire panels to use as shelves for the paper. The entire underside of the desk was made from some nice beech wardrobes that were being thrown out.

I love to recycle if I can.