A Look Into My Creative Space

My scrapbook space is located in the basement of our house, in what most would call their "Rec" room here in the maritimes.  It's quite a large room, and my area takes up a little less then half of the space.  I moved in with Dave in 2009 and my scrapbook area has slowly crept from just one desk and a flimsy shelf, to two full office desks and lots of organizational furniture! 

I'd love to take over the other half of the room, but alas, our house is a small one and so the other half is used for miscellaneous storage and things like a piano, grooming bench for the cats and a treadmill.  It's the catch-all area for things that don't have a proper place in our home.

On one of the smaller walls, I have a section of white pegboard that helps me keep my embellishments organized.  I try and keep things out in the opens as much as possible, because I need to see it to use it on a project.  In the past, I've organized supplies in drawers, and forgot what I had in my stash, and sometimes bought duplicates!

One of my most favorite pieces in the room is this quote from Joss Wedon.  It was part of one of this year's ABM Happy Mail kits, and I just love it!  The fact that it was hot pink was just icing on the cake!

Above are the workhorses in this space: 3 Ikea Expedit shelves (renamed Kallax) and the Raskog carts.  The shelves are a lifesaver, and really help me keep my various hobby supplies organized.  You see, I don't only scrapbook, but I make jewelry, sew, paint, knit/crochet and cross stitch as well.

The two Raskog carts are filled with Mixed Media supplies, Project Life cards and most of my cling stamp collection (organized by manufacturer in Avery Elle Sleeves in the pink containers).  I love being able to wheel these around as I need them.

*Disclaimer: there are 3 paintings on the top shelf: girl holding kitty, Hawaiian girl, and girl lounging... that are inspired by one of my favorite indie artists: Tascha.  They are total copies of her work, no original thought at all!

In the above photo you can see the Michael's cubes and Ikea Alex storage cart, along with a very helpful Luna and Athena lounging on my main desk. The cubes are handy, but I would not recommend putting anything really heavy in them as they aren't very durable.  Dave has had to reinforce/reattach almost all of those drawer handles for me over the years.  The Alex cart to the right is awesome, and I wish I had the money to have 10 more of these! 

I have a LOT of things in this small area.  Almost all of my crazy is on display here, and I tend to leave the rest of the house somewhat grown up (well, for me anyway!).  This is my 0.0.0.0, where I love to be creative and most importantly, be myself.  What better way to find inspiration, then to surround yourself with things that you love and make you smile!

I've always been a collector, and having a few of them on display in my scrappy space is lovely.  The Smurf collection began in 1982, most of those figures are original from my childhood.  I also have Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Mr Potato Heads and my Blythe dolls. (The Super Mario belongs to my step son who just turned 16.  He didn't want to give them up just yet, and suggested I put them up on a shelf for safekeeping.)

I also have a many Buffy the Vampire Slayer figures and collectibles, but they are so delicate I haven't found the appropriate solution to display them where they would be safe from the cats explorations and antics.  

Well, there you have it!  My creative space in all it's cluttered organized glory!  The secret to keeping this much stuff manageable is to 1. Use what you have 2. Clean up after each project 3. Purge your supplies at least every 6 months. 

I hope you enjoyed my mini tour! 
Cheers,
Steph
xo