Our Crafting Spaces

Participating in an online community on the topic of organization, I answered a post about organizing craft spaces.  It was fun to hear about how other people store all their crafting supplies!  It seems we all have learned to adapt things from office supply stores, our kitchens, garages, basements, etc. to make creative craft spaces!

I have been blessed with having a separate craft room in my house, and I took probably a year or more to finally get it all organized.  I confess,  I think I enjoyed organizing it as much as I like using it!  I spent hours going through thrift stores and searching through my kitchen for possible solutions.  One of the great finds were 2 scrapbooking stores who were (unfortunately) going out of business.  I got some of my best stuff - and at almost no cost. 

I had been searching and searching for the perfect storage solution for all my gel pens - this display unit (turned on its side so the pens stayed level) has been perfect.  The pens are even organized by type!

One of my thrift store finds: someone had taken small glass pieces (as spacers) and graduating size plates - and glued them together into this stand - I love it!  I added a small bowl on the top tier...  It sits right on my desk and holds things for my current project:

I use a file storage system for my stickers, complete with hanging files, folders sorted by topic and color, and tabs to find things easier:

I raided the kitchen to find old muffin tins and spice and jelly jars; they hold brads, buttons, flowers, gemstones, ribbons - you name it!

I think we all agree - it is easier and more fun to craft when we can easily find the things we want to use!  Share your organization and storage tips!

Now - go embellish something!

Changing Seasons

Wow!  August seemed to go by QUICKLY!  Here in Seattle, we finally had our "heat wave" - getting up into the 90's - which, for here, is quite high.  Unfortunately, my craft room has no windows that open and - well, have you ever tried to use a fan around glitter?  <smile>   I tried spending time in there the first morning, but after about 10 minutes it was unbearable.  By the second day, the room had reached over 105 degrees and I had to shut down all the electrics for fear of a meltdown!

So - when the heat dissipated and I was able to resume crafting - what did I do?  I got out all my fall/winter/holiday stuff!  I happened to read a discussion thread on scrapbook.com, asking how often we clean our craft rooms.  What a great question!  I realized I had not really cleaned mine well since I had finished re-organizing it at the beginning of the year, so I got to work on that first.  As I put stuff away, I realized how much of it I wouldn't be using as I moved into the new season.  So, just like I do my clothes, I rotated!

I put away all the spring and summer papers, all the flower stamps and die cuts, the supply of butterflies I like to use on almost everything <smile>.  It was great to free up room on my immediate desk space!  Cleaning everything well felt good - and I freed up more space by putting away some things that didn't really need to be in that room at all.

Then, I got out all my fall/winter/holiday stuff:  all the snowflake punches, stamp sets, die  cuts, glitter papers (have you tried that stuff where the glitter does NOT come off?  Great!).  Found all the paper pads and loose sheets and organized those...  Then I inventoried my stashes; wow! Did I have a lot of stuff left over from last year!  I found more than a dozen kits I had never even opened, including every kind of supply you can think of: brads, ribbon, stickers, stamps, papers, die-cuts, alphas, journalling tags, glitter, distressing ink, embossing powders...<big grin>

How totally like a Christmas morning!

It was almost hard to know where to start, but I got it organized and decided to play with the beautiful fall papers and layered die-cuts I found.  I'll post more pics soon, but here is the first card I made for fall:

This was from a papercrafts kit - it got me inspired to work with fall leaves and their beautiful colors!

SO, now September is here and the pace always seems to quicken...  I hope to spend more time in my craft room over the upcoming weeks - like many of you, I am working on my stock for an upcoming holiday bazaar - they always sneak up on me!

Now, go embellish something!

Welcome to Auntie D's World of Papercrafting!

OK, so, actually, my name is Deborah.  Last year I volunteered in my nephew Russell's kindergarten class, and he calls me Aunt Deborah - but one of his classmates started calling me "Aunt D" - I thought Auntie was a little less formal...  So, here I am!

I've been crafting since I was a child - and I started scrapbooking quite a while ago, but in recent years I have loved making cards.  The smaller size makes for interesting compositional challenges; besides, cards you buy in the stores these days are boring.  I especially like texture and color - and playing around with the seemingly endless selection of papers, embellishments, media, and tools. 

In this space, I hope to share what I am doing and see what you are doing - swapping tips and tricks, pushing each other along when one of us is stuck, answering questions for each other... and anything else that inspires us to be creative.  As I always say: "There are no stupid questions" - so ask!  It isn't always easy to be a beginner at something; I hope to avoid jargon and do a good job of explaining things as we go along.

One of the wonderful things about the Internet is the vast amount of information and community that is available.  When it comes to crafting - wow!  Every company has a site (plus Facebook, Twitter, and blogs), there are 1000's of videos on YouTube alone, and hundreds - if not 1000's - of other people with their own blogs like this one.  It can be overwhelming!

I hope to clear through some of this vast world and share some of my Favorite Things:  products, tools, sites, videos, blogs, Pinterest Boards, Facebook pages - whatever.  I hope you will share your favorites as well.  If you are like me - you love learning about a new technique, seeing the latest products, and getting new perspectives on being creative .

Let's Go!

Oh!  And One More Thing...   Comment Comment Comment!  Each post is meant to be a conversation thread that can continue as long as there is interest.  So check out older posts too - and keep the creative conversation going!

OK.... now I have to go embellish something.....

~ Auntie D

This is the first card I made with my new Cricut Expressions 2!  (Only the branch is hand-die-cut.)