Breaking Down the Craft Room
I must admit that I much more productive when I’m working in an organized office space. I envy people who can keep a tidy workspace because I am not a neat person by nature. So, I’m sharing where I purchased all the furniture for my craft room in case it helps someone else get a little bit more organized. 
1. Floating Shelf: SmartFurniture.com
2. Ribbon Organizer: Etsy Seller OrganizeMore
3. Magnet Board: Umbra at the Container Store
4. Pencil Cups and Rod: Ikea Grundtal towel rail, Asker containers, and Byger “S” hooks
5. Desk: Ikea Utby underframe and Vika Amon table top
6. Drawers on Casters: Ikea Helmer
Miscellany: Allison asked about my lamp (not shown) because my office seems bright. The light source is a cheap hand-me-down from a friend, but I use daylight bulbs instead of regular bulbs, which makes the room brighter. The ribbon tree is from my old craft room, also purchased on Etsy. Now It houses ribbon spools that I use less frequently.
And just to prove to you that my neatness is all a charade, I’ll share some pictures of my messy craft closet:
Yikes! Piles of stamps and knick knacks stuffed into boxes. Yes, that hanging contraption is typically used for clothing storage. No wonder it’s about to fall apart with the weight of my wood stamps.
Stamps, stamps, and more stamps. Wood stamps take up SO much space. I’m very glad that Stampin’ Up released a line of repositionable clear stamps.
This file box is the only organized section of my craft closet. I separate my card stock by hanging file folders labeled with a tiny swatch of color.
My stamp collection is overflowing and my closet is bursting at the seams. I have a secret plan to take over the husband’s side of the office. I don’t think he’ll mind studying in the hallway, do you? 
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I’m Baaaaack… :)
Helloooooo, blog world! Does anyone still read this? I’ve been out of the blog scene for so long, my poor blog has been dreadfully neglected. I lost my voice for a while and it took me three months to find it again. But I’m back (for real, this time) and I have so much to share!
My first announcement is a shiny new blog! I’m diving head first into the world of professional photography and I started a spankin’ new blog to document my journey. I know it’s kind of silly that I just got back from a long blogging hiatus to announce that I started a new site. But, after an inspiring weekend photography workshop, I’ve found my vision and my voice, and I’m ready to keep TWO blogs updated, at least semi-regularly. So check my photography blog out, and if you feel so inclined, leave a comment every now and then! I [heart] comments very much. www.kellychaublog.com
The second project I want to share is the completion of my office space! During the six months after Hubs and I moved into our new condo, my “office space” was our kitchen counter. With crumbs and food bits everywhere, a kitchen office was not conducive to doing paper crafts. I use this excuse as one reason I haven’t had any projects to post.
Last month, Hubs helped me set up shop in our second bedroom. I’m really happy with the way we utilized our limited space.
Above is my little corner of our shared office. I purchased a counter-height table for my workspace because I like to work standing up when I do paper crafts. Standing gives me more leverage and makes stamping and using a paper cutter easier.
Since the Hubs and I had to sell my beloved Blu Dot desk when we moved, I only have one third of the desk space that I had in my old craft room. I knew that my tiny new desk would need to serve two purposes: photography computer station for dual monitors and craft area. I really needed to have my craft stuff accessible, but get it off my desk so it wouldn’t take up precious real estate. Well, I found some unique storage solutions and now I have so much more storage space than I used to, I don’t notice the smaller desk area because I keep very little on my table.
I purchased two mini drawer units that are so handy. They are absolutely perfect for storing small items, like craft supplies or hardware. They are a tad shorter than my counter-height desk, so I decided to store my ink pads and Sterilite storage drawers on top to even out the height.
Here’s a peak inside one of the drawers. Most of my punches fit into them.
Punch drawer number two. Yes, I have an addiction to paper punches.
Above is a peek into one of my embellishment drawers. The upside down containers at the bottom are tubes of embossing powder. I store them upside down so I can easily view the colors.
I use some of the drawers for stamps that don’t belong to a set. All of my Stampin’ Up sets are stored in our closet. I’ll share photos of my closet space soon.
Finding a good system to store ribbon was one of most difficult things about planning my workspace. I came across many cute storage methods, but I was really picky about my ribbon storage. I needed it to be both accessible, roomy, and attractive. This ribbon organizer was perfect because it was wall mountable, solving my small space problem, and the spools could be removed easily. I love it!
Last, but not least, I’m sharing my favorite storage solution. I found this Ikea hack on a blog somewhere and absolutely loved it. The metal rod is a kitchen towel bar from Ikea and the white containers are mini planters, which store my pens, pencils, and other necessary tools within reach while getting them off my desk. I can’t take credit for this idea because it wasn’t mine, so if I find the blog again, I’ll share the link!
Above the towel bar storage, I nailed a metal magnet board where I can showcase my latest creations and keep inspiration clippings nearby.
So, that concludes a tour of my new office space. I hope it was useful. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll answer them as best I can!
Where the Stamping Happens
So, I dropped off my computer at home for surgery. Hopefully, it’s salvageable. The good news is that I backed everything up last week, so I didn’t lose my important stuff, like my digital photos. The bad news is, I won’t have my own computer for a while and I can’t update my blog from work, so my entries might be sporadic.
I’m a little embarrassed to post my craft room for you guys, since it’s pretty darn disorganized. But, a promise is a promise. So, here you have it.
First, my Ikea bookcase, a must-have staple for every craft room. Here, you only see a portion of it, because my room is tiny and I couldn’t back up far enough to take a full picture. I use the top of the shelf as a showcase for my latest card creations.
Above, a closer picture of my ribbon tree. It’s actually an earring tree I bought from Timothy Adam Designs on Etsy. I love it!
I have two desks in my craft room. Here’s the first one, where I place all my bulky tools, like my monster paper cutter and my brand new Scor-Pal. I’ll share more about the Scor-Pal in a later entry. It’s a really cool tool that makes scoring paper quite fun.
Here’s my stamping desk. Messy, no? I got this huge green Blu Dot dining table off of Craigslist for a steal and decided to use it as a craft table. The table costs $1300 brand new, and I got it for $150. Talk about a bargain!
Above my desk is a bulletin board where I shove my finished cards. I made this out of some leftover drapery, a staple gun, green ribbon, and an Ikea cork board.
Back over on my desk, I keep a basket of ribbon in my current favorite colors.
In a set of drawers under my craft table, I keep a selection of my current stamp sets, plus my embossing gun.
Next drawer, more stamp sets. These are all from Stampin’ Up.
For those who haven’t purchased Stampin’ Up stamps before, here’s how the sets come. For these sets, I already stuckthe rubber, stickers, and stamps together, but they come separate in the package.
Ok, top drawer: My punches. Tons of nestable punches.
And in my trays, even more punches.
Next to my desk, I have a CD rack where I store my clear stamps and metal Nestabilities dies.
Here’s an picture illustrating how I store my metal dies. They don’t come with storage, so I use magnet tape plus an empty CD case to create my own.
Back on my desk, I have a set of plastic drawers on within easy reach. In the top drawer, I keep stamps that don’t belong to a set.
Second drawer, I keep my commonly used embellishments. I store my embossing powder upside down so that I can see the color easily.
I save a whole drawer for my paper scraps. I dig into this stash all the time. I hate wasting a new sheet of paper when I have perfectly good scraps to use.
Next on my desk, my tray full of adhesives, including foam stickers, tape runner, multi-purpose glue, and more. I also keep stamp cleaner handy.
Here, my favorite ink pads. Sadly, I have even more ink pads that aren’t shown. It’s scary how much stuff I have.
And lastly, my makers. Each of these markers coordinates exactly in color with one of those ink pads above, plus colored paper that I also have stashed away. Pretty neat, huh?
So, that’s my craft room. What do you think? If I can answer any questions for ya, comment below, and I’ll address them in my next post.
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