CASology Simple Studios Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the CASology Design Team's Simple Studios Blog Hop!  

We're inviting you to hop around, check out our craft rooms and and maybe pick up some ideas for storage and organization solutions.  

The hop will run through Thursday, February 25th.  For those who comment on all the blogs along the hop you'll be entered to win a $20 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp.  The winner will be announced Friday, February 26th, on the CASology blog.

Let's get started!

My craft room really hasn't changed much since my last two studio tours (here in 2015 and here in 2011) with the exception of cramming more and more stuff into it so I certainly wouldn't call it a Simple Studio. Over the years I've collected a lot of products because I saw them in magazines or saw someone I admired using them and then it turned out that they really weren't my thing or didn't work with my style.  I struggle with getting rid of these things though because maybe one day I'll find a use for them or they'll become my style.  Anyone else do this?  Well, it's time for that to change because hopefully this time next year I'll have a brand new dedicated craft space and while it'll be all mine it will also be smaller so I'll have to do some serious and thoughtful culling to make the space less overwhelming and more user friendly. 

Below is my desk which has the majority of my stamps stored on and under it.  The shelves above have my Nuvo drops as well as some fun odds and ends and some of the cards I've received over the years from the wonderful people I've met through this hobby.

To the left of my desk is a little cart with my guillotine on the top, cardstock scraps in the binders and Christmas stamps in the bins.  My old Papertrey Ink stamps are in the CD rack.  The bookshelf holds patterned papers, non-Stampin' Up cardstock and craft magazines.  The grey drawer set on the top hold brads and eyelets and I cannot remember the last time I used either of those things...

My favourite thing in this photo is the YAAAASS above the window.  My brother gave me the letters for Christmas a couple of years ago and they always make me smile.

Moving left again we have lots of Stampin' Up cardstock, more patterned paper, glitter, sequins, embossing powder and miscellaneous embellishments.  The binders on the bottom of the bookshelf are full of Unity stamps.  

It's interesting how my storage needs have changed over the years.  I was so excited when I first got the white shelf and drawer units but I have to say that now they basically just hold up the cardstock on top of them.  My woodblock stamps are stored in the drawers along with different papers (mulberry, origami, textured), old ink pads and bits of ephemera.  The only things I use from the drawers are vellum and clear sheets.  The shelves hold 12x12 Bazzill cardstock and miscellaneous 12x12 patterned papers.  Unfortunately being open as they are means the papers are prone to collecting dust and fading.  I suspect these units will not follow me to the new craft room.

Another storage solution that I was so proud to get was this ribbon rack.  It holds all the ribbon and looks pretty when you put them in rainbow order but it has also become a bit of a dust collector.  Now it's another thing that will probably get culled.  Below it are ink blending tools and in the boxes below are more ribbons and twine as well as extra adhesives.

Back around to the right of my desk we have the storage units that I'll definitely be keeping.  I love the wooden ink holders (and clearly need a few more).  These are great to stack on a shelf or hang on the wall and fit lots of different inks.  The drawers below them hold punches, felt and other fabrics, gems, Stickles and mists, scissors and adhesives.  There are also more Papertrey Ink stamps on the bottom shelf.

Luis made this washi tape shelf for me and I love it!  The shelves are slightly tilted back so the washi doesn't roll off them and it allows me to make a pretty rainbow with the tape.  Sadly I've learned that you've got to use washi tape pretty quickly when living in a humid climate like this or they get gummed up and become unusable.  So I figure if they're not going to get used at least I can display them and enjoy looking at them!

And that's it!  Hopefully you've arrived here from Deepti's blog and you'll be heading over to Nancy's next.  If not click on the links below to catch up on any blogs that you've missed so you can comment and be in the running for the $20 Simon Says Stamp gift certificate!

CASology Blog

Jacquie

Milka

Deepti

Jen <--You are here!

Nancy

Melissa

CASology - Craft Space Tours

For the last couple of weeks the CASology design team gals have been sharing their craft spaces and today I present to you my Craft Cave!  

When I first took over this room the walls were a rich clay colour so it was distinctly more cave-like back then.  As you can see it's much brighter now. The photo above is the view when you look in the door.  I confess that I have a ton of stuff in this room.  When I started out crafting I bought anything and everything that was mentioned in the crafting magazines I read.  I've since gotten more of a handle on my style and could do with a major culling of unused supplies at some point.  While we were  away Luis asked why I wanted to go to a craft store when I already had enough stuff to open one of my own.  Touche...

I'm going to start to the right of the door for my tour.

This area is pretty neglected.  It holds all my ribbon and twine for the most part.  The bottom shelf has extra adhesive supplies and lightbulbs.

The plastic drawers on the bottom hold felt, punches, flowers, Stickles, mists and Cuttlebug supplies.

I finally broke down earlier this year and bought some of these awesome ink storage shelves from Stamp-n-Storage.  A friend of mine was moving back to the island from the US and since he owed me a favor he said I could put a few things into his shipping container.  I never would have gotten these if I'd had to pay for shipping on top of the price of them so I jumped at the opportunity.

Luis built this little unit for my washi tapes.  The shelves are tilted slightly so the tapes won't roll off of them.  I love it and the rainbow of washi tape makes me so happy!

Here you can see my paper trimmer, Cuttlebug, and stamps on the desk.  The wooden drawer holds gems, sequins, glitters, etc.  There are Copics and more stamps plus my heat tool on the lower shelf.

I love my desk!  It's a wooden table came from my old job - it was going to be chucked when they renovated.  My most used stamps are lined up (alphabetically) in bins.  The drawers hold acrylic blocks, adhesive, embossing supplies, markers and other odds and ends.  

I hang all the cards I've received from amazing blogging buddies above my desk to provide inspiration.  The plastic jars are full of flowers and feathers.

The little shelf above my desk has fun little bits and bobs on it.  I want Luis to attach another small shelf below it so I can set my iPad in there.  I generally listen to BBC Radio 1 or podcasts while I'm working on cards and I often end up putting the iPad on top of the stamps.  Not the best spot...

The CD rack holds my older Papertrey Ink stamps.  The little cart holds some cardstock and patterned paper, more sequins and glitter, Christmas stamps and Stampin' Up stamps.  Two of the binders hold Stampin' Up paper scraps and the other holds dies.

From top to bottom we have Stampin' Up cardstock, 6x6 paper pads, 12x12 paper pads, other cardstock and magazines.

The tiny storage drawers at the top hold buttons, seed beads, confetti, eyelets and brads.  The white paper trays on the left hold miscellaneous 12x12 patterned papers   The white drawers hold wooden stamps, spare cardstock, specialty cardstock (cork, vellum, etc), paint chip samples, tissue paper, etc.  On the wooden shelf:  extra Stampin' Up cardstock, misc cardstock and card blanks, coloring supplies (coloured pencils, watercolors, markers, etc), extra blades and cutting tools, Christmas odds and ends and lots of binders of Unity stamps.

That's it from me!  Hope you had fun checking out the Craft Cave.  Be sure to stop by the CASology blog tomorrow to check out Hannelie's work space!

The Craft Cave

I've got a few pictures of the Craft Cave to show you.  I am very lucky to have such a great space to work in.  Luis built me a new bookcase last weekend so I did some tidying and reorganising (it does not usually look this neat in here!).  I almost feel like I'm sharing a dirty secret because you're going to see the extent of my stash hoarding.  Here we go:

The chest of drawers is full of punches, dies, markers, coloured pencils and paints.  On top are SU inks, Papertrey Ink stamps and drawers full of embossing supplies.

The desk is never normally this empty.  About 5 minutes after the photo shoot it was trashed again!

Scrap pile on top of the rolling cart.  I've since put all the scraps in a box as every time I opened the window they would blow everywhere.  It's a bit sad how many times I had to pick everything up off the floor before I finally got around to getting a box!

Scary huh?  The clear plastic drawers on the left are full of fabric.  Next to the stack of paper shelves the white drawers are full of stamps.  The grey storage containers on top are full of buttons, brads, eyelets, seed beads, etc.  The wooden bookshelf on the left houses cardstock, patterned paper, chipboard shapes, flowers, felt and cardboard scraps.  The wooden bookshelf on the right has magazines and more card stock and patterned paper.        

Love the ribbon organiser.  May get another one to put above it as those 2 clear plastic boxes are also full of ribbon.  The brown box is full of Stickles and other glitter products.  


Realistically, I shouldn't have to buy any supplies for the next 10 years!!!  So why do I always want more??  It's like a sickness.  Between the craft stash and my book collection I think I really have a problem.  (I recently worked out that if I keep reading at my current rate it will take me 25 years to read all the books in my house.  Terrifying).  Right.  I'm going to get off the computer and start putting a dent in the stash.  Wish me luck!