My Studio: A Tour.

I thought I would give you a tour of my studio today, whiile it is temporarily picked up.
Maybe you are wondering why I would be pretentious enough to call my scrap shack a "Studio?"
I dunno.
It just sounds more important.
Plus I have a desk name-tag leftover from my days as a loan officer, and a notary stamp,(that expired back in the 90's.) I feel qualified to work in "a studio" based on those merits alone.
I used to BE SOMEBODY!
You already know I have issues.
This is the view coming into the room:

The flooring is pergo, and it has really been a good thing. I spill paint on it, ink pads and drop scissors. The only time I have disliked it, was when I dropped a giant tub of brads. They gleefully scattered everywhere! I am still finding them under the baseboards.

This is my counter-top.
It was a remnant at the countertop place. Someone chose it to make a bar, and then changed their mind. We got it for pretty cheap. I liked the color. It is 4 feet wide, and eight feet long. Plenty of room on both sides of the counter for people to work, without crowding each other out.
Let's pretend it is clean.
My sewing machine is on the end of the counter.
I have to pull it out a bit when I sew, or else my layouts jam up against the window.

Always on the counter is my paper trimmer, an Epic die-cut machine, and that silver box.
The silver box is full of photos.

This is the view above the counter.
I have slat-wall on three of the four walls in the room. This area has shelving to hold my Letterpressing Stuff, and Xyron refills (top shelf) a basket with thread for the sewing machine, the black box holds miscellaneous journaling cards, and the end is my Xyron (all on the second shelf).
The silver bucket is full of delicious blingy rhinestone brads.
Sometimes I take it down, just to run my fingers through it.
Judge if you must.
It is the squirrel in me.
We will look at the third shelf better in a minute. Underneath the third shelf, the buckets hanging are tools that I use almost every time I scrap.
It is just convenient to take the buckets down, and have the tools at my fingertips.

This is to the right of the counter.
The tilt bins are full of sewing supplies, and miscellaneous bits. This is also the closet, with the doors taken completely off. We installed a countertop, and this is where I have my computer area, and more storage.

Here is the full view.
The bins on the upper shelf are full of cloth, felt, embossing powders, older sticker sheets, chipboard, extra photos, and to the far right, are where I store copies of magazines I have been published in.
The middle shelf is Quickutz-ville.
Quickutz changed their name to Lifestyle Crafts, I am still getting used to calling them that.
We will look at that junk closer in a bit.
To the left of the computer is my Silhouette machine.
To the right is my scanner, and printer. The hanging bucket holds rulers.
I like them close to be able to measure out journaling boxes for layouts.

This area is to the left of the computer closet.
The wall is covered with tilt bins. The bins are full of craft punches. I still use them. I bought all of the tilt bins on clearance when my scrap space was the size of a postage stamp and in the laundry room. At that time, they stored everything I owned.
My stash has grown a bit since then.
On the top of the bin wall, and at the bottom, I hung skirt hangers to display layouts.
To the left are scrap aprons.
Yep.
They were given to me by a manufacturer.
I never wear them, but they look cool.

Back to the computer closet. These are bins full of Lifestyle Craft dies. These are the border dies, embossing dies, and larger dies.

In the magnetic folders I have dies stored in categories (Christmas, Valentines, etc and whole alphabet sets.) In the binders are smaller (2x2, 4x4) dies. The basket on top has cutting mats.
See my official name tag thingie?
I work in a STUDIO.

This is my foot-stool.

This is what is currently on my chair, it is a box of product I got yesterday. I need to do projects with it. It is Christmas stuff. This is what designers do in August.
Work on Christmas.
And Valentines.
While it is 98 degrees outside.
I have a Pandora Christmas playlist.
It helps put me in the mood.

Here is some evidence of my Christmas in August.

And the little drawers behind Frosty? They are full of brads, buttons, and other small embellishments sorted out according to color. Mikayla helped me do that a few months ago.
It was tedious.
But so nice now-to just pull a drawer out when you need a certain color.

Back to the tilt bins, they open down.
Tilt.

On the far wall is my Expedit.
Best.
Purchase.
Ever. 
I bought this sucker way before Utah even had an Ikea.
Bought it in Arizona, and drove it home.
It was a long story, but a good one.

 

The bottom row of baskets hold mini-albums, items I bought to alter, (photo frames, coasters, etc.) and the basket to the far left, is full of my leftover embellishments.
Like when I use a package of brads, and have a few leftover, or random bits.
This is the basket that my kids know they have free reign to use.

The second row has a few cubes designated to Core'dinations Cardstock, one of my companies now. I keep their cardstock separate from the cardstock rainbow above.

The best part?
I don't really know why I love them so much, but here are my swatch books.
They are little bundles of tiny samples of all of the paper Core'dinations makes.
They make me happy.
Of course it is handy to be able to reference the exact color when you are writing up instructions for a project, or referencing a certain collection.
But truth is, they are little, and cute.
I told you I had weird issues.

I keep all my patterned paper organized by manufacturer.

Here is the cardstock rainbow again.

The upper baskets are full of rub-ons, pockets/envelopes, chipboard, stickers, chalks/watercolors, and  Thickers,

To the left of the Expedit, is the sink.
Above the sink is the adhesive wall.

Also above the sink, is my bin of vinyl rolls for the Silhouette. The tree covered bin thing is full of free standing stamps. The other pegs have gift bags and blank chipboard albums.
The shelf unit by the sink is full of scrapbooking magazines, and idea books.
Also my owner's manuals for all my shiz, and my design team contracts, and manufacturer catalogs.
On the top of the shelf is my label maker.
I love that thing.

Then, to the left of the window, is my bucket/embellishment wall.
I got the buckets in the dollar spot at Target.
The bigger ones weren't a dollar, they were $2.50.
In the white bin above the buckets are spray adhesive, etching cream (not itching cream) and glitter spray, plus other similar things that I use a lot.

Here is a close-up of the buckets. They are all labeled, so I can stay kind-of organized.
The buckets are easy to pull down, and it beats digging through big boxes or totes.

On top of the cabinet is a big fat drawer full of impossibly tangled ribbon.
I haven't figured out a better system that works for me.
I am not fussy enough to wind my ribbon on spools, or something cool like that.
I use the "dig and stuff" method for now.

The tote above the ribbon graveyard is full of unfinished card bases or weird cards I had to do for assignment. (Happy St. Patty's anyone?)
The pink box is full of finished cards, organized by event. (birthday, wedding, etc.)

Underneath the cabinet is storage.
Underneath the sink cabinet, is Mikayla's stuff.

Also always on top of the countertop is my inspiration journal.
Another pretentious title.
It is that red plaid notebook. I have been keeping it for about ten years.
When I find a random magazine clipping that I find inspiring for whatever reason, I tape it into the book. Then when I need an idea for a layout, card, or project, I can thumb through the book, and hopefully find something good.

Under the book is a slab of marble.
Handy for hammering eyelets or whatever.
The drawers underneath store hand-tools, extra paper trimmers, adhesives and cutting mats.

Here is inside the inspiration journal:

The drawers on the other side of the counter, are used for more storage.
I had the middle one custom made to be tall enough to fit bottles of craft paint.

The top drawer holds ink pads.
The bottom drawer holds all of my stamps.

Also underneath the counter are two giant totes.
One is full of patterned paper scraps.
The other is full of cardstock scraps.
Again, no organization here.
My kids know they can have free reign of these totes.
Ideally, if the scrap of paper is big enough to make a card out of, I will cut a card base, fold it, and add it to that card base box.
Most of the time.
I get lazy, though.

Over on this side of the under-counter...used to be a mini-fridge.
Sam made me take it out.
He said it was a waste of energy, and "who is too lazy to just go downstairs and get a drink?"
We got our July power bill.
I kinda saw his point.
I took it out, and it is sitting in the garage.
I might pull it back in, cause you know what? I AM too lazy to go all the way downstairs and get a drink.
So this tote is hanging out here.
Saving a spot for the fridge.
It is full of finished layouts, that I haven't put into albums.

And there you have it.
A tour of my scrap shack.
If you have any questions about anything, just leave them in the comments, and I will answer them there.
And if you are in the neighborhood, and want to hang out...I have four comfy rolling chairs.

If you don't mind walking downstairs for a drink.