Finally, 3 years after moving in, I invite you to take a tour of my stamping, scrapping, cardmaking, general papercrafting studio and home office!
Let me start off by explaining my room is a "flex space" -- it was the third/tandem garage space (approximately 16' x 12') that was already finished out when we found the house just completed. It has NO closet or other built-in storage, so I had to get creative with mostly just the furniture I already had! And because I know someone will ask -- the green paint we used on the walls was custom mixed at Home Depot to match Stampin' Up's Certainly Celery color! It's lighter and less yellow than it's appearing in the photos here.
Here's a full view of those storage units on the back wall:
They are Store In Style 15-inch cubes by Crop In Style. I found this 12-cube starter set to be the least expensive (per cube) at the time I purchased them almost 5 years ago from Oriental Trading, after closely watching free shipping and additional discount offers from them and creatively combining offers (so watch for those, if you are considering these units)! The cubes can be stacked and arranged in whatever combination you like and I've now used them in 3 different setups in 3 different houses! You can see how these were previously set up in another house, in My Studio photo album (towards the bottom).
We'll get a little better view below of that island coming out towards you, where my Cricut is housed. On top of the cubes are two Store in Style desktop units which hold paint, jars of flowers & larger containers of embellishments:
Turning left through the door, this wall contains my die cut, sewing & embellishment stations:
The die cut station is more of the Store in Style cubes -- it is this desk kit from Oriental Trading. The drawers on the left contain some less-used dies housed on magnetic sheets inside zippered CD cases, extra die cutting machine parts/accessories & fabric. Iris 12" paper storage containers (readily available at Michael's, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby) on the bottom shelves hold Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders, and some 12" cardstock.
The 12" stacking paper drawers in the middle are Sterilite ClearView 12" paper storage units that usually come with 3 units together (sometimes more, depending on the store). I've found them at Target, Hobby Lobby and I believe JoAnn's -- they go on sale quite often. They can be stacked to fit whatever space you need and I've also used them under my desk (below). They contain textured Prism & Stampin' Up 12" cardstock by color families. The right drawers under the sewing machine contain sewing supplies. Yes, I use my very old (and very pink!) regular fabric sewing machine for papercrafting, too, and haven't had any problems -- yet!
Embellishment storage units hang on the wall over the die cutting station:
When I purchased them, they were Making Memories Embellishment Centers (the two larger ones), which are now (also?) sold by Michael's under their own Jetmax brand (the small one IS a newer Jetmax ribbon storage unit). Making Memories large plastic jars house different ribbon-by-the-foot collections, usually by the same type (and manufacturer, which is noted on the jar lid since I have to know those details for publication purposes) -- grosgrain, pom-pom, velvet, silk, etc. Small Making Memories embellishment jars contain buttons by color family:
Rolls of ribbon are housed by color families in Ribbon Spool Stackers by Store in Style (usually found at JoAnn's or Michael's). I like these containers (as opposed to storing the ribbon rolls on the dowels that come with the Embellishment Centers) because it's easy to take a whole color family of ribbon off the shelf/wall and into good lighting or near my project, to match colors better.
Next to the die cut station is a wood filing cabinet (used mostly for household documents and manuals). Stored on top of the filing cabinet are most of my Spellbinders dies, housed in clear CD cases in these Melissa Frances ribbon holders which I've normally purchased at a local annual scrapbook show. In a recent Internet search I could only find them available here (they aren't listed as a current product at the Melissa Frances site).
The 16" x 10.50" clear unit in the background holds my Copic Various Ink Refills -- it is used mostly by retailers to display markers & refills. (Update Aug. 2012: These units are no longer available for consumers from the U.S. Copic distributor but you may be able to find a few left at online retailers).
Here's a closer view of how I store my dies. I use self-adhesive business card sized magnets (orange box, from Staples) inside the clear CD cases to hold the metal dies:
Dies that are too large for CD cases (for now) are kept on the card insert they come with (with the same business card magnet), until I find a better storage solution.
Next to the filing cabinet under the left window, are Iris 12" scrapbook paper carts (available at Michael's, JoAnn's & Hobby Lobby) that hold various manufacturer's patterned paper, divided mostly by season or occasion:
On top of the paper carts is a large green storage box I found at The Container Store, which holds dimensional projects I've made (and have run out of room to display!). On top of that is a 12" scrapbook page holder that I painted green crackle, to match the room:
To the right of the paper carts, on the left end of the back wall white cubes, are some smaller 14" modualar storage cubes with drawers from Michael's Jetmax modular storage system that contain -- yes, more patterned rolls of ribbon (I'm a little addicted!) and Cricut cartridges:
I'm still not happy with these bookshelves that are behind the door, to the left of my die cut station, but will show them to you anyway -- just in case it helps solve some storage problems you may also have. I'd like to some day replace them with floor-to-ceiling white utility cabinets with doors, to hide all the clutter!
I use white photo storage boxes (usually from Hobby Lobby or Michael's, depending on the best sale at the time!) to house miscellaneous alterable items, products, embellishments by season, so it's easy to grab the whole box that I know will contain coordinating / seasonal items. The lower shelves contain binders, books & magazines in magazine holders, and some older wood-mounted stamps. No space is unused, including the back of the door!
This is an Elfa pantry/spice door/wall rack. It holds paint daubers, lesser-used ink pads & reinkers, colored ink mists, embroidery thread, punches and some alterable containers.
The other side of the room, to the right of the door, is my U-shaped desk (from Costco 3 years ago; I'm not finding it currently available there):
My desk chair is just a normal height-adjustable office chair that is covered with a chair slipcover from Pottery Barn (I'm not finding the Serafina pattern currently available). That black cart is another Iris 12" scrapbook paper cart that houses frequently used wood-mounted stamps within easy reach:
Still a bit more cluttered than I'd like, but as a dear friend of mine says "keeping it real" (wink!) . . . here's the rest of the desk:
More of those Sterilite ClearView 12" paper stacking drawers under my desk, within easy reach, hold 8.50" Stampin' Up, Papertrey Ink, Memory Box & Gina K cardstock by color families, used mostly for cardmaking. My air compressor for Copic airbrushing sits under the desk within easy reach. On the desk, right in front of me, are my most-used ink pads and of course, Copic markers:
The left white unit is what I started out storing my Copic markers in -- they are are QuicKutz's Magpie storage system, meant to hold their dies. The 3" square dividers are also the perfect size for storing Memento & Ranger Distress ink pads.
On the right, holding my Copic markers are Color Cubbies by Studio 3 Solutions. These are four individual vertical holders that were created by a crafter specifically for these markers. You can customize your storage space & needs by purchasing as many units as you need. They have slightly slanted/tilted shelves to keep the markers from falling out, which also make reading the color codes on the ends of the markers easier.
Along the wall/right side of my desk are hand-crafted wooden ink pad holders from Storage Units, Ink (SUink). Mine are the Wall Unit Plus, which I stained to match my desk. Making Memories / Jetmax desktop carousel holds glue, scissors, hand-held punches, paint brushes, etc:
On top of the ink pad holders are more of the white QuicKutz Magpie storage that holds punches and more ink pads:
Spinner rack to the left of the punches is Stampin' Up's brad & button holder. A 6-inch wooden Frame Your Imagination stand, stained to match my desk and ink pad holders, holds my 4-inch grid calendar. A french memo board holds some favorite card creations.
This is the rest of the U-shaped desk/hutch behind me:
In the left corner of this photo is my (still very messy so I'm not going to show it) computer & keyboard area! A cart under this side of the desk (right behind my desk chair) holds more frequently-used unmounted stamps within easy reach (in a smaller Iris cart). More white photo storage boxes under the desk hutch hold 6-inch patterned paper pads. The tall wooden unit next to the desk hutch is just an inexpensive book shelf (can't remember where I found it) that was the perfect size to stack more Iris carts that hold smaller embellishments, glitter, glitter glue, embossing powders, chalks & colored pencils, adhesives, decorative scissors. To the right of that, next to the door, are more of Michael's Jetmax 14" storage cubes that they used to sell in a wood color. It houses border punches, products and unmounted rubber stamps. On top of the green box is another wooden scrapbook page holder, in a 6-inch size.
On top of the desk hutch are (right) magazine files which hold white & ivory/cream cardstock for stamping and card bases:
The (left) photo storage boxes contain notecards for card bases and cling & clear stamp collections:
On the hutch over my computer are more photo storage boxes that contain (left) cling mounted stamps on storage boards, (middle) vertical cling stamp storage panels in mini binder boxes, and (right) cards submitted for publication and unmounted stamps:
Here's a closer view of how I store my unmounted JustRite stamps inside the white photo boxes above -- in clear plastic Iris photo keeper boxes (the individual photo boxes are also usually sold separately and less expensive than in the set with the larger Iris container -- at most of the major craft or "mart" stores). These boxes are about 6.50" x 4.75" x 1.25-inches tall/thick and I store the stamps usually two sets per box, alphabetically and by different shape, so I don't get the sets mixed up:
JustRite mounts and acrylic blocks are also stored in the photo cases:
Smaller JustRite stamp sets (2" and under) are stored in stacking jewelry/bead containers:
Clear acrylic stamp sets are stored in clear CD cases and housed in white CD boxes in the nooks of my desk hutch, along with iPod dock/clock radio:
The white vertical file (Michael's) holds pens & pencils, glue dots, and my Copic and ink pad color referral charts. Hanging clipboard holds my design/work calendar, so I can plan out projects for each month and keep reminders of publication calls.
In front of my desk is my computer printer/table, with my 24" light tent setup for photographing projects:
On the left side of the photo above, at the right end of the white storage wall units, is my Clip-It-Up which holds more embellishments, stickers, etc.
And here's the view from my desk, looking over at the left side of the room. Now you can see that island that comes off the back wall of storage cubes. Cricut Expression is on the work desktop and more of the Sterilite ClearView 12" paper drawers under the work desk contain patterned paper by manufacturer:
Whew, that's it! I hope you enjoyed a peek into my work space and that some of my storage solutions might help in your space!
UPDATE: To see my newest studio as of August 2013, please visit this post.
