A Change of Address

Oh happy happy day.  I finally got all my junk moved from upstairs to downstairs.  My little studio as it were, is all ready.  Chase can join me down stairs and either play with his toys that live down there, watch a movie or play Wii.  You know how it is with the toys that have been out of sight…out of mind.  Now it is all exciting to him to have a fleet of trucks he forgot about and I get time to create!

I took pictures…I was so proud to show you how organized it all is and then I looked at what I had on "film" and sadly it came out looking like a huge mess.  I decided to post them with the caveat that it really does look better in real life… well it did until I got to work making fabric pins and playing with my new Vagabond.

A little tour of my new "Studio"….

My desk

I always need a messy pile near my work
surface to feel  creative

First the new space.  My table sits in the center section of the basement.  Sort of the "hallway".  I covered the carpet with a painter's cloth which, I think, looks super cool.  Truth be told, the real reason I have the carpet protected is because liquid, gravity, and me are the trifecta of a mess.  I try... I really really really try..but I spill.  I need a sippy cup more than my kids ever did.  Covering the carpet keeps me from hyperventilating every time I work with a liquid--paint, ink, Glimmer Mist, coffee, etc.

Ryann's old bookcase and some new wire baskets.

The kids never used the couch in the basement so we got rid of it (thanks to Michelle and Jason) and Rick convinced me to spread my stuff more into the what I thought of as the kid's space.  In all honesty, it is much better being spread out and I guess if the kids do take over the basement, as I always thought they would, I can move back into smaller space.  Jason is making a work table for me from some repurposed wood. He may consider it sort of a repayment for the couch, but that isn't necessary which makes it just a really, really, nice gift from my brother-in-law.  It will be huge, giving me the room I need for all the crap I like to have around me when I create AND the space to create.

I took these before the couch was removed and it looks like a crowded mess.  In person it looks so much better.  I promised my mom I would post these so I will….

vintage spools and vintage metallic
threads from Tinsel Trading

I have come to realize that one of the biggest "must haves" in a well-organized studio space are baskets one can see into.  It is a huge timesaver to be able to immediately find what one needs, especially if you are like me, a crafter that dabbles in all sorts of different crafts and media.  Next would be shallow drawers and lots of them.  Much of my stash is small; small in size, small in number, small in height.  Small items stored in big drawers are soon lost.  Spending half a day trying to find something I must have and I know is somewhere…. if only I could find it…. is no fun at all.

So lots of little things and keeping them all organized are my biggest problem…and never cleaning up completely because I don't finish one project and then start another, instead I get over excited and morph one project into another…Oh, and too much stuff, too many big ideas and not enough time to complete those ideas.  Add feeling like crap all the time and the mess just takes on a mind of it's own.   And grows and grows and grows.

My grandfather made this art box- I repurposed it to hold some
small tags and ephemera

This is my cutting and sewing area. It's a mess because I started
using my new Vagabond to cut felt- LOVE IT! 

Vagabond up close and personal. Who knew I would love
a die-cut machine so much.  Never even wanted one until this hit the market.

Gorgeous hand dyed felt cut with Tim Holtz's Vagabond

PegBoard is terrific but  I just threw stuff on it to get it out of
the way.  Looks terrific when it is organized 

Tower of fabric by color. This IS organized!

My closet holds so much more when it is organized but it still holds lots of
random stuff that has no place to live.  Oh well, at least I can close the door

No matter what the studio looks like in the baseement or on film, it isn't as bad as this mess in my kitchen.  Yikes!!!!!

Laters...