Pt.4 - The Scrapping Zone!

Hey everyone!  I am so excited to share this part of my craft room -- where I scrapbook & make cards.  Those are probably my favorite things to do which is why I am excited to show y'all.  Before we begin, you can see Pt.1 HERE, Pt.2 HERE, & Pt.3 HERE.  Let's get started with Pt.4, shall we?

When I'm sitting at my computer desk, looking straight ahead, this is what I see ......

and this -- a lot of my "happy" supplies!

This probably seems very cluttered to many of you, but this is "creative inspiration" to me.

I would love to have one of those fancy ink pad holders, but this gizmo (I think they were designed for cassette tapes) is working fine.

Most everything I use for scrapbooking and card making is within easy reach.

These towels rods and little baskets from IKEA fill so many needs.  I don't know how I ever managed without baker's twine -- such fun stuff!

I like having my most-often-used punches right here within arm's reach.

Do I really need 2 glue guns?  The pens in the cute tin basket were a special buy from Tuesday Morning.  They are called Chromatix and are supposed to be a cheaper version of Copic Markers.  I don't have Copics, too spendy for me, but these work really well and blend beautifully.

I bought these containers several years ago at Michael's.  They are mounted to the wall and hold gems and some small beads.  I made this tiny pincushion using the plastic ring off of a roll of wrapping paper.  I glued it to the top of one of the container stacks so it won't get knocked off by 

certain little furry paws.

This is the metal lid from a candle and is the perfect spot to rest my hot glue gun when in use.  I actually have it sitting on a tile coaster just to be safe.

Another towel bar holds my heat tool, color wheels, some templates that I've made & just some random stickers, Thickers & rub-ons that I want to use up.

This was a Christmas present to myself this past December.  Several companies make these, but this one is a Recollections item and was on sale for 50% off during the holidays.  I love it!  It takes up quite a bit of real estate, so I have it well packed with pens and tools that I reach for constantly.

LOVE!  

This was my kitchen spice rack for years, but it became available when I redid my spices and herbs.  You can check that out HERE, if you are interested.  It is working perfectly here in my craft room for everything from safety pins to curtain hooks and a ton of little stuff in between.  It's within easy reach of both my scrapping area and sewing areas.

This is my main work surface.  I have a piece of an old heavy-duty cutting mat to protect the desk top & for quick measuring, plus I have one of those silicone mats that NOTHING sticks to -- glues, hot glue, paints -- everything just wipes right off.  I also like having the small tray to contain a few necessities. 

This isn't a super fancy cutter, but it has worked very, very well for many years.  It also has a scoring blade, so I don't have to have a separate tool for that.

This is just a lunch bag that I hooked to my table close to my cutter.  This is where all decorative paper leftovers go if they are a usable size.  Periodically I sort through and have another area where I keep my paper scraps (that will show up in Pt. 5).  For anything that isn't useful, I have a waste basket

right below this bag.

I have 3 of these IKEA Alex drawer units here in my craft room and just love them.  This one is on the left-side of my work area.

This top drawer is mainly for my brads and eyelets.

These divided boxes (there are two side-by-side) are from Tuesday Morning.  I think they are from 

Tim Holtz and were super-cheap.  I think I need to shop for some more embellishments!

This drawer holds some Stampin' Up roller stamps (really fun to use), the inkers for them, plus some little stamp pads.

More Dollar Store baskets are home to Stickles, embossing powders & blending chalk.

This bottom drawer holds some jewelry-making supplies and a few spools of twine.

The Alex drawer unit on the right-side of my work area is home to more of my tools.  This top 

drawer holds some wooden stamps.

These are my every-day and most often used stamps.  These drawers are deep, so to keep the stamps toward the front where I can see them easily, I used a couple of paper towel tubes in the back of the drawer.

The second drawer has my holiday and seasonal stamps.  I have my clear stamps in another location that you will see in Pt.5.

This drawer is a bit deeper and works great for washi tape, my black ink pad, Project Life pens & corner rounder, and some different glues & tape runners.

I found these cute little containers at The Dollar Store (where else?) and they work great to hold my paper flowers.

The bottom drawer holds more punches.

This wall-mounted Expedit is home to lots of things that I use often.  Way up on top are archival-safe Memory Boxes -- one for our son, our daughter, and one that The Man and I share.  One of the colorful boxes holds my calligraphy supplies.  Other things are just random keepsakes.

This cubby has page kits.  I don't have many of these, but I will pick up a few here and there when they are on sale.  I've even found them at IKEA!

These are card kits.  I used to belong to a "card kit of the month," so I have quite a few of these, and I  use them a lot.  These kits are really cool and come with everything you need to make several cards.  Opened kits get stored in a ziploc bag.  The binder holds card ideas that I've gotten from magazines or online.

Cards, Tags & Envelopes 

I use this often when I've gone "blank" for an idea!

Here we have a basket full of lunch bags -- now, please tell me I'm not the only one who has these!  The small box has card scraps & ephemera.......WHAT?

When I get really fun cards, the ones that someone has paid way too much for, I will sometimes cut them up,  save the cutest parts, and then reuse them on some of my handmade cards or scrapbook pages.  Let's all say "RECYCLING!"

Just recently, Hob Lob had a great sale on some really cute "blank on the inside" cards, so I scooped up a couple of sets.  I don't always want to reinvent the wheel when I make cards.

Sometimes it is really fun to just add a few embellishments to an already cute card.

How cute are these?

I do cut my own plain cardstock cards, too, so those are in this basket as well.  The matching size envelopes are in with each card type.

Matstacks are a great answer to handmade cards.  They are 4.5 x 6.5, so there is very little waste when cutting them for a card.  They come in a huge variety of styles and are often on 

sale -- WIN WIN!

Some times I will pull sheets from several Matstack booklets if I am making several cards at once.  I just keep those in the front of the basket.

This cubby holds my solid color cardstock, both 8.5 x 11 and 12 x 12.  I have them stored in 

magazine holders.

These small boxes (from IKEA) are great for holding cords, extra plugs, & one even has

 some old CD's.

This upper cubby has some plain colored paper and construction paper that I sometimes use for crafts or I can pull from here for the "Grands" to do some crafts.

This cubby has my Bow Dabra and some blank minies.

Ahhh.....now you can relax, that's a wrap on Pt.4;  but before you go take a nap, I just wanted to share a photo from Easter Day.

The Man and I had brunch at our son and dil's home and got to spend time with our 3 and 5 year old granddaughters.   Little Miss and Littliest Miss were on a "sugar-induced" high with boundless energy and were so much fun to watch.  We actually got quite a few pics of them with their little neighborhood friends, but my dil was able to snap this one.  I just love it!

I will end on that happy note, and thank you for joining me here on my blog.  Y'all are the BEST!

I may be partying with some of these fine bloggers this week:

The Tablescaper at The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays

Karen at Sew Many Ways for Sew Darn Crafty

Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays
Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons for One Project at a Time

Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired
Suzy at Worthing Court for The Scoop

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Natasha at Natasha in OZ for Say G'Day Saturday Party