No wall space? Build one!

I think I'm finally happy with my studio arrangement!

Sure, I've organized, re-organized, boxed up, donated or thrown away bunches in the past several years.  But one thing I realized: if it's not attractive to me, I can't accomplish anything in here.

I've been making lots of paper houses and working on a design that I can share.  That means lots and lots of trial cuts and changes, so that also means I have dozens of little houses.  And I want to SEE them, so I set up some displays just for me.  Not only do I like to look at what I've made, I get inspiration for more projects.  I found little people on eBay and of course, the houses have to fit the people, right?

But for my own satisfaction, I had to divide the studio into specific task areas. By that I mean separate the papercrafting area from the painting space.  To do that required a wall.  When this studio was built I never thought much about the need for wall space for displaying things, because I filled up the walls with shelves.  And I never thought about leaving space for a do-nothing area.  (Once in awhile I do need to turn my brain off and rest.)

I found some fence boards in the garage, left over from our new fence last year necessitated by a windstorm.  It occurred to me that I could use them to frame a pegboard wall, attach it to my workbench with a 2x2, and I even added a hinge to the wall so I could "open" it if I needed to expand one or more of the areas.   This pegboard wall is just for the latest thing I made, or painted, or collaged, until it finds its ultimate home.  Sometimes things need to "sit" awhile before I decide whether I'm going to add to it.  And sometimes I need to sit too!

The plastic you can see is hanging over from the painting area.  (I have learned to cover as much as possible when I'm slinging paint around.) I learned from Bob Burridge to use 4ply plastic and I use it for everything.

I also built a three-panel divider and covered it with burlap, and I pin more inspiration there.  So when I come into the tiny studio, I am met with reminders of why I do all this and not just stunned by the chaos!

In the first photos above, you see that I had to find places for my scroll saw as well as my cutters, which meant then I needed a work table smaller than I've used before.  For now it's a card table but that will probably change.  My original 30x72 table just wasn't working anymore.

There is just no way, with all the years of creating things and accumulating tools and materials, that I can have one of those little neat craft areas one finds on Pinterest!  That might work for someone just starting out, or someone who does only one type of activity.  In my case, I run a parchment craft supplies business, create greeting cards, and construct die cuts for papercraft packs soon to be offered on my site.  Which is why I've been behind on blogging.

I'll try and do better!

How to keep your craft room neat

The first way, of course, is not to do anything in there after you've straightened up!

For some reason, after a project, in which I am totally focused and adding things I forgot I had each time I open another drawer, I turn around and see that it looks like a tornado has hit!  I don't know how that happens, but there always seems to be a day at least of cleanup!

I just finished making dozens of Christmas cards (all different) and saving pictures of things I found on the Internet along the way with more ideas for future projects, and this week is the week of cleanup.  Which means reorganizing.  Which leads to finding things I forgot I had, ergo more ideas for more things to make.  I am determined to use up and/or give away everything I've accumulated during the years, but since I keep getting more stuff, it's like one step forward, two steps back!

Last week I saw the most astounding craft table online. (See photograph) So I've been busy trying to create just that situation with a large piece of plexiglass I have on hand.  It has come to the point in my life that if something is not in a clear box or other see-through container, I will forget about it. Everything is labeled, even the drawers.  This comes from excess possessions, I am sure.

I laid the piece of plexiglass atop a rolling cart I bought some time back.  It has metal shelves, and holds plastic drawers on each level.  On top of the drawers I put some drawer organizers which allow for little stuff that I can now see through the table top.  The only thing is the plexiglass is much wider than the cart and I am going to have to stabilize the ends with something.  As soon as I find my yardstick, I'll figure out what length and then go back to Home Depot for 2x4s or something like that, I think if I create a u-shaped support for each end, that will work.  There's nothing I can do to expand the space I have, so I keep finding new ways to store things where they are easy to get to and visible at the same time.  Visible is very important to me these days.

One thing your craft room has to have is a large trash can.  Some things I used to save -- like bits of leftover cardstock (maybe could be used for trim one day?) I have come to be able to just let it go; there is only so much time in the day and the days fly by.  We have a recycle pickup every other week and paper is definitely a recycle item.

Often I find wasted space in my craft area.  There are things I don't want to discard (like all my clay tools) but don't plan to use them anytime soon.  These are items that can be removed from view and even moved someplace else, like the garage.  But let me recommend you create an inventory of sorts, so you can (1) remember they exist and (2) where you put them.  And be careful that just thinking about that doesn't start you off on a new rabbit trail.... like "hey, I think I'll do clay stuff today."  You don't get anywhere like that!

I have a huge box of jewelry supplies -- beads, findings, pendants, and bezels.  Last week I needed a chain for a project I was working on, and dug the huge container out from under my bed.  Then I got all fired up about jewelry, but I tamped that down quickly because for one thing, I hardly ever wear jewelry, and too, I have dozens of pretty bracelets that I have made that I don't know what to do with. But I am now thinking of taking the jewelry supplies out to the studio and putting them instead into a see-through drawer in case I need something.

A few years ago a new mother began saving all her baby food bottles for me, and I was happy to get them because they are great for mixing acrylic paint and saving it while working on a particular project.  This year I dug them out again, cleaned them up, and they will be little vessels for hand scrubs my daughter makes!  They're easy to label, and wrap with a bow and square of paper or cloth.
See?  There was a reason to keep those.  But little by little, things are getting used and moved on out.

The next idea bubbling up from somewhere is to put together "craft packs" which include an assortment of materials at a low price.  I see some on various websites that cater to scrapbookers, but what I have in mind is more a mixed media melange.  Customers would only need their own scissors and glue to make use of them.  Stay tuned.