Studio Clean Up......

So many supplies.....so little space. 

My little studio is just that - little - and as any good crafter knows, you can never have too many supplies.  So it was time for a clean up.  

Especially as I have just made some nice boxes to help with the organisation.

I did of course have some help from the ever present Indie.

Where I Work - Part 1

Please forgive me, I have been very blog quiet for the last month.  But I have been very busy and there has been a lot going on. 

I have finally got my reclaimed workspace sorted out (see the original story here)  So I thought I would give you a little tour over the next few posts.  Enjoy......

 Overall view....it is not all that big, but everything is within reach.

Apart from the desk and white Ikea unit, most of the furnishings are second hand or repurposed items. I don't have a huge craft/art budget and prefer to put it towards what I work on rather than where I work ie good quality supplies.  Besides, it is fun creating and altering things for my work area.

Just to the left of the desk.  This is a drawer out of an old entertainment unit.  I took the handles off and glued decorative paper to the back.  

  

 My 15 year old and I love little bowls.  These two hold shells for my polymer clay snails and ink nibs that I use with the white pigment ink.  The lovely butterfly card was created by Leahs Paper Passion (love her work)  I made the dream plaque and little birdhouse.

 Ikea containers, holding coloured pens and a large assortment of black fine line markers.

 Works in progress.....My Dad made the little wooden frames and shadow boxes, and hubby cut the blocks for me.   

The box holding the wooden pieces is actually a tissue box, with the top cut off and then covered with wrapping paper.  

Reorganisation

Every eight months or so I get the urge to reorganise the most important area of the house.  And as much as I try to suppress that urge, inevitably I find myself knee deep in stuff -  with garbage bags, cleaning products and a bigger mess than what I started with.  So what is the most important area of the house?  Certainly not the kitchen (the heart of the home)  Nor it is the lounge room (where we all congregate as a family most nights)  Nope, to me, the most important place in the house is my work area.  It is were I can let my imagination run wild, where I can loose myself for hours with pencils, paper, polymer etc.  And I know it sounds bad - but it also the one place in our home where the kids don't go :)

I find that taking before and after pics encourages me to continue and to get the job done.  I also find it less daunting if I just focus on one area at a time.  And as strange as it sounds, this time I am organising things into specific craft areas.  I am putting all of the jewellery making stuff together, all of the paper together etc - logical, I know.  But it is a first for me :)

Here are the first two areas I have finished

 Bookcase: I love boxes and as long as I remember to put labels on them, I know what is where.  This is mainly my odds and sods storage area.  As well as beads it also contains my soap making ingredients, ribbons, scrapbooking embellishments and books.

Little Blue Shelves:  I have had these for years.  I think they were originally used as storage for tools in a railway workshop. I added contact to the bottom, painted them and then filled them with junk  interesting things.  The before shot has paper, beads, little canvases, ribbon, templates etc etc.  The after pic has only jewellery making supplies.  I made all of the little boxes out of scrapbooking paper.  The owl print on top of the shelves is by Karin Taylor - love her work

I plan on getting more done or all finished this weekend - stay tuned :)