Sharing FULL Scrap Room.

So... back in May, I posted a sneak of my scrap room.

It was so cool to be in Creating Keepsakes' special issue (Creative Spaces),

and I figured I'd give it a couple months...

they probably wanted us to wait like 30-60 days or something.

I didn't ask about the exact time period. Maybe I should have. ;-)

So it dawned on me the other day that I STILL hadn't shared

my scrap room in full. UGH! I had to get on that.

So....

Without further ado...

My Scrap Room!

(you can click on the photos to make them larger!)

When you walk through the the french doors 

(that we actually removed because I wanted the room to be an extension of the living room...) 

And when you look to the left... 

And when you look to the right...

*cute curtains from Pier 1... now discontinued :-(

And when you keep walking straight ahead to the right,

you turn that corner, and enter my little sitting area nook... 

Took me a lot of tweaking to get the nook just right.

The loveseat is an Ektorp from IKEA. 

Didn't plan to have this loveseat in here, as we bought it 

as our "for now" furniture for our first apartment in Austin.

This cover was on clearance for THIRTEEN DOLLARS (yeah, down from like... $140).

So I was *ecstatic* that it matched perfectly. :-)

The bookcase behind the loveseat?

Believe it or not, that used to be a twin bed headboard! 

My dad and sister added spindles to each side, and they made it

into an entertainment unit. And I inherited it from them. :-)

Jeremy added legs, so that it would sit perfectly behind the loveseat.

(Jeremy's brilliant idea, not mine. ;-) )

(It REALLY needs lamps and/or plants on either side. Some day... :-) )

So I re-painted it, altered the inside with October Afternoon's Hometown 

scrapbook paper (one of my favorite collections of all time),

and added cute knobs and fun things. :-)

Pillows from Target.

Poms from Jo-Ann's dollar spot.

Stool from IKEA (painted to match my color scheme).

Knobs from Anthro.

Document boxes from The Container Store.

Everything else was found secondhand at thrift stores/antique stores/vintage shops.

So here are more shots around the room...

This is looking back toward the door of the room,

so the left wall when you first walk in... 

elfa Shelving (on sale right now till Feb 13th!!)

Canvas bins.

American Crafts albums.

Photo drawers (a la Stacy Julian's LOM).

And a close-up...

Shoe storage holds punches.

Acrylic organizer (that I'm now finding a new home for...) holds stamp pads and stuff.

Ribbon cabinet.

Dress Forms.

Jane Joss fabric branch.

Be Inspired print.

Desk chair is a commercial/retail chair. 

I got it at a vintage shop in Austin, but what's really funny...

these same chairs are used at Taco Cabana all over Austin! LOL. :-p

And my work table.

Cardstock and patterned paper under work space.

Embellishment drawers (original and altered).

Kit storage.

Friends frame with my altered switchplate.

At other angles...

"Reyanna" sign I've had since 1985. 

My dad had them made for all of us kids.

He *only* took them out at Christmastime, 

so I was so glad when he gave it to me to look at every day. :-)

After MUCH debate about altering it, I decided to keep it

in all its original wood glory. :-D

Alphabet sticker/Thicker organization (far left on paper shelf).

Bold boxes (under paper).

UglyDoll: Wedgehead.

Current kit/favorite papers in progress (on left) sit in this.

Phew.

I know... A LOT of photos. But I hope you enjoyed my scrap room tour!

Thank you for looking!

I hope to do a video tour too. :-)

That would have to be in pieces though because it would be LOOOOONG!

And you would probably get sick of me. LOL. :-p

If you have any questions or need more close-ups, 

please let me know! 

I can always do a follow-up post. :-D

p.s. If you're looking to redecorate a room, try these coupons for Home Depot.

Sharing (part 4).

Did you know that all you need to make cool ribbon storage is a 5/16" dowel, closet/shower rod hardware (found at any home improvement store), and some thumbtacks?! I wanted something easy; something cheap. This is what I came up with...

Then I got a really cool cabinet (found at a moving sale for $5... though any wooden shelves or cabinet will do)! The doors on this used to be blue as well, but these people left it outside and it got yuckier than any soap and water could fix. Well, painter's tape and some Antique White spray paint fixed it right up!

Once that was finished and dry, I "installed" my hardware, added some spice jars and little jars up top (Christmas Tree Shops), and Voila! Pretty neat ribbon storage!

Loose fibers and ribbons are in the spice jars. The jars above hold whole spools of ribbon that are now wrapped around close-pins and secured with pins. I was going to do that for EVERY spool I had, but gosh, that took lots of time. I gave up and bought the closet/shower rod hardware instead. :p

The cute little shelf in there holds little shards of ribbon that come with scrapbook purchases from select online retailers. I suppose they send you those to entice you to buy ribbon?! Or is it just a free gift? Hmm...

Next is my alpha storage. Really, nothing to get all excited over. I used to have it separated by color and type, but I didn't like that, so now it's all just stuck in here organized by color (black, brown and white up front because I use those the most). This container is actually a Desktop File that I spray painted Antique White. :)

Inside this alpha box, I have a small pencil box (dollar store) that I hold loose alphas, ghost alphas, alpha brads and other alpha things that are not on a sheet. They're all contained by (very high-tech) Ziploc bags: :)

I love the look of sterling silver. You can find it at thrift stores and antique stores and even eBay for pretty cheap. It adds some class, I think. :) This plate was like $2 at an antique store near me. This woman has TONS of it, so she tells you to take a bunch off her hands for pretty cheap, so she can get rid of it. I was happy to oblige! :D It holds adhesives I use on an everyday basis:

I also use sterling silver sugarers and creamers for my everyday pens and scissors. These were found at a thrift store. The small saucer (found with the plate above) holds little embellishments I need to set aside while I'm working (brads, small die cuts, etc). Photo is of my mom and dad's wedding:

I had seen a few times that people kept their pens in wine racks, as to keep them sleeping horizontally. I LOVED this idea, and I searched for over a year for the perfect wine rack. I seriously waded through hundreds (probably millions...) of them before I found this one on eBay. It was a brown wicker before I spray painted it. It's one of my very favorite things in my room. Always makes me smile. :)

These totally awesome paper shelves are kept on my desk as well. I've had quite a few scrap rooms now, and one thing I knew I needed when I had been scrapping a while is a place to put papers while I'm working. The paper storage next to the pens are where I put papers I'm working on at any given moment. (Out of the way until I need them on the page.)

You know... you're working on a page, and you have like a whole handful of coordinating papers to choose from. You choose three... or seven, but you can't use them/trim them/glue them at the same time, so you need *somewhere* to put them that's away from your workspace, but still in arm's reach when you *do* need them. That's why I needed this. Plus, it's a place to put aside a project if your eyes need a break from it and you want (or need) to work on something else.

It's from The Container Store. And though it's more expensive (if you work there, you get 40% off!) than one of the ones from Michaels or Jo-Ann, it has SIX shelves instead of four or five and still takes up the same amount of space. That was worth the extra money to me. :) This is where I keep pages I'm working on right now as well:

This next photo is in the cabinet from the previous post, but it goes better with the theme of this post. :) Here on this top shelf, I have my glue gun (in another one of those dollar store pencil boxes), paint brushes (in an altered Lay's Stax container), Mod-Podge (and brushes), Bazzill Chips, Creative Imaginations mini-albums, and business cards (mine and my husband's).

I altered the four matching boxes. They were EIGHTEEN CENTS each at The Christmas Tree Shop. If they would have had more, I probably would have gotten more. :p They used to have a weird floral pattern, but I like them much better this way. :D Just goes to show you, you can take anything and alter it... be it a shoe box, a gift packaging box, garbage... whatever!

On the lower shelf, I have my 6x6 paper pads and hole punches/deco scissors. The containers came from The Christmas Tree Shop.

Are you tired of looking at my scrap space yet?! You're probably more tired of my long-winded explanations...

Sharing (part 3).

Paper. I love paper. Paper's my favorite. Do you love paper? I'm sure you do.

One day while I was out shopping for a mattress (more comfortable than the kitchen table), I found this adorable cabinet. I measured it in the store, and what do you know... it was the right size to hold Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage Holders (well, with the back removed...)! Hoorah!

I know, I know, I have a lot of cardstock. LOL. In my defense, a scrapbook store was going out of business, Bazzill was on major clearance, and I decided what better time to stock up? I bought about 500 sheets.

I already had a couple hundred at home, so I probably have over 800 now. *sigh* The good thing is though... I haven't had to buy one sheet of cardstock (except for white, of course) for over a year. :D So really... it was an investment... On the bottom left (just slide open the doors a bit), I have my cardstock.

Separated by color, of course, and in ROYGBIV order. :) Orange and yellow share one. As do brown and black. (They're buddies. ;) ) This is to save space because I don't have as many of those colors:

The Cropper Hopper Paper Pouches hold scraps... that stay in the Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage Holder with its respective color. This way, it all stays together. I use scraps SO much more now! I've organized my scraps four different ways now, and this is, by far, my favorite. :)

All my patterned paper is organized alphabetically, by manufacturer. On this top shelf, I also have white/cream cardstock (which I use the most), clear stamps (in the white container and the blue binder), a binder with photos, and some ideas.

On the bottom shelf, the first four holders are Basic Grey, organized alphabetically by collection (A-H, I-M, O-R, S-V).

And each collection (with its papers, alphas, tags, die cuts and scraps) is kept in a Craft Keeper Envelope, so it all stays together nicely.

Then holders #5 and #6 hold "Other Companies," separated alphabetically by manufacturer.

The 7th holder has random "by the sheet" paper, sorted by color (bought in the "olden" days before I knew kits and collections were the way to go)... that I'll probably never use. LOL. Well, I use them for gift albums and mini albums. :)

Then on the top shelf, I have a holder just for Christmas papers (I have about six different collections from different brands... mostly Basic Grey, of course, including THREE Fruitcakes and two Wassails. LOL).

I also have a holder for Studio Calico kits (by date). And then two more with random stuff (whole sheets of chipboard, extra dividers/storage bags, doodling, cutting templates, paper memorabilia), and still labeled appropriately... LOL...

Here is what the inside of one looks like. As you can see, the collections are separated by tabbed dividers that have the collection's name. This is the Basic Grey A-H holder:

And here is a close-up of the Craft Keeper Envelope in action! Modeling it beautifully is the Studio Calico Iconic kit. Inside the envelope, I have a 4x6 acid free bag to hold all the "little guys" that are floating around:

Phew! If you got through all that, you deserve a break. How about some turtle brownies? Those are yummy. I'll post the recipe soon. :)

Thanks again for looking at my space! More to come...

Sharing (part 2).

I think this may be one of my favorite things in my room... perhaps because it took the most work?! LOL. Shopping at Pier 1 one day (for a lamp I didn't find...), I found these hot pink boxes (and some electric blue ones too):

The first time I went in, they were on clearance for $7.48. I bought two of them (8 drawers). Then I figured... hey, I could use these for almost ALL my embellishments! So I had hubby go back and get me two more. They were on BETTER clearance (by that time) for $5 each.

I headed to Home Depot and got some paint in White Linen and three coats of paint later... tee hee... they looked like this:

I used my 1 1/4" scallop punch to punch the labels. Added a hole-punched hole, soft white string (all-purpose... we also use it to tie up the fake-Christmas tree), and white paper clips (a la Stacy Julian LOM albums). I wrote the contents on with my brown ZIG. Presto! Beautimous embellishment storage! So all this (minus the frames and gelato jar that holds my favorite "pretty" ribbons) for under $30:

My sister, she's my hero. She taught me that if you don't like something the way it is, change it! If you have to paint it, cover it, sand it, add balcony spindles... whatever! And seriously, if it weren't for her, I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to just go and PAINT things. LOL.

Seriously... you should see her house. Not only does it look like a magazine or home decorating book, but if you walk through it with her, you hear her say, "This China Cabinet?! It was $2." or " This chair? It's old. We found it in a shed. I painted it black." or "This cute, little, sewing dress-form? Found it at Ross for $5, but the flowers were pink, and I needed them blue, so you know, I made them blue." She never buys ANYTHING full price. Ever. EVER!

Fun. Very fun. She's all kinds of inspiration.

Sharing (part 1).

Instead of my regularly scheduled post, I'm posting photos of my new scrap space. YAY! Can I officially call it a "Studio" now?!

I took over our dining room, and we moved the kitchen table to the living room (about four feet in front of my scrap area. :-)

The shelves and work-tables are elfa shelving from The Container Store, which are totally awesome. And I get a 50% discount, so that rocks even more! :-D

Here is the main wall. My workspace is about 39" high because I'm a standing scrapper. My two cabinets fit *perfectly* underneath, and I was SO excited about that (plus, a little room on top to "hide" things)!

(The cabinet on the left is an old twin bedframe that my sister and dad converted into a storage system. The cabinet on the right is from Oak Express.)

Then you move to the left... (you can see my adhesives in a sterling silver tray on the corner there), my embellishment drawers up on the shelf, and a totally awesome blue vase I got at an antique store here in Austin. :-)

This wall is my computer wall (plenty of room to add more shelves if need be...). The altered photo-collage cupboard door *should* be hanging above my printer, but I've been procrastinating putting the hanging hardware on. I need to get on that!

And then there's my trimming/cutting/stamping station. The table is from IKEA (*before* I worked for The Container Store...):

There are like 40 photos total, but I won't post them all here... at once. HA! I would if I had Typepad! Man! Some day... tee hee. I'll post them here in spurts... with commentary. ;-)