My REAL Craft Room

Ok, I was going to wait until I got it organized better before posting, but this is a busy time for me, so it might be a while.  So I thought I’d better get some pics up on here and show everyone how my craft room is right now.  Keep in mind it’s still a work in progress, and I have a long way to go yet.  But it’s useable now, I should have taken a before picture, you would not believe it.  Honestly to see what it used to look like, watch the show, “Hoarders”.  I’m not kidding, you could not see the floor, and there were times it was hard to open the door.

What happened, you may ask?  I got tired of not being able to use it.  We’ve been in our house for about 4-5 years now, and the “craft” room was always mine.  I claimed it before we even bought the place.  I think the kicker was seeing all the pretty craft rooms on the Cricut message boards, and it made me mad that I had a nice room too, but could not use it.  It took about 5 days of working for several hours straight, to get it as it is now.  Take a look!

The above pic shows my Jetmax storage, right when you walk into the room.  I got these on sale at Micheal’s for 50% off.  I bought three the first day, then went back the next day and grabbed two more.  The one that holds the 4 chipboard boxes with lids, I have ink pads in one, and punches in another of the top two.  Need to label them, as I always forget which is which.  The ink pad box is stuffed full.  Punch box is halfway, as I store alot of them in my Fiskars bag.  I have a Snapware container on top of them, holding 12″x12″ paper pads.  That thing is heavy!

Above is my desk, where I do alot of my work. You can see that it’s being used alot. I bought the 3 tier shelves at Target, clearanced out for $7 apiece. I have two on each side. This makes for deep shelf storage space, and they fit the top perfectly! I already had the tabletop, it was a shelf unit I got at Menards, when I bought the shelves for the room. It was bigger, and going to serve as a tabletop, but was trying to figure out how to get legs underneath it, until I talked to the ladies on the MB, and realized I just needed some cubes, or similar, DUH! It worked out great! I keep my SU markers handy in the bottom RH shelf, and scrap newspaper in the next one up. (I use it alot for counter protection.) I keep a small basket with most used items, on the RH side of desk, like bone folder, Cricut spatula, glue pens, and such items. The basket on the other side was given to me by a man at work that was going to have a yard sale. I just washed the liner. I keep other items in there that may not be used as much, but still handy to get at. Misc. markers, stylus, waterbrushes, and other such items. The strange looking wooden item beside this basket, I found at an auction. I think it may have been a shop project gone wrong. It would have been nice, but the corners don’t line up right. It’s very crooked. I just have it set so you can’t tell. The tabletop OttLite I have had for a long time, and not used very often. It is NICE, as I don’t have very good lighting in the room.  I want to get some pegboard for the wall over the desk, too.  I will paint it white, and have a box full of the hangers, both long and short, in our garage, or shed.

Above shows my Embellishment center. These were on sale at Archiver’s, for $39.99. I’ve never seen them for less than $70 retail. So I went to Archiver’s and (as always), was too late, they were sold out. BUT the lady was wonderful, and called different stores until she found me one. Had to pay for shipping, but still got it for about $50, great price!  (I’m very cheap, and would not have ever paid full price for one!)  The drawers were also 50% off, at the time, so I got two sets of two.  I plan to keep all my reinkers here, and little bottles of paints and inks and stuff.  It’s far from set up the way I want it.  Haven’t found everything to put in there yet.

Above is not a very good picture, but the only one so far I have of my long table.  The tablecloth protects it, and helps to hide the storage underneath.  I have a couple totes, a Fiskars rolling tote, and a Stamp Store tote on wheels.  Also a big bag of yarn for a couple of knitted afghans.  The table is an 8′ plastic banquet table, on sale at Menard’s.  Think I paid about $45 for it, but don’t remember for sure.  It is one of the tables that I was using in my temporary craft space in the garage.  I keep the Cricut Expression at the one end, in the corner, so it has enough room to run.  Then I have a magnetic cutting mat with steel ruler, beside it.  Behind this is my 5″ Xyron, then the “Wizard” die cut and embossing machine.  (Who needs a cuttlebug!  This is the same company that made Nestabilities.)  I keep my heat gun on the other end, and wish I could find my wooden holder for it.  Also at this end is my Ott floor lamp.  I keep both of these on, and no matter where I’m working, I have great light!  As you can see, the windows are behind the table, and hope to craft during daylight soon, so I can try them out.  (My husband calls me a vampire, because I stay up all night, and sleep all day.)  The canvas on the wall in the background is an unfinished “Bob Ross”, that I hope to finish, someday.  The trees need alot of work.  The doll is a doorstop that my brother’s girlfriend made for me a while back.  I normally have her at the door, but had to move her,  for some reason.

Ok now we’re getting into the messy, messy. Told you I still had a ways to go! You can see my nice dresser in the corner. I just have things stashed in there right now, in no particular order. Hope to sort soon. Then you can see the shelves that I put up, (not my husband). I made sure I found the studs, so that affected the placement somewhat. I plan to put my Stampin’ Up sets in order on these, after I find them. I know I have a tote full somewhere, and who knows how many others. The ones on there now, are ones my dad got for me in a yard sale. The rest I haven’t figured out yet, and stuff is random for now. Unfortunately you cannot see my nice oak rubber stamp cabinet, in the bottom RH corner of this pic. Which I guess is ok, anyway, since I never figured out how to put the doors on it. They have been setting beside it, since I got it all put together. The drawers are the acrylic picture frames. It is a “Collectors Cabinet”, bottom unit. It would be very nice, with the doors on. You can see the totes I still have to sort through, and find a spot for the stuff in them. It’s a wall in itself, since my room is so tiny. Ok, brace yourself for the last photo! It shows the messy closet.

The funny thing is that the closet wasn’t that bad until I started getting things organized in the rest of the room. Now it’s a complete mess!  But hopefully will get better, when I do get things organized more.  I plan to put things I don’t use as much on the top shelf in there, as it’s very high.  Then I want to hang things on the rack, too.  Probably will store the rest in here in totes, stacked on the floor.  Overall, I will keep papercrafting stuff in the room, and other crafts in the closet, as I don’t use them as much.

Temporary Garage Craft Room

I haven’t posted in a while, because I’ve been busy cleaning my “real” craft room, the past few weeks.  Here are a few pictures of my temporary “garage” craft room.

And really this is more of a Cricut crafting center, as it is the focus of this setup.  (I have minimal stamp supplies here.)

It is a little messy, but it’s a garage!

That’s pretty much it,  just two tables, and two chairs, two lights.  Next picture is the dresser I bought at an auction for $40.  It’s a very nice vintage oak dresser, and it helped me get stuff off the floor.

Above pic shows only wear is knob on bottom LH corner here, needs a little varnish.  Other than that, it was not scratched up, and not dirty, at all.  I didn’t have to clean any of it, before using. 

Above shows the inside drawer lining.  Do you think it may have been for a child, LOL?  I don’t care, it’s a craft room.  Disney doesn’t bother me any, I think it’s cute.  Besides, that stuff is stuck on there good, and it’s very clean, doesn’t even have a musty smell, or anything.

Hello Snow White!  Bambi and Jiminy Cricket!  (How appropriate.)

No, I’m not trying to get rich on Antiques Roadshow or anything, thought the label might tell me when it was made, but no luck.  It’s still pretty, and metal, so thought I may as well include it here.

So that’s what I have so far.  I hope to get my “real” craft room picture ready in the next few days.  I’ve already used it, and have minimal work to finish, mainly getting stuff out of totes.  Everything in the garage pictures above is already in my room.

Goodies in the mailbox!

This picture pretty much speaks for itself.  $52 and change for all of this stuff!

I got the Cricut Expression!

Hello out there.  I haven’t posted in awhile.  Not been crafting much lately, but my husband got me the Cricut Expression recently, for my birthday.  Those of you who scrapbook, or make cards, know how coveted this machine is!  I’ve wanted one for ages, but could never justify the cost.  However, due to certain new cartridges, it is now going to save me money.  And I also signed up to make cards for a craft show later on this year.

I know I haven’t posted any pics yet on here, or any projects, which is why I started this blog.  But I’m going to play with the machine tonight, with my papers, and adhesive.  So hopefully soon, I will have some real projects to focus on.

Subscription error leads to total obsession!

Hello again.  As I’m sitting here thinking of things to write, I thought it would be a good idea to tell why I got into crafting, in the first place.  Guess I was about 19 or 20, when Publisher’s Clearing House accidently sent a general crafting magazine to me, with a bill.  It was not supposed to be mine.  I never ordered it.  At first, I was a little upset, I was going to have to send it back, and tell them I didn’t order it, here goes the hassle!  But, low and behold, I opened it up, and began flipping through the magazine.  It didn’t take long to realize that Hey, I could make that!  And, I’d love to make this!  And it sure would be cheaper than buying it already made by someone else!  So I ended up sending a check for the subscription, and have been crafting ever since.

CraftyGale’s First Post

Hello everyone!  I decided to start a blog, because I am into so many different crafts, and thought I could maybe pass on some techniques I’ve learned, or created, via the web.  Also, I thought blogging to be something I should learn to do, in today’s everchanging tech world.  I will get into more details later, as I learn to do this.  Hopefully complete with photos of examples on here.  This is my introduction, and very first blog post, so please be patient, as I learn more about it.  I do have many different crafting interests, so I hope to show different things on here, from time to time.