Welcome to my Creative Space!

It's that time of year again when the mahvelous, and shabby chic queen herself, Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage hosts the 5th annual "Where Bloggers Create" blog party!    I always enjoy this.  It's an opportunity for me to visit other scrappers and crafters blogs and get inspired.  And, I hope that I inspire others as well.  If you've got a crafty/scrappy place you want to share, join in!  Click the image on the right side to go there.  So, without further adieu, let me start the tour:  Oh, let me warn you:  This could be a L-O-N-G post because I can get wordy with my explanations.  Consider yourself warned--LOL!

My room is in the basement now.  I used to have a room on the main floor of a house we rented 3 years ago, but when we bought this house 2 1/2 years ago, I had to resort to the basement.  We live in a very small ranch with limited space.

This is what you see when you open the basement door.  My room is decorated with alot of flea-market, yard sale and thrift store finds.  It's definitely a room created on a budget!   I have a desk from my childhood--a Christmas gift when I was 9 years old, that houses punches, instruction manuals and other assorted items.  I tried to make my room a bit shabby so I covered the ordinary wooden chair with a king size pillow case!   The small table beneath the pink shoe holder is covered in an old curtain valance and pinned in the back.  The 'vase' was bought at a yard sale and is filled with spiral flowers I made for my daughter's bridal shower last year.   Someday, I'm going to cover that ugly brown pole.

If you look slightly to the right when entering, this is the view.  My work table is a 6' long $40 table bought at Walmart (the kind with the plastic top and metal fold up legs).  I created a skirt using yards and yards of fabric that I had kept since the 80's when I used to do alot of sewing and before my scrapping days. I trimmed the raw edges with several yards of cloth ribbon.  It's held onto the table with velcro tabs.  The green bed tray (front) was another yard sale find and holds a vintage sewing basket filled with nice trims.   I'll show that later.  My husband was wonderful enough to build some 'built ins' around some of my Sterilite containers you can see in the back.  My shelves are loaded with stuff.

Note:   I have ALOT of scrapping supplies, but a third of them are also my daughter's.  Yes, my youngest daughter who is 26 now scraps with me.   Let's continue the tour:

As you move forward toward that small table I mentioned above, this is what you see.  Here's my desk from my childhood.  I used an old strainer to hold mini mini albums from swaps.  I also have a collection of heart-shaped rocks that I and my family have found on various beaches here in Maine.  My basement room is paneled from the previous owners and the cement floor was painted an awful fire engine red.  The only option I had at the time was to cover some of it with a white carpet left over from when my oldest daughter moved out.  

Here, you can see the carpet mentioned above.  This is standing at the door to the basement, looking completely to the right.  My paper stacks were purchased at a close out sale for $25!  The black one to the right of the photo was bought at Walmart--I can't remember the name of it.  As you can see, I've used an assortment of birdhouses, dried roses, items from swaps and soft dolls to decorate my space.

This is the view looking of my work table.  I covered the black desk chair with an old sheet, curtain valance and cushion to give it a more 'shabby' look.  I really need to change it though.  I've been putting it off for a year now.   The Sterilite container in the front holds lots of blank chipboard minis yet to be created.  It's rare to see my table so clean, but I did it for the tour.  It'll be messy before long.

                        
                      Here's what I store in the drawers.  Lots of mini albums and chipboard!

Here you can see another built in made by my husband which holds boxes and boxes of scrapping supplies.  More on that later.  To the right of the built in is a white bookcase given to us by a neighbor that fits the smaller Sterilite containers perfectly.  I covered the fronts of the containers with scrap paper.  I thought it gave the room a more co-hesive look, plus I didn't want to see what I had inside--it just made the room look more cluttered.  Right in front of the photo is my home-made 'clip it up'.  You can find the post here:  http://scrapmomsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-homemade-clip-it-up.html.

     

These items sit on a book case by my work table.  I used a two tier wire "cupcake holder?" for my Ranger supplies that sits on a lazy susan.  Next to that is a box holding all the cards I've received from swaps.  Some of them are gorgeously hand made!

 The jewelry holder to the far left holds my favorite ephemera--next to that is the box of cards mentioned above and another view of the two tier stand with Ranger supplies.  Below shows the white two tier shelf unit--again bought at a thrift store and holds baskets and boxes of supplies that I need within reach when I'm scrapping.

 This picture shows another lazy susan that holds an assortment of supplies--eyelets, scissors, glue sticks, paintbrushes, a jar full of blades for my cutter and a two-tier altered can holding pins and such. The troll in the back is the only one left from my childhood---I had dozens of them as a kid.  And, in the front is a ceramic purse bought at a yard sale to hold more scissors, pliers, Xacto knives.

 Here's the picture of the boxes on the green bed tray that I mentioned above.  The black box in the front is from a swap made by LaDonna--it's an altered cigar box.  I also have two altered tea cups from swaps that hold stick pins.

This picture is of the vintage sewing basket holding trims that I like to look at.  The two bracelets were made from actual vintage typewriter keys made by a friend of mine.  

 This is the view from the opposite side of the room (built in units).  These bookcases came from my girls rooms when they were kids.  The white one is crammed with mini albums I've received in swaps or made myself.  The brown book case holds smaller paper packs, album sleeves, large chipboard pieces, Project Life items and God know what else!  The top of that book case also displays more mini albums.  To the left are two book cases that was once part of an entertainment center than I decided to keep for this room when we moved.

                                Another view of the book cases and my paper racks.

                                                      A close up of those mini albums.

                                   Here's a closeup of the bird houses I've been collecting.

 This vintage suitcase hold assorted stencils.  On top of that sits a metal birdhouse, a metal 'contraption of some sort that I really liked which holds a paper slice of cake received from a swap.

 One of the units from the entertainment center which houses empty journals for art journaling, photo albums, decorative boxes holding CD's, Tim Holtz supplies, mini album kits and a whole lot more!

 This little black table used to belong to my daughter to hold her computer printer, but I snagged it when she moved to hold my Cricut, my Cuttlebug, Slice machine, binding machine, sewing machine, sewing basket, glass mat and extra cutters.

In order to allow more light and to prevent dust from invading my room, my husband put up sheeting mostly to cover the ugliness of the ceiling.   

                                         My Inspiration Board which needs to be updated.  
                       
                                      
 This is what's hidden under that table.  I used a white sheet to cover the table.  The Sterilite container holds my embossing folders, dies and binding supplies.

 For many years I was collecting teddy bears.  They now preside here in my room.

This wooden unit holds some of my favorite stamps.  The wooden house was made as a bird house.

 As mentioned before, I cover the inside of the Sterilite containersthen used labels from Michael's.  Some aren't labeled because they're empty right now---which is hard to believe considering all the supplies I have--LOL!

                     This is a simple stamp storage on the side of the unit from the entertainment center.

                     These are the containers that fit into the white bookcase mentioned earlier.

                                                               My button collection

A view from the middle of the scrapping area.  The strainer holding punches on the table has been changed:

          My Big Shot and paint spinner take up a good portion of the table against the back wall.

 Since the other pic of this table was taken, I've added my daughter's bridesmaid bouquet which I made for my oldest daughter's wedding last August.  I made 5 bouquets made entirely of paper flowers.

 The unit from the entertainment center showing the Sterilite container covered with paper.

 The back wall with table holding my Big Shot, paint spinner and homemade clip it up.  The tall white bookcase holds photo albums, buttons, jars of beads, necklaces, lace trim and assorted baskets holding a wide variety of other supplies.

 The top of these Sterilite containers hold my Fiskars trimmer, my new envelope punch and Score Pal.

And, I wasn't sure if I was going to share this, but I decorated the beam with an old rose garland and a paper garland from my daughter's shower.  The wooden frame is hung there to eventually display photos that I'll hang from the wire hanger.   My room is always evolving.   I'm glad you hung out this long to view my basement scraproom.  I hope you'll visit more often and please check out my other posts.

Thanks for visiting!

Welcome to My Happy Place!

I'm so excited!  Why?  Because today is the "Where Bloggers Create" party hosted by the wonderful Karen Valentine at My Desert Cottage.  This is her 4th year doing this, but it's my 3rd year participating.  I look forward to this every year because I just LOVE peeking into other crafters/scrappers/artists rooms.   Some rooms are small, some are the size of my house and others are in a corner of a room.  Yet, each room has its own style and is the creators 'happy place'.    Visiting these blogs has given me so much inspiration and so many ideas of what to do in my room.  

This year, though, I have a different room to share.  I no longer have the room I shared with you for the last two years--read this post to see my "happy place" from the past two years--http://www.scrapmomsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/06/where-i-create.html .  Why?  Because I moved!  My husband and I bought a house last November ---a small 3 bedroom ranch:

but it really didn't have a room for scrapping.  Soooo, my husband did the next best thing---he renovated half the basement for me!  What a guy!   It's taken me several months to get it to this point.  There's still a few more things I want to do---paint, hang up layouts, paint the cellar floor, etc.  

I have to apologize ahead of time for this v-e-r-y  l-o-n-g post.  I didn't realize until I was done how many pictures I shared of my room.  I hope you'll be patient enough to read the post and look at the photos. 

Before I show you my 'new' room, let me show you the BEFORE pictures. 


This is what my room looked like about 2 weeks after moving in.  I wish I had taken a picture of it filled to the ceiling with boxes. 

Arrggh!  What a mess!  I remember just standing there and wondering where to begin!

Okay, well you get the idea of what the room looked like 5 months ago.  My room is by no means glamorous, nor is everything matched exactly.  My room is unique--just like me--with a color scheme (mostly) of blues, pinks and greens.   Just about everything in my room is from yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores and from around the house that didn't serve it's purpose anymore.   It's an eclectic room, but I love it!   So, let's see the transformation now:

Oh, in case you might not have figured it out--I'm a scrapbooker and paper artist.  My love is creating mini albums and altered art.  I occasionally do a layout or two and really need to get back into that. 

This is looking into my 'Happy Place' as you enter through the basement door. ( I am standing in the doorway). My husband built all the shelves for my storage.   Behind this 'wall of shelves' on the other half of the basement, are more shelves for storing household items.  I should tell you that my room measures 15' x 22' approximately.  It's sooo much bigger than the room I had before. 

This view is as you turn to your right.  My worktable is a 6' table from Walmart that is skirted with leftover fabric that I've been saving for 21---yes, 21 years!  I just couldn't get rid of all this fabric--yards and yards of it from the days of sewing---so I used it to make a skirt to hide some items underneath.  This is a no-sew skirt---really easy to make. 

This view is looking to the right near the door where I entered.  (the door is at the right of the paper stacks.  The walls are made of very hard paneling that you can't even nail through.  Everything that is hanging was hung by using a very strong double-sided adhesive--made by 3M I think.

This picture gives you a better view of the entire room--well almost.  To the left are my shelves.  See the hanger right in front?  That will eventually be filled with rolls of ribbon.  The post in front of my worktable is a support post--there's no way to get rid of that!  I also covered the very ugly red and gray painted floor with a white carpet.  I know--I know--who would put a white rug in a basement, but it was the only one I had.  It was left here by my daughter when she moved out.  The wicker unit with the hanger will eventually hold scraps of paper. 

Here's my table showing the assorted panels of fabric for the table skirt.  I hung the skirt to the table using velcro and hid the puckered edges with blue fabric ribbon.  My black desk chair looked out of place with the blues, pinks and greens, so I covered it with a sheet, added a flowered chair cushion and a flowered pillow sham to 'shabby' it up a bit.

Another view of the skirt.

This is one section of my shelves.  I stacked the Sterilite containers (from Walmart) and then my husband built a shelving unit next to it (the one in the distance). 

This gives you a better idea of the shelves.  This is looking to the left of my worktable.  I'm actually standing by the water heater.  Needless to say, my room is quite cozy in the winter, never getting below 64 (honest!) but...it's warm now with a temp of about 72--in the basement!  Yikes!  But, there's no dampness whatsoever.  So I have to have a fan on to keep cool.  I've never known a basement to be so warm before.  Anyway, back to my room....The above picture shows all my Sterilite containers stacked up and are covered with scrapping paper to hide the inside. If you notice the small table in the foreground--that was from a yard sale and is covered with a round battenburg tablecloth.  A half-dome box sits there empty and next to it is my "Captured Fairy Bottle"  from a swap. Above the table hangs half of a 'shoe holder' which is hung on a piece of foamboard.  This foamboard, covered in contact paper, hides the end shelves that holds all our (me and my daughter) page kits, mini album kits, etc.  The 'shoe holder' now stores my glue guns, paper drill, and heat guns.

This is the top of my table.  I haven't seen the top of the table in a long time. 

The brown book case is from a yard sale from along time ago and holds some of my daughters kits, but mostly is a catch-all for items we've bought and just can't find a place for right now.  This book case is at the end of my table to my right.

This white bookcase was also bought at a yardsale for a few dollars and holds my smaller containers.  The bottom shelf stores wooden and acrylic stamps.  The 'tackle' boxes hold a ton of smaller embellies.  The other boxes store embellies related to seasons, holidays, events, etc.

If you were to stand at the end (remember the small table with the battenburg lace?) by that table this is the view:

This tall white bookcase was given to us by a neighbor several years ago when the family split up and moved.  This unit holds more 'stuff' from buttons to incomplete minis.

My buttons stored in Making Memories jars and old food jars.  They sit on a 3 tier shelf bought from Walmart.  I like having my buttons stored by color--it's so much easier for me.

Another flea market item that holds my mini teddies.  I love teddy bears and love to have sentimental items in my room.  Two bigger ones sit on the top. 

Did I mention that I LOVE birdhouses?  Well, I do!  They can be found here and there throughout my room.  This cluster sits on top of the bookcase seen above. 

 I store my lace ribbon and bits of lace, thread 'bobbins' and embroidery floss  in large Mason jars.  I don't use the thread, but I just love how it looks, plus it adds color.

I'm now standing at the 'wall unit' of shelves and looking across the room.  These bookcases were bought at a thrift store.  The white one displays all my mini albums that I've either made or I received in swaps over the years.

  A basket holds magazines, tube of contact paper and yardsticks.  The bag above the basket is a Tim Holtz canvas bag.  The brown bookcase displays more mini albums, holds paper pads/packs as well as sheets of chipboard, page protectors, paper organizers, and God knows what else!  LOL!  The bottom shelf has some of my daughter's things and the beginnings of some of my Project Life items.  See the unit to the bottom right? That is four drawers chock full of chipboard mini albums (to make into minis). 

Another view.  I have three paper stacks that obviously hold my paper.  And, this isn't even all my paper!  I usually sort by manufacturer for the patterned paper and my cardstock is sorted by color. 

Standing in the middle of the room looking slightly to my right.  The table on my right:

It was supposed to be a cutting table for the Cricut, but instead I'm using it for more storage such as:

my handmade Clip it Up.   And...

my punches (in a chipboard suitcase) and an old strainer.   I also have this:

An old wooden jewelry box that displays more swap items.  Above this is my inspiration board:

Next to this table is a smaller computer table (which was discarded).  On this table, I store my Cricut, Cuttlebug, the Cinch, the Slice, a small sewing machine, cutting boards, glass mats and my Brother Sewing Machine (on the bottom):

To the right of this computer table are 2 more bookcases that were part of an entertainment center that we dismantled when we moved. 

And look what's on top:

More birdhouses!  And a birdcage.

A closeup of my Sterilite containers covered with patterned paper and labeled.  The 'topnote' labels came from Michaels for $1.  I just typed up the contents on some paper, printed it, cut it and adhered to the label.  Viola'!

Getting back to my desk, here's what you'll find:

A wooden green bed tray (another yard sale item) sits to the left of me at my table (desk) which displays an altered cigar box from a recent swap; two teacup pin cushions (another swap); a box from Marshall's filled with lace ribbon, remnants and such; and a vintage sewing box filled with more trim.  The cover displays two bracelets made by a friend of mine. These bracelets are made from actual vintage typewriters.  

Beneath this tray are some art supplies--paintbrushes of assorted sizes, baby wipes, old baking pans for heat embossing:

Next to this, stands my large WishNik doll that I've had since I was a child.  A lazy susan holds altered cans for rulers, glue sticks, scissors, pins, and other miscellaneous items:

In front of my WishNik doll is a ceramic purse (flea market item) that holds scissors, pliers, a razor knife, Cricut tools and other assorted tools.   On the right of the desk is a small wooden shelf:

This unit holds a jewelry hanger that I use as a mini clip it up.  On the top is a box filled with cards from swap items and a two tier unit on a lazy susan that holds Ranger Inks, Ink refills, canvas tape and other TH/Ranger products.  Beneath this shelf are boxes of tools so everything is within reach when I work on a project.

Below is a picture of a basket (another flea market find) that stores vintage ephemera.  This basket sits on the wicker unit that will eventually hold my scraps. 

Next to my smaller worktable, I have this metal 3 shelf "thingy".  I store colored pencils in a painted tin coffee pot (another yard sale item)  and beneath that is a flower pot that holds all my decorative scissors:

Did I forget to show you anything?  Whew!, I hope not!  I'm so glad that you stopped by to see my room and I do hope you enjoyed the tour.   I plan on doing a video of it, but that won't be for a few more days.  The video will go into more detail (can you believe that one?!)   

Wishing you an enjoyable day!
Lori