CASology Simple Studios Blog Hop
We’re well into 2021 now and I find I’m always looking for ways to simplify and make life processes more efficient this time of year. This goes for my craft hobby too! If you’re anything like me, you love to see what other crafters are doing in their craft spaces for organizing and keeping their stashes under control…we all know things can get out of hand at times! You’re in luck this week as some of the CASology design team have offered to share a little peek into their craft spaces!
**You should have arrived here from Nancy’s blog!**
I decided to share a few of the things that make my heart happy in my craft space. My family could tell you that I love having things in order, when life allows it. Sometimes I struggle with letting the reins of my ingrained perfectionism become slack, but honestly, I find order in my personal space creates freedom in my mind. Don’t get me wrong! There are plenty of times when areas of my home and life become cluttered (especially with 6 people in the household, all with their own personal needs), but life does happen and finding the balance through it all sometimes means giving up control over things that simply have to take the backseat during intense experiences. With that said, here is a photo of my craft room yesterday, just to offer you some proof that my good intentions aren’t always reality:
See the things piled on the counter? That isn’t my mess. With the pandemic, my craft space has become a temporary office to my hard working husband, so that is what you see on the left side…computer cords and notes from his many Zoom calls over the last year as well as wires and computer programming type items. There is another little contained pile on the floor that you can’t see. The rest of the counter collection is partly DD’s creative project materials and some die cut hearts that we’d made together a while back and need to get back to using. She loves to paint and I try to give her lots of opportunities to do so. She definitely has my creative genes.
With that confession out of the way, let’s take a look at the little details that I have found work for me when keeping my craft space orderly and efficient!
Stamps.
I don’t think I have to explain to you how these can quickly take over a craft space, especially when the user seems to have had a weakness for new releases and cute images. I’ve gotten better and more selective over the last year, I promise, and am currently de-stashing and selling many on Ebay. My design style has evolved over the years and, as you know, I am definitely into clean & simple design these days.
While I count myself lucky to have a spacious craft studio, I definitely do not have the luxury of a studio like Jennifer McGuire’s with custom cabinets, etc. My craft studio is actually a room in our basement that is a bar area. DH built it with the thought that if/when we sell the house, potential owners can use it as such rather than a craft room. Last year, I decided to make use of an Ikea dresser for storing my stamps.
I’d seen Jennifer McGuire’s system of storing her clear stamps and decided to figure out a way to customize it to my own set up. It is still a work in progress, but this is what it looks like:
I used my label maker to create labels for each clear stamp envelope, organizing sets by company and then alphabetizing them by the name of each set. Why do I go to this extreme? I use Evernote to then take a photo of each set, tag each by category (e.g. birthday, hearts, cat, dog, etc.) and then store these electronically in a catalog so that when I’m searching for a particular type or theme of image, I can do a quick search in the app and find what I need. This saves me so much time! I used to look through my stamp sets one by one, looking for the perfect image for a project. No more!
Ink.
I started out my card making journey using only Stampin Up! inks. Over the years, I’ve found myself veering away from all the colored inks out there on the market and sticking with the basics, Versafine & Memento. I do still reach for colors, on occasion, so haven’t felt motivated to part with much of my ink stash at this point.
I store my ink pads in these lovely holders. Distress Oxide inks are store in smaller, stackable ones. These are all within easy reach.
Copic Markers.
I can’t say I have a huge collection of these wonderful coloring tools, but the ones I do have are stored in another vertical storage unit within easy reach on one end of my counter space.
Cards & Envelopes.
Each year, I seem to create and accumulate so. many. cards. This year, I plan to donate many of them to charitable causes and simply send more! To keep them organized, I categorize designs by theme and use labeled dividers to make it easy to find what I need on any given day. This is also in the Ikea dresser I mentioned earlier in this post.
Envelopes are grouped together by type and color so I can easily find the size and color I need.
I hope this little peek into my craft space inspires you to take a look at your own and realize it’s often simply a matter of knowing how you work and what makes the most sense in your personal space and your personality! What works for me won’t necessarily work for someone else, but I hope these little tips and tricks might give those of you who need a little revamp in your craft spaces a starting place to launch your own organizational project from!
You’ve completed the Simple Studios Blog Hop, if you started from the beginning! If you didn’t start at the CASology blog, you can head on over there now and make sure you’ve commented on all the stops!
By doing so, you put yourself in the running for the $20 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp! The deadline for qualifying is this Thursday at 11:59 p.m. (CST)!
Happy creating!
34 Comments
Great space, Melissa! I love how you have used a dresser for stamp storage. Evernote is great for getting me to use forgotten stamps and dies.
Many of the ways you organize are the same as i do – don’t have an envelope drawer tho – thanks for sharing your story and your space.
Wow, WHAT AN orGANISED SPACE! jO X
Your space is so well organized! I love those drawer units. I’ve often thought about trying to organize my stamp collection digitally, and have started using a couple of different programs, but never got very far with any of them. It seems so overwhelming! Thanks for the great tour!
You all are making me VERY jealous that I don’t have access to an Ikea here. Love how organized you are, those drawers are fabulous.
I adore your organisation – I need something like this. I am debating trying to get something for my promarkers as currently they live in a RUB!
Hugz Tinz
I too use evernote and love it. aM NOT AS ORGANIZED IN LABLING THE STORAGE ENVELOPES, SO THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION.
THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR SPACE WHICH LOOKS ORGANIZED TO ME…FAMILY ORGANIZED!
What awesome lighting for your space! I love those nice drawers for your stamps, and I have some very similar storage units for my Copics! Looks great!
Melissa, it’s no wonder you have such a wonderful grasp of CAS design – your space is perfectly organized, clean & simple!
=]
Your studio space is beautiful, Melissa!!! Thank you for sharing with us!!!
You have so. many. envelopes! I’m in awe!! Beautiful space and a dresser is a great idea for storage; the drawers are nice and deep!
Awesome space MelIssa. Lover your stamp storage.
What a beautifully organized space. It is beautiful. I Started once to try to organize DIGITALLY but it was not successful.
A great space. I love the way you’ve organised your stamp sets and idea of evernote. SOunds so much easier than going through all the sets!! Well done starting to get rid of things you don’t use any more. I must follow your lead. Stay safe! 🙂
Love your realism. Also live your organization.
So fun seeing your space
OMG! I love your storage for your stamps and ink! I need to use evernote and organize mine in there!
Love your stamp set organisation MelissA! That is such a great System. I like your draw units Too; i have open shelves with box storage, but i love the sleek lines of your Unit. Great tour – this has been a fun hop, especi for someone nosey like me!!
So many great ideas for storage, I think I will borrow some:)
I love how neat and tidy your stamps are! I am working on mine but have a long way to go!
Lovely! So bright!
Oh how i love your special ink pad storage. It makes it clean and tidy and allows you to use all the colors. thank you for sharing your space
I love your space and the way you have organized it.
So very nicely organized. And I agree about “having a weakness for new stamps”. Such a “fun” problem.
Your space is wonderfully ORGANIZED and I can see why so many good ideas come from there. Thanks for the tour.
Awesome craft room!
Love the reality you show in your space. I wish I had your counter space – thanks so much for sharing your organization and craft space with us!
I love how you have organized your craft space. I wanted to start organizing my cards on the themes, but I’ve just never gotten to it. Thank you for sharing.
You have organised your space so well,loved it! Thanks for sharing ☺️
wonderful craft space, melissa!! Love how you organized it. I like how you have organized your stamps. It’s a great method, if you have a lot of stamps. I don’t have them so many and store them by themes. Thank you for the tour. :o) xx
what a great peek into your craft room. I love how organized you are. I don’t know how I missed that this was going on within our team…I’m not ready to show anything, but I have gotten so many great ideas from my teammies. I don’t think my space has changed much since the last time we did this (we did it before, right? or was that a different team?) Anyway, I also wanted to comment that I also use Evernote, and find it essential to help me to keep track of what I have. Tags and searches have helped me find just the right stamp for the card I want to make. Thanks so much for sharing.
Oooh, you have lovely organization. Thanks for sharing. Hugz
Great stamp storage and containers for Copics. Thanks for sharing. CarolG