Tuesday, September 11, 2012

My Craft space old and new

To celebrate being in my Studio for just over a year now I thought I would show you the before and after of my work space. 

Can you believe this used to be how I worked. I live in a small 3 bedroom house and this insane mess was my Kitchen after about 3 or 4  years of crafting. My poor family didn't eat dinner at the table for over 2 years  My hubby would come home from work and sit down at the little space at the table to have a cup of tea and relax after work. Dear lord how did we survive it all. To think I started this hobby with a few bits of paper, cards and some embellishments given to me by my friend Alma!!!! Before you look at the photos just try to imagine this as  your home and you will understand what drove us to come up with an alternative area to craft in!
 
 

 
Now I have 10 x 20 foot studio that was built in my little back garden by my friend Colm and my husband Gary and finished off by my mom and sisters bringing in a crew of builders to finish it all off.  Yes, my friends, hubby and family are pretty amazing people.

So this is how I Craft now :)


This is how the Studio looks when you walk in the door (after hours of cleaning and tidying of course as on a daily basis it is never this tidy and during demo time it is insane with bits of stock, paper and those annoying little white bits that come off 3D foam!)

I  have taken some photos to show you around the room. What I didn't photograph are all the boxes underneath my counter space as there are so many its just scares me!!!!! These 20 million boxes hold my extra embellishments, toppers, glitter glues, cards I have make, extra tools, workshop kits, kids workshop boxes, Christmas extras ohhhhhhhh and the list goes on!!!!!
 
When you walk in on the left I have a spinning rack for holding pre-embossed and packaged card packs. In the shelving unit (It was given to my daughter for her room by my friend Sharon and then stolen in a high speed room raid by me :). It was bought in Ikea and then you can just buy the drawers as and when you need them. It stores all my cards, envelopes, large cardstock, smaller designer papers, folders of stamps and office paperwork.
Look to the right and I have most of my cardstock. 2 shelving units hold my 12 x 12 papers and card. The double unit beside it holds my A4 card in various colours. The white  unit, has removable drawers that have toppers, cardstock stickers, punches, smaller die cuts for the Big Shot, Glues, tapes, extra scissors and tools for workshops. Beside this the black unit with the small drawers holds some of my ribbon in reels and loose ribbon and the rest of the drawers hold extra inks. Its not in the picture but beside this unit are about 6 chairs stacked up for when I have guests :)
 Look to the left again and its the start of my work space. I love displaying my wooden stamps as when I get a creative slump I just sit back and look at them and eventually get inspired to make something. So it was really important to me that this little shelf was built all around the work space and I am so glad I got it as it just makes the room feel creative.

 This is a better view of what I keep in this area. Mounted on the wall are magnetic tin holders. The long strip holding the tins comes from Ikea Kitchen section and the larger square magnetic tin holder is from Avoca Handweavers and was given to my as a Kris Kindle gift from my sisters partner Simon about 2 years ago (Simon you rock for giving me this - I love it). All these tins hold my fancy brads and eyelets (yep I have a lot of them!) Below these are my filing trays for recent paperwork, a little set of drawers  that hold bits and pieces and the CD cases stacked up hold stamp sets. Beside the CD cases are my larger cutters for the Big Shot and a folder which holds Embossing folders.
 Moving down the counter is the space where I lay out my demo kit products in groups, so I can see what I have to work on. In the corner I have my printer and laptop (I need noise to be able to work so I have movies playing all the time!)
What you are looking at now is where I do my main work I get great light from this window and I am surrounded by the things I like to play with.
These shelves on the left of the window mostly hold my inks. The smaller ones are in the large screw on lid Jars (Tesco's for €2.00). The bigger sized inks are in sweet boxes given to me by my local sweet shop and then there are random inks that have no set little home to sit in yet. The bottom three large jars hold  greetings of all kinds and jars 2 and 3 hold flowers both purchased and hand made.
To the right of the window the top shelf  has loads of little jars (Ikea) that hold my buttons  and bows. The bottom shelf holds my re-inkers, smooch inks, smooch sprays, Dodlebug mini glitters, pearl drops, glitter glues, wet glues. Below these shelves I have my daylight light and turn table that holds tools and bits and pieces.
Next is the section that holds my most used punches, my boxes with card ideas to remember or use and another area to work on. Sometimes I will have embossing set up in one area and decoupage set up in another and then in my main area I work on what ever has caught my imagination at that moment!

All my pens get stored in this section either in the large sectioned holder or in the plastic boxes. I also store extra double sided table in a box here so its close at hand. My Big Shot lives in this part of the room as I can just slide over in my chair, cut something out and then slide back to my work area. I have to admit I do spend a lot of time whizzing around in my chair to pick up things around the room!! Lazy...........yep (giggle). At just the edge of this picture you can see I have some office drawers stacked up (bought in Lidl) and these hold my older demo stock (papers, brads, decoupage)
This is the view from my chair looking down the studio and onto the back of my house. Tucked behind the card spinner is my ribbon reel holder which was made for my by my friend Colm. and I adore it (you'll see a picture of it in the old photos shown earlier)
Well that's it. I have to admit that every time I walk in the door of the Studio I take a huge breath and just smile. It really is my place of peace but I have to admit as much as I adore it there is a better feeling and that is just walking into my kitchen and being able to breath, sit down and realx :)

29 comments:

  1. Fabulous crafting space Cliona, enjoy. I have a craft room which needs arranging if you have any spare time. LOL.

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  2. Cliona your craft room is magnificent! I can only imagine how thrilled you must be to have such a wonderful space. Mine would fit into one tiny corner, lol, but I love it :) xx

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  3. Great craft room. Thought I had a lot of stuff but can't wait to show my hubby your photos as I am always getting new stuff (as you do)and can now say that I am just trying to catch up with you. Looking forward to seeing you in Limerick soon. Norah

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  4. OMG Cliona....heaven, just heaven !!

    hugs Diane xx

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  5. OMG Cli, I thought the first pictures were your craft room. When I scrolled down the page I thought it was a shop I was looking at. You must have enough stuff to keep you going for years... What a lucky girl you are to have such a wonderful crafting space with so much product in it to choose from. I'd be in heaven too.

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  6. Wonderful space to work ..i have a broken book case { everything is on the floor now ! And the living room coffee table .. covered on top & underneath !!!!!!!

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  7. and I thought I had a lot of stash but I think you beat me hands down Cliona. I would love, love, love to have those paper racks.

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  8. Ooh I am so so envious! I think we would all love to visit! Elaine-xxx-

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  9. Best of luck tomorrow xxxxxxxxxxxx let me know how it goes

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  10. Just stunning! Love this space so much! :)

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  11. wow i'm moving over to your craft room, its brilliant xx

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  12. what a wonderful haven to retreat too. Thanks for inviting us in for a nosy around.

    Claire

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  13. I must say for such a small space before, you were very orginised. Looked good before. But now it is AMAZING what a difference. I'm so glad you have the space you need and you have a kitchen back.
    Stunning. Thank you for sharing x

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  14. ooo my goodness what a lovely space ... I would love to come and play ... thank you for showing us around have fun in your new abode ... happy crafting and love sandy xx

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  15. It's fabulous! I'd love a craft room like that, thanks for sharing.
    Teresa xx

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  16. OMG....I want to come and play big time! Its ace....amazing and I want one too.....with all the stuff in it. lol

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  17. OMG how FAB is THAT... have you room for an over night visitor, I only need a chair in the craft room ;-) lol (oh and I just might never leave lol)

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  18. All I can say is WOW!! What an amazing space to work in! I love seeing other people's craft rooms!! Very impressed at how organised you are too! x

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  19. WOW! this is one amazing craftroom Cliona. Have fun in there!

    Donna x

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  20. WOW it's gorgeous
    I want to live there ;-)

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  21. First look and I thought, yes the mess and the taking over the house, we have all been there. Then I saw the new room and was going to say how fabby , but then I saw the racks of paper !!! I want those racks for my room and now I hate you !!! Not really:-) its really lovely and I do have the whole attic converted for me - but I want the racks !!!!

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  22. wow,its like a mini craft shop you have so much stuff,have fun crafting,x

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  23. Oh wow x pls can I come n live at your house xx

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  24. Wow! I want, I want, I want!!! I've been busy trying to sort out my crafty stash for weeks, just trying to get it to fit tidily into the space I have available into some new storage, but I haven't got nearly as much stuff as you, and only a fraction of the space to store it in. It all looks fantastic.

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  25. there's so much to take in I cant get my questions out properly, does the chair mark the floor? I had to stop using mine, how do I avoid that, is it ok if you have friends in and you are all facing away from each other? woould you need a table in the middle of the room? I have foundations in with about two years so i'm planning it all in my head but to be able to show this to people makes it so so easy to explain. do you have enough light with just one window? Do you find it hard to go out there when everyone else is inside the house? Do they find it hard if you're actually out of the house so much?Is it easier to be around the kitchen when everyone is at home? please don't think i'm being negitive but these are the questions I'm wondering about while I'm waiting to finish mine. do you need central heating to stop damp papers i'm thinking a stove will be enough? what do you think? can you get this insured?

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