Friday, September 10, 2010

Frugal Fridays : Cutie Bee $1.00 today only and a peek of my new craft space

Hello!
The kids are in school and the weather is turning cooler!  You know what that means my favorite season of the year will be here soon.  I love picking pumpkins and looking at all the wonderful Fall foliage.  My son keeps talking about all the plans he has to play in the snow.  I'm definitely not ready for Winter and bundling up and such but I am loving the 60 to 70 degree temperatures we are enjoying now!

Even though the weather is cooler I have decided to put my Cutie Bee on special today only for $1.00.    Hurry and take advantage of this special because the price will disappear at midnight EST today...September 10, 2010.  Click on the words to have this cute little bee buzz into your home today.

Cutie Bee
Here is a great card CDT member Kelly Stone did with this little guy.  I just love it and it could work for just about any occasion from birthday to graduation.

As you may have read in previous posts we have transformed one room in our attic into a craft room for me/ play room for the kids.  I have been wanting to share with you a few photos of my new space but didn't want to make an extra long blog post.  Sorry I haven't a clue how to do video!  So when  a lady from the Scal hints grouped asked to see photos of my desk I figured that would be a good place to start.  I will share other parts of my room when I get chance (and when I get things organized!).


If you want to see any of the photos large simply click on them.  I did share a photo of the empty desk here along with the details of where I got it.   I really do love my desk!  I am a person who if it's packed away in a box I will not use it.  So for my scrap room I'm trying to leave stuff as visible as possible.  Also the closer things are to my desk the more likely I will use them.  I know I'm lazy!  I love how my cutter is just a chair swivel away from my workspace.  (I got a steal on that very comfy chair too...$10.00 at the Goodwill store)   It's soo convenient..sure beats my old setup where I had to stand on my tip toes to see the cutter screen.  Oh and my Mom made that wonderful cover for me.  It's prequilted fabric and is reversible with a less bold pattern on the other side!  Say "HI" to Adoree see her peaking in..told you she was a ham!  LOL! 


I also love that this desk is all open because that allows me to store all kinds of stuff underneath.  Above is the area right under my cutter.   I have all my solid colored scraps in these cheap plastic drawers (available at Wal-mart) labeled by color.  The smaller stackable snap together container  to the left  (from Snapware) I got at Lowe's and it holds all my small embellishments such as eyelets, brads, buttons also sorted by color.  (I lucked out on these too as I found about 6 of the divided compartments that fit inside these at the Goodwill too cheap!) Except for pink and green which are in the tackle type containers.  I know it's hard to see in the photo but I used the scallop from my card base 1 file to make the labels.  For the larger draws I actually wrote the name of the color in a matching marker.  For the little ones I stamped a butterfly in the matching color ink.  Sorry about the glare!  Oh and I almost forgot that wall paper seam roller is an essential tool for me as I use it to secure my paper to my sticky mat prior to cutting.  I roll over the paper in all directions until it is secure.  I find my mats don't have to be super sticky when I use this roller and also I don't need to use as much spray when restickifying my mat. 


I also love that the iron bars supporting the desk allows me to hang my mats.  I used my Crop a Dial to punch a hole at the top then used S hooks to suspend them from my desk.  They stay out of the way and yet they are still accessible when I need them.

This is the pie shaped corner of my L shaped desk.  I have not inherited my Mom's sewing abilities but I loved the look of stitching on cards.  So my parents bought me this little sewing machine.  It works great but only weighs about 5lbs.  I'm not sure I love it sitting where it is but I figured if I leave it near my work space I would use it more. I bought these Longaberger baskets several years ago and was very happy to put them to use in my scrap space.  I have one with material and sewing supplies.  The one on the small shelf  holds my external hard drives, paper pad, card sentiment book and my blades for my cutter. In front of it you can see the birthday organizer rolodex I made using my monthly rolodex file.  The silver pen is for my pen tablet.   You can also see my purple cow trimmer.  I love having this near my work area.  That way I can leave my layout or whatever I'm working on  in tact and just swivel a little to use the cutter.  You can also get a peak at the kids side..on the other side of my desk is their craft table with the silver touch lamp (I bought it several years ago before Adoree was born).  The kids aren't allowed on my side of the room so they keep out of my stuff! 

 

Here is the area below the pie shape corner.  The wire rack was yet another Good will find.  I have a few stamping supplies that I didn't know what to do with on it.  Eventually I may change this...not sure with what though..  Under the desk fits my crop in style tote.  I opened it and store my journaling markers in it.  I have stacked a file box, an old book and boxes under the flap so I can keep these pens on their sides as recommended.  This seems to work well and I will always have these pens ready when going to a crop.

The longer L part of the desk has a very cool smaller shelf.  I love this as it lets me put my laptop on top and still allows me to have a workspace.  This is great for when I'm using my cutter or if I'm trying to follow a tut.  Under the shelf there is space to keep my most used adhesives and my little Creative Memories trimmer.  I love this little guy for photos and I think it gives more accurate cuts on smaller pieces of paper.  Plus it has a drawer in it so I put my smaller homemade glue dots in there.  Look at what is on my workspace.  A layout!  Yes...I do scrap although not as often as I'd like.  I completed this layout at a crop but still have to figure out the date.   I will share this layout with you as soon as I figure out what date to put on it.  (I need to seriously spend some time organizing my photos...doing well with the photos I've taken this Summer but not soo good with anything previous to that!) 

This pink and brown basket/bag also sits on the little shelf.  It got it at Wal-mart.   It holds all my Copics, airbrush, and Copic journal.  The outside pockets hold all my most used tool such as Cricut spatula, Tim Holtz scissors, Undu, sanding block, bone folder, etc.  I'm always amazed at how much this bag holds.  It is great for crops too because markers and tools are ready for transport!


I can't give you a tour of my desk without sharing with you this cup holder/trash bag.   I won it at my Creative Memories consultant's crop which I attended several years ago.  I love it!  It screws onto the table and keeps your drink safe and prevents you from spilling it on your projects.  It also is perfect for paper garbage.  I do have a bigger wooden garbage can I need to clean up so I can put it into my craft space but this little guys works great for all the little pieces we end up with when we do paper crafting.   It's also great for crops.  I looked on the CM website and I can't find it so I don't think it's available any longer but you might have luck on Ebay.  Oh and the kids use empty tissue boxes for their garbage when crafting. 

Well that ends the tour of my desk.  I hope I didn't bore you!  Personally, I love seeing how others organize as I figure there is always room for improvement on my space.   I do have two more cute photos to share with you.  

I did the labels of my drawers yesterday.  Well I had left over circles and so I thought it might be nice to let Adoree play with them and try her hand at stamping.  She had a blast and impressed me a lot!  I even gave her a small piece of foam to put her stamp under for better stamping. 


I wish you could see her stamped circle in the photo above but sadly you can't.    She did soo well stamping the smaller circles were only about 1" but she managed to center the butterfly on them.  She did a few that looked as if an adult had stamped them..they were near perfect.  She even took the stamping a step further.  After she stamped all the butterflies on her circles then she stamped a matching butterfly on her purple paper and placed the circle on top of the matching one on the purple paper.  How smart is that!  I think that's pretty good for a 3 year old!   I know I'm gushing...but I'm one proud Momma!  I'm looking forward to her getting older and having scrappin' sessions together!  Not to mention going shopping for craft supplies together..how fun would that be!  LOL!  I can hear Daddy groaning.....his wallet will never be full!  Tyler loves to craft too! 

Okay this post is more than long enough....once again my stomach is growling and my daughter has been more than patient!  So I'll let you go!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a marvelous weekend!  Oh and I will have a freebie for you sometime time soon and I also haven't forgotten about the blog candy...look for that sometime next week hopefully!

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8 comments:

Tammy D said...

Awesome space. Adorable pictures. Thanks for sharing. Thinking of getting a second bag for markers like that too.

Anonymous said...

Oh Shelly....I loved your little tour of your ARTHaven!!! Wonderful space ma'am....and WHAT A CUTIE modeling the stamps!!!!

Sue aka barracudasue said...

I love, love, love the pictures of Adoree!!!!!

You are just WAY TOO organized! LOL Show me a picture of what it looks like AFTER a day of crafting! ROFLOL

LOVE your space, Shelly! You know I'm just teasing you! LOL

jzayler said...

It was like a where's waldo but I found the little cutie peeking in the first pic. She is so cute! You are so organized! My hubby made me this beautiful setup with u-shaped counter top and top and bottom cabinets, etc and I still have 'junk' everywhere. It wouldn't be bad if I could find a paper sorter/storage system I liked.

JustYolie said...

Aw she's a cutie!!!
Your craft room is amazing!! TFS!
BTW I cut the your scarecrow and used it on a card. :)

Shelly said...

Thanks so much ladies for your great comments! I have yet to organize the rest of my space but it's one step at a time right!

Sue it does look like a tornado when I'm working on a project..with this new space my goal is to keep it tidy and put things away..something I'm not good at!

I haven't found a paper system I truly like either. I have the vertical storage boxes by Cropper Hopper I think. I found a photo of a paper sorter online that uses those wire cubes but it is wooden rack that you slide the wire racks into and place your paper on top. Maybe one of these days I'll see if someone can build that for me.

Organization will always be an ongoing process for me! Ask hubby how many different systems I used to store my ribbon! LOL!

Yolie..I have been super busy but I'd love to see your scarecrow and feature it on my blog...please e-mail me!

Lisa T said...

I am SO glad I stopped by your blog! I need some new Copic storage (my collection is outgrowing the ziplock bag I currently use) and I have one of those same pink & brown totes! How perfect! Like you, I wanted storage that was portable. This is perfect!

Katie Burke said...

Thanks so much for sharing all of your ideas and your creative space in the Bella B Designs Inspire Me With YOUR Creative Space Link Party/Blog Hop! It has been such a great inspiration to have all the ideas!

I have another hop starting today at http://bellabdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/share-more-monday-show-me-your-favorite.html. It is on repurposed items! Hope you will join in!