Dream BIG

I've got this thing in my head about not posting to my blog because I've got nothing "crafty" going on in my life. I suppose that's true in some ways and not in others. I do have some pictures to post of the progress of my next Scrapbook Nook. Sheesh, one can hardly call that space a "nook". Below are some pictures- it should give you a good idea of how large a space my new "nook" will be.

From the pink insulation and where you see those white pipes on one side to just past the 2nd window and where the metal house support beams are- that's the size of my new nook.

This 2nd picture is of a corner- it's where the new bathroom will be.

And this 3rd picture is the space under the stairs and where the door will be to enter my scrapbook nook. Granted, I took these a few days ago and there has been even MORE progress made on that basement. We have rolls of cotton candy pink insulation, loads of sheet rock (drywall) and of course wood for the framing. 

Next step is the framing, then the electrician will come in and do the wiring. We've got to get with it and get some bathroom fixtures. My side of the garage is full of construction stuff such as doors, all of that insulation and of course the wood for framing. So there IS progress being made. And the best part is that when this is all finished, it will be my biggest Scrapbook Nook yet! 

The start of the beginning

What's today's blog post title even mean? Really, right? Well it has to do with my first meeting with a contractor to finish off our basement and to build my new and much larger Scrapbook Nook! I'll even get a bathroom that's adjacent to my scrapbook nook/creative art studio...now I'm living large! I'm giddy with excitement as we're to meet with a different contractor this evening- apparently my husband has several different contractors coming over this week to give bids on what we want done to the space that is now just a basement.

Our basement, currently it's just a big hole that contains the majority of my quilting and sewing goodies, the bulk of my beautiful fabric stash and of course ALL and with that I do mean my entire scrapbooking and paper crafting world!  Everything I own in the way of creative mediums is either packed in cardboard boxes or plastic bins, ugh!  Well with exception of my kitchen toys, they are on shelves.

 The crazy life of a creative person such as myself whose mind is always percolating with ideas is a complicated one at best(insert laughter here). I'll have to pace myself so I don't overboard before we even begin on the space. I need to think about paint colors, yup that should keep me busy for a little while, LOL! 

Now before I digress yet again... the real fun begins as I start with designing the actual floor plan for my new creative space. Where do I want the electrical outlets? Where do I  want my work surfaces to be? And of course there's got to be cabinetry, lots and lots of cabinetry! I know that I want to do radiant heat flooring in there since my new creative space will be in the basement - I always say that warm feet are happy feet♥.

I'm off to have another cup of coffee and to look at my diagram and think about cabinets and shelves and a big island in the middle to use as a design/cutting table. Oh the possibilities!

Future Space for my all new Scrapbook Nook and Quilting Corner

Did you know...

I will once again be designing and creating yet another Scrapbook Nook? Kind of unfair isn't it. To go through all of that work only to have to take it apart to be packed up with the very real possibility of not seeing my crafty stuff for months on end. Thinking about it makes me ill. AT least I'll be able to find an Ikea in the part of the USA where I'm moving to.

Once again I will take what I have and transform yet another space into my creative habitat. I hope that others will find my scrapbook nook transformations as being a means of inspiration. I will share pictures from start to finish in order to be helpful in the organizing of other creative spaces.

2212/1770

2212 That's the number of views my my webshots page has had this past week and 1770 is how many views my scrapbooking/crafting room album has had this week-WOW! I hope that all who saw my album have been able to find inspiration from the pictures of my various scrapbook nooks over the years. I just keep adding pictures to the album. I think that it also gives an insight as to the evolution of my crafting spaces not to mention the ever changing selection of items available to us for organizing such spaces.

My very first crafting space was of course the kitchen table and I stored my items in a tote bag then I spread into a small linen closet (that was Texas), next was a corner in the formal dining room in Virginia, then in government quarters aka military housing in South Dakota it was a utility closet (I shared my space with a water heater and a furnace), then a room that was made especially for my scrapbooking and paper crafting habit (the house we bought in South Dakota) and now here in England it's a very small bedroom of which I've been able to create my latest Scrapbook Nook". All along this journey I've used what was available to me. The industry that designs and sells Organization tools and supplies has undergone an evolution of it's own- there's so much more available to us now. Places like IKEA are virtual fountains of inspiration- just walking through the various sections makes my imagination soar! The hardest part is figuring out what you want, the 2nd hardest part- putting together the items that you just bought at IKEA, LOL!

Embrace your Space- UK version of My Scrapbook Nook unveiling

For inspiration for my new "nook"I looked at pictures on the internet- to see what others have done with small rooms turning them into their crafting spaces. It was important to me that I incorporate pieces that I already had. 1-this helps me to stay on budget and 2- these pieces work very well for me. After looking at what Ikea had to offer I was able to make a decision on what work best in the room. I wanted to give my space a total overhaul but also staying within a budget.
Measuring the room is key- don't go anywhere before you measure everything twice! Measure the items you want to use in the room. make a graph and move the pieces around. For me, I had to contend with a radiator, hence this work desk you see in these pictures, it's perfect for the space!
I also wanted a fresh color pallet- that's one of the nice things about moving every few years, getting to try new things. The black/white/silver makes it not look so overwhelming. Too much color can make small spaces that need to hold a lot of things look unorganized and cluttered. The black and white floral boxes you see in the picture give a uniformity to the space and keeps clutter hidden in a discreet manner.
Any questions- please e-mail me and I'll be more than happy to help you.

I love this glass door shelf unit, there's a large drawer underneath the shelves for storing large tools and such.

I've obviously embraced IKEA- these fabric bins are fantastic and the price is pretty reasonable too!

My IKEA work station

I lined all of these drawers with black cardstock for contrast, that and the fact that I didn't want to see the stacks of stamps.

Same stuff on the shelves as in South Dakota with exception of the Ikea Boxes

My TALL chrome shelf unit- LOVE this thing! Bought it at Lowe's in Rapid City and I've never regretted it! As you can see, this baby can hold a lot! Same items I had on it back in SD now I've added 2 jumbo storage boxes from Ikea. I can hide tons of bulky items that make my nook look messy- love it!

The lower closet area-not sure if I'll use the Cricut while here but I bought it anyway, I'm worried that it will die an early death.

The upper closet area. I used a shelf unit that I had in the home office/guest room at our last house. Black and White containers are from Ikea.

Back to Scrapbooking...

It feels like forever since I've sat down and have created an actual scrapbook layout. Oh wait, that's because it has! Well ,when ones things have been in storage for 6 months of course its going to feel like that, LOL! If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times- moving is not for wimps and a military move overseas really isn't. It's taken me a month to sort out the mess that the movers have made of my scrapbook nook when they packed it all up back in June. I've been weeding things out, consolidating other things and donating to charity things I know that I won't use. Now I'm almost ready for the unveiling of my new UK edition of my scrapbook nook. Stay tuned....

Creating the Ultimate Scrapbooking Room- Organization, tools

When it comes to scrapbook room organization, first and foremost is room layout. Now comes the placement of your tools. Are they easily accessible? Are all of your scrapbooking/paper crafting tools located in one general area or are they spread out all over the place because of poor organization and/or lack of space?

Have you ever heard of the term "rabbit holing it"? It's where you come home with scrapping tools and paper and just "put them" where you have space. I knew someone who would lose items and end up re-buying the exact same things- once she bought the same tool 3 times because she forgot where she put it. My friend has been reformed with help from yours truly (and yes she reads my blog-this will make her laugh). But honestly,there's not a one of us that has not ever has been guilty "rabbit holing". I know that I have and your probably guilty too, LOL!

There are a few different ways to tackle this and the one one that has worked the best for me is to have a designated "work area". Have an assigned place for your tools, from scissors, rulers,paper trimmers to the big paper cutters, Sizzix, Quickutz, Cuttle Bug and Cricut. Does this "work area" have elbow room? Where you can spread out your tools and use them? Is there adequate storage near this assigned work area for your tools- or at least for your frequently used tools? There's lots to think about when creating your work space. Do you have tools that you aren't using? Or ones that you use so infrequently that if you really think about it they are just taking up valuable space?

An easy solution for tool organization is the peg board. We've seen this stuff above our husbands work area in the garage. I had this in my littlest scrapbook nook and loved it! Everything was right there at my finger tips and the hooks were easy to move around to accommodate items of various sizes.. So hunting for scissors or rulers, all my needs where right in front of me. Another tool is the rail system. Through a series of "hooks" that can slide back and forth you can hang your tools and other items such as embellishments- similar in concept to the peg board but not requiring a large block of space but rather a horizontal area long enough to accommodate the rail and items hanging from it. I bought mine at Ikea (in the kitchen section) and was surprised at how inexpensive they were and there's these cool baskets that you can hang from them as well (nothing was more than £3 or $5 US), plus the hooks of course. I have one basket that I'm hanging from my work station for things I want to have right there or things that I can place there that will need to be put away when I'm done using them.

I know that I need to post pictures of these things I'm talking about (that's a New Years Resolution I'm still working on from last 2 years, LOL!). I also need to go on another Ikea run- I've got a cubby space to fill and I know exactly what I want to fill it with :-)

Creating the Ultimate Scrapbooking Room- Organization

Organization- getting there is half the fun!

Moving is not for wimps. Having ones entire house packed up and moved across the USA is one thing, moving to a NEW country is quite different.That being said it's time to get my scrapbook nook reorganization project into high gear!

I love organizing and reorganizing spaces, figuring out how to better utilize a space puts me in my element. I'm once again in a new to me house and am working with the space I have been given-trying hard not to use the kids closets as auxiliary storage spots as I had done in the past. I want everything I use for scrapbooking and paper crafting to be in my scrapbook nook and no place else-no exceptions!

You've seen pictures of my past scrapbook nooks and how I've made them into usable working spaces with the items and resources available to me. If you've not seen them then please check out my webshots page-look in album titled "my scrapbook nook/craft room". Each time I've tried something new and different, this space will be yet again be something new. I will not be painting the walls as I did in my past 2 spaces as I find the buttercup yellow paint color soft and pleasing to the eye while the white crown molding gives it a touch of elegance once doesn't normally find in a craft room.

Craft rooms don't have to be a utilitarian work space- they can be anything we want them to be. I've found inspiration for my scrapbook nook's new look on the internet. While doing research on what others have currently going on in their spaces and combining it with bits and pieces of my past crafting spaces, I've been able to come up with something that I find functional and aesthetically pleasing. Set yourself a plan and work accordingly. Draw up a sketch of the dimensions of your proposed space, consider what you want to put into that space and how you want it to work. Layout your actual working space and the storage space, is there a fluid movement and working connection between the two areas?

Next- Set yourself a budget! I've had more than one friend run into some big problems when they see one thing and they buy it and then they see something else and change their mind from the original plan and get something else. That's why I'm telling you- do some research on the internet, see what works for others in their spaces, if you can, ask them questions on where they bought their items, the sizes and yes even the costs. You'll find that many people already include that information in their descriptions to better help others checking out their websites.

Measure the walls, if you're considering hanging heavy shelving units be sure to locate the wall studs before purchasing the units. Is the floor uneven? check it as you may have to anchor any shelves or drawer units to the walls.


Containers- finding the type of container that works for your space sets the tone of how you will display and in essence organize your tools, embellishments, papers and more. First and foremost it's got to hold your stuff. Make sure to measure where you want the container to go, how will this container be displayed? Will it be stacked with many other containers of the same kind? Or will it be mixed with others of varying sizes? What exactly are you going to be putting into said containers? As you see, there are many things to consider in the purchase of your containers.

Stay tuned for pictures- I've got all kinds of things to take pictures of in my British version of My Scrapbook Nook.

IKEA for organizational tools!

So, there I was, sitting on my freshly vacuumed carpet in my Scrapbook Nook assessing my "needs" for more organizational items from Ikea. I am loving the rail system, now more hiding this stuff in drawers, it's out in the open and now I'll use it because I can see it! I had a hard time using embellishments and rub-on's because they were all tucked away, stacked in drawers making them a pain in the neck to get out and use. The rail system put them out there so they are ready and accessible at the touch of a fingertip.

My Scrapbook Nook is going under some serious renovations and I love it! Every new place gives me an opportunity to try something new- how many of us really get that chance? To move every few years, to pack up everything and reorganize it all in a new to us place. I never even gave painting the walls a thought as I actually enjoy this buttercup yellow paint, I find it refreshing and cheery. I am working on my window treatment- need to get a hammer and some nails ;-) My giant clothes pins are going up and I'll be hanging/displaying some of my scrapbook layouts on the walls. I love the fact that I've gone with white and chrome on the furniture, with black and white storage pieces. It just seems so open now. Now for me to finish getting that room together- it's going to take some time for me to have it thoroughly organized and arranged to be as I want it to be, but I've got time on my side now ;-)

the night shift

I went to bed rather early (9pm) only to wake up at 1am to my daughter and husband making noise as they were finally going to bed. You see, they were working in the scrapbook nook. My husband told me that he drilled new holes and put in new molly bolts to secure the Billy shelf units to the wall. Those self units are quiet weighty and they need all of the support that they can get (especially with what I'm going to store on them).

Of course I'm wide awake at 1 am and proceeded to check out what they've gotten done in the room. Both shelf units are up and ready to have items stored in/on them. I went to the dining room and unpacked a box marked "craft room glass"- knowing that that is where my jars of ribbons, buttons and Prima flowers are located. Well time just flew as I was working away organizing stuff in my scrapbook nook and before I knew it, it was 5:30 am-eeek! You know what that means...it's coffee time!

Getting there is half the fun!

Are you wondering what I'm talking about? Organizing my new scrapbook nook that's what! Those Billy wall shelf units are seriously HEAVY!!! And my husbands work schedule only permits him bits of time here and there to complete the project. Trust me, the British version of My Scrapbook Nook would have been completed if it weren't for his schedule. There's no way that I could possibly lift those units over my head and attach them to the wall- that is most definitely mans work! To my knowledge, I have at least one more large box to unpack for my scrapbook nook, it's the one that has all of my jars of Prima Flowers in it and my Christmas Sock Monkey. I hope that none of the jars are broken, that would be an awful mess!

I do need to make another IKEA run, I've already started making a list of what I need to buy. My m-i-l asked my husband what I wanted for Christmas, she suggested to him some quilting or crafting supplies (apparently she had recently seen some fat quarters that caught her eye) and he told her "NO". I had to laugh! After the firm NO he told her that I'm looking for organizational items to help me keep the "crafting items" that I have organized and out of sight and with that said, she's sending money so I can shop at IKEA...got to love that husband of mine!

I went to some charity shops yesterday looking for some organizational items- hat boxes mainly. I've seen some before but not this time around. I found some boxes at WH Smith but they were brown and not black. I'm going to keep looking, I'll eventually find what I'm looking for-I just need to be patient :-)

Less is More

I've been known to use that little phrase "Less is More" here and there over this past year. It's mainly been something for me to keep in mind when it came to moving. Now that the move is over, it's about organizing what I have.

I'm happy to be done with plastic carts! They've served their purpose well in my scrapbook nook's at our various assignments over the years and now it's simply time for me to move on. I no longer want everything in clear see-through bins, the more I think about it the more (to me) it felt like chaos behind a glass wall. I want simple clean lines and a more unified look. Granted I'll still have my clear acrylic shoe boxes for my stamps, but those are just stamps-you can see that they are stacked and not something that's just been "tossed in" and the lid closed down on top of it. And glass jars? Well those are for storing ribbon, chipboard, Prima flowers and other colorful embellishments that I don't mind seeing out on display.

I've been thinking about being done with my fishing tackle box for my embellishments as well-although I would repurpose that item for something for my husband. Although I do like it, the box its self is rather cumbersome to take out and go through on a regular basis. I want to simplify and well, the tackle box is on my "hit list" of items to be reduced from my scrapbook nook.

The rail- I can hardly wait to get it up and have embellishments out on it. I have a great many sheets of rub-on letters and phrases, fantastic cardstock stickers and all sorts of wonderful 3-d embellishments that have been tucked away in those plastic cart drawers for the past couple of years. I know that If I was to see there hanging up on a rail that I would actually start using them again! I'm not looking to buy all new supplies, I want to use up what I have on hand! I do not need cardstock for quite some time and I'm limiting myself on stamps. Tools- unless it's something that I feel that I can not live without, I will not be buying any more of them. There is a saturation limit on crafting tools and supplies and to be honest, I think that I've reached mine. Now it's time to see what else I can live without and "reduce" from my stash.

It's Ikea for my UK edition of My Scrapbook Nook

I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy my first trip to Ikea, the parking lot and store was packed full of people and we had tired hungry cranky teenagers with us. Add in that were with hundreds of people and all of us acting like we are salmon trying to go upstream not knowing where we are going on the crazy Toys R Us floor plan that's like a maze winding us through the entire store until we finally reach the cashier area. Top it off with having to BUY a bag to put our purchase in and having a fee added to your credit card because you want to use a credit card- well it wasn't the best start to a consumer relationship with that store.

Now the past 2 times I've gone shopping in Ikea with my husband we left the kids at home- believe it or not it made a vast improvement on our shopping experience in the store. Also, knowing what you are looking for helps- we shopped on line, looking at items there and in the catalog.

I've been using google and looking at many different websites, checking out what other scrapbookers and stampers here in the UK are using in their studios and crafting spaces. After looking at and studying some of the sites that have rooms similar in size to mine, I started measuring and seeing what I can do to improve mine and make it a more functional space while improving it's over all look.

So here's my latest haul from Ikea

The wire baskets (above) and rail (below) are from the Bygel collection for the Kitchen. The prices for these will amaze you (yes they are inexpensive). I've been looking at things like for years in scrapbooking magazines and Creating Keepsakes even sold some stuff like this although it was too pricey for me. I've always liked the idea of using a rail but I put that idea on my list of future plans. I bought 2 long and 1 short rail for this room.

I'm also putting one of these rails and 2 of the larger baskets in my kitchen above my stove for store items like my every day spices and kitchen utensils
The Slom jar from Ikea- comes in 4 different sizes, this is the 1.8 size and it's a great size for storing ribbon or pasta (I bought several jars- for each of those things).
The Billy Collection- I'm loving this collection, have bought a few Billy items and they are great! This is going to be mounted on the wall, it's cubbie spaces are perfect for me to store those Slom jars or the Malla baskets (see below). They are 40 inches long and I bought 2 to use in my space.

My new work area- the Fredrik work station. It comes in 3 different colors and I decided to go with white. I'm going with a new clean look. White isn't a busy color, actually it's not a color at all but a clean pallet- so here I am, with a clean pallet to work from.
The new drawer unit- This is from the Alex collection and it the tall drawer unit (there's also a shorter wider version). I'm purging myself of my addiction to plastic carts- I know it's hard to believe right? I want clean lines and a clean look, not a jumbled looking mess. And right now I have plenty going on in the mess department!

The Malla basket-found these gems in the closet organizer section of Ikea. I had looked at these cute crochet baskets but they were just too floppy! I wanted something that was more box like and not like a crocheted tote bag. Granted those crocheted totes were pretty darn cute but just not what I was looking to use for this project- may have to get one for my yarn though ;-)

Smadal Bookcase with glass doors this is where the Malla baskets will go- holding all types of crafting goodies. There's a large drawer on the bottom to house things that you don't want on display.

I do see a good relationship being forged, all because we decided to give Ikea a second try-and frankly I'm glad we did! I'll probably be making another Ikea run soon, I will need another Bygel rail and some more of those nifty baskets to house my scrapbooking embellishments, tools and my little jars of Prima flowers. Now for me to get upstairs and help my husband by clearing out all of the items that we're replacing with furniture from Ikea. Stay tuned for my before and after pictures of my UK version of My Scrapbook Nook.

The Heart of it all...

Every house has a room or a piece of furniture that is the "heart" of the home, mine is the kitchen table. All great things start there- be it coffee with girlfriends, making out grocery lists or having breakfast with the kids before they dart off to catch the bus for school. It's a gathering place that's always full of love. I've done quilting, scrapbooking, rubber stamping/card-making and book reading at that table. I've written some awesome recipes while sitting at that table and our children do their homework there, make arts and crafts projects for school or scouts at that table and have just hung out with their friends...all at that table. It's a place where we all gather to talk about the start or end of our day. I can't help but to smile when I look at it. As strange as it sounds, I've decided to do a scrapbooking layout on it. Now that My Scrapbook Nook is almost all together, I finally feel as if I can finally get on with my creative side and start some new creative projects. Are you ready for a scrapbooking adventure? I know that I most certainly am!

Creating the new Scrapbook Nook

For many months now I've been displaced and have felt distracted and basically out of my element due to not crafting. Well that's soon to change! I took the first steps in creating my new and latest version of my Scrapbook Nook. Having the chrome shelves in place and unpacking items right and left has given me joy and a rekindled desire to get back to creating and designing. And frankly right now at 4 am it's all I can think about. I want to get back over to the house and get working on getting a few things rearranged before wave 2 starts and the movers arrive with more crates of household goods.

Since I haven't seen my crafting things in over 5 months I found that I had to go look at my webshots page and see how I had some things arranged. Sad huh? The thing is, this space is a bit smaller than the last but I do have a closet for added storage. Now for the hitch... there's carpeting. I'm going to need a powerful magnet to pick up metal brads and a vacuum cleaner just for cleaning up all of those little paper snip-its! Stay tuned for pictures in the future.

My Scrapbook Nook

My husband came upstairs and told me that My Scrapbook Nook is been packed up. Care to guess how many boxes? And to think that I had donated a virtual TON of stuff to charity, the total number of boxes is 42. I'm going to go take some pictures now so I can post them later.

Snow Pictures

There's nothing like snow and a lot of it to make you panic. Get a load of the view from My Scrapbook Nook...

Day 1- the view from the front that looks out the front of the house is surprising. Talk about feeling a little uneasy

This is the view out of the window out the window that looks towards the side of the house. This huge snow drift is just past my flowerbed full of lavender.

Snow Day #2- Here is Today's view- are you feeling a little claustrophobic yet? I know that I was!

Looking at my Scrapbook Nook front window from the Foyer Window- this isn't looking good folks, not at all!

And here's a better view of the huge snow drift today...that's just a little past my lavender flowerbed. Do you see the dried up remains of last years Lavender? I can usually find little rabbits hiding in it.

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My Scrapbook Nook before pictures

When I get in one of my "moods" I pull it all out and go for broke until I have it all arranged just the way I want it. I made a huge mess and got it back together again...only took 1½ days.

My Scrapbook Nook After Pictures

Here are my "after" pictures- did you notice that I had rearranged a few things, hung up some pictures on the walls (I've been meaning to do that for a while now). And now you get to see what I have inside of the cabinets/cupboards.