Shut the front door... for a tour!

Welcome to the 'art room' as we like to call it here. It's MY happy place, my getaway, my BIG purple and green room. I've been working since the first of the year to get it just so, take pictures and share it with you, so I can go and mess it up again!

I'll give you a heads up, my art consists of mostly paper crafts, so scrapbooking and card making are my favorites. But I'm getting into sewing. And my heart has always loved sketching, painting, drawing, paper mache' and well anything that involves glitter and glue! So on with the show!

SO next to the door is this. It's an old desk my dad put up on little box like crates. 1. So it's up off the floor (BTW this room is in the basement, so everything is at least 6 inches incase the ol' sump pump stops working!) AND so we could fit the mini fridge under there! 

The shelves have plastic bins. Each labeled for the kids stuff. Works great. They work with a bin, and put it away before another comes out. The old CPU cabinet (with pom pom on it) is for the kids papers, coloring books and slippers)

I call this the 'Color Station' filled with, colored pencils (see my precious Prismacolors there on the left, my art teacher, Mrs Henize taught me about them!) watercolor paint, and pencils, glitter pens... and speaking of glitter...

THIS is a shelf from Archivers (serious sale price too) I keep my glitter, stickles, Tattered Angels spray, paints, Smooch paints, more glitter, some paints, flock and pastel crayons! Seriously just the array of color is enough to get you going!

Next is the 'Cardstock table' 

This is where all my solid card stock is, either 8 /12x11 or 12x12 size, up above is my stencils and Bazzil stictch mats. Oh and the black cart with the drawers underneath is more kids stuff, stamps, paper, and play dough. The green cabinet houses ALL my ink pads, right around 100 of them. Mostly Stampin' Up! ones. And at least 20 of them are a shade of some sort of blue! 

My Cricut lives below there, snug as a bug, and the cartridges are all above the cabinet.

So we turn the corner for the BIG storage in the corner. That blue bottom drawer tips open for ALL my organized 12x12 scrapbook paper. It's in Cropper Hopper files, by type, color, or theme. (So for example I have some labeled... cat, dog, Ed, Zoo, Birthday, some are exact like P!nk concert, or Disney.)

The 12x12 paper rack is for my two favorite companies, BoBunny, and Cosmo Cricket, and some Stampin' Up! too. 

The Big Shot die cut machine (yes I have BOTH the Cricut and Big Shot and like my children I love them equally) Dies, folders, are all there too,

BELOW is a rolling tote on the right, full of BIG files for 12x12 paper. So Mia and Alex each have a HUGE one. And my Christmas and Halloween too. (yet I have Neither holiday scrapbooked at all!!) photo boxes, and another purple bin for some odds and ends.

Sewing corner!

This is where I sew. My machine is hiding under the 'Happy Bunny' maternity shirt, and sitting on the desk that my husband once sat in, in grade school. Under the desks I store patterns, instructions for my machine, and stuff I am working on. 

Turn the corner again... (yes wall to wall counters!) and we are to the original counter. From Hobo store, it's a hardware store that is SUPER discounted, and you get what they got kinda store. Anyway cabinets and counter top are from them. Awesome bar stools cut down from my creative friend Michele.

SO this is the only counter that is 'counter' height. This corner is my 'Accessories' area. ALL my buttons, brads, charms, and well... accessories for any project are here. You see the black bars with all the black shape punches on the wall (bar is from IKEA's kitchen department) the drawer is more punches, and the cabinet is currently empty. The shelf below is for my scrapbook albums, and below that is bins with 3D projects in them, and a cat nap house.

Middle is more punches, pens, pencils, tools, devil horn headband... drawer 1. is Adhesive. Any kind of a glue, tape, glue dot, wet, dry, permant, or temporary you need. Drawer 2 is chipboard pieces in bags by type. And drawer 3. is ribbon. In bags by color. Oh and above are IKEA boxes, I coverd and labeled for more storage. Things I don't use every day.

AND the other end of the counter is my 'desk' my laptop goes here, or I sit with my creative magazines or books, sketch idea's, take notes, and sip coffee here. Drawer is my 'office drawer' with stapler, tape, chapstick (well chapstick you can find in almost every drawer!) post-its, cough drops, and iPod charger. Cabinet is for memory stuff. OMG that cabinet is a zoo! Below my feet is Stampin' Up! catalogs (since 2000)  and my empty scrapbook albums. Below that is my foam stamps and notebooks.
Oh see to the left is a wire mailbox file. I keep some fun black chipboard there, and on the key hooks is where I store my letter chipboard in the fun original containers. Also fun is the clock above. It was a wedding present from a very artsy and good friend of mine. We don't keep in touch any more, but I think of him often with my clock.

To the center of the room is my cart! I once had it in my kitchen, but it cluttered the room, so it works awesome down here! THIS is fantastic, the tall stand on the left is my 'Clip it Up' by Renee OMG, LOVE this thing. Two levels of clips. Hundreds of little clips for all your stickers, and fun things! (bought my mom one for  her last birthday!) 

Then we have my journaling tablets, and MORE stuff that didn't fit on the Clip it Up tree. Below is my photo storage (LOVE those things too. At JoAnne fabrics!) And even more photo books, two encyclopedia's and a bin with a project I'm working on. 

Let me explain the encyclopedia's. The new trend or in 'vintage' scrapbooking is the look of encyclopedia paper. So why buy it when I had a very inspiring friend give me these two books?!

Next we have 'THE table' which is a 6 foot by 3 foot table in the center of my room, my dad built it IN the room, I asked for the boards below, since I am short and need to put my feet up (since they don't touch the floor!) plus it's obviously great for storage!) Currently a work in progress with my buttons all over. 

At the end of the table is this massive file cabinet. It's a travel agent file cabinet, from my fabulous friend Piper. Both my mom and I got one. I keep my fabric in here by color.

Behind the curtain is the... washer and dryer... ewww... BUT it's like free counter space when the rest of the room is a mess! Yes I rigged that lamp on top of the dryer with that shelf thingy. It works! I didn't take a picture, but to my right in this picture is the laundry bins, and a 6 foot storage unit from IKEA, two doors. One for snacks, and one for supplies, like garbage backs, sandwich bags, floor cleaner, and plastic bags.

'The Art Office"

THIS room, or space is where it all began. It's a 5x5 square room, right below my 1/2 bath above. It was where I was going to have my little art room... HAHAHAH!!!

Either way it's now the office. I paper journal in here, sit and think, brush the cats, and store things. Above is all my Creating Keepsakes, and Scrapbook Etc. magazines. The clear boxes are all hand made greeting cards, and to the right of that is my notebook fetish!

The shelves go up to the ceiling, for more photo storage, and some odds and ends art stuff. And my drawing stuff at the very top.

The other wall is my 'Stamp Wall' these mini shelves really were intended for my little knick knacks that I didn't want around the house, but meant a lot to me. Now all my stamps are in cases here. 

The white cabinet is a box of me. Filling the 3 shelves are random photos, trinkets, and things from my life that make me happy. 

I didn't take a picture of the chair. But it was my Grandma Alice's. When she died, I played rock, paper, scissors with my cousin Kristi for it. I LUV it.

My room is full of things that are colorful, and inspiring to me. These quotes I read to get going or just remember to 'Trust your Crazy Ideas'. I keep a picture of each of my kids here...

Alex was just 2 here, sitting on my counter, playing with my stuff. I love this one.

And Mia was SO happy in this one, with her Darby doll. She was 3 here.

And what art room is complete with out some of my Chloe, and my

Jordan. Oh, they have a HUGE carpet tower, in the middle of the room, placed there in the winter because it's about 3 feet below the heat vent! They LOVE it.

So whatever your space is, be it a half a basement, a corner of a room, a closet, or just a cabinet in your kitchen, make it YOURS. Make it you. Make it special. Mine too 8 years of tweeking, moving, sorting and arranging to get it where I love it. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Ask questions if you have any on my space. If anything leave me a comment that you stopped by! Happy creating!

JCat