Lyn's Scraproom: July 2009

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of my new scraproom. My room is actually a building that we had built about 20 years ago as a paint studio when we were in the craft business. We actually made and sold items made mostly of wood at various venues, craft shows in convention centers as well as malls. We also did a lot of the outside festivals. As stated in the previous post we also "did Canton". After we quit the craft business (or it quit us) I then turned it into my genealogy room. That was a passion of mine for over 30 years until I kept hitting my head against the proverbial brick wall. Other genealogists will understand that. Then it became a scraproom for a while then storage. For a couple of years I had my scraproom in our house in the spare bedroom. That worked pretty well until I discovered the QVC Forum and made a lot of new friends who are notorious for being enablers. Now we have our own Yahoo Group and have a ton of fun. Anyway, because of all the enabling and about a 3 month-long shopping spree I outgrew the spare bedroom. So DH cleaned out the old paint/genealogy/scrap/storage room and redid the inside. He put in a new ceiling, new lighting, new flooring and bead-board walls. Painted it my favorite shade of blue and I was back in business. Here are a few photos, pretty much from start to finish on my little hideaway. The room is 12 x 20 and as you will see, it is full. DH is now talking about adding on to the back of it and doubling the size.

It looked so spacious when this picture was taken LOL. Ok, the next picture shows my large work table. It is actually a large masonite door sitting on top of black fiberglass "sawhorses". It is a little taller than most work surfaces, however it works great for me as I stand and scrap probably as much as I sit and scrap.

Here you may see some familiar items if you look closely. There is my Clip-It-Up system with lots of stickers. My Xyrons are on a rolley cart at the end of this table and there is my MM Carousel desk organizer (love it). Also, my Fiskars cutting mat that I got for a steal at Tuesday Morning.

Here is another work area that is probably used more as a catch all at times (I tidied up just for this photo shoot). My paper rack which houses some of my loose pretty papers along with some organizer bins. The black ones I got at Walmart for I think about $10 each. You will also see the MM Embellishment center where I have some of my ribbon, flowers and Stickles. I also have a little three drawer cabinet that holds my glue sticks, glue runners, etc.

More paper storage. This is mostly solid color cardstock and the large paper pads from various manufacturers.

This is a cabinet that we have had for about 35 years. It along with two more were bought as nude furniture which my DH finished. Most of my flowers are kept here. Just below the shelves is a drop down door that forms a little desk like area. Inside there I have all my pens, pencils, etc. for coloring. Below that is where I keep my mailing supplies, envelopes and baggies for the swaps that I participate in.

Next to it is my clock on the wall so I will know when it is time to stop LOL. The storage units below will eventually hold most of my tools.

Here you will see the area where my stamping items are housed as well as my iris boxes of various scrapbook lines are kept. The little rack on the right has all the clear stamps that I have bought recently but have not used (ducking head in shame). The larger white shelf and the smaller shelf are items that I bought at Canton. The larger shelf is considered a book shelf and the smaller one is actually a spice rack, but I have my craft paints stored there (who cooks?). Below those are the Iris Carts that house my different themes such as wedding, Christmas, Valentine, baby etc. I also have boxes that are dedicated to particular brands that I love, such as SEI, Daisy D, etc. These iris carts were all bought at JoAnn's either using coupons or bought on sale at half price. I am a frugal shopper (good thing!). These are actually 6 carts one stacked onto another. The rollers that came with them---only the bottom carts have the rollers. The others were left off so that they would stack. DH had a piece of counter top that just happened to fit on top of them all. Here is a closer look at these carts.

Here you can see that it is actually two different styles. The top carts have a total of 9 drawers, 6 of which are small open drawers. Three of them have divided compartments for embellies and the other three are open drawers that will hold 12x12 paper. The bottom containers are covered boxes. These are great for a collection of themed items, paper, stickers, embellies, etc.

The carts below hold the more familiar iris boxes like you can buy at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. The carts are a good buy because you get the cart and the boxes for one price.

Here is a nice blurry picture (sorry about that) showing that I have my wood-block stamps housed in these shallow drawers. Someday I am going to get brave and take the rubber off the wood and use them kind of like the clear stamps. Will take up a lot less space.

This is my Cricut station. I have the original as well as the Expression. I also have the Jukebox which is still in the box. My Sizzix is here also as well as my dies. Hopefully I will have my Cuttlebug sometime in August that I ordered from HSN, but that is another story not to be relayed here LOL.

And last but not least is my printer/computer area. I have a HP wide format printer which I have not yet played with like I should. I also have the Lexmark all in one which I love. It prints quite well and also scans. One of the main secrets to good prints is quality ink and paper. At this time they are on a folding table with more iris style carts below. These carts came from Hobby Lobby bought with coupons (of course). I have my ribbon and punches in the drawers here as well as miscelleaneous other stuff.