Pretty Little Studio - My Workspace

Hi everyone!!

Today I'm up on the Pretty Little Studio blog sharing my workspace!! When we were looking for a new home in North Carolina, it was clear that I needed a room just for my scrapbooking. I'm sure many of you can relate. We do accumulate lots of things! For me it's also important to be bale to have my tools out and ready to be used so I need working space too, not only storage space.

I've been thinking about this day where I would show you my studio for a while now and I wanted it to be tidy and pretty, but the truth is, this moment never came. As soon as I clean up, I start another project and it gets messy rather quickly, so I abandoned the idea of perfection and thought I'd show you the real deal.

So forgive the mess, and welcome to my studio! :)

So my studio is right when we enter our house. When you come in, you are in our home office/kids craft room. It's always a mess. A creative mess. ;) It's not ideal, but we learned that it is what it is. It's big and airy and that's what's important. Also, i can be working on the computer while the kids draw and paint. That's priceless. :) On the left side of that room, there are 2 french doors that lead to my actual studio. No computer in there, so I really use both of these rooms equally often.

Come on in.

First thing you'll notice is my table. This is where I scrapbook. And I roll my chair over the other table often for stitching and typing. :) My table is OVERFLOWING!! But it seems like I can do pretty good with only a small space for my layout.

I'm currently working on my December Daily so I also have lots of bowls with all my Christmas goodies that are not always there.

Left of my table a drawer unit holding all my alpha stamps and my punches. On top of it I have papers that stand upright in large plastic containers. I found them in Switzerland and I can't find anything like it here in the USA. (I would like to change the ones that are a bit broken.)

My paper system is so: On the left side, I have all my specialty papers. Gold foil, glitter, vellum, acetate. And I also have my packs of plain white cardstock for most of my layout bases. On the right side, I have the collection that I want to be together and that I use most of the time. For example I have my Amy Tangerine papers, my Dear Lizzy papers and my "old" Studio Calico kits/collections... I also have the kits from my Design teams: Hip Kit Club, Citrus Twist kits. I don't store my Pretty Little Studio papers in there since they are of a smaller size.

For the month of December though, I decided to put my Christmas papers (Citrus Twist kits and Pretty little Studio) up front because I want to work with them this month. :)

Just over my papers I have two very large shelves holding stuff that make me happy. Photos of my kids, favorite projects I made, cards from my friend, my Harmony board from Ali's One little word class and a pinwheel that Ali Edward gave us when I met her at the Big Picture Classes Play event in California 2 years ago. :)

On my table: I have my trimmer (and my Citrus Twist Kit waiting to be worked with!), my Heidi Swapp mat, and lots of containers with my favorites inside.

Right next to me I always have lots of Pretty Little Studio goodies that I use all the time: labels (!!), die cuts, sequins and confetti, arrows, word art die cut, tabs, ... They are just so perfect for every occasion! Project Life and pages!!  Next to them I have my date stamps. Needing that many date stamps means that I'm old. ;)

I also have a cute wooden drawer where I keep wooden pieces that I would forget I have it they weren't right in front of me. Their sizes are a little odd and don't fit in the box with my other regular wood veneers. In that drawer I also keep stamp sets (mainly from Citrus Twist Kits and Studio Calico) that I can use on scrapbooking layouts. My stamps used for cards are elsewhere.

As I told you, I'm now working on my December Daily so my organization is a little bit different. I'm on 3 Design teams that have Christmas products and I also ordered Ali's kit so I separated all these so that I know which company what I'm using is from. Here you can se my Pretty Little Studio collection and my December Daily Citrus Twist Kits kit. Over there I have my washi tapes and my sprays. I And I also have my calligraphy inks.

Favorite Christmas products: Pretty Little Studio treasures!!!

My foil and glittery washi tapes are now sitting on top of the other for the month of December.

I also pulled out this cute stamp I bought in Switzerland as I was homesick. i never used it. I gave myself a challenge to use it this year. At least it's in front of me and making me happy for a month. ;) I also pulled out these stamps which are in french and Christmas themed. :)

This little plate holds mini stuff and sprinkles that will land everywhere in my album! Pretty Little Studio's mini die cuts, sequins, glittery stars, gold paperclips... They are sitting on top of my Ali Edwards paper pile. :)

Here, behind the two containers holding my Hip Kit Club kit and my Ali Edward kit, I have my box of essentials: glue, double sided tape, vellum adhesive on the bottom left, acrylic blocks on the top left, ink pads that I use all the time right in the middle (archival, versa fine, memento, stay on, chalk  in black and brown, and versamark), foam dots, glue dots and my stamp a majig, and finally on the right, my stamp cleaning pads and sprays.

Here on the right side of my table are all my writing tools: journaling pens, calligraphy pens, brushes... I also have some paper pads and post it notes. My scissors and bone folder. Rulers... and a pot of fresh water. just in case I want to watercolor quickly. ;)

To the right side of my table I have another paper storage. Over there I store my papers that I don't want in collections anymore. They are organized by color. On the left side are all the very pretty papers that i could use for backgrounds, and on the right side I have papers that I would cut in without shedding a tear. ;) If I need a small piece of blue for example, I'd go there. I have a big pile of all blue papers and on top of them I have a large ziplock bag where I put all my scraps. I purged these papers when I moved so everything that is there I pretty much love. :)

Sitting on top of my two paper towers I have all my Project Life core kits. Oh and on the left side of my papers, in that little metal drawer unit, I have some stamps (sentiment stamps for card making) and on top are my white papers mainly used for card bases, stamping and coloring images, and die cutting.

I use that brown wooden box to sort my Hip Kit Club kits when they come in the house. See, I'm waiting for my next kit now. The box is empty. :)

On the wall I have lots of things that make me happy!! :) I have my two last Christmas cards. And lots of golden goodies, inks and glitter, and glass jars and handmade books... my golden heidi Swapp marquee star and my chalkboard speech bubble!

This here is my Project Life table. It,s not where I work on my Project Life but my album is always there and open when I'm not working on it so it's easy to drop the pieces I want to put in it and to jot notes and stick post-it inside. That, to me, is an essential piece of my studio! On that table, as you can see, I also have my sewing machine, always ready to be used! Next to it I keep gold and white thread. My other colors thread are else where. Most of the time I use these 2 colors.

These stacked boxes are containing all my wood veneers, sequins, metal pieces (paper clips and such), flairs, acrylic shapes... They are stacked but I pretty much know everything that is inside and it's very easy to grab the pile and quickly access what I need. I have nice space to put them on my PL album while I look inside them. :)

Right next to them I have a container with PL cards!! Way too many PL cards!! The gold foiled ones are up front and I often reach for these first. - That's when I'm not using my kits for my DT assignments.

This box is filled with everything GOLD!! I love it! I was always searching for my gold things that were stored by categories. You know, my gold puffy hearts were with the puffy stickers, my gold paper clips were with the paper clips, my golden frames were with the frames.... so now everything is still stored by category except the golden things that are all together in that box! When I don't use gold that much anymore, I'll put them back where they belong but the gold craze has been going on for what 2 years? More?? Crazy! :) I love it!! :D

This third box on my table hold only really cool pieces!! Same as with the gold, you know, I went hrough all my storage categories and I found products (some that I had for 5 years!) that made my heart beat really fast or that sparked an idea. I pulled them out and put them in that box. They are die cuts, stickers, chalkboard labels, felt stickers, little pockets and frames.... you name it. :) Only pretty stuff!! (That spray paint bottle will be used to paint my daughter's birthday rick in June) ;)

Stitching and typing corner. :) Yes, I have a Heidi Swapp apron (I won it) and I have a framed picture of Heidi and I. I know, I know... Oh and look at that painting in the white frame, my daughter made it when she was 4. It's my favorite painting to this day.

That unit under my typewriter holds everything Cuttlebug related: embossing folder and dies + my binding machine, hot glue gun, cutting board, Fuse tool....

That back side of the room is used for storage. I'll just quickly show you around without going into too many details.

Here I have my sewing box with all my threads. I have a HUGE ribbon box. All ribbons are organized by color in large ziplock bags. I have all my wet media stuff: stickles, acrylic paints, molding paste, gesso... I also have all my glitter bottles. One large white box contains my embossing powders and heat gun, I have 3 plastic drawer units and they all contain my small embellishments: rhinestones, puffy stickers, brads, enamel dots, chipboard frames, rubber stickers, google eyes, etc. To the right I have my scraps of colored cardstock. On the bottom, between the two doors, I have all my Christmas and Halloween themed products! Stamps and embellishments. Behind the doors I have all my non scrapbooking material: beads and tools for jewelry, quilling, calligraphy, watercolor, paper cutting. I've always been into crafts and arts. And I tried many different things before I landed on scrapbooking.

That narrow with drawers unit is filled with all my stamps for card making. On top are my scraps of white paper and watercolor paper. That large brown cabinet is FILLED with cardstock, all my thickers, embellishments of all sorts. Everything by category in shoe boxes. I also have memorabilia and old photos in there. Someday I'll have to tackle that but not now, I'm too busy scrapbooking :)

On that shelf where albums are I hold my albums that are not full. They are where my pages go when I am done doing tem. The white albums hold all my empty page protectors. On the top shel, I have several books about the crafts I love: calligraphy, watercolor, paper cutting and so. :)

The library on the right hold my things from empty boxes and bags to old photo albums filled with old photos, more boxes containing labels and die cuts, older Studio Calico kits from when I was a member... It's where I also keep my magazines and reference books and manuals. I also have two shelves full of markers, paints, watercolor...

Do you see the 2 black polka doted magazine boxes? I have one for each of my daughters and that where I put everything that comes from school in their backpacks. At the end of the year I go through them and I keep only what I like. I put them in a 1" binder. One binder per daughter per 1 year or 2. During the year I sometimes pull out one piece that I directly put in my Project life album or in their individual albums. I will most likely attach a PL card to it explaining the story of what that piece is or mean.

On the floor I have my Pretty little Studio collection!! I have one shoebox per collection.it's not very pretty, but the system is working for me for now. I would have to purge my studio once more to make some room for them. The thing is that my collection grows faster than I can scrapbook. Especially beingg on 3 design team that send me stuff every month! I do have lots of things that I could sell but I'm not finding the time and energy to get to it. So for now it's there on the floor, next to my library.

And there we come back to the door. :)

I hope you enjoyed the tour!! And maybe got some organization ideas along the way. :)

See you again soon!
Marie