This shows my main work table which is in the center of my room.

This photo shows my magazine storage and the boxes under them on the next shelf down are housing finished cards having 2 catagories in each card.

Me and Casey's favorite area in the room again!

Boxes and boxes of patterns with no home as of yet.

Bottom 2 photos are showing a repeat area, the 3rd one up shows my 3 Stooges collector tin (laying on it's side). What you see is the top of the tin or it's lid. Also part of my name in wood, a pringles can covered in contact paper that houses my knitting needles, a garnet birthday doll and the top photo is a repeat area.

The second photo from the top shows me and Casey's favorite area in this room! My comfy computer chair, my PC and her resting tower (so she can keep an eye on me). ;-) Top photo just shows a close-up of my CM binders, my lap desk a couple red storage boxes that are now empty but used to house my finished cards, my button storage and some card storage.

The third and fourth photo up show the scrapping area that is very scarey right now. Under the table are several envelopes filled with sewing, crafting, crocheting patterns etc. My Casey's resting tower. There is a rolling tower organizer at the door that has my Christmas and New Years embellishments, my Valentine stuff is in one drawer, some templates are in one drawer and so on. My rubber stamp storage is in the next photo down in all of the drawered systems you see. The shelves have, on the very top, photo boxes and each one has been desinated to each of my three children with extra photos that they are the subject in, the others each have negatives, one has my husbands name on it, one is for extra family photos etc. Next shelf down has a TON of memories waiting to be scrapped! Then theres a shelf with all of my finished, unfinished and not even started books. The bottom shelf has clear 12 x 12 envelopes that each have memories that are ready to be scrapped. Each one is labeled with a name or title so I can see at a glance which one is which. Example: One has all of my Disney memories in it that I want to put in a "Disney" album. Last photo, just a close-up.

The top photo shows many boxes of ceramics that are actually sitting near the "scarey corner"! The photo under is showing the "scarey corner" of organizers on top of a microwave cart I use to house some of my favorite reading. Next is pretty much the same. The last one shows little organizers that mount to the wall and they actually pull downward. They have small assorted embellishments in them that are sorted according to color.

This photo shows my craft magazine storage mostly up top. These are my card making mags. and my scrapping mags., mostly cards.

My Happy Place???

Okay, so I decided to go ahead and load my craft room photos despite the fact that it is very much outside my comfort zone. I really am not use to having others scrutinize my mess. Please be gentle but firm LOL! I wanted to list photos of this room during the day as well as night just to give you all an idea of the feel in the space. I'm going to try to load a few more close-up shots of certain areas in the room. I hope this is enough to get you all started and I'll be checking in very soon to read, hopefully, all of the helpful comments. I have a LOVE / HATE relationship with my room. Like I said in the previous post, I know I am truely blessed. Thanks in advance for looking and your comment.
PawwPadd

Organizing, Reorganizing... Organized?

Well, here I go again. I seem to be obsessed with organizing things! I just cannot function efficiently or think straight if I am surrounded by unorganized things, in simpler terms clutter!!! I feel as though I spend my life, every waking moment, well almost, organizing and reorganizing my things, his things, their things, OUR things! I have come to an impass as far as my craft room is concerned. It has always seemed so out of whack to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, although I know it's right there in front of me and just a matter of time before I crack the code to every annal person's dream, "Ultimate Organization"!

I'm sorry I don't have any before photos of my room but, I will eventually be loading photos of my current situation. Now, I must tell you that despite how organized it may look to the untrained eye, IT'S JUST NOT THERE YET! This will be a step outside my comfort zone because I'm REALLY not happy with where my room is today but, I'm going to let all of you be the judge of that. My sister actually tells me I'm an organization guru... I want to be. LOL

I haven't quite put my finger on the heart of the problem in this room but I will tell you what I feel some of the problems are:
1. Every thing is mismatched. Not all of my organizers, shelves, drawer units etc. are the same!

2. Perhaps my stations just aren't defined enough. I have several different work stations set up, sewing, jewelry making, scrapbooking, card making, general crafts etc.

3. I HATE MY FLOOR! Ugly, ugly, ugly. Was there when we purchased the house 3 yrs. ago.

4. Not enough wall space for my shelving units and my special momentos, my motivating forces. Hard to tell, I know, but most of the wall space is actually covered in windows!!!

5. My lighting, I wear triple lens glasses... Need I say more???

6. Seems no matter what I do, it just doesn't seem to be enough storage. Hence the objects around the floor and under the tables.

7. The bottom line is, I just can't create well when I feel so stressed in this room. THERE'S JUST SOOOOO MUCH STUFF CLOSING IN ON ME!

I'm actually thinking about giving up certain parts of my hobby (crafting) to create some space in this room. Don't get me wrong ladies, I do realize how very blessed I am to have this space to craft in. I am grateful to God for this space, but if I'm not creating in this space to my full potential that means the space is not suiting it's purpose. Once I load the photos of my space, I will be happy to receive any suggestions you all may have. I will tell you now that I have four tables or work surfaces set up in this space. One table is for my jewelry making, one is for sewing, one is for my scrapping and the center table is actually where I do my card making and everything else crafty that I do (ceramic work, painting, drawing, florals etc.)

I know it may sound as though I'm whining about my room, it's quite the contrary. I just need help with this dilema so that I may enjoy and appreciate my room that much more... The way I should be. I'm sure I'm not the only one of us out there that feels this way and frankly, I think any one of us that even has a "Craft Room" that is not a shared space is fortunate, blessed and should be thanking their lucky stars and God above that it's not public domain! I now turn to you, my fellow crafters, the experts, to lead me in the right direction with this... Lead Away!

Thanks for looking everyone and I will get those photos up within the next few days. Keep in mind, I'm doing this cold turkey! LOL!!

PawwPadd - AKA - Grammie

I Survived Easter With My Grandbaby! Whoo-Hooo!

Well,

I baby-sat my 3 almost 4 year old Grandbaby Arianna, on Friday and Saturday prior to Easter! On Friday evening I let her plant some clover plant seeds in a little pot especially for her. It all came in a kit with the pot, dirt clod and seeds. You have to place the dirt clod (about the roundness of a quarter and about 1/4 inch thick) in a small bowl with a tiny bit of water. As I walked away to dispose of the packaging, she yelled out "Grammy, Grammy"! I rushed back over to find the dirt clod had grown into a poofed up monster of a dirt hill! LOL! We were all amazed! We put the dirt into the mini pot and placed the seeds in and voila' we were done! Well, then she got to use her "smell good" scented markers to color in another, somewhat larger flower pot that had a "coloring book" insert for her to change out. It's kind of like those mugs that have the pictures you can color.

Shortly after that, it was time for bed. She rushed over to the window sill and said she wanted to see how her plant was growing. She was so sad and disappointed to find that it looked exactly like it did a few moments before. I had to reassure her that it would look different in a few days. On Saturday we had beautiful weather, about 80 degrees! I took her out so she could ride her tricycle, which by the way I'd painted ballerina pink just for her (covered up the fire engine red). Once she tired of that and I'd realized I was on the verge of a heat stroke, we retired to the front porch to sit a while. All of a sudden, we heard some music unlike any other music on the planet! THE ICE CREAM MAN WAS COMING!!! Boy do kids learn fast.

We went across the lawn to flag him down, I let her choose her poison and she chose the bubblegum pop. We went back up to the porch and I went in to get her a coffee filter (if you poke the pop stick through it, it will catch all of the drips! A tip from Parenting Magazine). She ate that pop and loved it! After getting her mouth cleaned up, I let her play for a while and she played with my youngest son, who is now almost 20 yrs. old. They finally settled out on the porch together and She rested back in the lounger as if she was Queen of the Nile being fanned by her servants, all while rolling on her favorite grape flavored lip gloss.

She's so dramatic she is. I then prepared to gather all of the supplies for painting her fingernails (in a very clear w/glitter polish) because I told her we would the night before and we all know kids don't forget anything that's not a chore. I put a little gemstone on each of her pinkys and called it a day with that. I went in to prepare our lunch while she lounged back on the porch with her uncle.

Once we ate lunch, we watched a little Disney and then went in to take a nap. We slep about 2 1/2 hours I know. I finally had to wake her up because she was goin' strong and I was afraid she wouldn't want to sleep once her bed time rolled around that night...and I would of course be the blame. After we got up we decorated Easter eggs and that was a real blast! I cooked the eggs while we ate lunch and layed them out to cool while we slept so they were ready to go when we got up! Go Grammy, Go Grammy! Hey my motto is like the scouts, "Always Be Prepared"!

Her Mom came to pick her up at about 8pm and I spent the rest of the night into the morning working on cards with my friend... I survived!!!