Where Bloggers Create 2013

 

Hi, I'm Christie. Welcome to my blog and my studio.   I'm thrilled to take a part in this fantastic collection of artists from around the world.  I want to take a moment to thank Karen from My Desert Cottage for putting together this event.  I would love to hear any input you may have.  I know you have lots of creative spaces to visit so please do not be shy to follow, pin or subscribe (whatever suits your fancy) so you can come on back at your leisure.  I have plenty of organization tips, tricks and videos to make those projects easier to manage.  I began my love for all things created by hand when I was a child and have never ceased. Enjoy!

My room began as a bedroom 17 years ago and evolved into the room you see today. My studio was originally published in 2010 which  you can see HERE and video tour HERE. As does everything, my studio also has evolved over time.  It recently was featured in the Summer 2013 issue of Paper Cloth Scissors Studio magazine.  My needs are ever changing and so I have adapted some changes to my studio.  One example of this change was is that I decided to remove my thread racks from the north wall.  Although they were a beautiful splash of color, I felt that the air, humidity and my other art supplies were not doing them any good and decided that they would be better stored in a closet.  I am now better utilizing that space by creating one area for all of my "messy" artwork. i.e. paints, inks, etc. Everything is within reach and able to be quickly cleaned up.  

My studio is not big, only 13' X 15'.   I made the most of every inch with the custom made cabinets purchased at Home Depot, they are KraftMaid brand topped with the beautiful granite counter tops.  Can you find my mini fridge? It blends in seamlessly with the cabinets and is stocked with water bottles to keep me hydrated while I work.  I also love my big Wacom monitor and my LCD TV that when I am facing away from it reflects in the mirror across the room so I can still watch what's going on. Clever, huh? Since most of the walls were going to be covered with cabinets and windows I decided to add texture and interest by adding wallpaper to the ceiling (you can see this in the video). It is a textured wallpaper and we painted it white, it looks like a pressed tin ceiling. My handy father & husband helped install the cabinets and the crown molding and I made the curtains. Voila! 

 

 

 

I try hard to keep my work spaces clear but that is not always possible with never ending projects.  I have adopted a project bin system to keep myself organized while multitasking.  You can find the post explaining more HERE.  Addie has become quite the helper but has decided that my project bins also make quite the nice bed at times. 

I store my stickles upside down by gluing a magnet to the bottom of the bottle and adhering a metal strip to the underside of my cabinet. Love my Stickles :)

 

My favorite place to create in my studio is my "Distress Station".  From one seat I am able to access all of my Paints, Stains, Sprays, Embossing mediums, Inks, etc.  I have a post that goes into it a bit more that you can find HERE

 

To the right of the door I have a few shelves that I added after we designed the room I store all my paints on the shelves and I have drawers that I got at Container Store that I keep all my chipboard alphabet letter in. It makes it very easy to find just what I am looking for. The cabinet just to the left of this is a pull down ironing board (you can see this in a earlier blog post on altered clipboards). Underneath I keep a roll of paper towels for quick clean ups along with baby wipes.

 

 

With everything well organized I am able to find everything quickly and easily.  You may be interested in some of these posts archives where I have entire blog post full of step by step tutorials, photos and videos to help you out.  This is just a few to start you out... you can find more in the search bar on the right side of my blog or under the subject manner in the categories column.

Inventory Book

Project Bins

Paper Storage

Tissue Tape

Color Labeling

Labeling Ink Pads

Chipboard Organization

Paper Punch Storage

Organizing your Embossing Folders

Organize your Cricut or other Die Cutter

Ribbon Storage and Organization

 

  

 

 

 Here's a basic layout of my studio with some of the dimensions.  I have 4 stations that I am able to sit even though I do not have 4 chairs in the room at one time.  I use 2 simple desk chairs, one on either side of the room that serve 2 stations.  I keep the sewing machines and serger under the desk area when not in use and just pull them out when needed. 

I hope you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again soon!

 

Featured in Studios Magazine

I am proud to announce that my studio has been featured in the Summer issue of Studios Magazine.    I was honored to be asked by the editor to share my creative space in her publication.  

Studios Magazine brings together artists of all mediums; painters, quilters, printmakers, potters, jewelry makers, etc. to share their creative spaces and how it works for them.  If you are looking to design a creative space this is where you want to look.  Since I originally introduced my studio on my blog and YouTube way back in April 2010 it became a source of inspiration for other artists.  I have received many questions over the years about how I designed it, where I purchased items for my studio, etc.  I did my best to answer all these various questions plus include some of my organization tips and tricks. You can find it at any book stores like Barnes and Noble or at craft stores such as Hobby Lobby, Michaels or JoAnns Fabrics.  The magazine will be on newsstands till mid August and is also available in a digital version at Paper Cloth Scissors. Enjoy!

Project Bins

 

While I was on the Paperclipping Roundtable show the subject of how we keep our workspace from getting over run with mess while working on projects.  I, like many of you, work on muliple projects at a time so I had to come up with a way to contain the clutter.

I picked up a dozen black dish pans from the dollar store quite a while back. I use them constantly! These cheap dish pans or "bins" as I call them, are probably the most efficient way I get things done in my studio. I love being able to contain a project per bin. They seem to be the perfect size, 13.5" X 11" X 4.5" H, I can even prop a full size layout in it to dry or to work on later. As I am often working on multiple projects at once with these I can grab a bin work on that project, set it aside and work on another. Beside bins with projects I usually have a bin with busy work for me to work on during tv time. To keep my counters clear I keep a bin handy, usually in the middle of my room, to toss items in that I think I may be done with and need to put away. I then can take my bin around and put things back where they go at the end quickly and easily. And on a bright and sunny day I will take a bin full of stuff outside to work on.  And as you can see Addie thinks that they make the perfect cat bed.

This shows how easily these cheap tubs stack together.  On the left I have 4 tubs stacked together and on the right is one.  You can see that they take up minimal room when stacked.  I have about a dozen of them but rarely are all put to use at the same time. 

Guest on Paperclipping Roundtable

Today I had the pleasure of being a guest on Paperclipping Roundtable along with Wilna Furstenberg and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer . I have been a faithful listener for years of this awesome podcast. Noell & Izzy Hyman, the dynamic duo of a husband/wife  team lead this conversation based hour long podcast about all things scrapbooking.  Noell and I got to be great friends while at Ranger University together.  

 Today's topic was all about how to be able to try out all those techniques you want to or tackling a project with out worry about messing up your space.  Check it out. 

 

Everyone has a product pick of the week and mine was an easy one... the Compendium of Curiosities  vol I & II by Tim Holtz

 

 I keep a box of technique tags next to my workspace to reference.  It is a great way to grab a little inspiration when you have creative block. 

 

 

Toward the end of the show I mentioned my Ranger Station and the clear tiered shelves that I store my products on.  I have a have 2 of them placed side by side to make semicircles along the wall..  I believe in having easy access to my most used products.

 

eBosser - automatic embosser & die cutter

 

I was checking out the new eBosser this week and wanted to share it with you.  There's lots in the video that's not in the post so be sure to check it out.  Enjoy!

 

Fully Automatic

Electric For Ease of Use

Works With Most Cutting Dies & Embossing Folders

Large Format: Cut & Emboss Up To 8.5" x 12"

Cuts Multiple Layers of Fabric & More

Built-in Handle for Portability

The eBosser comes with all the plates you will need plus 3 large embossing folders.  Two of them are designed for cards, the third is a all over pattern as seen in the photos below.  This folder is beautiful!  I couldn't decide which side was my favorite.  Both were equally awesome!  The pattern was well embossed on it's own but I complimented it further by adding a light coat of Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to the top of the embossed pattern. 

 

The eBosser does not come with any die cuts but it does support most of the existing die cut brands so I wanted to see exactly what it could do.  Since I have most brands already I ran everything I had through it.  Watch the video to see my full review.   For the Sizzix Alterations die I tried adhesive backed felt and grunge board successfully and beautifully.  Unfortunately the thin fun foam was too thick to go through the machine.  The good thing about the eBosser is the safety feature that it will let you know what will and will not work in the machine. 

 

 

 The magnetic shim and rubber shim provided worked perfectly with my Spellbinder dies to create these pretty embellishments.

 

 I was also able to fill the plate with a bunch of scalloped octagons from Spellbinders. Cutting them all at once out of felt. Great way to save time. Lifestyle crafts and Spellbinders both have lots of stacking thin dies for frames and shapes. 

 

The eBosser will also accept some of the Accuquilt Go dies.  I bought a Accuquilt die cut machine and it sits in my attic gathering dust.  Why, because it's a hand crank machine that takes too much muscle power that I just don't have.  I was thrilled to see that some of my dies can be used in the eBosser.

These thin dies like the Sizzix Alteration Tattered Floral Garland is the same thickness as most Cuttlebug dies. Although I had to pop the images out of the paper, the cuts were clean and I was really thrilled I could cut an entire Cuttlebug alphabet in one pass.

 

Well I know I enjoyed checking out the eBosser and I hope that I helped answer any questions that any of you had about this new machine. 

 

 

Easy Altered Clipboard

 

I wanted to share with you an easy project to transform those boring and ugly office clipboards into something really fantastic!  You may remember I posted a while back a few clipboards that I altered to hang inside my ironing board cabinet.  You can see the post HERE.  Well, these are done in a totally different way, with a totally different style.  I love the old timey look of them. 

 These clipboards are easily found at garage sales and thrift stores for under a dollar.  The best part is since you are covering it it doesn't really matter if it's in bad condition.  You will see that in the video.  The Tim Holtz Idea-ology Melange Tissue wrap was perfect for this project.  I love the collage effect that the paper has built into it with the beautiful butterflies, text, music and architecture.  If you are interested in another project using the Idea-ology tissue wrap check out my Magnet Board idea. 

       

The clip on top got a make over too with some Alcohol Ink and some awesome metal embellishments that I also attached with the Matte Multi Medium.

 Since I used legal size clipboards I had a few inches at the bottom extra after the paper was attached.  I tied on some twine and added a few adornments to make my creative soul happy.  Now I have a place to tuck in a business card or a few loose notes and leave my writing surface free of clutter.

Idea-ology Tissue Wrap Melange	Matte Medium Claudine Hellmuth Studio	Alcohol Ink Applicator Adirondack	Alcohol Ink Adirondack	Metallic Alcohol Ink Adirondack
Label Pulls Idea-ology	Ornate Plates Idea-ology	Trinket Pin Idea-ology	Muse Tokens Idea-ology	Locket Keys Idea-ology

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