My Creative Space with Organization Ideas- Part 1

Hello and Happy New Year!  Today I am finally sharing a peek into my creative space which is way overdue.  I LOVE organizing and have been wanting to share for over a year now, but it just never seems to stay completely clean for very long.  LOL!  :)

It's far from the prettiest space out there, but it is extremely functional and I feel blessed to finally have it after so many years of work at a dining room table that spilled into every other room of our home.  

Here's an overall view of my different crafty corners within my room:

View #1: I made sure to install a sink which has been amazing.  It's actually just a basic utility sink, but I love being able to wash off my stamps and rinse out my cups there.  Since I'm in the basement next to our garage, we've also found it to be extremely helpful having it when doing things outside and coming in with dirty hands.  On the left side you can see a standing island which is on sliders. I wanted to be able to push it around my room as needed so I installed commercial carpeting in my room to make this possible.  

View #2:  On one side of my island (facing the sink) I have shallow shelves and on the other side I have (4) 12x12 hanging file drawers.  I use one to sort all my paper scraps by color.  Since doing this, I've found I actually use my paper scraps (amazing).  When I have older double sided patterned papers that I no longer love that come with a solid color on the back, I've started filing them in here and I've been amazed at how much I've used them up this way.  To the right is a counter height station for my die-cutting.  The cabinets above and below are filled with all my dies sorted by manufacturer.

View #3: This is looking from the other side of my island toward my computer and work space.  I generally create in the space in front of my keyboard and at my standing island.  I never realized how much I would love having a place to stand and work.  I actually have a tall bar stool hanging out on the other side of the island, but it rarely gets used.  It's padded though and it's my cat's favorite spot to curl up and take a nap.

View #4:  This corner is on the far right wall of my room.  It's where I keep my sewing machine and all my inks.  In the cabinets above the inks I store some of my clear stamps and all of my inky supplies like embossing powders, pens and such.

Up next... I have two closets with floor to ceiling shelves to the right of my door entering the room.  This is where I keep the bulk of my design team products stored by manufacturer and collection.  

Without a doubt my favorite investment for this space is my Elfa Pantry door storage unit which frequently goes on sale at The Container Store.  There are so many reasons I love this thing, but a few of my favorites is that it doesn't damage the door you are putting it on, it can move with you and can be 100% customized to fit your needs with the different baskets you purchase to go on it!

The Spice Rack Basket is perfect for holding twine and small jars of embellishments.  

The deep baskets are wonderful for holding wider jars.  I use these lightweight plastic jars to hold smaller spools of twine, packaged embellishments and my washi tape sorted by color.  I will actually be changing the way I store washi tape soon though which I will share when it's done.  ;)

One of my favorite ways to store small packaged embellishments, 6x6 paper pads and small stickers is using the clear Interdesign Linus containers.  You can pick these up at Amazon or by watching for them at your local Marshall's, TJMaxx and Home Goods stores.  

I love the ones with the dividers for keeping smaller packages tidy and easy to leaf through.  When I am working on a project I am able to bring the entire container to my workstation to find just what I'm looking for.

Below my shelves on the ground I have several of the inexpensive storage cubes.  My favorite is the 3-drawer unit which is the perfect depth for holding rolls of ribbon (don't judge me for all the duplicates--I picked them up for 75% off) and also just the right size for two stacks of thickers and other alphabet stickers which I have sorted by color.

I also keep the bulk of my clear 4x6 stamps in my closet in portable containers I picked up at an office store designed for lateral files.  I organize my stamps in 8.5 x 11 clear Fellowes binder sheets intended for CD storage and sort them by theme and/or brand in hanging file folders to leaf through.  With a little cardstock cut down to size, I can fit 4 sets in each sheet protector.  :)

This is an older photo I took of one of the binder sheets.  Several years ago I ordered a ream of this hot pink paper that turned out way more intense when I got it in person so now it's my go to paper for random uses like this.

Well, I'm going to break for today, but I will be back on Tuesday with the second half of my room.  Thanks so much for hanging with me .  :)