Craft Room Tour

I've loved crafting for a long time, probably most of my life, in that time I've tried a wealth of different crafts including: salt dough sculpture, jewellery making, dried flower arrangements, cardmaking, sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, crochet and willow weaving.

One of the things I love most about where I currently live is my workroom/craft room/studio/call it what you will.

I really like watching YouTube tours of craft rooms and looking at other blogs with photo tours, so I thought I'd share my own room.

I realise this is probably completely boring to a lot of people but I love it!

So here goes:

This is taken standing in the doorway of my room, looking towards my two desks. I have two desks for two reasons. One is that I like to have friends come and craft with me, I find it really stokes the crafty fire to see someone else create in ways I wouldn't have thought of. The second reason is that I can have two projects on the go at once, I can leave my sewing machine ready to go and work on something else on the other desk if I need a change.
I have a daylight bulb in the main ceiling light and I also have two lamps with daylight bulbs in, it makes such a huge difference to crafting at any time of day.
(And that's Kini demonstrating how photogenic she is.)

Taken from slightly further back, you see the Martin Luther King Jr poster which has the whole of the I Have A Dream speech written at the bottom. I bought it decades ago, as a teenager on holiday in France and it was one of my most beloved possessions.
At the end of the room is a small 6-drawered storage unit, with a much loved painting above it. It was painted by a lodger we had when I was a child and I always loved it.

Inside the room, not visible from the door, is more storage, everything is laid out so that I can spin round in my chair and access anything, hopefully keeping everything within arms reach.

Yet more shelves behind my desks!

The word for this room is shelves I think. These are to the left of the first table - which I got when I worked in a dental surgery, it has holes in it that were made by some sort of equipment and I think it was used for making dentures or something! Random, but it's just a really nice table, with mostly nice legs - one got destroyed by cats.
Anyway...The bottom shelf holds the cotton I use most often when sewing, and the bobbins It also holds my other sewing bits and bobs; pins, needles, my rotary cutter. The second shelf holds two bins, one for refuse, one for recycling. Next to those is a box with all my chamois cloths I keep for stamp cleaning, they're dried out so they don't stink up the box! On top of that is my collection of Nuvo drops and finally on that shelf a frame that is made into a pin-cushion.
The shelf above holds boxes of bias binding, in multiple colours, that I use when I'm making bunting and also ribbons that I use for the same purpose.
On the final shelf in this photo is a collection of spare adhesives, my birthday index box (where I have a list of upcoming birthdays, by month, I store cards for people in here so I know which I have still to make).

Above the previous shelves are two more, which store more excess adhesives and items I don't reach for very often, including dressmaking patterns and Christmas items.

On the first table I have a folded blanket, in the left of the photo - this is where Kini usually sleeps when I'm crafting in here. She likes a window view!
I have two lazy susans on the rest of the table, the bottom one is currently very tidy and almost empty! The top one sits atop a small antique lap tray, meant to be used for breakfasts in bed. I bought it at auction, at the time I had no idea why I even bid for it, but it works perfectly in here, adding to the desk space. The top lazy susan holds most of my tools, scissors, rulers, pallette knives etc. Also on the photo is my roll of post-it tape, my bluetooth speaker - you gotta have music, and an L-shaped lego build, which I can use for stamping wooden stamps, to ensure accurate stamping.

On top of/between the two desks I store my two paper trimmers - my Fiskars and my Tim Holtz, and don't ask me to choose a favourite, because it's impossible I tell you, impossible!
Next to them is a pot of tools, some scissors, pokey tools, craft knives, white gel pens, etc. There's also a bottle of alcohol for alchol ink techniques. The front two boxes hold adhesives, spray bottles, Distress Resist spray and full sticky post-it notes.

On the second desk I have another lap tray, but this time from IKEA. I love that there's room for storage underneath but I still have space above.
Under the lap tray are my ProMarkers, sorted into colour families. Also another two bins, one for rubbish and one for recycling. There's also a bowl with one of my stamp-cleaning chamois cloths. I usually work on my well-loved cutting mat, I have one on both desks.

A friend gave me these when the office she works in was throwing them out, quite honestly I wish I'd got more from her, it pains me that the rest went in the bin. I use them to store my cardstock, by colour, in rainbow order of course, then vellum and specialised cardstock: watercolour, Neenah Solar White, Bristol Smooth etc.
My printer and light box sit on top.
 

These shelves are on the wall above the second desk. 12x12 papers that I use for photo backgrounds hang underneath, baskets of cards I've finished, or half-finished sit on the bottom shelf, along with products I want to use or need putting away. The rest of the shelves contain things I don't use very often, along with items I use for bunting making - particularly Christmas bunting.

A friend made this picture, it's needle-felted, she had a wonderful exhibition and I snuck in and bought it, I knew she intended to give it to me, but I wanted to buy it. The only problem is - I hung it too damn high on the wall - that's a job for 2019, move it down!
It hangs to the right of the shelves above the desk and I like to sit back and look at it any time I can.
 

The large desktop sits on two Alex drawers from IKEA. I've seen these featured in so many different craftrooms and I know why, they're just a great size and you can fit so much in.
You might have gathered by now that I like antique things and auctions, but try as I might, I just couldn't find anything that fit the bill the way these drawers did. The only drawback (ha!) is that they don't pull out all the way, but that's a minor incovenience.
The top drawer holds my most-used inks as well as the washi tapes I use to mark storage pockets, triangular bead trays and spares. You can't see it in the photo, but there are actually four more trays within the drawer. It's easy to lift out the front trays to access the ones further back, but I mainly store things I don't need frequent access to back there. 

Drawer 2. This drawer holds my Lawn Fawn inks, there are couple in this photo without labels - they're the newest release and I haven't got round to their labels yet, but they're stored in alphabetical order and I have added them to my swatch sheet so it's easy to grab them if I want them.
At the back of the drawer are pigment inks, and my Delicata inks. These are inks I don't reach for regularly so are a little more out of reach.

Drawer 3. This holds my blending tools - the foams are stored separately, alcohol inks with their foams and blending solution, enamel dots & adhesive gems are in here too. At the back are my embossing pastes. My stencil brushes are in here, as is my pot of Distress Glaze and shimmer sprays.

Drawer 4. This is the embossing drawer.The left hand side holds all the individual pots of embossing powders, with a tray of stamping blocks on top of it, the right hand side has larger containers of the embossing powders I use most - white, clear and liquid platinum. Also in this drawer is a container of Melt-It powder and several other containers - and I forget what's in them!

 Drawer 5. The bottom drawer holds three baskets, I can't access the third one without removing one of the front ones - and it currently sits empty. It's nice to have room to grow or to move things around. The other two baskets hold pre-cut fun foam - to give even dimension when cardmaking and my collections of foils.

 

Now to the right hand set of drawers.

Drawer 1. Actually, before we get to the drawer, on top of the desk is a black glass mat. I don't have one of the Tim Holtz glass mats, but this one works in a similar way, great for ink blending or protecting the surface when I'm doing watercolours. Next to it is a diary. To be honest I use the diary on my phone more than anything but I do like to see things written down and I have twice the chance of remembering what I'm supposed to be doing.
In the drawer itself, the front is filled with cardstock scraps. I keep them here so that I can use them for small die-cuts, or for stamping sentiments on. It helps to keep them separate so I can just reach for a small piece instead of cutting up a big piece.
Extra, unused diecuts are stored in here too - as are offcuts of fun foam. There are more trays further back, but they are currently mostly empty - for now!

Drawer 2. This is my collection of Waffle Flower inks, my small collection of Memento Inks, some full-size Altenew inks and an Archival ink. My Altenew ink cubes are stored with my Distress Inks as they fit perfectly into the tins.
My spare black inks are here too - and more empty trays!

Drawer 3. This is the colouring drawer. The reindeer tin is full of Brusho pots, my collection of gelatos are in here, as are my Altenew watercolours, the green case holds most of my pencil crayons. There's Odourless Mineral Spirits in a little Kilner jar, there's also masking fluid. My Gansai Tambi Starry Night watercolours are also here, liquid watercolours too, along with a pencil case filled with Sharpies.

 Drawer 4. Home to my beloved Zig markers. Also home to my freezer paper, some kitchen roll (for clean-up and wiping off waterbrushes), some parchment paper (for use with foiling and a laminator) and some Press n Seal that I got for Christmas - it's impossible to find in the UK so I was delighted to open it on Christmas morning!
The yellow squares off to the right, against the wall, that look like puzzle pieces are what I use for blocking finished crochet projects. 

Drawer 5. In all honesty, whilst it doesn't look it, this drawer is empty, it has three baskets in it, the same as the bottom drawer the other side. The back basket is actually empty and the front two have things in that really just need properly putting away.
You might have spotted stickers on each of the drawer fronts. These have two purposes. They really do!
First they're cute and they please my eye.
Second if I'm crafting with a friend and they ask where something is I can say "It's in the Unicorn drawer" or "It's in the Cat drawer" and so on. 

Underneath my desk are again, two bins, one rubbish and one recycling. Do I have too many bins? My shredder is there too and in the silver trolley is extra cardstock and other cardstock offcuts.

This little shelf holds my spare card blanks. It also holds pre-cut glitter cardstock that I use for making cardstock bunting.

At the end of the room is this sweet little six-drawered unit. It's cute but it's a nightmare getting those drawers back in when you pull them out!
On top of the unit is another four-drawered unit, this has glitter, gilding flakes, components for shaker cards and other interactive cards.
There's also some sellotape, brushes for perfect pearls, pipettes for liquid watercolours amongst other things.
In the drawers are microfibre cloths, spare envelopes, coffee filters for embossing powders and more odds & ends.
There are hooks on the side of the unit, on the right hang my bunting templates and my bunting embroidery floss.
On the left hang my swatch sheets.

So, these are my swatch sheets. Every one of my inks is swatched out, as are Nuvo drops, embossing powders (which I swatched on both black and white cardstock as they can look very different), watercolours, alcohol inks, shimmer sprays (which I swatched onto black, white and kraft cardstock). I also have a swatch of each of my black inks, and within each swatch square I noted the purpose of each ink, which work with watercolour, which with alcohol markers, which stamp on acetate etc. Whilst I generally know all of that, it's nice to have a handy reminder when I'm having a brain fart, and it's useful to friends who come and craft with me.
 

Behind the desk is this teak room divider that I got for a steal at an antiques centre. The blokes stood around and told me it wouldn't fit in my car. I was adamant that it would, they stood around sucking their teeth and finally agreed to try. It fit like a dream and they stood around looking like their world had been turned upside down. Absolutely a personal highlight in my life.
Anyway, smugness aside, all my wrapping paper sits on the top of the unit. The white squares next to that are from a dolls house shop that closed down, so they're adorably decorated inside, but they also make excellent storage spaces.
The shelf below holds a box of Christmas patterned papers, some specialty handmade papers and the filing trays hold folders which store things like acetate. Two of the folders have storage pockets for my stamps and dies so they're ready to be put away when I get new ones.
My laminator is stored inside the sliding doors along with my flower presses.

This is my collection of stamps and dies. They are separated into different categories so that I have an idea of where to look for specific products I want to use. I also use either white or kraft cardstock inside each pocket. White cardstock denotes that it is solely stamps inside, kraft denotes that it's dies or stamps and dies. Additionally, you may be able to see that there are strips of washi tape on the top right of some of the pockets, each of those also indicates what's inside. I have a key to what the tapes mean on the IKEA lap tray.
Essentially I mark which are solely sentiments, which are Christmas, which are nesting dies, which are background dies and which are alphabetical/numerical stamps. It helps to know at a glance that I'm looking in the right place.
Yes, I'm anal about being organised.

Inside the base of the teak unit are my Gansai Tambi watercolours and 12x12 papers and cardstock. One folder contains stencils and also blending foams stored in coin pockets labelled with each ink. Other folders contain stickers and sentiments, another folder contains the beginning of an index of my stamp collection.
On the other side of the unit is a concertina file which holds cellophane envelopes for cards that I make, there's also a box with extra foam tape and spray bottles.

 

Hanging on the side of the teak unit are labels I attach to bunting I make.
My washi tape hangs on the side, on a big loop of thick wire which makes it easy to see and access.

Next to the teak unit is a little white shelving unit. Starting at the top is a small two drawered unit that holds some of my ribbon, wound onto cardstock, on top of that are my embossing folders, with my embossing mat. Next to that is a box with some of my Christmas stamps & dies and next to that is my MISTI stamping tool and my Tim Holtz stamping platform.
On the shelf below is my Big Shot and on the same shelf is my alphabet punch board from We R Memory Keepers - which I use primarily for bunting.
The bottom shelf holds all my patterned papers.
My splatter cubby sits between the teak unit and the white shelves. All hail the splatter cubby that saves the room from splatter covering every surface!

Above the shelves on the floor is a white board and above that is another set of shelves, it holds embroidery floss, items for bunting, sequins and allsorts of odds and ends.

The last set of shelving in the room is more behind the first table than the desk, on top are two boxes which hold pre-scored card blanks in a variety of sizes, ready to go when I'm crafting. Below that are my Distress Inks and Distress Oxides. The tins hold all the mini cubes of Distress Inks and all the Distress Oxides are stored next to them, finally my small collection of full size pads of Distress Inks.
The next shelf holds a concertina file of coloured card scraps, a box of perfect pearls and a box of twine.
The bottom shelf is things that have been abandoned to be honest! Including two trays which are used for heating a fondue set!

Finally, the last set of shelves are over the door of the room. They hold my stock of embroidery hoops, my extra stock of bias binding and all sorts of odds and ends in chocolate tins.

Phew, that's a long post.
At this point I should admit that the whole of my fabric stock is in another room, along with my huge stock of felt that I use for bunting.

Bubbly

I missed yesterday's post, I was too busy having a hot bubble bath.
I started reading a new book on my kindle as I laid in the bath, but I'm not really enjoying it. 
After I got out, I headed over to Goodreads to tell it I had started reading a new book and decided to see what other people thought of it and I saw a slew of 1 star ratings, so I clearly wasn't alone.
But here's the thing, as I'm doing the Goodreads reading challenge this year does an abandoned book count as a finished book?
It's a quandary!
But I definitely don't think I can bring myself to finish it, I've got 20% of the way through it and it shows no signs of improving....

Oh well, I think I'll take myself off to my craft room, I have bunting to design and crochet information sheets to write, I'm nothing if not rock n roll.

Dream Weaver

An evening of willow weaving was held in my village hall, I popped along and had a splendid evening, we all had a go at weaving an obelisk and all went home with a willow wreath.
I'd wanted to try it for so long and I was thrilled to have a chance, and then our tutor, Jess, announced she was going to start a willow group, where we'd be able to get together, suggest things we'd like to make and do a new project every month.  It was perfect & I signed up, in the time since we've made all sorts of different things.

A woven heart that sits in my garden:

A corn dolly style dragonfly:

Either side of my garden swing seat sit some woven obelisks that my sweet peas grew up and around last year, I made these from memory of what we'd been taught at the evening, so I'm looking forward to doing them again with supervision!

And another obelisk at the other side of the garden, they weren't perfect but for a beginner they worked just fine...

And we made hurdles too, I'm going to make some more of these and have them all around the edges of my beds, they'll give support to the plants that start to fall forward, as they lean, keen to grab each and every ray of sun that they can

It was bloody hard to take a photo of the flower I made last year, but the centre of the flower is the same as the way you start off a basket, not that I can ever quite remember how it's done, but I do love how intricately pretty it is..

And here's Bogart, my hare, one of the things I most wanted to make when I had the chance to learn willow weaving was a hare, so I am utterly, utterly thrilled with him, he's so adorable!  Look at him! Look at how goddamn adorable he is!
I might be somewhat proud of Bogart, I'm not sure if I made that clear... ;)

 At one of the sessions last year we were making a bottomless basket, that you could put around a plant pot to make it more decorative, it's safe to say I did not find French randing easy to pick up. I was flummoxed, so by the end of the session, my basket was quite small as I'd been incredibly slow in my weaving.  I wasn't sure what to do with it, and I hadn't even cut off the excess rods and correctly finished it, I'd just put it straight in the garage until I could decide what to do with it.  Well, this weekend I decided I'd let it be an obelisk, so I purchased a large enough pot, filled it with compost, planted a climbing fuschia and added the makeshift obelisk.  I'm actually really pleased with it and it's now sitting right by my front door:

It's somewhat annoying that a bird pooped on the boards outside my house and all I can see is my obelisk and a blob of white bird poop.  But here's the thing, how did it poop at such an angle? Did it come in sideways for a direct hit? I possibly live in the vicinity of acrobatic poopers. And there we have a sentence that I never thought I'd utter.

My current project is a large basket, which is actually taking three sessions to complete, and it means I'm back to French randing again, but it's actually going mostly okay.  As it's going to be a lot taller than the few inches in the photo above, it should prove to be excellent practice and I might finally get my head around this weaving technique!

I've also made a woven Christmas tree and a wee angel.  Well, actually a wee wonky angel.  She has a definite lilt when she stands, but she'd do fine on the top of a huge Christmas tree!  Not that she'll ever make it to a Christmas tree, she'll just have to remain a lilting angel!

Overall I'm just thrilled that I finally got the chance to learn a new skill. 
Also, as I have problems with both anxiety and depression, it's been a huge challenge for me to go out and do something social in a group with new people.  I've come to feel really comfortable there, Jess is lovely and my fellow weavers are a wonderful, it's been a hugely positive thing in my life, with far more benefits to me than simply beginning to learn a new craft.
Thanks are definitely due to Jess for her patient tutoring & splendid company, and also for sharing my mild obsession with ribbon and fonts.

Not Dead, Just Crippled

It's been a day or two. Maybe a week or so.
But I have returned, I have not gone, but my back has.
Honestly, what use is a back if it's going to misbehave. Does it not appreciate how central it is to your general mobility.
Admittedly my grunting appears to entertain those around me as I move from sitting to standing positions and back again, but even that will grow old.
To be fair it's much improved and after the next day or two I think I'll actually get some time to rest it and let it recover.
Also, on another upside, it is no longer waking me in the night every time I wiggle a toe. There's something disheartening about waking up and realising the time on the clock has barely changed since the last time you saw it.

I think, anyone who has read my rambling nonsense will appreciate I have a tendency to lean towards the eccentric. Sometimes I keep it in check, other times it just sort of runs off and I am unable to rein it in.
It snowed yesterday. Just a few inches, but enough to turn my world a pristine shade of white, to make the kids squeal and Mifford shake her feet in displeasure.
I was invited to Mum's for Sunday dinner. I'm not sure if my assembled outfit was eclectic, eccentric or just bonkers.
One thing it definitely wasn't was thought through.
I threw on a pair of jeans, my favourite pair were residing in the hamper waiting to be washed. My second favourite pair sit a little low and so need a long top to prevent indecent, builders bum, exposure. I pulled out a top. A strappy top.
You'd think the freezing temperatures would rule this out, but no.
I added a huge cardigan. Up until now I was pretty co-ordinated as everything was blue.
Then I realised I needed to leave the house and appreciated the fact that my Capri length (second favourite) jeans might not keep those ankles toasty, so I opted for a long pair of pink & green striped slipper socks.
Sexy huh?
But wait, there was snow and ice on the ground.
I added my green wellies.
See how this look is coming together?
For a final touch I added my pink winter coat.
I'm like a fashion disaster.
But I felt so hilarious (ridiculous) I fairly skipped in the snow.

Moving on....
Last week, complete with uncooperative back I went to the NEC with Mum to visit the Hobbycrafts show. I love me some crafting. And some shopping. And some spending. It was good and I have come to realise in future I need a lottery win prior to visiting so that I can purchase all of my desired items. Or a really generous bank manager. I'll be sticking to my lottery dreams, as, even though I never buy a ticket, my chances of winning are still higher than finding the latter of those options.
I did come away with a sheet of cling rubber stamps, with which I am thrilled and am excited by their bargain price of just £4. I also got shrink plastic, which I remember using as a child. There's just something exciting about its transformation.
My friend Gary came over last week, I sat and painted a picture as we chatted, which I intended to then shrink.
The instructions clearly stated that your image could not be larger than 10cm x 13cm, so naturally I did one that was half A4 size. When it was finally finished I reached for my heat gun to see what would happen with my rebellious, outsized image. Gary said it was genuinely exciting.
What was less exciting was the damn thing rolling up on itself, sticking itself together and becoming all but ruined.
It's totally weird but I think the rules about 10cm x 13cm are there for a reason. Who knew!
However, I have since managed to unroll the shrink plastic, it's a little deformed but what the hell. I'm not sure I've learned my lesson now I've sort of fixed it.

I read a book every night (not a whole book, just part of one) before I go to bed but I left my current book in the car and it's really cold out there. I'm also wearing pyjama bottoms with my daytime clothes. But it's dark. Do I get the book and risk further bad clothing exposure or find something else to read?
My life is a whirlwind of complex decisions.

On a final note, I lost a whole hunk of hair to a necklace today. I have no idea how so much got trapped, but I have a feeling, were I to look, that I'd have a bald spot.

Cushioned

I've been going mad with the sewing machine and it's been brilliant.
It's also been somewhat more successful than my crocheting.
A couple of new cushions now grace my little sofa and I'm really pleased with them. I care little that they don't co-ordinate as I love their respective fabrics so much. And check out the button in the middle of the first one. I love buttons. Deeply. (Unnaturally).

This second cushion was almost completed when I needed to change the bobbin in my sewing machine. In my efforts to do so I caused havoc with the machine, somehow making loose the bobbin housing and ending up with bits of machine in my hand. Chewing my lip I did my best to put it all back together but an hour later it still wasn't working so I decided to wait until morning. So after another hour the following morning I pleaded for help. My mother came round, we agreed I'd put it back together right, I started to re-thread the machine and she pointed out I'd missed a vital point. Once I'd fixed that, ta da, a working machine. Hurrah. More sewing!

It's a crafting bonanza! This is the embroidery I mentioned yesterday. Seriously, it's cute right? I embroidered it onto calico and then made a cushion from an old tweed jacket I picked up at a jumble sale for 10p! I'm really chuffed with how it all turned out. I want to make another one now!

I've been having a huge tidy up so that I can really craft properly in my craft room, it was such chaos for such a long time I couldn't get in there to really do anything and it was frustrating. Anyway, in the tidy up I found lots of bits and pieces and lots of needles and decided to make a needle case, well I decided to make two as Mum has had hers I think, longer than I've been alive. So now she has a replacement. They're kind of cute I think!

I'm quite miniature and when I buy jeans I always have to hack the bottoms off in order not to appear as if I lost my feet in a tragic industrial accident. So, being the hoarder that I am, I kept those chopped off parts and they were perfect for the needle cases. Inside I used three pieces of counted cross stitch material, sewed it all together down the spine, added a button and a ribbon closure and bob was indeed my (fictional) uncle. I love that they're a little naive. Anyway, that completes my crafting section for today!

Crochet

I decided I wanted to get back into crafts. I really used to enjoy the time I spent on various crafts and with the exception of card making have done very little for a long time.
So, for Christmas I completed a cross stitch design for my Mum and remembered how much I enjoyed that too.
I bought myself a crochet book and decided to teach myself to crochet.
It all starts with a slip knot. I followed the instructions in the book. It didn't work. I followed the instructions again. And again. I followed the instructions for half an hour. It didn't work. I know I'm an intelligent woman, how could this be so complicated? How could wrapping wool round my fingers twice be complex?

I put my crochet hook in my pocket and wandered round to my mothers to ask advice from her guest, Jean, an avid knitter. Unfortunately the crochet hook failed to make it the whole journey and abandoned me, never to be seen again.

Jean taught me how to make a slip knot though so I was wiser and went back and looked at the book, realising that they failed to point out that I needed the second wrap-around to be below the first in order for their slip knot to work.

I headed to eBay and bought more crochet hooks, determined to make this into a hobby. The hooks duly arrived and I am queen of making that first lot of chain stitches. I can even turn it over and crochet a second row. Then it all goes horribly wrong, it becomes misshapen and I really have no idea what I did wrong. I've given up trying for a week or so, resorting to some embroidery - which I will share with you shortly.

However, this morning I decided to sit down with youtube and learn how to make a crochet flower with the help of the tutorials. I sat, I watched, I paused, I practiced, I huffed, I puffed, I wrinkled my nose whilst saying 'whaaat?' on a slow exhale and below find the results of my efforts:

It's safe to say I haven't the faintest idea how this crochet lark works. I'm going to attempt some perseverance, really I am. Just not right now.