Oh, if it wasn't about time, wayyyy beyond that to do a little "spring cleaning" of my stamping "center" as my good girlfriends refer to it. The stamp center sits in the corner of my kitchen. It consists of miscellaneous items all in disarray and centers around a baker's rack (MOST people use these for baking and other kitchen appliances) that I purchased a few years back at Target for about 40 big ones.
You see, it's just not feasible to have the stamp center anywhere else in the house. Of course, there is my ridiculously huge partially finished basement...wait, no, I can't see the kids play outside then. I could wait til they all go to bed....wait, no, I'm usually tired-fried toast by then. Well, there's the spare room...wait, no, there isn't. The only spare room I have in this house is the bathtub. Truth is, to enjoy the modern conveniences of being able to work from home and let my kids play outside, all within earshot of my sleeping toddler, the kitchen it is. 'Nuf said.
What I SHOULD have done is taken a before and after picture. I guess I don't think straight when I get into "fury-scary-tornado-lady" mode. Hindsight. Would have MUCH more impact on all of you if you had seen the before. Darla and Heather, you'll just have to vouch for me. You two were probably the last ones to see the disarray as only the closest of friends are allowed to do. My friends, I now give you the new and improved (and newly named!) "Creative Corner":
Now, this may be the first and ONLY time you see it like this so I felt this called for a special blog entry, an actual "occasion" of sorts. I'm really liking it so far. I LOVE that all my punches now sit atop the "Creative Corner" nicely and evenly! My adhesives and Mod Podge sit in the top left corner. I was sick of having all those unruly ribbon spools hanging from the wire rack so I took them down and only have a few tidy supplies hanging now.
The new basket system makes it look decorated and sort of blends it into the house a bit better. As much as I LOVED that teetering/tautering unstable looking and oh, right UGLY black ink caddy, my inks are now spread out between the ones i have 'on hand' for scrapping and travelling w/ craft shows, etc. and now they also have a pretty new basket. All my brand new papertrey inks even fit and are front and center for easy access as I will DEFINITELY be crafting this weekend!
The other small basket (below) is for my most used supplies as well as inks, i.e. my GORGEOUS
papertrey ribbons, stamp scrubber, trimmer, pop dots, glue dots, etc. There is even room for my Zutter now, which sits proudly on the "main shelf" right next to my pretty little tool jar from Justina ( I believe there were flowers in it at one point).
Now, the next shelf as we all know was usually the MOST unruly. Boxes upon boxes of stamps, facing all different directions and all marked on opposite sides...a girl could get hives thinking about this. You'll be surprised but this was actually the hubby's idea to get a bigger basket and also that new tidy little CD holder for all my papertrey stamps.
My boxed stamp sets, mostly from
Stampin Up!, now fit in the large basket to the right, with the exception of a few that sit directly to the left of the basket. My CD rack for
papertrey stamps is ready and waiting to be filled. Oh, and remember that unruly ribbon? Check out the little "ribbon roll" with handle that I found at Archivers. It's well worth the $20 investment, let me tell you, esp. with a 30% off coupon!
Finally, the bottom shelf now neatly holds my famous "tackle box", which I travel with wherever I go or just have set up on my table. This box includes clear stamping blocks, stickles, chalk inks, stapler and other misc. tools, replacement blades for my trimmer, adhesives, etc...the list goes on. The important thing is its all together. ALL CONTAINED!!!
In addition, the pink plastic container holds all my chipboard sheets for journal making, Designer papers, etc. Next to those two things is my black travel case for "runaway' stamps: you know, the single stamps on wooden blocks that run away from the store and into my shopping cart? Yep, those. I like to keep them all together. That's pretty much it, other than my O-wires for my Zutter and two boxes of Tombo refills thanks to my friend Justina...what a bargain! Now, the only thing this doesn't show is my VAST collection of clear stamps themselves, but I can assure you that they are neatly tucked into a canvas binder with nice little plastic sleeves for now...it even has a shoulder strap! So far, this has been the best way to store most of them.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's tour of my kitchen corner. It's been a pleasure being your guide. I'd like to say that these tours repeat themselves on the hour, but ya never know what this place will look like by then! Love, hugs and stuff,
