remember this that i shared a while back?
i was so excited when i was contacted by creating keepsakes magazine, asking if i wanted to have my studio featured in the creative spaces article for the august issue. of course i would! i didn't actually change anything in my studio for this article. i did clean it though. meaning, i dusted every nook and cranny. even though i doubt it would have shown in the photos. lol! i was taking my own photos for this, and i think that was the hardest part. i have terrible lighting up in the loft and i was having a hard time getting good photos. i'll be honest. i think i took over 500 shots, just to get the ones you see here. lol! then i did all the writing. i'm proud to say this article is all me 🙂 figured it's about time to share more details with you. remember, click on any photo and you should be able to see it larger.
so this is my studio. this is our upstairs loft area. i actually took this photo from the top of the stairs. so when you walk up, this is what you see. i have the master bedroom and alyssa's bedroom behind me. and sarah's bedroom and the girls bathroom to my left. in the right corner, is a television and computer desk for the girls, and a big comfy chair.
my island. the piece of furniture i get asked about the most. sorry, you can't buy this anywhere. it was custom built by my talented mom. yes, my mom! i did a whole post about it HERE, so you can check that out if you want all the details. the side of the island you see is actually the girls side. so i did stage that side for the photos. a lot of that stuff is from my side, the side that didn't really show in the pics.
my paper storage. my paper goes about 2/3 the length of the island, on the back side. i have my cardstock stored in the horizontal paper trays. most of it is organized by color. i store all my pattern paper in the vertical paper holders. i sort everything by manufacturer. it's the easiest way for me. i could never sort by color or pattern type. but that's just me. i know my paper by who makes it. and that is how i find what i want, just by knowing who makes what.
on the far end of my island, i have these metal mesh baskets that i got at target. they're a size that would hold cd's. these hold mostly making memories embellishments, for design team work. and personal work, of course. i keep the most current collections seperated by basket. so if i want halloween embellishments, i can just pull out one basket and i have everything in there. if i want the travel collection, there it all is. i also keep extra ribbons, and some chipboard here.
this shows my ikea shelves and embellishment shelf. i love my ikea expedit shelves. i have 2 of the large ones side by side. so i have 50 cubes of storage. the embellishment shelf was also built by my mom. i drew up the dimensions according to what jars i was planning on using. it's only 6 inches deep, just enough to line up a ton of jars.
this is how i store the majority of my embellishments. i use what i see. so the glass jars made perfect sense for me. i take things out of the original containers or packaging to save on space. some things are stored by themselves, some things are grouped together. but everything is sorted by manufacturer. i don't have to worry about keeping the packaging to know who made what. i just know. it's a talent, i know 😉
on the ikea shelves, i have a few different types of baskets. the wicker ones are just from michaels. and i have metal mesh baskets, and black metal mesh baskets. both styles are from target. this is where i get a little random. some things here i store by manufacturer. i guess you could say the main manufactures. i just know their product, so i keep it all together. but there are also things i store by product type. like i keep most rubons together in one basket. but i also have rubons within the manufacturer baskets. so there is no set pattern for me here. i just have a way of knowing what is where.
i keep most of my chipboard together. although i do have making memories chipboard elsewhere. and american crafts chipboard letters elsewhere. but the rest of it it pretty much kept in one spot. or should i say 4 spots? lol! once again, i'm big on taking things out of their original packaging. just takes up less space, and makes it easier to dig through.
i love this shot. my making memories carousel's. this is where i keep my most used tools and adhesives. i have one that is entirely for new products, things i don't want to forget to use. and the girls keep some stuff in one too.
my computer area. i keep my laptop downstairs during the day, since i'm with the daycare kids all day. but my mom built me this simple desk to work at, and keep my printers. i use the dell printer for all my regular printing. and my awesome photo printer is strickly for photos. i also keep my slice die cut machine here, and my cuttlebug. down on the floor, i have some boxes that store extra printer paper, photo paper, inks, etc.
my paint shelf, also built by my mom. see a theme going here? she built most everything in here, with the exception of the ikea shelves. i had her make me this years ago. mainly because i had some empty space on the wall, and thought it would be cool to have the paints all lined up. it's more of a decorative storage piece. i could easily toss all these bottles in a box or basket. but i had the wall space, so why not 😉
this is above my red cabinet. which my mom also built. it has doors on it, so this is the only area that i have to hide things in and close up. lol! there's no closet up here. so in this cabinet, is where i put things i don't want seen or don't need often. i have a sewing machine in there, extra albums, loads of page protectors, alterable things that i might use for projects down the road, etc. then on top of the cabinet, i have these huge glass jars. also from target. i have other jars on the embellishment shelf with ribbons. but these are my big collections. two of those jars are making memories ribbons, and one is american crafts ribbon. then i have a few other things up there. a jar of thread, a small shelf with ink pads. the stamp shelf was a fairly recent addition to the room, i think eariler this year. it was another one of those "i have some wall space to fill up" kind of ideas. the stamps used to be in baskets. but the space was there, so why not display them in a decorative way.
and here is what the other side of the room looked like during the process of me writing this article and taking all the photos. lol! that's our big comfy chair, which got moved about 15 feet back and in front of the stairs. the extra dresser came out of alyssa's room a year ago, and has just never found a new home. it got pushed to the side, and covered in stuff from the girls side of the island. you can see alyssa's room back there. i had to actually stand IN her room to get a shot of my entire space. using my kit lens, which was the only way to get it all in the shot.
and the television is inside that corner cabinet. not built by my mom, but stained by her about 10 years ago. lol! and here is more of the girls stuff that i took off their side of the island for the photos. they're side isn't quite as pretty as my side. no offense to them. lol!
so i hope that gives you a good idea of what i have going on up here in my studio. now here's the shocker for you. wait for it, wait for it. i'm moving my space back downstairs. i'm ducking as you all throw stuff at me, wondering how i could give up this gorgeous space. lol! it's purely for practical reasons, and i'm so excited about it. it's going to make better use of our space and my time by moving. so it's all good. and i'm already working hard at the move. will share my "new" space when it's all ready 🙂
Laura Vegas 
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