MY NEW CRAFT ROOM

Hello, friends! 

It's good to be back, after a 4-month break from creating and blogging.  It wasn't entirely my choice to have such a long hiatus after packing up my craft supplies in preparation for moving house, but I've just "rolled with the punches", and here I am!  In those 4 months, I have:

•  packed up my old house, and moved into my new (hopefully forever) home that I just love;
• been on an amazing trip to the US, which included attending a huge Stampin' Up! event in Salt Lake City (the "home"of Stampin' Up!);
• seen my first-born move out of home, into the house he has bought with his gorgeous fiancee;
• got divorced;
• and dealt with both elderly parents being hospitalised, and needing ongoing care, that has put huge strain on our whole family.

Is it any wonder I am chomping at the bit, to get creating again??!!

My new house ticked all the boxes for me, except for having a dedicated space I could use as a craft room.  The 3 (or possibly 4) car garage was way bigger than I needed, so I claimed half of the garage space, to be converted into a craft room.  Are you ready for some "before" and "after" photos?

Here are some photos I took of the garage, before the works started.  The nearest roller door is the one I kept as a car space, and the further door is the area that was to be converted.

Trying the space out for size, for my class tables:

The external door (with glass panels, to left of picture), which will be the entrance point to a newly-created corridor, leading to the craft room.

Day 1 progress!  The roller door was removed, and internal walls created.

You can see the corridor now created by the internal walls having been put up:

Day 2 was an exciting day, as the window frames went in:

Window panes are in!

.... and the floor tiles are down:

At this point, because it had been a bit of a protracted process, and I had so much else going on, I didn't take any more step-by-step photos.  I can now share with you the "finished product"- woohoo!

Here is the room, that is adjacent to my car-parking space:

I have always wanted to live in a house with at least one barn door, so was able to fulfil my dream!

When you slide open the barn door, this is what you see:

Isn't it beautiful?!  It has turned out exactly as I'd planned.  I am waiting on window blinds, but aside from that, everything is in place, and my room is ready for me to use.

I made sure there was room for my Ikea Expedit unit, that has been housed in each of my (now three) craft rooms.  I just love the overhead cupboards, that open upwards, and have soft-close fittings, like the drawers.

This is my creating space.  I used the same cabinet makers who created my last craft room, and stuck with the same white cabinetry, and Organic White Caesarstone benchtops.

This view, from my desk, is looking back towards the garage.  The tables are for use in classes, or when friends come over to craft.  The standing-height unit at the rear left-hand side is the "Big Shot station" -  for embossing and die-cutting.

Here's the finished exterior view:

 .... and looking in to my craft room,, from outside (complete with reflections of my neighbours' beautiful houses!):

I hope you've enjoyed this "tour"of my lovely craft room.  I look forward to sharing some cards with you before too long.

CRAFT ROOM PROGRESS

I thought I'd share with you the state of my craft room, as I try to find homes for all my stuff.  I have NO idea how I fitted all these craft supplies into my last craft room, that was about half the size!

I've been working steadily, unpacking boxes, and am over halfway there.

Here's my Big Shot station (the cupboards beneath are filling up with dies and embossing folders, non-SU! embellishments that just don't get used these days, plus my Stampin' Up! bags, and wrapping paper and gift bags):

This next picture shows the state of disarray my room is in!  Getting there ...

I look forward to sharing with you the "after" shots, when I have everything where I want it.

MY NEW CRAFT ROOM REVEAL!

It is my great pleasure tonight to be blogging about something that I didn't think was really going to happen!  It is almost 6 months since I packed up the contents of my craft room, in preparation for our house move.  We have been in our new house for over 4 months, and just today my new craft room was finished!  Oh, happy day!!  (Sorry for the exclamation mark overload - I am more than a bit excited.)

I can't effectively convey just how frustrating it has been, to not be able to access all my craft supplies.  For someone who is used to doing something creative every day (even if that is just going into my craft room, stroking some pretty paper, and leaving), these past several months have been really, really difficult.  I haven't had my "sanity saver", or stress release, and as a result have been less than the happy Christine I could be.  Many times I've despaired that things just weren't going to happen as I wished.  However, my craft room dream has now become a reality, and I would love to share a bit of the process with you.

Are you ready for a photo-heavy post?  You might want to grab a drink, and settle in!

Okay.  So, we bought our house on the proviso that an unfinished area under the house would be finished off (insulated, plastered, tiled and painted, with windows created, and lots of power points and downlights installed), for me to use as a craft room.  The excavation was a huge job ... lots of rock, clay and compacted soil had to be moved.  Can you believe that I was a bit excited when the concrete slab went down, and it looked like this?

The next few photos will show the awesome progress that took place after this photo was taken.  I chose the floor tiles and paint colours, and trusted in the vendor (who's a builder).

Here is what has become the entrance to my craft room ... the finished space is an L-shaped room.

After walking in, and turning to the right, this is what the room looked like when we first moved in (and I had unpacked a few supplies, in the hope that I'd still get to craft):

.... and from the far end of the room, looking back:

The first cabinet maker I engaged to fit out my craft room totally let me down (after almost 3 months of waiting).  I was fortunate to be referred, by a couple of friends, to an awesome new cabinet maker, who totally understood my "need" for this be to done ASAP (his sister is also crafty).  I could not be happier with the service I received from the guys responsible for fitting out my space - they brought to life exactly what I had envisaged.

After lugging all the boxes and furniture out of the space, I was ready to take delivery of the cabinetry, and some custom-made tables.  The guys had to deliver everything one day, and come back the next to start work.  This is when I really started to feel excited. 

The transformers for our pool lights are located in my craft room; a priority was to have a cabinet made to conceal these ugly things!  Here is the "footprint" for the cabinet:

.... and some boxes to show where some of the drawers will be (hey, any progress excited me at this stage, so please humour me!):

Installation of the majority of the cabinetry took only one day.  I was thrilled to see it take shape, albeit with temporary benchtops, awaiting the Caesarstone benches that had to be made to measure.

You can't see the pool light transformers now! 

I will be sorting out the Ikea cube unit, to look a bit nicer, in time.  This is the view when you come into the entrance to my craft room.

... and this is how the room looked at the end of Day 1:

I hope you're still hanging in there, with me.  Getting close to the end now!  The Caesarstone benchtops were installed two days ago, and the cabinet makers returned today to install drawer dividers (most of my drawers are 1 metre wide, so I've chosen to use dividers in most of them, to get optimum use out of them), fix up the power points that had been moved from floor level, and to mount shelving units on the wall.


So, here's the finished cabinet of cupboards, that conceal the pool light transformers.  This unit, at standing height, will be my Big Shot station:

Here is the grand reveal of the whole room:

... and a closer look at my punch storage unit, and stamp set shelving unit:

I am so thrilled with the end result, and cannot wait to put away all my craft supplies (which, unfortunately, are mostly still in about 40 moving boxes!).  I am sure the room will look nowhere near as neat, once I have my "stuff" in there.  I will, when I've found homes for everything, share an "after" pic or two! 

Thanks for visiting today, and for hanging in there with me while I haven't been creating or posting much.  Next week will be dedicated to getting my room set up - then, I can start crafting again in earnest.  I look forward to a return to much more regular blogging.

I'M STILL AROUND!

When I posted that we'd be moving house, and there might be a little break between blog posts, I could not have anticipated that my hiatus would be quite so long!  A month down the track, we are still battling to have internet connected at our new property.  It is just unbelievable to me, in this day and age, that we can't get internet.  I've experienced feelings of agitation, withdrawal, frustration, and ultimately defeat  ... I've just had to accept that it is all beyond my control.  We're still working on finding a viable solution, so please don't give up on visiting my blog.  I hold out hope that soon all of this will be a distant memory.

I have not created anything for two months, and am missing my "sanity saving" outlet desperately.  It will be at least another month before my new craft room is properly fitted out - boy, this move has been an exercise in patience.

I am pleased to say that I have internet access for a week.  I'll be busy catching up on what's been going on, online!  We are away at our holiday house, and, although it's situated in the country, I had no problem having internet connected - go figure.

I have commandeered the dining room, and set up a temporary crafting space.  I'm hoping to get lots of "play time" this coming week; it's very hot, so I will happily stay indoors, in airconditioned comfort, crafting to my heart's content.  Here's everything set up, ready for me to start creating tomorrow:

 I look forward to being able to share with you some of my creations soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone - here's to a great 2016!

HERE'S WHY I HAVEN'T BEEN SHARING MUCH LATELY ...

You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet around here.  I am managing to keep up with my weekly Just Add Ink Design Team commitments, but have not been creating as much as I'd like to.

A while ago I shared pics of my craft room, in this blog post.

Well, after filling some 45 packing boxes, this is how my craft room looks today:

*Sniff* ... I'm feeling a bit sad, and at a loose end, having no access to my crafting supplies for a couple of weeks.  We are moving house next week.  I will have a lovely new craft room to set up, and look forward to sharing pics with you, when it's done.

MY "HAPPY PLACE"

A few years ago I shared on my blog that I was the proud "owner" of a brand new craft room, as a result of an extension of the back of our house.  I moved from a tiny room into a spacious one, that was designed just how I wanted it.

I thought I'd share on here a few more recent photos, so you can see where I spend much of my life!  I love this room so much .... I leave only when I have to.

Here's a view of my room, from the door.  It's a lovely, light-filled room with an outlook over our nice, green back yard (but I can't show you a close-up because of the dirty windows, and the garden in need of a prune, LOL).

Next is my stamp storage shelves.  I took these photos to share on a group Facebook page, without tidying up first - so, you get to see my room as it usually is.  I am a "wannabe" super-organized person, but in reality am a very messy crafter.  I like to think that we creative types have rather chaotic minds .... wish I could "still" mine sometimes!!

Here's my fabulous ribbon storage unit, built to spec by my dear friend's super-handy husband.  What a wonderful gift - I love it.  (The straggly ribbons are evidence of my failure to tidy up before photographing!  But hey, this is how it always looks.)

Here's my inkpad storage unit, which is one of my favourite ever ebay purchases.  It came in raw MDF, and I spray-painted it to match my other white furniture.  Markers, and a "selfie", of the two of us taken at SU! Convention, by my friend Jodene, sit on top. :)

.... and, finally, my collection of punches, dies, trimmers and Big Shot:

I hope you've enoyed this peek into my craft room, as much as I love seeing where everyone else creates. 

MY CRAFT ROOM

It's nearly 2 years since my 'dream' craft room was added on to our house, and I don't think I have ever shared photos on my blog.  I keep telling myself I'll photograph it when I have all the piles of 'stuff' put away .... but, that day never seems to come, so I've decided to show you my space "as is"!!  If I had a spare mattress to put in my craft room, I'd happily live in there!

This is the view of my room when you first enter:

When I first got my own room for crafting, I bought that cute little desk from Ikea (LOVE the trestle legs with shelves on them).  However, I soon discovered that if I wanted to stamp with more than one person, it wasn't quite going to do the job!  I've added the plastic moulded table (with the mismatched chairs - must rectify that someday, when I venture back to Ikea!) so that I can run classes here.  It works well with my regular groups. 

Here is my much-loved Expedit bookcase, from Ikea of course:

I store all my Stampin' Up! A4 cardstock in plastic tubs on top of some cupboards (at the end of the table).  Scraps are kept in a clear A5-sized pocket at the front of each hanging file.:

This is my new storage solution for Stampin' Up! ribbons.  Works at the moment, but not sure what I'll do once I have full rolls of the satin ribbon in every colour, LOL.

Here's how I store my stampin' pads and ink refills (bless ebay):

My Stampin' Up! stamps are all kept in a separate bookcase (clearly I didn't tidy this up before taking the photo!).  Other rubber stamps (that don't get shown much love these days) are kept in shallow drawers, sorted by category, in my built-in U-shaped unit.

One of my FAVOURITE features of my craft room is my punch storage; fabulous, cheap but sturdy, rails from Ikea.  Below my punches is my 'cutting station' - paper cutters and Big Shot, with my Scor-Pal in the corner.

I store my Nestabilities (that don't get much love these days ... but, as a diehard papercrafter, I do love buying and hoarding supplies!) inside one of the double doors to my floor-to-ceiling cupboard:

To complete today's "tour", I'll show you my desk, where I sometimes sit just for the pleasure of looking out into the garden!

This room brings me so much pleasure; I hope it has made you smile, too.