Hi Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine!

I have wanted to share my space with you for some time, but it is never cleaned up! Well yesterday was a banner day! I have been designing classes to share with my local girlfriends; yesterday I completed the kits so for once, it was clean enough for pictures!

When we bought our home, my husband offered 1/2 of the rec room for my scrapbooking space! I was shocked! He purchased two 8′ sections of counter top and installed them at one end of the room.  I purchased the paper shelves from my uncle’s shop when he retired; my cousin sold scrapbooking supplies and taught classes there. I have my Mom’s old, solid dining table as my main table and two 8’ folding tables for friends. I have almost 3/4 of the rec room! He has a TV and couch at the other end, not much of a man cave eh? That is why my husband is soooooo great! I love you Gregory Ball!

Ok here are the photos!

This is the view from the entry way to our rec room.  You can see Greg’s couch & TV at back of the room and my Mom’s table & the two 8″ folding. My husband installed “daylight” light units that can be used separate from the room’s pot lights.  Before Mom past from breast cancer, she made me the green crocheted cover for my Cricut Expression 2, I love that I have memories of her with me in my craft room!  I teach Cricut classes; so I have a few extra for those who don’t have one themselves.

Here you can see the 2 counter tops Gregory installed for me, as I like to work standing up.  I have really made use of those white plastic drawer banks!

We were able to get lamps for each seat position relatively cheap at Wal-Mart, great garbage bins from the Dollarama and coffee cans are great for wet stuff like baby wipes!

This is a great view of my paper racks!  What a blessing it was to be able to get them!  A board across the top of the racks have given my Cinch & Bind-It-All a home of their own. I also keep containers with Glitter Ritz & Tim Holtz Distress Inks handy on this shelf.

Here you can see my ribbon racks from Michael’s and my trick for storing more ribbon! [threading small spools onto old lanyards then adding the top loop onto the ribbon rod]  My ribbon shelf holds little magazine holders that I made to hold Picture My Life, pens for my Cricuts & Silhouette Cameo as well as bits of ribbon in old candle jars.   There is lots of room on my counter for my favourite, most accurate paper trimmer I have used; CutterPillarPro!  My Cricut Explore & Silhouette Cameo share this counter with my laptop, they are used almost daily so they remain connected to my laptop at all times!

In the corner I have a CTMY ink & pen holder which has a top that I can store all my mist in!  Love that!  I use the ledge above the counter to store magazines, crush books, day planner and such. The stamp containers are from CTMH and can house 40 [minimum] of their stamp sets. My coveted carousel, houses all of my daily use tools!  I have a Dollar Store basket for adhesives, Big Bite and my Tim Holtz trunk which stores many treasures!

This picture shows my Canon Pixma Pro-10 tucked on my filing cabinet. I print all my own pictures and love that this printer uses permanent pigment ink. You can see my second pen & ink tower, more stamps and my Vagabond! One other thing you see in this picture, which I couldn’t live without, my iPad pink pillow!  This pillow allows me to prop my iPad up on uneven surfaces so that I can watch videos of thinks I want to learn [all of the CSM Webisodes]. To the left of the picture you can see my bank of plastic drawers; I keep my basic tools, adhesives, refills and extra blades here.  On top you will see plastic 12×12 bins and bigger totes. I use these to store and organize class materials.

Thank you for doing this series!  I have learned so much from seeing other people’s craft rooms and I hope there might be something useful gleaned from mine!

Blessings, Melitta Ball