Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Stamp Out Chaos


Hello friends, 

Today is the start of a little something different here at Our Charmed Life.  For the next several weeks (months really), my dear friend, Lindsay, from Note to Self, and I are peeling back the curtain to share our journey towards a better organized and better functional crafty space.  We are calling it Stamp Out Chaos. 


I am fortunate to have a dedicated room in our home where I can create and pursue crafty endeavors. A few short months ago it looked like this... mostly... it was particularly clean on the day I snapped these photos.  


While the space worked well overall, there were a few things that I wanted to tweak.  
  • Additional desk space in the form of an L-shaped unit. 
  • Carve out a dedicated spot for my laptop and printer (hence L-shaped desk).  
  • More drawers- my stash includes lots of bits and bobbles and I was tired of looking at everything all the time and drawers are handy to organize and put away.
  • Ribbon- I adored my dress form, but I haven't been using ribbon much lately and it was taking up a lot of space for a supply that was was not being used. 
  • Space for my Scrapbook/Project Life Albums.
So in November, I passed along my crop in style cubes and DIY desk to Lindsay and took a field trip to IKEA.  I purchased another 2 x 4 Expedit (which I stacked on top of my 4 x 4 unit), an L-shaped desk and many, many drawer inserts for said Expedit. 

And today, my crafty room looks like this (Warning: if messy rooms give you an eye-twitch look away now): 





I know.  It's bad.  Don't judge.  Well, judge if you must, just don't tell me about it.  ;)

So what the heck happened?  Well, a lot, and most of it ended up on my desk and some of it on the floor.  LOL!   I think what it comes down to is being in a huge hurry to get the space set up that I did not set up the space to fit my needs and work habits.  It's just not working and the effects are evident. 

In addition, there's a lot of change taking place in this small space...  I had to get a new laptop (hence the 2 computers on the desk), my old trimmer died and needed to be replaced and I started exploring new storage solutions for my ink, dies and cardstock- couple all that with school projects with the kids and limited crafty time, it's no wonder the room sort of threw up everywhere. 

Needless to say this is not an environment conducive to creativity without ample frustration, so I am on a mission to Stamp Out Chaos!  I long for a space that is simple, streamlined, and functional. 

Something like this: 


Or this- I adore the white with touches of pink. 


I love this bright and cheerful space.  I'm thinking about creating a focal wall in my space- more to come on that.


Change is not going to happen overnight.  This will be a journey, and I hope that you will find value in coming along for the ride.  Every other week, Lindsay and I plan to explore a different supply, share a few ideas along with the solution we chose to implement.  I would also LOVE your advice!  If you have any rockstar tips for keeping your space organized and efficient, please leave me a comment and let me know!  As you can see, I need all the help I can get!  

We will be tackling basic supplies in 2 weeks- think ink, cardstock, patterned paper and stamps.  I can't wait to get started and bring back some order and the joy to my crafty space.

Thanks for stopping by!
Katie 


11 comments:

  1. oooohhh.....what a fun new feature! Can't wait to see the transformation!

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  2. This is such a fun post, Katie. I am really looking forward to follow the journey. :)

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  3. I'm pretty sure you both know most of my current tricks. ;) But I'm always up for organization play time. And I still need to optimize my latest reorganization.

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  4. What a fun idea for a series! My craft studio looks very similar to yours right now!!! I definitely need to buckle down and get organized!! Looking forward to your future posts!

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  5. I wish I had the time now to join you. Instead, I'll watch and learn.

    Is it bad to say your "messy" room looks better than my version of a "clean" room? And you don't even want to know what it looks like now!

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  6. Love a bit of organizational fun! I am going to sharing some of my room too - I spend more time organizing & re-organizing than I do crafting some weeks! I'm obsessed!

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  7. oh this is exciting since I just was thinking this week I need to organize my craft area. Thanks for taking this challenge on and sharing it with us. I like to keep small (standard card front size pieces and smaller) patterned paper and cardstock pieces in a Target one dollar section coupon holder. I sort these by colour and they work perfectly for punching out small shapes or die cutting.

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  8. At least you can still see part of your workspace! My table is such a mess that I don't think there is an empty spot on it.
    This is such a great idea and I'm hoping you'll inspire me to do the same!

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  9. Great idea. Always looking for new/better ways to store my ever increasing supplies. I recently made an ink pad storage stand and marker storage from draw dividers. I'm finding this is working really well to contain things.

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  10. I love this post! I recently acquired an Archiver's work table at the closing of the store - love it! BUT, it became a giant flat surface that too quickly had piles and layers of supplies and other stuff! YUCK! I'm in the process of reorganizing all my supplies, so I'm looking forward to your helpful advice and tips!

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  11. Love this idea, love that your mess looks like mine (just imagine washer and dryer in the mix too), and would love to have a room with the feel of that first "wish" photo! Kudos to you for doing this streamlining.

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