ORGANIZATION TIPS & A CARD

I don't know about all of you - but I am forever re-organizing my craftroom/office to make my small craft space more efficient. This past week I revamped one tiny area to create a guest stamping space/BigShot work station. Previously this space housed just the brown lateral file cabinet that has been incorporated as part of the desk - but with a couple of Hobby Lobby cubicles which keeps my SU! cardstock and BigShot supplies within arm's reach, a 24x48x2" piece of knotty pine and some white paint I ended up with workstation #2. Eventually the lateral file cabinet will be replaced with a two drawer upright cabinet to allow more leg room - but for now it seems to work fine. I gave it a test-run last night when my friend Gloria came for the day to play. I had a great time stamping and chatting and eating - Gloria provided the yummiest, gooey brownies! Mmmmm! Delicious! (Confession: I ate 3 for breakfast this morning!)

The photo to the right is my main work space. This photo was taken a year ago so the wall space is much less open now. The shelving unit on the left has gained 2 additional levels, the white shelf above the desk has been replaced with a metal mesh shelf that attaches to the rail and holds my prima flowers in glass jars. I have added more rails to hold more punches on each side of the shelf and the photo grid has been replaced by 2 hanging 4-cubicle shelfs for my stickles, acrylic blocks, and my basic black, basic brown and craft white ink pads and I have two more rails to add as I'm already out of space. Since this photo was taken I've also added a small 30-drawer hardware cabinet to hold all my small embellishments. It is where the light is on the desk and the light is now centered. The colored pencils have been relegated to a cubby below the inkpads and 3-drawer cabinet due to lack of use. The 5-drawer container on the desk houses all my markers - the top drawer is SU! browns, greens, blues and grays. The second drawer is SU! reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and purples. Third and 4th drawers are miscellaneous markers and writing utensils. The bottom drawer is filled with my Copics - which for the most part never see the light of day! I have also added a white wire shelf with front just above the top of the desk that runs the entire length of desk. I keep my matpack, Koh-I-Noors, Crop-a-dile, Stampin'Round handles, brayer and Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set there for ease of use.

I received an email this morning that contained a link to the online gallery of Susan Raihala. For those of you who like CAS cards (Clean and Simple) her gallery is a "must". While I was there looking at her work I found photos of a wonderful organizational tip. Make sure to check out these links for photos -
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1195314
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1195315
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1195316?cat=500&ppuser=49585

Would you belive that this card took more than 6 hours to create. Not that it really takes that long to put together - but I was busy chatting, eating, and coloring images before finally deciding what I was going to use to make my card. LOL!!

The "violets in egg" image is an original Jill's Jems colored with Prisma pencils. I used the pencils for the first time last night and they are a delight - but really no different than the less expensive Koh-I-Noors in terms of shading and blending. The one thing that gives them an advantage in my mind is the great variety of colors - but to me the expense is a little daunting. The pencils have gone onto my birthday "wish list" for hubby to purchase.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog today. We got snow last night so for me it's a dreary day around here and to make it even worse - I'm off to work on my taxes!!! Hope you enjoy your day more than I'll be enjoying mine!

Until tomorrow -

Jill