Sunday, February 10, 2013

Welcome to the Craft Lounge

Welcome to our craft lounge!



My hubby is a great guy.  He is tuned into his wife.  At one point, I threatened to relocate my craft operations to the man cave which is the biggest room in the house.  I guess he could sense the desparation in my voice or maybe he was just trying to preserve his turf....who knows?!?!  lol
For Christmas 2012, he promised me a craft room remodel.....this entitled emptying the room of its contents and re-creating it just for me!!  I have to thank my cousin, Monica, for her vision.  I had another course of action planned.

You see, the room doubled as our guest room and my craft area previously.  Although it was functional, it was hodge podge and lacked flow.  Most likely, you won't see the transition pictures!!  lol  My Craft Lounge remodel really involved remodeling two rooms.  We no longer needed an "office" in the true sense.  Our needs had changed.  We demolished the L-shaped desk in the office and sent it packing.  We dismantled the cherry wood futon and moved it into the "office" and made more of a tv lounge.  This freed up space in the craft room for the Expedit to go in.

The reason for this post is because many of my craft friends have asked for an invite into the newly remodeled room now labeled The Craft Lounge.  It's still a little bit of a work in progress but it is mostly complete.  I still need to hang some of my artwork on the walls.  It features three new pieces from Ikea - the large Expedit, the Alex drawers and a table.  I hope you like it.  Please let me know your thoughts.


The Expedit comes in handy because each cubbie has a category and  makes for easy accessibility
Across the top of the Expedit, I incorporated by jar storage which is complemented by accent lighting (also from Ikea)
The top row has my embossing folders, small items in clear jars, a throw back lunch box that I thought was cute.  It holds card swap items.  The metallic tin jars has flowers and then you get a peek of my glues and Stickles.  You can read more about my Stickles storage in an earlier post.

This is the guest table in my craft lounge in the event a crafty friend would like to come hang out.
Currently, it has been adopted by my young son.  He has a creative spirit as well!
The three tiered rack is a new edition - it was in the a gift from the Target's culinary section.

The Alex cabinet stows perfect under the guest table.  It stores some of Little Man's artwork that will be made into a school work album along with other miscellaneous things.


Hubby wanted to get rid of my original table - GASP!
It's long, deep and functional.  It had to stay.
The black shelf is one I re-painted to match my new decor.
I quickly snapped this picture while working on a project.
I keep my big shot close on hand.
The clear container has snippets of ribbon that are too small for the rolls.  They  are good to use on cards.  The container is also a Goodwill find.  I keep a little basket on hand to capture any odds and ends as I am working on a project.
Book ends keep my various cutting blades on hand.

My bestie moved to DC.  She gave me a 3-tiered narrow shelf.  It houses my punch collection  which I keep in wire baskets.  The punches are loosely arranged by manufacturer - Fiskars, Martha Stewart, Creative Memories and "other".  lol
Also, peeking in the picture is one of the speakers - hubby also wired my room for sound.  I usually have Pandora streaming.  He wanted me to get a flat screen but I had to remind him that he's more of the tv person - not me!
 
These are my African ladies.
Also, another mini three tiered shelf and a jar.  Most of my jars are Goodwill finds.
The brown bookcase is part of the book case collection that was in the room previously - there were three in total.
One moved to another room - "the office".  One was gifted to a family member.
Hubby didn't like that I kept the brown book shelf because in his opinion, it doesn't match but it is functional and it does match.  I wanted the remodel project but I didn't want to go hog wild in spending money just for aesthetic purposes.

This is a locker stand.  I had dropped the laptop, shattering the screen - GASP!!
My pitiful self took it to Best Buy and the tech said it was fine other than the screen.  He suggested hooking it to a monitor.  So now, in essence, it is a desktop but it's my music center.  It works for me!
You can see my Cameo SD on the lower level.  It's under-utilized.
The Cricut stand.
This is an old microwave stand that I bought my junior year in high school at my first job.
This stand is more than 20 years old.
It is in close proximity to my main workspace so I can easily connect the Cricut's to my PC.

This is probably the most comfortable chair on Earth.
I also re-purposed this.  My Parents were finally getting new furniture and we never really sat in this chair growing up.
It's basically brand-new - just orange and green under the cover - UGH!!
When hubby comes visit me and Little Man in the craft lounge, this is his seat.  It's also good for reading a good book, talking on the phone or just straight chillin'.
I have lights throughout my room - 3 on the table, 2 accent lights, a pool light and an overhead light.  I love the ambiance the lights create.  This pole lamp was re-purposed from another room in the house.

A friend recently launched into the 31 business.  I had to support her.
There are several bags that are perfect for keeping the page kits close at hand.

Cricut Cartridge Storage

My journey with Cricut has been long and mostly happy.  I won't go into the times my Gypsy crashed, my Expression dying or me having to return my brand-new Imagine.  We'll keep this in a good place. So, I obviously indulged myself in Cricut products.  The case below holds about 90 cartridges and I have 2 cases completed filled.  (I store my Imagine cartridges separately!)

These are aluminum tool boxes purchased at my local Freight Harbor store (you can also find them online!)  I think the cost for each case was under $25.  The cartridge holder is removable to expose cartridges on the other side.  This case is a great, efficient manner in which to store my cartridges.  The cartridges are held in place by Velcro dots.  I have them alphabetized so it is easy to find what I am looking for.  The shoulder straps make the cases easy to transport.  I've tried many other cartridge storage options but find this is the best one for me.

In my scrapbooking circles, I introduced this to many of the ladies that I crop with and they love it as well!