Project Organise Craft Desk: Complete!

The organisation of my craft desk has been evolving for quite some years now. There have been many different ideas, storage items, boxes, baskets, tubs, drawers, racks & caddy's! 

The biggest turning point in my organisation began when I bought my big desk! It is 1m x 2m and it has given me a nice and large space to work with. I don't need too much actual work space, and it is probably best that way so I don't spread out too much mess! I needed a large desk so I could store lots of goodies on it!

A couple of months ago I bought my 4x2 Expedit shelf from Ikea to sit on my desk. It was to replace the hutch shelf I used to have on there. It wasn't able to hold very much so it just got in the way in the end and needed to be replaced with something more functional!

After the Expedit shelf arrived, I got myself some drawers & baskets to hold the awkward items, and arranged them in the cubby's.

All that was left to organise was my cardstock & ribbon. And that is where Colcraft comes in! Col makes custom designed craft storage units. You tell him what you want, and he can make it for you. And for an EXCELLENT price too folks. 

Col made my A4 cardstock units & my ribbon holders. They match in beautifully with my Expedit!!

All that is now left to do organisation wise my in craft room is to sort out my drawers a little better. I tend to be messy with drawers so if I can find a better solution I can see myself going for it! 

So if you need some help with your craft desk organisation, duck over to Colcraft and scroll through the albums to get some ideas flowing!

And now, I'm about to pull out all my bits and bobs and make a mess of my desk and create some beautiful things! :)

Sewing Machine Storage

I love my sewing machine & overlocker. But oh boy, they take up a lot of room and can be so awkward to store. Unfortunately the only place my two machines will fit, is on top of my big 4x4 Expedit shelves.

 A few years ago I bought a big wooden tray in a op shop for no real reason other than I thought it could look cute it I repainted it and used it on display for something one day. As usual the restoration project never really happened and the tray was put in the cupboard. 

Then one day I needed to take my overlocker somewhere for a sewing day/evening and there is no carry handle or hard cover case on my machine. Then I saw my wooden tray in the cupboard, and thought oh that will be a great way to transport it for the occasion. I ended up keeping it in the tray once I returned home again because it was so much easier putting up and and pulling it down again off the high shelf. 

It didn't take me long to realise that I had stumbled across what I think is a fabulous idea. And as you can see above, I have found myself another wooden tray for my sewing machine too! I find it so handy having the trays with manoeuvring my machines around my house to use or to take somewhere to use. 

I even keep the machines inside the wooden trays while I'm using them. It makes no difference at all unless you want to take your sewing machine tray on and off. 

Now if I could just get around to painting them so they don't look so dorky, then we would have ourselves a "happily ever after" tale to tell...

A sneak of our new place...

We have been moved into our new place (upstairs at mum and dads) for a few weeks now.  Over the weekend, we FINISHED unpacking, putting together, finding places for our storage items, and cleaned up!  I am so happy it is all done.  I am loving the space that I am continued to be blessed with for my crafts.

I now store my hairdressing supplies in my craft room, which is new, but I found those great black and white drawers which fits everything in perfectly.  I also have to put my filing cabinet under the desk, but I still have plenty of room.  I also have a window right next to the desk which is lovely for fresh air and sunshine.  In my old craft room, I never ever got sunlight!

Everything is still packed into my cube shelving and white drawers.  And there is that beautiful sunlight I was talking about.  

Waste not want not!!!  I am planning to measure up the top of these drawers so I can have some wood cut which will give me another space to maybe store something, or put something decorative.  I actually use scraps for 50% of my sewing projects.  You'd be surprised what you can make with them!

And a couple of my personal touches.  My Texan corner (hubby is Texan).  All that is missing is something with the Texan flag.  Maybe a project for the future!

My awesome plaque at the door of my room.  My sister got it for me for Christmas.  I love it!

And then there's the lounge room.  In moving in, we had to sell our couch as my parents had a few up in the lounge upstairs.  They're not the most gorgeous couches, but I'm trying to make do with what we've been provided with.

The couches are a little uncomfy, so I have plans to make a few more cushions so that I can lounge more comfortably!!  We also got rid of our coffee table because mum has an antique blanket box that had nowhere to live so we are using that as our coffee table.  I was worried about the top of it getting damaged so I made a topper.  Just a piece of chipboard cut to size, and covered with some nice tough fabric.  And then a piece of felt adhered. to the base so the staples don't scratch up the top of the box.  Not too bad I say!

There's isn't much else to show at this stage.  Husby's study is also the storage room, so his desk has boxes stacked up, our dining room set disassembled and stacked up.  Not the prettiest room.  And then our bedroom.... STUFFED with furniture.  Not pretty, but practical.  

It's time to start adding the little touches that make a home.  Thanks to Pinterest I have plenty of ideas!!  Now I just need to get started!!

My Creative Space - Just a few things I whipped up...

I have been feeling under the weather, and haven't been doing too much crafting this week.  But last night I had the craft bug and got around to trying out this fantastic tutorial which has been open on my browser for a few weeks now!!

My first attempt:

And my second attempt:

The first one looked too spaced out, so I sewed the petals closer together with the white lace one, which I think looks much nicer.  

Link in here for more spaces.

My creative space - nom nom nom

Hungry much?  Feel like one apple?

Or two pears?

Perhaps you'd like three plums?

Or four strawberries?

But maybe you are still hungry.... so you might want some cake!

And some cherry pie!

Or how about a slice of fresh juicy watermelon?

But that's enough sweets for the day.  Now you feel like a pickle!

And some salami and a sausage!

Are you going to finish off with a leaf?

I've been pottering away getting everything made for the Hungry Caterpillar book.  It's what I did while I was away camping!  My sister joined in on the fun too.  Here's what she's made so far...

I started on the ice cream cone the other day.  

Now to figure out how to do the ice cream bit....

Only a few more things to make now.  Then I need to make the caterpillar and butterfly!!

To join in pop over to Kirsty's.

Playing with Macro

I've been exploring the possibilities with the Macro settings on my camera lately.  Here's a few piccies I've taken...

What do you like using your Macro settings to photograph?

Hope everyone has a super weekend!

My camping creative space + craft room reveal

Well this past week, my creative space moved to the outdoors.  I went camping with a bunch of family and friends and we had a great time.  But as desperate crafters, we (my sister and I) had to bring something along with us to do.  We took over the table with supplies every day.

I'll show you soon what we got up to.  

And here are a couple of long awaited photos of my re-vamped, more functional craft room.  I love my new desk!  Especially the fact that is it SO big that I can make messes as I go along, and there is still room to work hah!  It just means it takes longer to clean up after though!!

For more spaces duck over to Kirsty's.

My Creative Space - making and fixing

Things have been quiet around here on the creative front.  My husbands new work schedule is grueling and in hope that I will see him on occasion I have adapted to his schedule.  So I am up at the crack of dawn, and my normal creative time at night is gone, because I'm usually snoring at an early hour.  But last night I was fed up and brought a few things to bed to work on before I went to sleep.

I fixed a necklace that broke over 3 years ago...

And fixed a few other necklaces while I was at it...

 

And today, thinking about having a play with making some more jewellry.  I have such a big collection of goodies in this bag...

Not that I need any more jewellry or anything...

Join in over at Kirsty's.