Hello Maja Design fans and friends! Nancy Hanttula here, and today is my turn to share a glimpse into my creative space.

Above is a vinyl chalkboard sign that I have hanging on my creative space door. ( A disclaimer of sorts. )  Because, I won’t lie, my space is seldom that tidy.  I do try to clean up after projects….but there always seems to be a bit of chaos going on.  But, with that said, I did clean up knowing that I was inviting guests over. 🙂

So, come on in….it’s the door to the right……

I feel so blessed to have a room to call all my own.  Before moving into our new house, I was a dining room table scrapper.  I had all my supplies “neatly” organized alongside the wall (yes, the dining room wall) …. well, at least until I was in the middle of a project, and then well, things weren’t so neat.  And as most scrappers realize way too late, supplies start to amass in quantities you just do not plan for.

So, let’s open up my door…

Fortunately, I had not been scrapping too long before we moved to a bigger house (frankly, with our 2nd child, we were busting at the seams), and I was fortunate enough to get to have one of the extra bedrooms all to myself to turn into my very own creative paradise.

AND that is exactly what I did.

AND before I even organized my clothes closet, I set to work on getting my creative space up and running. 🙂  A girl has to have her priorities.

Above is a shelving unit that I got at an estate sale for $5…it was already backed with the peg board.  AND was already painted the pretty Robin Egg blue.  This is where I have most of my acrylic and block stamps organized.

Since moving into my creative space, the space has evolved.  There once was a time that I had a baby play-pen beside my desk.

Above is a cassette tape holder that I have had since the 1980’s…..I knew I would need it for something! It’s perfect for holding my ink pads.

Interestingly enough…I have noticed that 2 of the spaces that you have already visited on this Maja Design Creative Team tour, have the very same shelving system that I finally invested in a couple of years back…the Ikea Expedit shelving.  I cannot believe that Jenny rescued hers from the dump!

I have 2 of the shelves next to each other and then one row of the white craft shelves from Michaels to fit the final space in the corner, across the entire side of the north wall.  What I personally love about these shelves is that the storage spaces are 13 inches x 13 inches….perfect for your 12 x 12 papers.  And because space is limited for most of us, vertical storage is such a great way to save and expand on space.  AND if that wasn’t enough, there is a ton of storage above the shelves.

So I store a lot of stuff on top of the shelves.  Here is a photo of some of my ribbon.  I bought an over-the-door shoe rack….instead of using it for shoes, I used the spools to put my ribbon on.  This cost me all of $12 at Walmart.  For other storage, I have a relatively narrow buffet that I use to store more of my ribbon stash, and a low 6 drawer dresser for my sticker storage and various miscellaneous ephemera stash.

I have a closet in this room (photo above)….which needs a bit of a redo.  I need to make the very most of this space. In here I house a lot of various miscellaneous, my blank canvases, etc.  And,  I use the closet doors for punch storage and to hold a peg board for additional supplies that can be hung on hooks.

See-through, over-the-door shoe holders are perfect to hold my punches.  They only cost me a few dollars at my local Walmart.  I also have one hanging on the back of my actual studio door. I have very little space go to waste in my room.

And now for my desk…..My desk was bought from Target on-line….and was a birthday present from my dear husband a few years back.

 

Above my desk is an inexpensive pegboard system that I also bought at Walmart.

It is the same Peg Board that my husband bought for our garage. Easy to install.  I am a very visual person and need to see my supplies.  So I find this works very well for me.

Some other interesting organizational things I have created for my space include a magnet board that I created for all of my Prima/Ingvild chalk inks.  First of all, I am obsessed with these particular chalk inks.  When I saw the entire set on sale at Scrapbook.com, I had to have them.  I glued a magnet to the bottom of each one using E6000 glue, and placed them onto a 12 x 12 decorative metal wall hanging sheet.

This keeps them easy for me to get to and organized, especially when using my magnetic We R Memory Keepers cutting mat.  BUT I did see a rather awesome chalk ink organizer on Gabrielle’s desk that has me intrigued…..I have not seen that organizer before.  Maybe Gabrielle can share exactly what type of organizer that is and perhaps where it can be purchased? 🙂

Another thing that I had to do to get my mists/sprays organized was to create a color board.  I have a lot of mists…and I really needed to be able to see exactly what colors and finishes each particular one created.  I have seen some tag books that some artists have created for this purpose…but as visual as I am, I need to be able to compare and contrast at a glance.  So, using a smallish (I think about a 2 inch) square punch, I punched out a bunch of white squares, and then misted each square with one of my mists/sprays.  Then, I glued them all down to a sheet so I could hang it on my wall for easy reference.  I won’t lie, it is in need of being updated as my collection has grown since I created this board.  But here is a photo of this tool that I frequently use.  After spraying the square, I wrote the color and manufacturer down for easy reference.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour into my home and into my personal creative space.  It has been a pleasure having you over.  I will tell you, I plan on relocating my space to my daughter’s room when she leaves for college (in like 12 years 🙂 ) because she has the most incredible closet that would be amazing for my crafty supplies.  🙂  Here’s some quick pics of her closet space….

It even has built in shelves on the insides.  But, shhhhh, that’s a secret for now.

Wishing you a super creative and blessed weekend!  Hugs!