Welcome to My Happy Place!

I'm so excited!  Why?  Because today is the "Where Bloggers Create" party hosted by the wonderful Karen Valentine at My Desert Cottage.  This is her 4th year doing this, but it's my 3rd year participating.  I look forward to this every year because I just LOVE peeking into other crafters/scrappers/artists rooms.   Some rooms are small, some are the size of my house and others are in a corner of a room.  Yet, each room has its own style and is the creators 'happy place'.    Visiting these blogs has given me so much inspiration and so many ideas of what to do in my room.  

This year, though, I have a different room to share.  I no longer have the room I shared with you for the last two years--read this post to see my "happy place" from the past two years--http://www.scrapmomsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/06/where-i-create.html .  Why?  Because I moved!  My husband and I bought a house last November ---a small 3 bedroom ranch:

but it really didn't have a room for scrapping.  Soooo, my husband did the next best thing---he renovated half the basement for me!  What a guy!   It's taken me several months to get it to this point.  There's still a few more things I want to do---paint, hang up layouts, paint the cellar floor, etc.  

I have to apologize ahead of time for this v-e-r-y  l-o-n-g post.  I didn't realize until I was done how many pictures I shared of my room.  I hope you'll be patient enough to read the post and look at the photos. 

Before I show you my 'new' room, let me show you the BEFORE pictures. 


This is what my room looked like about 2 weeks after moving in.  I wish I had taken a picture of it filled to the ceiling with boxes. 

Arrggh!  What a mess!  I remember just standing there and wondering where to begin!

Okay, well you get the idea of what the room looked like 5 months ago.  My room is by no means glamorous, nor is everything matched exactly.  My room is unique--just like me--with a color scheme (mostly) of blues, pinks and greens.   Just about everything in my room is from yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores and from around the house that didn't serve it's purpose anymore.   It's an eclectic room, but I love it!   So, let's see the transformation now:

Oh, in case you might not have figured it out--I'm a scrapbooker and paper artist.  My love is creating mini albums and altered art.  I occasionally do a layout or two and really need to get back into that. 

This is looking into my 'Happy Place' as you enter through the basement door. ( I am standing in the doorway). My husband built all the shelves for my storage.   Behind this 'wall of shelves' on the other half of the basement, are more shelves for storing household items.  I should tell you that my room measures 15' x 22' approximately.  It's sooo much bigger than the room I had before. 

This view is as you turn to your right.  My worktable is a 6' table from Walmart that is skirted with leftover fabric that I've been saving for 21---yes, 21 years!  I just couldn't get rid of all this fabric--yards and yards of it from the days of sewing---so I used it to make a skirt to hide some items underneath.  This is a no-sew skirt---really easy to make. 

This view is looking to the right near the door where I entered.  (the door is at the right of the paper stacks.  The walls are made of very hard paneling that you can't even nail through.  Everything that is hanging was hung by using a very strong double-sided adhesive--made by 3M I think.

This picture gives you a better view of the entire room--well almost.  To the left are my shelves.  See the hanger right in front?  That will eventually be filled with rolls of ribbon.  The post in front of my worktable is a support post--there's no way to get rid of that!  I also covered the very ugly red and gray painted floor with a white carpet.  I know--I know--who would put a white rug in a basement, but it was the only one I had.  It was left here by my daughter when she moved out.  The wicker unit with the hanger will eventually hold scraps of paper. 

Here's my table showing the assorted panels of fabric for the table skirt.  I hung the skirt to the table using velcro and hid the puckered edges with blue fabric ribbon.  My black desk chair looked out of place with the blues, pinks and greens, so I covered it with a sheet, added a flowered chair cushion and a flowered pillow sham to 'shabby' it up a bit.

Another view of the skirt.

This is one section of my shelves.  I stacked the Sterilite containers (from Walmart) and then my husband built a shelving unit next to it (the one in the distance). 

This gives you a better idea of the shelves.  This is looking to the left of my worktable.  I'm actually standing by the water heater.  Needless to say, my room is quite cozy in the winter, never getting below 64 (honest!) but...it's warm now with a temp of about 72--in the basement!  Yikes!  But, there's no dampness whatsoever.  So I have to have a fan on to keep cool.  I've never known a basement to be so warm before.  Anyway, back to my room....The above picture shows all my Sterilite containers stacked up and are covered with scrapping paper to hide the inside. If you notice the small table in the foreground--that was from a yard sale and is covered with a round battenburg tablecloth.  A half-dome box sits there empty and next to it is my "Captured Fairy Bottle"  from a swap. Above the table hangs half of a 'shoe holder' which is hung on a piece of foamboard.  This foamboard, covered in contact paper, hides the end shelves that holds all our (me and my daughter) page kits, mini album kits, etc.  The 'shoe holder' now stores my glue guns, paper drill, and heat guns.

This is the top of my table.  I haven't seen the top of the table in a long time. 

The brown book case is from a yard sale from along time ago and holds some of my daughters kits, but mostly is a catch-all for items we've bought and just can't find a place for right now.  This book case is at the end of my table to my right.

This white bookcase was also bought at a yardsale for a few dollars and holds my smaller containers.  The bottom shelf stores wooden and acrylic stamps.  The 'tackle' boxes hold a ton of smaller embellies.  The other boxes store embellies related to seasons, holidays, events, etc.

If you were to stand at the end (remember the small table with the battenburg lace?) by that table this is the view:

This tall white bookcase was given to us by a neighbor several years ago when the family split up and moved.  This unit holds more 'stuff' from buttons to incomplete minis.

My buttons stored in Making Memories jars and old food jars.  They sit on a 3 tier shelf bought from Walmart.  I like having my buttons stored by color--it's so much easier for me.

Another flea market item that holds my mini teddies.  I love teddy bears and love to have sentimental items in my room.  Two bigger ones sit on the top. 

Did I mention that I LOVE birdhouses?  Well, I do!  They can be found here and there throughout my room.  This cluster sits on top of the bookcase seen above. 

 I store my lace ribbon and bits of lace, thread 'bobbins' and embroidery floss  in large Mason jars.  I don't use the thread, but I just love how it looks, plus it adds color.

I'm now standing at the 'wall unit' of shelves and looking across the room.  These bookcases were bought at a thrift store.  The white one displays all my mini albums that I've either made or I received in swaps over the years.

  A basket holds magazines, tube of contact paper and yardsticks.  The bag above the basket is a Tim Holtz canvas bag.  The brown bookcase displays more mini albums, holds paper pads/packs as well as sheets of chipboard, page protectors, paper organizers, and God knows what else!  LOL!  The bottom shelf has some of my daughter's things and the beginnings of some of my Project Life items.  See the unit to the bottom right? That is four drawers chock full of chipboard mini albums (to make into minis). 

Another view.  I have three paper stacks that obviously hold my paper.  And, this isn't even all my paper!  I usually sort by manufacturer for the patterned paper and my cardstock is sorted by color. 

Standing in the middle of the room looking slightly to my right.  The table on my right:

It was supposed to be a cutting table for the Cricut, but instead I'm using it for more storage such as:

my handmade Clip it Up.   And...

my punches (in a chipboard suitcase) and an old strainer.   I also have this:

An old wooden jewelry box that displays more swap items.  Above this is my inspiration board:

Next to this table is a smaller computer table (which was discarded).  On this table, I store my Cricut, Cuttlebug, the Cinch, the Slice, a small sewing machine, cutting boards, glass mats and my Brother Sewing Machine (on the bottom):

To the right of this computer table are 2 more bookcases that were part of an entertainment center that we dismantled when we moved. 

And look what's on top:

More birdhouses!  And a birdcage.

A closeup of my Sterilite containers covered with patterned paper and labeled.  The 'topnote' labels came from Michaels for $1.  I just typed up the contents on some paper, printed it, cut it and adhered to the label.  Viola'!

Getting back to my desk, here's what you'll find:

A wooden green bed tray (another yard sale item) sits to the left of me at my table (desk) which displays an altered cigar box from a recent swap; two teacup pin cushions (another swap); a box from Marshall's filled with lace ribbon, remnants and such; and a vintage sewing box filled with more trim.  The cover displays two bracelets made by a friend of mine. These bracelets are made from actual vintage typewriters.  

Beneath this tray are some art supplies--paintbrushes of assorted sizes, baby wipes, old baking pans for heat embossing:

Next to this, stands my large WishNik doll that I've had since I was a child.  A lazy susan holds altered cans for rulers, glue sticks, scissors, pins, and other miscellaneous items:

In front of my WishNik doll is a ceramic purse (flea market item) that holds scissors, pliers, a razor knife, Cricut tools and other assorted tools.   On the right of the desk is a small wooden shelf:

This unit holds a jewelry hanger that I use as a mini clip it up.  On the top is a box filled with cards from swap items and a two tier unit on a lazy susan that holds Ranger Inks, Ink refills, canvas tape and other TH/Ranger products.  Beneath this shelf are boxes of tools so everything is within reach when I work on a project.

Below is a picture of a basket (another flea market find) that stores vintage ephemera.  This basket sits on the wicker unit that will eventually hold my scraps. 

Next to my smaller worktable, I have this metal 3 shelf "thingy".  I store colored pencils in a painted tin coffee pot (another yard sale item)  and beneath that is a flower pot that holds all my decorative scissors:

Did I forget to show you anything?  Whew!, I hope not!  I'm so glad that you stopped by to see my room and I do hope you enjoyed the tour.   I plan on doing a video of it, but that won't be for a few more days.  The video will go into more detail (can you believe that one?!)   

Wishing you an enjoyable day!
Lori