CASology Featured Designer Week 2 – Craft Space Tour

Hi! I’m here today for a post as CASology’s Featured Designer with a tour of my craft space.

I’d like to dedicate this post to my good friend, Cindy, who introduced me to stamping in 2012. Cindy is the daughter of a career military man, was in the military for a short period of time herself,  and is the wife of career military husband (now retired). Between growing up as a military child and then marrying a military man, she has lived in TWENTY-TWO locations around the world! That may explain some of why she’s learned to be so incredibly efficient and organized. Cindy and I met in Turkey in 2003.

To me, Cindy is a loyal and true friend.  She is fun and funny and we cry and laugh together a lot. She has swept my floors, corrected my children, cleaned my hairbrush and knows the type of toilet paper we use at my house! She is also the most organized person I’ve ever met. Cindy loves Jesus, is a student of the Bible, and has, many times, given me much needed Biblical encouragement and exhortation. The above photo is of the two of us this past April, when she, by herself, flew from the U.S. back to Germany to visit with little ol’ me for 10 days. What an incredible gift! It was a sweet time.

Thank you, Cindy, for your sacrifices to our beloved country and to your own family and for your loyal friendship to me. I am excited to be seeing this latest chapter in your life which God is unfolding for you. I know that it will be a thing of beauty.

HUGS! ❤

Without further delay, welcome to my craft space!

My craft space is currently in an alcove of my family’s living room.

My table (island) sits directly across from a working wood-burning fireplace.

 We did not use the fireplace last winter because of the mild weather, but we did use it during the prior one.

I like this spot. I have a big window with lots of natural light.

Below, please find a slideshow with lots of details about my space, storage and supplies.

I have turned autostart to “off”.

To start the slideshow, please CLICK on the play button on the photo below.

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I love my work table because of its history in my family. I usually work at it standing up. I’d like to share some more about my table with you. It is made from 2 book shelves, a tabletop and some pegboard. This table has a long and varied history of usefulness in my different houses.

I bought the bookshelves for $1 each at a Navy Relief thrift/charity store in New Jersey in 1999. When I initially bought the shelves they were a dark brown sticky mess. So, I sanded them, and painted them white.

Since 1999, they have been across the ocean multiple times and used in many different ways. I used them as bookshelves in my daughter’s room in N.J..

They were used to store books in my son’s room in Massachusetts,

and as pantry storage in my tiny kitchen/dining room in Turkey,

and then as homeschool book storage in my basement in South Dakota.

After moving to Germany in 2007, my husband and I bought the table top (unfinished) at a German home & garden store.

I needed counter space in my kitchen, and so my husband and I sanded and painted the table top white, and attached the two bookshelves as legs on either end.

The shelves doubled as pantry space. Here’s our house, in Höheinöd, Germany, where we first grouped the bookshelves with a table top to create a kitchen island.

Here are a few photos of the island at the time.

Since 2007, the shelves and table top have been taken apart and then put back together many times as we have moved to our new duty stations.  Besides being my kitchen island in Höheinöd, this table/island has been on our patio in New Mexico,

used as a desk in my daughter’s room in Belgium,

and then in 2014, when we moved into our current house, my husband and our friend Jeff (my friend Cindy’s husband) reassembled the table/island in my kitchen.

Now it has been re-re-repurposed as my crafting table.

I decided that after all of the moving my table needed a little love. So, my husband took it apart and sanded it. Then my daughter and I painted the 3 pieces a nice sunny yellow color. My husband reassembled the table with the shelves in a “T” shape this time. This new configuration (instead of having the 2 shelves on each end, facing outward) created a more convenient set up for my current craft space.

Here is the table, mid assembly, laying on its side. The white upside-down “T” that you see is the top, where the table top is now attached.

My husband wants to provide something better/nicer for me to use, but I am very attached to my table and am insisting that it stays with me even after we stop moving some day!

I have to say that I do love Stamp-n-Storage’s products though, and if I did not have an imposed household goods weight limit I’d probably have more of their products.

For now, I love my Stamp-n-Storage ink storage unit!

Here is the freshly painted and reassembled table.

My husband did add some pegboard to the back side of one of the shelves. I have attached various baskets to the pegboard for finished cards and other storage purposes.

Most of the time I stamp by myself. Cindy moved from Germany back to the U.S. in 2014 when my family and I moved from Belgium to Germany.

Too. much. moving.

(The map above is not an accurate representation of all of my moves over the past 22 years.)

(But it does reflect how I feel. 😉 )

So, now I’m living in the Stuttgart area of Germany, about 36 miles (58 kilometers) from an American Army Post. I have little contact with Americans, native English-speakers or stampers.

The commute to the base/post averages about 45 minutes one way without any traffic problems. One time it took my husband 3 1/2 hours to get home! Stuttgart – the number 1 worst city for traffic jams in Germany. You can Google it!

Being a country girl, born and raised in Lincoln, Maine, having to live in such an urban place has been tough for me.

I’m thankful for Skype though, and have been able to keep in close touch with Cindy since she’s moved back to the U.S.. I was so blessed to have her come and visit me from Tennessee this past April.

Cindy made a photo book for me after she moved away. You can see the book in the wire basket on the top right pegboard side of my stamping island.

 Here are some of my favorite supplies, storage items, tools and other good stuff: (for your convenience please click on the individual photos for more information)

 

 

Bulk price – $1.85 each

 

 

Some of these storage ideas and super tools were inspired, at least in part, by a variety of resourceful people. I want to acknowledge Cindy, along with Jennifer McGuire, Marie Shaughnessey, Laura Bassen and Ashley Newel for some super inspiration!

 

 Before you go….1 more thing.

These are the magnet sheets (photo below) that I have used for my die storage. Honestly, I don’t think they work especially well.  I have even tried doubling up the magnet sheet, but the dies still slide or fall off too easily for my taste. I purchased the sheets from Oriental Trading Company. Oriental Trading Company does not seem to carry them anymore, but I believe that this is the exact same type that Amazon carries.

I would like to improve this situation and want some stronger adhesive magnetic sheets.

Have you tried this type of magnet sheets below?  These have better reviews on Amazon.

I hope you’ll come back next Friday and visit me for my next CASology Featured Designer post. It’s a fun post, dedicated to one of the most special people in my life. I’ll be sharing some of my own drawing and painting and some inky-messy stuff too. 🙂

Well, I think that is all from me today. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please feel free to ask questions and share any of your favorite tools and storage items. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Also, I’d be happy to have you as a follower. Please see the sidebar for the multiple options of following my blog.

Do you use Instagram?

Thanks for stopping by! I’m very glad you did.
Grace & Peace,
Melissa

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