Displaying the Wares... or more the lack thereof!!!

A few weeks (of more like months now) ago I went down to road to visit my friend Faith. She lives about an hours drive from me though if I really wanted to get technical she is literally around the corner and down the road... if I followed the road around the corner and just kept driving... but I digress.
Faith has not long moved into her newly finished office and scrap book studio, so I was stoked to be able to spend some time checking out her new digs. She's split her space into two areas using a couple of sets of cubby shelf units which she uses to display some of her creations and crafty gifts. Her display looked so amazing that when I started to plan my rearrangements I knew I had to do this as well... well something similar at least.
I already had a 12 hole cubby unit in the studio though when I looked at it honestly, I was seriously under utilising it. It had become quite literally a junk storage area where things went to live, never to see the light of day again.
So I emptied it, move it forward a couple of metres (thanks to darling hubbie's assistance), cleaned and polished it and then started to fill it up. I sorted out some of the crafts I have made and the things I have been given from some of my fellow scrappers and crafters and started to place them in the cubbies.
I've come to the conclusion I give away too many things and don't keep enough for myself... cos it looks pretty bare even after I've put in everything I wanted on display (and some I would not usually put on display). In addition I have room for boxes of all my swap items - tags, stick pins, flowers, cards etc; some items I have bought that are waiting for altering and some bottles of wine and port... many of which were 40th birthday presents.
So here is how it looks now...

Display as it now looks. 

 Top Shelf

Left - altered mask from Shar; 2012 Circle Journal "Inspiration"

Centre - Back Recycled Christmas Decorations (from Christmas Craft Challenge 2012); Altered Box from Faith; 2011 Circle Journal "Love Starts"

Right - Mini Album "Destination Earthquake Central"; Altered "P" from Faith and a selection of altered matchboxes

 Second Shelf

Left - Mini Album - 6" x 6" Recipe Swap Album; Mini Album for Class "Being Jordan"; Mini Album "Jordan's Big Adventure" (This is the story of my nephew's accident involving a cup of hot water and his recovery from being air-lifted by Westpac Rescue Helicopter to leaving hospital

Centre - Altered polystyrene balls; Christmas Decorations from SO Swap 2012; CJ "Scrap Effects"; Mini Pillow Gift Bag from Faith

Right - Selection of gifts bags; Altered Diaries and my 2013 Calendar from the SO Calendar Swap - yes it's on April as I do actually use it!!!

Third Shelf

Left - Altered Box "Christmas" from Tracey; Aussie Junk Journal from Gail; Halloween Charm in box from Fiona

Right - Altered Box; Mini Album (Sorry I can't remember who from); Toilet Roll Album - Shar

The other cubby in this row is filled with the boxes of all my swaps until I sort out how to display them - cards; tags; stick pins; charms and flowers

Bottom Shelf

Left and Right some of the items I have bought or been given which I want to alter eventually. 

The other cubby is filled with my wine and port from my birthday.

Organising the Studio - Papers

It's not that I have been intentionally ignoring you... I've just been busy working (I had a week's temping work and travel to and from work - up to 3 hours a day!!!) and I've been cleaning, rearranging and organising my craft studio in preparation for some upcoming classes and crops.
A couple of weeks ago I managed to pick up a real bargain through an auction website here in New Zealand called TradeMe. You can buy and sell just about anything on there and from time to time I've been known to sell the odd scrap booking product or two myself.
I haven't been on there for a while, not having a great deal of the old folding stuff means you don't really want to look at temptation too much but I went for a nosy just to see what was happening.
Someone had listed some paper racks for sale at a really good price... including a really good "Buy Now" price. The bargain was so good that I bought now.
I contacted the seller and arranged to pick up the one paper rack and somewhere amongst all our correspondence, she mentioned that she had a few paper racks for sale though at the time she had only listed one. I said I would interested in maybe getting a few more from her.
Long story short... I have now ended up with six times the paper displaying/storing capacity I previously had at less than what I paid (wholesale) for the original four racks I had.
The bad news was that I then had to find somewhere to put them all.
After a couple of weeks of deep thought and contemplation I made up my mind what I wanted to do and so over the past week (though mainly this weekend) I've started to rearrange the studio to fit everything in.
I'm not going to show you the before shots quite yet... they will just have to wait until it's all completed and you can see the full effect; but I will show you some part-way through shots as I complete the various areas of the studio.
So here are the paper racks and the cubby unit that they now back onto.

I've created a little paper alcove in the corner by my desk. I wanted somewhere out of the way of the laundry area (reduce the chance of any accidental water damage) and out of the general traffic area as these are just wire racks stacked on top of each other. I have two solid concrete block walls and I have created a third wall by using the back of the cubby unit to provide some support - just in case.
The cubby unit previously housed a huge pile of scrap booking magazines and other scrapping junk that to be honest I had really just forgotten about and totally ignored but it is soon going to gain a new lease of life... coming up in a future blog!!!
I've stacked up all the paper racks and tied them together with cable ties for a little more stability as well, and then rearranged them all this morning before stacking them with paper. That was easier said than done as each wall of racks has to be moved as one due to being cable tied together... yes I admit I should have thought about the design aspects first... but we all learn from our mistakes.
Then once I was happy with their placement (and having added another two stacks to the end of the cubby so all the racks now had a home) I then filled them in with all my cardstock and patterned paper.

The end racks and just a hint of the cubby unit behind and the racks that back onto the cubby unit. The racks to the right are less than a third full, so plenty of room here for more cardstock. (I'm slowly building up my Bazzill holding).

 The racks backed onto the cubby unit and one of the end racks.

The racks underneath the window. I intend to give the window a good clean inside and out and then add a net curtain to reduce any chances of fading. Still a few racks free for more paper!!

And the final racks on the far side of the alcove. At the moment these are full of bargain and discounted papers, so some great deals to be had on these shelves alone!!
My perfectionist self already wants to rearrange all the papers and colour coordinate or do something with them, but I've told myself to behave and just leave them as they are for now. I have a lot more cleaning and rearranging still be done and as they are at least now in paper racks I can live with things as they are for now.
It feels great to be able to cross this off my project list!!

The Intervention Gets Under Way...

My great plan was to get the studio completely rearranged on Auckland Anniversary weekend as Monday was a public holiday which meant no work. Add to that the friendly weatherman had also predicted fine weather for the entire weekend and it looked to be a shoe in to happen... but it didn't.
The next weekend was another long weekend as Waitangi (New Zealand) Day fell on the Monday. 
So guess what I did... and I managed to rope not only dear hubbie but also step son and nephew into helping me. Of course as the later two are teenagers, they required payment but the slave labour wasn't too expensive and the good news was they helped to speed up the process considerably.


So we...
Emptied the studio almost completely... left the cupboards and boxes around the outer edge in place but cleaned out everything else.

Swept out the studio creating the world biggest indoor dust storm... along with some musical interludes of "broom guitar hero".

Finally laid the carpet down in the studio.

Completely rearranged the studio and turned the entire contents 90 degrees anti-clockwise.
Then brought everything back inside.

It was half way through this last step that the sky started to cloud over then turn dark and menacing so the returning everything back into the studio became somewhat of a race as wouldn't you know it... paper and water don't always play nicely together.
So things kind of got dumped any where and everywhere but at least they got there dry, intact and in once piece.

The plumes of dust come out to great me.

Thank goodness we have a big back yard. (And lets play spot the ranch slider to no-where - whose silly idea was that Mr Previous House Owner??)

Nephew Scott (L) and step-son Kurt (R) doing the sweeping.

The rock star himself... need I say more!!??!!

And then everything was brought back in and dumped on whatever clear surface area could be found...

Now to turn this into some semblance of order, so I can actually find things when I want.

When Good Scrapbooking Rooms Go Bad

Three big things happened in December...

1. Christmas Craft Challenge - 24 days of Christmas Crafts all posted onto my blog;
2. Christmas Day with all the family at our place for the big day;
3. I ended up will a torn ligament in my left elbow two weeks before Christmas.

Why are they such a big deal I hear you ask in anticipation...

Because the three of them combined lead to my craft studio looking like a total bomb site!! And unfortunately as of the first drafting of this blog... it still does. (This blog has been a draft a few weeks now, so finally starting to look like less of a bomb site!!!)

How...

1. Christmas Craft Challenge is 24 days of intense crafting. No matter how much pre-planning I do, or pre-preparation, or finishing early, the last week always ends up like a total mad-rush so I become somewhat guilty (okay A LOT GUILTY) of not putting everything back in its rightful place once I have finished with it. Working my way through this slowly as we speak.
2. With 20 something people for dinner and our family dining table being 4' by 12'... it was too big to get out the door and down the stairs to the garage where we had Christmas dinner... the obvious place to raid additional tables and chairs from was my craft studio. It's downstairs already which immediately reduces one major obstacle. Unfortunately those that were so quick to raid the tables and chairs were not quite so willing so return them to their former positions. Too much food on Christmas Day methinks!!
3. My physio had me on a strict no heavy lifting policy for six weeks or there abouts. Which meant I couldn't put anything back into place myself anyway.

Of course this now means I have to show the before pictures. Hmmmm not sure if I should as it looks so bad. But in interest of full disclosure (and as regular followers will know, I usually don't hold much back)... here it is at its worst.

No this wasn't staged.

Yes it did look this bad.

And no I didn't pick up or put down anything before taking the photos... these are raw, unedited, scrapbook studios gone bad footage!!!

OMG... that really did look bad!!!

When good planning goes out the window...

I had all these great plans after Christmas for some multi-day crafting lead up to Valentine's Day but alas it hasn't happened.


It might have gone to plan if I had remembered to organise the trailer for the first long weekend we had (Auckland Anniversary) so that I could put all the rubbish in there instead of having to pile it all up for a week but then I would have missed out on some quality time with my family, especially with my darling hubbie.
It might have gone to plan if I had organised some help, other than just my husband and I, to clean the studio up. Luckily my son and nephew were available the next long weekend we had (Waitangi Weekend). This meant we got all the heavy moving and rearranging done a week later but then I probably wouldn't have had everything out of the studio, the studio swept, the carpet laid and then everything back in the studio in under three hours.
It might have gone to plan if I had kept on top of upgrading my website instead of missing out an upgrade and then having to upgrade manually instead of automatically. But then I wouldn't have found out that my old host couldn't or wouldn't help me, so I wouldn't have gone looking for someone I could pay to do the upgrade and then I wouldn't have ended up with an amazing new look website that is supported by a fantastic guy Steve, who is probably sick of me harassing him already, even though its been less than 24 hours since he took over things.


We make plans with the best of intention... that is what my mission of getting organised is about this year... but for me part of being organised is also being flexible enough to know and understand that sometimes even the best laid plans of mice and men are apt to go straight out the window. What we need to remember is that sometimes... what we get instead is even better than what we planned to do.
My studio cleaning is still under way... there will be a blog in the next week or so about it, along with pictures - before, during and after. The Valentine's crafts will still happen, though maybe fewer than I had hoped for, but those that do get made will still serve the purpose of letting those I love know just how much I love them... and after all isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about... (if you forget all about the commercialism of it all LOL).


And do you like the new blog look... in honour of the big "V" Day. Just doing my part to share the love. 

Christmas Craft Challenge 2011 - Day 17

Ok I know I am late, as technically its now the 18th here, but I have a good excuse. Today (the 17th) was my darling hubbie's birthday, so I've been in birthday mode all day instead of Christmas Craft Challenge mode. Although we didn't do anything special, no big party - thank goodness as it has rained all day - we've still had family over most of the day as well as phone calls to and from my parents and sister.
As long as I can remember we've always had a candle(s) on the table on Christmas Day. I can't remember why or when this tradition started but I have vague recollections of it being my fault after I insisted on my mother buying a HUGE Santa Claus shaped candle because I thought it was just the bee's knees. It was the first "shaped" candle I had ever seen... so given this fact, I was probably around 8 - 10 at the time... so a few years ago. He was a good'un that Santa Candle as I know we lit him every year for at least three or four years and apart from loosing his hat to the power of the flame, he served as well.
Anyway... so in keeping with tradition I've made some candles for Christmas Day. We've got 22 - 24 for Christmas Day so it's probably going to be three or four tables end to end in the big garage. (Our small garage is my Craft Studio aka the Dungeon.) 
I've made two candles to keep with our Santa theme. One is a really simple decoration... the other is even more simpler. And then two more to complement - these were the problem children tonight and why I'm late posting. More on that later in the post.


Santa Candles:

Simple Version

• Start with a white church candle, whatever diameter & height you like. I would have liked mine to be slightly taller, but I couldn't get a matching pair the same diameter & height, so got the closest I could without spending a small fortune.
• Measure the height of the candle & the diameter, then cut a piece of red cardstock that exact height but 3/4" - 1" longer than the diameter of the candle (so you have plenty of wrap around the candle).
• Adhere some strong double sided adhesive along one of the short ends. I used Wondertape as it seems to have a much stronger hold than ordinary double sided adhesive. As I've found out in the past you do need an extra bit of grip when trying to keep cardstock to stay in place around a curved object.
• Roll the cardstock around the candle and adhere closed.
• Cut a strip of black paper 1" wide and the same length that you cut your red cardstock. Remember it needs to go around the entire diameter of the candle with a bit spare to adhere one end securely over the other end. I used Teresa Collins "Timeless Black Flocked Paper" which has this amazing velvet feel. It is so perfect for Santa's belt not only because of the feel but also the colour... it is sure a pure looking black. 
• Cut a 1 1/2" square from silver mirror paper. I used Teresa Collins "On the Edge Reflective Paper". It lives up to its name to be sure. It's so reflective you can see your image in it when you look at the page. I then ran the square through my Cuttlebug and cut a 1" square in the middle to create a buckle. It did take a bit of eyeballing to line up the die but as you will see in a later post I had a few to do, so I soon became a dab hand at it. You can always measure and draw lines, then cut the centre out with a craft knife if you don't have a die cutter or the right sized die.
• Adhere the buckle onto Santa's belt.

Simpler Version

• Buy a red candle then follow the above from the belt on. It still looks just as effective as the Simple Version - only Santa has a red hat instead of a white head.

Candy Cane Candles:

• Start with straight sided white candles. These are 5cm diameter & 15cm tall.
• Cut acetate to size - same height as candle, length slightly longer than the diameter of the candle. (I did try sticking the adhesive directly onto the candle but neither double sided tape of even Wondertape would stick - grrrr, oh well, we live and learn)
• Adhere double sided tape of various widths on a diagonal across the width of the acetate. I did all the full length stripes first as it was easier to use the lines on my cutting mat to make sure I was laying the double sided adhesive and Wondertape on straight.
• Adhere a strip of Wondertape along one of the side edges then roll the acetate around the candle and adhere in place. (This was about where I found out that neither candle was actually straight... but no one will ever know the truth!!!)
• Finishing adhering stripes that cover the seam in the acetate.
• Remove the backing paper from the adhesive stripes and cover with glitter. Be sure to do this task over drip paper or a glitter tray to catch the excess so you can reuse it. I used glitter trays so was able to roll the candles around in the glitter to help it adhere.
• NOTE: This is the messy bit of the craft. Be warned - no matter how much you try to wrangle your glitter to keep it in place, its still going to end up everywhere!!!
• Once you are happy with the coverage of the glitter, use a firm brush to remove any excess glitter. (If you thought the above was messy... this step is even worse!!)
• Return the excess glitter to the bottle. I have found a mini funnel is perfect for this task even when using a glitter tray to catch the excess.

Here are all the finished candles. I think they all look great.

TradeMe Bargain

For some time now I have been looking for furniture for my craft studio aka the Dungeon (yes it comes complete with spider webs). I don't care if the furniture looks pretty or not, or whether or not it all matches just as long as its functional.  
As money is pretty tight (damn this recession, hurry up and be over) I really haven't been looking at that seriously for furniture though I have managed to pick up some bargains over the past couple of months.
First there were the lovely soft padded chairs and my wheelie chair that I picked up from the place I am working at the moment. Nothing is worse than sitting for hours intent on creating and scrapbooking only to try to move and your butt has gone to sleep cos the seat is too hard.
I got the chairs for $10.00 each... a real bargain as far as I was concerned but the bargain I picked up today beats them hands down. My apologies if I sound like I'm gloating but I'm just so stoked with my purchase.
I was on TradeMe when I spotted a listing for a magazine rack thingey. No one had bid on it and it was listed at $1.00, no reserve so I put on my watch list. I thought it was smaller than what I wanted, but that it would still do the trick - what I wanted was somewhere to store and display packs of paper and the like (cork sheets, double sided adhesive sheets etc). 
So the auction ran its course but no one bid, so it was offered to me at $1.00. I accepted only to be offered a second matching magazine thingey also for a $1.00 so I said yes to that one as well.
This afternoon I picked up the 2 magazine racks and the tri-fold screen I also won. Let's just say they were much bigger than I expected and only just fit in the back of the van with the seats folded up... thank goodness for people movers.
Anyway here they are... not in their final position, I need to rearrange the studio again, but they are at least at their new home.

 Yep... so considerably bigger than expected...

 Loving the drawers at the bottom for extra storage.

And my very cool screen which I have some interesting thoughts on what to do with this. Watch this space!!