Finding My Inner Creative Self.....

It's not always easy to find that creative person within - but it's much easier when I step into my scrapbook room. It's like all my surroundings are calling out to me - "pick up those photos - match up those embellisments - and get busy!!" These butt-ugly days of winter are the best days to find an excuse to stay in my room for hours on end. Turn on my little space heater, pop in a good movie on the DVD player and get creative.

So, this is where it all happens - my main workspace. Everything organized and within reach. The key to all of this is organization - sometimes I organize more than I create. It's part of the craft.

I'm not as big into stamping as some, but I do keep my little collection well organized. The black binders house my Quickutz Alphabet Dies. The hot pink boxes are filled with approximately 50 pre-planned layouts for my family album - ready to pull and assemble, when I have some time. I'm currently running about 10 months behind. The brown album is my 2007 family album - waiting to be filled.

Need colored pens? Broad tip - fine tip? I've got 'em. Every color in the rainbow - and then some!



....and just to warn you - I have a button addiction.

This is additional workspace I created for when I have "guests". Scrapbookers can't create alone. Sometimes, they are in need of companionship with conversation, food and alcoholic beverages - crops. Right now, this workspace is consumed with my daughter Carrie's stuff (on the left) and my wedding invitation project on the right. Carrie has three little ones and it seems the only time she finds to scrapbook is when she's with me - so she has conveniently moved everything she owns to my space - and left it there.

To the right of my main work area sits more goodies - my Cricut and my Cuttlebug - along with my organized baskets and drawer units filled with rub-ons, adhesives, chipboard, cardstock and more than I can even think of. The drawers are labeled with their contents - by vendor.

And as we continue on around the room, you'll find binders filled with patterned paper, completed layouts for a customer, plastic storage totes filled with ribbon and more embellishments than I care to consider.

Across the back of the room - more stuff! Trust me, I know where EVERYTHING is and I can put my finger on a needed item in a matter of minutes. Don't shake your head - that's Rock Star's job every time he dares to enter my sanctuary.

Another view - from the back of the room - looking toward my main workspace. It's calling me to me right now. "Get in here and finish a layout - don't just take pictures!!!" It's just a basement room - various room rugs thrown on the concrete floor, no finished walls or ceiling - but it's MINE. I can do with it as I please and no one dares enter without invitation. Heck, I don't even have THAT luxury in the bathroom!