Happy Halloween

For last week's issue challenge, Erika asked us to use cupcake liners on our layout.  I checked out what I had in my cupcake supplies and it wasn't much.  But, I did have these Halloween ones so I decided to use them.  I had already done a LO for A's first Halloween but I did find some pics that hadn't been scrapped so I used those ones.

I wasn't too sure about using orange as the background on this page but decided to give it a try.  I figured I'd use enough green and a bit of black to balance it out.  The pumpkin was from the middle of the cupcake liner so I decided to use it as an embellie.  I pulled out the Lime Green stickles to add a little shine to the edge.  I cut the title out with my Cricut and I stitched the border with a Sew Easy head.  I absolutely love hand stitching on my layouts.

Here's a close-up of the cupcake liner embellie:

And I used up some ribbon and a 3-D sticker I got in a RAK from a friend.

My New Scrapping Space

Now that I am on summer vacation, I decided to finish putting together my scrapping space.  I had cabinetry made for this space in the winter but I hadn't used it for scrapping.  I knew I had to take the time to put everything where I want it so that I can find everything easily and maximize my scrappy time.  I absolutely love it and can't wait to scrap the summer away.  :D

Because of the size of my space and the fact that it's a shared space with the kiddos' play area, I decided to go with a U-shaped desk.  Most of it is for me to use but the left surface is for the kids to scrap or do crafts at.  There's a space for a chair on one side and then further down space for a chair on the opposite side so they will be facing each other while crafting.

This is my drawer system.  I got six shallow but wide drawers made for housing my most-used supplies.  I've got my ATG and other adhesives as well as my pencils, erasers and ruler there.  In the second drawer, I have all my stitching tools - piercing mat, needles, stencils, Sew Easy and heads.  I have all my punches in the next drawer down.  In the fourth drawer, I have my inks and right below that, I have all my stamping stuff.  In the bottom drawer, that's where I keep my cutting supplies - my circle cutter and my Cricut gear.

Then I had him make 10 almost square drawers and that's where I keep my embellies.  I've got my gems and pearls in one drawer, chipboard in another, 3-dimensional stickers in another, mists, paints, Stickles, rub-ons, tags and extra adhesive.  None of them are full yet but I like having everything separate - it makes it so easy to find.

This is where I keep my paper.  Now, it's not a finished area because I need some more Cropper Hopper vertical storage containers to move my PP over.  Right now it's in a plastic bin with a lid under the desk and it works quite well.  I separate out my cardstock by colour (I do that with PP too) and store it here.  I keep my specialty papers in those coloured craft envelopes.  To the left of those, I have my magazines and my sketch book, my alphas and in the skinny one, I decided to put my Allison Davis sketch books.  On the bottom, I put the paper pads that I haven't taken apart because they're more specialty ones and some paper collections.  I also keep my folders where I put my page kits to work on down here.  And in the last square, I have all the baby boy stuff handy, since I'm still working on A's baby album.  :)

This is my shelf above the desk.  This is where I keep the bigger things and the prettier things that I use.  

Here's a close-ups of my ribbon, buttons and brad storage.  I bought these little glass jars in the winter and decided to separate all my goodies by colour.  I don't have that many brads so I put all the minis in one container and the bigger ones in another.  

I decided to store all my embroidery floss and twine in this bowl that we got from Pakistan.  It doesn't take me long to find the colour I want in here and I like how it looks on the shelf.  :)

This is the spot where the kids can work.  I bought a big quilting mat from the fabric store when they had a 50% off sale.  So they can get messy all they want!  There's also one of the Ott lights I got from Joanne's online when they had one of their great sales.

This is my main area.  I decided to keep my craft mats out and ready.  I put my Cricut in the corner because I don't use it too often but I also don't want to have to lug it out when I do want to use it.  I love my other Ott light with a carousel for goodies.  I have a tray for my good pens and then just a regular pen stand for my not-so-special ones.

This is my big shelf.  I store my filled and unfilled albums there as well as page protectors and photos.  It's not organized much yet but at least I have a place for everything.  I got that Cropper Hopper cart at Christmas  and I decided to keep my less-used stuff there - stickers, bigger chipboard, etc.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour through my craft space.  Now I have to focus on decorating the walls around it with inspiration.