A look inside the Stamp Cave!

I know some of you like to look at other stampers' spaces (I do!), so I thought I'd invite you in for a glimpse at mine. I don't have one of those big, beautiful rooms you usually see. I used to have a whole room but then my baby girl came along and *stole* it from me!! LOL! What I have now I like to call my Stamp Cave. I'm fortunate enough to have such a big walk-in closet off of the master bathroom that I can use one end of it as my stamping space!!! But, it's soooo dark in there! Of course there's no windows. And the lighting I have just isn't cutting it. It's small and dark, much like a cave!! But believe me, I am *not* complaining, I know many of you don't have a dedicated space for your stamping, and that would just kill me! So anywho, let's begin this little tour by showing you a "before" photo. This was my Cave, a few short weeks ago. It's a wonder I could get any cards made, wouldn't you say?? I posted this photo of Facebook and caused quite a commotion, which motivated me to CLEAN IT so I could redeem myself a little... LOL!So next I have to show you my cleaned up space, ta-da!!! Ahhhhh... so much better! To be honest, I rather like having such a relatively small space. I've come up with some storage solutions that work for me, and it's nice to have everything essentially within reach! Who wants to be bothered with having to walk all the way across a big, spatious stamp room anyway?!? (Ha! Are you buying this?? Do you think if I had the opportunity to have a big space I'd politely say "thanks but no thanks!". Not a chance!!)This photo shows what's to the left of me when I'm at my desk. I store all of my 12x12 papers in these drawers, as well as some other things (ie - one drawer for Thickers/other cool letter stickers, one drawer for "basic" letter stickers, one for rub-ons, one for chipboard...). The top drawer on the unit closest to me is my polka dot paper drawer!! Of course! I labeled some of the other things in this photo. My Janome Sew Mini rests here, and I keep a dust cover on it just in case. I have the cords for it always in place under my desk, so I can just grab it (it's soooo lightweight!), plop it on my desk, plug it in and sew! Of course, this task is a lot easier when there is clean SPACE on my desk for it! :-)This is the shelf just above the storage units. This worked out really well - we were able to buy standard white boards at Home Depot to plop on top of the brackets that were already there for the closet rods! On this shelf I keep my SU inks, my Cuttlebug (also ALWAYS within reach!), and I've cleared a spot for my laptop - which also travels with me back to the kitchen. I really love having my laptop in the Cave with me, so I can check out challenges, Splitcoast or other blogs when I need some inspiration!Above the shelf we just saw is something I'm pretty proud of! I love those Clip It Up things, but didn't want to buy one because I don't really have space for one, plus they are so freakin' expensive!! What I did instead was find a SUPER cheap curtain rod at IKEA, as well as some clips that are meant to clip up curtains. Voila! My own version of the Clip It Up, for storing some of my embellies that I don't want to forget I have (!), which can happen if I shove them into a drawer...!This corner shelf came from Michael's, I bought it with a 40% off coupon of course! Another thing I'm so glad I did in recent months was organize my ribbon shares! I put it all on clothes pins (I had a heck of a time finding regular clothes pins, not the clip kind - finally had to buy "craft" clothes pins that are for making clothes pin dolls. Another 40% off coupon, of course!). I store it in glass candy jars from Walmart.This is a close-up of how I store most of my small embellishments, like brads, buttons, charms and other small things like that. I used to have them all over the place in various containers, but one day I bit the bullet and just dumped them all together by color! I like this, because I can just grab one jar when I'm in search of a blue brad - but it can be a little bit of a pain to dig through to find multiples that are exactly the same color! I bought these little containers at The Container Store - I love them because they all screw together. So when I go to a crop I bring one tall stack of embellishments. :-)This is my ribbon storage to the right of my desk. These are organization racks from Home Depot - meant for cans on a pantry door or that sort of thing. They work great for my ribbon spools! I just had to line the bottoms with some cardstock to keep the ribbon from falling through. You can also see a few of my favorite RAKs proudly displayed right under the ribbon. :-) And those purple binders are where I store my design team rubber - one is for Hambo, the other FCD!I also love my system for storing scrap paper. This is my bin for Stampin' Up scraps, I have a different one for other companies. I have it just to the right of my desk now, which makes me more likely to grab for a scrap rather than cutting into a new piece of paper. I did a post about this storage system a while ago, found here.My 8.5x11 SU paper is stored is file drawers. I bought the label tabs on Ebay a while back!Right above my desk is a unit where I store various things - glitter, paints, Shimmerz, etc etc. I thought I was so clever - this is a shoe storage rack I bought for pretty cheap at Target! But then I searched for the perfect boxes to put into the cubbies, and ended up finding them at The Container Store. Not cheap. So in the end this unit probably cost more than if I had just found something already made!! But, I like it. I can easily pull a box out when I need to use it.And this is my desktop. It's not perfectly cleaned off for the photo, I was still in the process of organizing when I took this - putting glue on the back of some of my rubber!!! So that's a good thing - all of my rubber is now ready to use! :-) Under the shelf, at the back of my desk, I keep things I reach for all the time - my Copics (aka MY BABIES!!), my acrylic blocks (aren't they purdy??? They are the smARTworks ones I've raved about before!), my little bin of bling. :-) You can also see my friend Diane's Duran Duran stamp. Geez!!! I've had that for almost two years now!! I better return it. But I just can't say goodbye. I know you're making a note to self now - NEVER loan ANYTHING to Libby!!!Finally, this is the back of the door to my closet - I store my bigger punches in an over-the-door shoe holder. Unfortunately I've run out of room, though - I need another door! LOLI hope you've enjoyed my little tour. I'm sure you've seen similar ideas like all of this before - I have been inspired by so many awesome stamp spaces I've seen posted on the various blogs!! Someday I hope we can move into a bigger house (if this darn economy ever improves!!) and then I'll have my dream room, but until then, I rather like my Stamp Cave! Well, except for the lousy lighting!!! :-)