A Tour of my Un-Pretty Scrap Space

While I've loved being a Simply Renee Inc. design team member and I'm sad that this is my last post, this is also the post I was dreading most because I was asked to give a studio tour. Though my husband is in the process of building me a wonderful studio space above our new garage, it's far from finished. However, I am lucky in the meantime to have a studio area set up in my home, though it's not the prettiest space you've ever seen. But I'm baring it all to share with you because I'm sure many papercrafters work in less-than-ideal digs and my space, while unattractive, is wonderfully functional for both me and my kids.

My scrap space is extremely multi-purpose. The large room I work in serves as office, storage room, playroom, workout room, even school room for my home schooled kiddos. Its unfinished floor is a bit unsightly, and we're still trying to decide what kind of doors should hide the shelving that runs the length of the room. But I love that when I am working on a paper project, my three children can play alongside me with their own art supplies, since they love to be near where I am. And I can't tell you how many times I've had to move my chair so my daughter could play on the hopscotch grid she drew - the blessing of having an unfinished floor is all the doodle space. I don't even need to put paper down when I use spray mediums!

My scrap space centers around the enormous desk we salvaged from my husband's place of work.

I hope to eventually give it a flashy paint job, but for now I love the large surface - on my desktop I store my tool tote, my Clip it Up Mini that holds my favorite, most-used stamps, and a wooden caddy that holds small punches and loose embellishments, and I still have lots of space to scrap. The desk has two drawers - one holds scrap paper and the other keeps my ink pads close at hand.

Keeping my most-used tools in a tote on my desk means that I never forget the necessities when I go to a class or crop - I just grab it and go!

A large work surface also means a large under-desk space - I keep magazines, ribbon, cardstock and hoarded "to-be-altered" items in various containers and caddies right at my feet.

I keep the rest of my stuff behind me. With a whirl of my office chair I can grab embellishments, stamps, paper,

or root through the dresser (a garage sale find) that holds my Big Shot station (top of dresser and top drawer), stamps and embellishments.

While I am yearning for the day I can pack all this up and set up in my for-real studio, until then I am happy I have space to work,

room to teach (I bring in a second table so I can accommodate up to 8 students), and that I am accessible to my family while doing so.

Because that's pretty important!

Angela Fehr