Workspace Wednesday | Carissa Wiley

Hi everyone! Carissa here! I’m so happy to be sharing one of my favorite places in the whole wide world today, and that place is my craft room! I’m so blessed to have a room that’s all mine. It started as an office, and as my love for paper crafting grew, it has been taking over by all things crafty {except for the closet, which houses the all-important printer and bill paying necessities}.

Organization is very important to me in my workspace. And I know you’re thinking I cleaned for the occasion, but actually, I didn’t. On any given day, you can walk in to my craft room and find it neat and tidy. It’s something that I find very inspiring. It’s like walking in to a clean slate each time I work. I make it a point to clean up when my day in this room is complete, because I know that I’ll feel much more inspired and motivated returning to a tidy workspace, than a chaotic jumble.

I’m a card maker first and foremost. So the items I tend to acquire or smaller in scale than the average scrapbooker.

My patterned papers are stored near my end of my worktable. I store them in clear bins. I don’t necessarily sort them by manufacturer, because I tend to peruse through them until I find what I’m looking for. This forces me to stay in touch with what I have.

Stamps are my favorite part of my monthly card kit. It’s the one thing that I know will never run out. I can use it over and over again to create card after card. My stamps are housed in baskets, which sit in a Benno DVD tower by Ikea. I’ve lined four of them up to create my very own unit for storing stamps, embellishments, dies and washi tape.

I store the stamps in clear pockets. I like that I can instantly see the stamps in the set. I use my P-touch labeler to create labels that show manufacturer name and name of the stamp set. I also like to keep the coordinating die sets stored with the stamp sets. Most of my stamps are stored in categories, rather than by manufacturer {backgrounds, images, sentiments}. However, because I have a large number of Studio Calico stamps, they get their very own basket.

Because aesthetics are important to me {just as much as function}, I arrange most of my items that are visible in rainbow order. It just makes a fun and pleasing environment for me to work in. And it makes the space cohesive…because everywhere you look there is a rainbow of supplies begging to be used.

I like my desk relatively clutter free. I keep a small crystal jar with my essentials on my desk, along with this magnetic frame. I use the magnetic frame as a landing place for small dies while I’m working. {I have been known to throw away dies during clean up of the craftermath}. This has worked well. I can also place clear stamps on the frame until I am ready to clean them. There’s no telling how much money in replacement stamps and frames that this frame has saved me.

I like to keep my supplies visible. I feel like I am more likely to use them if I can see them, rather than stuffing them away in a drawer. I’ve found a couple of solutions for my smallest of embellishments. I use a mixture of jars for buttons, clips and wood veneer. For other small embellishments, like sequins and random items I get in my kits, I use bead bags and clip them to these white frames on the wall. The sequins, of course, are in rainbow order too!

It’s been a pleasure showing you around my room today! My room is perfect for me! And I hope that wherever you work, you think it’s perfect too!