Craft Room Update!

THANK. YOU. SUMMER!  I am absolutely loving summer break! I am a teacher so I have about two month's worth of craft/school/house project ideas ready to dive into! Last summer, we spent boxing and unboxing our apartment and my classroom. We were in the middle of getting ready to move into our first house and boy did we accumulate a bunch in our three years of marriage!  We both attended art school and have an enormous amount of art supplies. He does computer IT by day and works on a 3D modeling team by night.  They build planes, cockpits, ships, etc. for simulators and video game companies. Pretty exciting, huh?  I teach pre-k by day and in my spare time (which is VERY little) I work on graphic design freelance projects.  I've done a bit of wedding design and some food styling as well.  I LOVE to CREATE! I've taken up canvas painting, watercolor painting, and felting so that attributes to my hoards of craft supplies. Also, being a teacher, I think that makes you a natural hoarder. While cleaning out our office I found all kinds of odds and ends that I had been saving for lesson ideas.  Anyways, I organized..and reorganized our shared office from top to bottom and it feels SO good to have a place for everything. 

We have this cube shelf piece of furniture that has traveled from apartment to house from closet to bedroom and now to the office.  It was a dark expresso brown and had stayed that way up until yesterday. Last year I painted a few of our other pieces of furniture with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint "Pure White."  I like the white washed beachy look but this "Pure White" does appear VERY bright at first.  I have some "Old White" that I might use as a second coat then sand it some and wax.  Here's my post about when I chalk painted our living room furniture..click here to read!

What I love about the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is that you don't have to sand!  Mistakes are wiped off easily with a wet cloth and it dries super fast! 

I think it looks 100% better.  I even spruced it up a bit with some totes and baskets from TJ Maxx! 

I love this bulletin board I found at Hobby Lobby. I have two of them and used them at my wedding to hold escort cards. I also used it above my fireplace mantle at Christmas. I made a boxwood wreath and hung it in front of the board with chevron burlap ribbon.  Lately, I've been using it as an inspiration board for my paintings and graphic design projects. I have a few ideas posted of canvases  I want to try painting and lists of my favorite fonts for easy reference.  Here is the link to my post about my favorite fonts and free download of this print out! 

I LOVE mason jars..who doesn't?! I use them all over my house for craft supplies, pantry items, flower vases, etc.  I still have a few cases of mason jars left over from my wedding.  For my wedding we used them for lemonade with pink and white striped straws. I've loaned them out for friends' weddings and birthday parties, too.  I love this giant mason jar with wood pieces inside. I use the wood pieces to make little Montessori dollhouse kits for my classroom..the kids love playing with them!

Time to fill up the squares! I bought the bottom basket and two beach stripey totes at TJ Maxx. The rest of the items I already had.  I love neutrals so it was pretty easy to find things that go together. 

The bottom striped tote holds all my ribbons! I am a ribbon fanatic!  

Mason collection jars for paintbrushes, permanent markers, watercolor pens, and washi tape! 

I needed a bin just for tags. The packages are so tiny that I often loose them or forget I have them and then end up buying more. Now they are all in one place! 

Another bin..this one is just for anything that sticks! ..glue gun, glue sticks, glue pens, glue dots, spray glues, modge podge, Aleene's craft glue (my favorite), E-6000 Industrial strength glue (new item, haven't tried it!), packing tape, scotch tape...didn't know there were so many kinds of adhesives, did ya? : ) 

Basket hamper used for paper trash.. prettier than a regular trash can ..don't you think? 

Ahhhhhh....I can see the floor!! Let's just hope it stays this way! 

Another storage solution... college laundry basket turned gift wrap holder!  All secured with washi tape! ...washi tape removes easily and cleanly!

Pretty shelves and a clean desk make me feel happy..at home and at work! 

This jar of baker's twine was a gift..somebody knows me well!!  

Decorate with things that make you happy! I had this framed quote in my dressing room on my wedding day.  This little bowl is from Anthropologie and holds little things like flash drives and SIM cards. 

I purchased these Ikea Byholma woven baskets a couple of years ago. They are the perfect size and only cost $5.99 each!  This one holds all things used for cutting...x-acto knives, hole bunches, corner punches, and scissors. 

This one holds all kinds of 3-D stickers and vellum quotes for scrapbooking, card making, and embellishments.

These berry baskets are cute for gift giving..I have tons more but I left them at work for a pre-k math game : )   I received these Lemon Verbana wipes in my June Popsugar Must Have subscription box.  I didn't know exactly what I would use them for until I found myself elbow deep in chalk paint. They are perfect little wet wipes to keep with your painting supplies! 

Camera..charged and ready to go!  I like these white storage boxes..I actually found them at Walmart and they come in all different sizes. 

A big basket for scrapbook paper.. easy to flip through! 

Baskets, boxes, and more baskets!  The top basket is for sketching markers.

Three more boxes from Walmart..I'm using them to store photos.  The bottom baskets work well for file storage.  I purchased those at Marshall's.  

My amazingly CLEAN desk!  My husband made this desk for me last fall.  I could not find anything I liked in the stores. I just told him I wanted it plain, simple, and unfinished. 

Summer painting...ready to go!  

Here is the other side of the room..his side.. One day I'll get to painting that desk..as for now..here it sits.  I moved all of my cardstock, printer paper, laminating paper, and construction paper to the cabinet under the printer.  I am soooo ecstatic that  I did not procrastinate this organization project and got it done at the beginning of  break so I can craft all summer long!