Crafting Spaces for Spaces to Craft, Part Four

Today’s focus is on my multi-purpose area- my sewing/paper-trimming/die cutting area. It’s only a small peninsula, but it gets a lot of play. It’s actually a “return”- a table that sticks out from a computer desk that used to be in my husband’s office. The file cabinet underneath was part of that set, too. Now it’s nestled between two folding tables!

This table bisects the two major work areas in my studio.

As you can see, on the left side, it’s part of my papercrafting area. I keep my paper trimmer on the table most of the time, and the organizer in the back holds various papers. On the right, however, it’s my sewing zone. You can see I keep a thread rack on the wall and sewing notions right below it. I can also store my machine underneath if I’ve got a big project going on.

And usually, right on the end, I have a die cutting machine or my Xyron (depending on the project du jour.) To that end, I use the file cabinet underneath to store dies, embossing folders, and specialty paper products.

Drawer full of dies- Cuttlebug, Sizzix, and Spellbinders.

Now, as I’m sitting here writing this post it dawns on me that I need to take my “store like with like” advice and put all of my scrap paper in the file drawer in the bottom of this cabinet. After all, die cutting is where I make most of my scraps, and it would be darned handy if I keep them in here, too. Guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

Flexible space is essential for multi-crafters!

The moral of today’s story is don’t be afraid to repurpose furniture- the rest of the office desk got sold at the yard sale, but these piece got salvaged and has a new life in my studio. It’s not fancy or pretty, but it sure is practical.

We are almost through the whole week- and my studio is almost all clean and reorganized! And since I didn’t get to where I do my paper crafting & jewelry making, I’ll share that tomorrow. Donâ€™t forget CS4S2C part one here (polymer clay workstation) or CS4S2C part two (my crafty closet), and CS4S2C part three (card catalog and stamps/ribbon storage.)