On to the Studio!  When I looked for cabinets to put under the counter I went looking specifically for drawers…and lots of them.  I like how they help organize and keep things together.  So the top two drawers here hold my ribbon.  I just use boxes and it makes it easy.  While the one drawer might look a little messy it’s really not.  The first box keeps ribbon that I cut off the spool but then didn’t use.  I go here first when looking for ribbon and if I don’t find what I want then I move to the spools.

You’ll also notice my stickles to the left of some of the ribbon.  I really like those stickle holders.  I bought them from Gary B. Burlin at one of the shows.  I can’t remember how much but not expensive.  I also use them for my re-inkers (that will come at a later date!)

Kevin put knobs on my drawers they other day and they really help!  They look nice too!

On a side note…I mentioned that our whole house needs updating and here is my latest project.  The master bathroom.  It needs a new floor, new counter tops, new sinks, new shower…well the whole things needs re-doing so I’m starting with the cabinets.  I have some quartz counters picked out and some 12×24 tile but wanted to paint the cabinets before they went in.  I’m not a fan of granite counters although I love how they look so I did a little research and found some quartz counters that actually have silver in them for a cleaning agent!  They also look like granite so I wanted to try them in the bathroom before I spent the money for the kitchen since I have a lot of counter space in the kitchen.

I went and got some sample paints at Home Depot and painted swatches on the four cabinets..then lined the paint up in order so I didn’t lose track of what was where.  I made a huge mistake though in not taking the paint sample to the counter and floor place to match.  There are a million shades of gray, well wait maybe there are only   50!  and no, I haven’t read the book. 🙂 so some of the samples didn’t match and I had to sand paint off and repaint samples!   I leaning towards the dark gray and then I’ll sand it so the white shows through distressed. Still contemplating!  No painting today…I want to finish making stamps for the Bloomington, MN show and we have a few orders that need to get made and shipped so all work today!  Have a good Monday.

 

 

So this is the file cabinet that I found at a goodwill to store my large embossing folders in.  It was an ugly army green and so I sanded it and painted it black to match the studio.    When you go to goodwill looking for things like this there is something to look for.  In the next picture look at the back of the embossing folders….

See the ugly green! 🙂 I didn’t paint the inside…that is too much work.  But at the end of the folders is a little mechanism for sliding back and forth.  These helps so when you only have a few like this they still stand up.  Then as you gather more you can slide it back.  If the slider doesn’t work really well which mine didn’t…I just took a bar of soap and slid it up and down the parts that should move good and now they move great.  So when you go looking always check what the inside looks like.  There is an art to goodwill shopping!

 

So I was able to get my back door painted yesterday!  Now I need to do something about that cement slab.  Home Depot has some new cement paint that I think I’ll try next week.  We are leaving today to help Karissa move from Minneapolis to St. Paul so work at home will come to a little stand still.

Now on the inside of the garage is what makes me smile!  I told you I’ve been painting lots of doors…so this is the inside of the garage.  Whenever I go in and out which is a lot since I use this door to go to the shop/studio to work!  Instead of looking at where the cat scratched and having that make me crabby…I see a really cool purple door and it makes me smile.  LIttle tricks in life to keep a positive attitude !

 

I purchased this shelf along with my desk…years and years ago…we just got both out of storage and I wasn’t sure I was going to bring the shelf.  In my last office it was a little impractical because it has really wide shelfs.  I have discovered that it’s perfect for my studio.  It fits lots and lots (I think I currently have 9 baskets, 4 boxes, one drawer, paper , and a revolution cutting machine) and there is still a little bitty space left!  I have organized all my embossing folders and die cuts on this shelf which is right next to my vagabond.

So I store my embossing folders in picture boxes from Michaels.  You can get them really cheap on sale.  I then labeled them by category.  The hardest part of categories was the pattern folders.  Some have a very distinct pattern that only goes one way and then some are the same pattern all over.  So  the ones with a distinct pattern I labeled under Design and then other under Pattern.  There are really big embossing folders out now and I found something at Salvation Army for storing them in.  I did have to paint and sand it!  I’ll show you that tomorrow.

One a side note….

This is the door to my studio.  It was just a boring white door.  I fixed that yesterday! I think I have painted seven doors so far in my house.  I’ll have to show them to you they just put a smile on my face every time I use one of them.  If you ever shop the paint department at Home Depot or even Menards they have a section called Oops Paint.  They sell quarts for $2.00 and gallons for $7.00.  Normally these paints are $14-15 and $32-35.  I love Oops paint.  Kevin says I buy paint and then figure out what to do with it.  My absolute favorite paint is Behr paint from Home Depot.  The thing to remember when shopping for Oops Paint is you have to pay attention to what kind of paint you are buying!  I didn’t always do that in the beginning but I’ve gotten way better!  This paint was paint and primer exterior paint…perfect for doors.  Today I’m going to paint the side door of the house with the same paint.  It looks awesome.  I also painted the following picture frames yesterday. ( I do work too!  I get my orders out and then start playing!)

There are two big ones and two small ones.  Got them at a garage sale the other day.  They had $0.75 on all of them but they took $2.00 for the lot!  They were ugly brown which wouldn’t go in the studio at all.  A fresh coat of gray paint yesterday and now TODAY…they will get metallic primer on the glass (you won’t see any flowers) and then chalkboard paint over that.  Going to put magnets on my embossing powders and glitter and store them that way!  Can’t wait to get them done. Well better get to work.  I did get my orders out already so I’m ready to roll!  I do have a bunch of new designs for stamps rolling around in my head and some sent from Karissa that I need to get designed and out…maybe tonight after I’m done painting.

 

 

One of the best things that you can do for organization is to LABEL things!  I’ve been labeling my stamp cases.  I was going to use a chalkboard type things so I can change it but didn’t really work the way I wanted it to so we resorted to the Dyno Labeler!

Some of you wonder where I get my energy!  Born with way TOO much!  It is nice to have but can be a hindrance since it’s hard for me to stop and do  nothing.  One thing that is very hard for me to do is repetition work.  I find it way to boring! 🙂 so in order to get things done that require repetition (like labeling my cases)  I just do one section at a time.  That way a four or five hour repetition job all at once …I break up over several days.  Been taking about 15 minutes each morning and if possible again at evening to label a section so it’s not such a big job.  Just a trick I use to get things done that I hate doing!

Well better get going.  I want to paint some decking today that was painted when the wood was too wet so its peeling up.  Going to sand it and paint it since it’s going to be sunny for a few days.

On a side note…I painted my front door a shocking pink this weekend!  It’s looks awesome but it is shocking!  I love COLOR!