Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Show & Tell Saturday: Scraproom Tour

I think everyone enjoys getting to peek into other designer's scraprooms, right? It's fun to see how others store and organize the same types of products and tools that so many of us have. And while many of us have totally different ways of setting up our spaces, or have totally different types of spaces that we're working with, you never know when you'll see a new way of storing or organizing products that you can incorporate into your own space.

Scraproom Tour, by Leanne Allinson.

Mismatched furniture, hand me down storage and nothing on the walls. That's my space. But it is my space and I am so very grateful for it! Today I am sharing my little room for all to see. And I feel like I am baring my soul somewhat. LOL! I don't have a perfectly coordinated room. I don't even have clever solutions for storage and I am constantly going through my "stuff" to pass on to my children, their school and even friends who want to dabble in "scrapbooking".

This room used to be the nursery, but now that my 'baby' shares a room with his older brothers, this space has definitely been claimed as mine! As you enter, on the left is pretty much my bank of storage.

This is where I try to contain my product and work with my silhouette portrait. I also house my layouts in acid free sleeves and then place them in the baskets seen here on the first white (expedit-like) shelf.

I try to use as inexpensive solutions to storage as possible. Apart from some core furniture pieces, most of my storage comes in the form of glass jars or oversized plastic baskets. My cardstock is kept in an MDF box kit from Kaisercraft (an Australian Manufacturer).

On the second white shelf, I store items such as my typewriter, my addiction for thickers, some clear stamps and my Bella Blvd designer tapes and ciao chip alphas. My storage solutions to date are a little quirky. I've found two oversized tea cups and filled them to overflowing with my designer tapes.

However, my Bella Ciao Chipboard has a more conventional solution. A perfectly sized plastic storage basket. In this basket I can flip through them easily and yes, I do have them stored in their colour groups!

In between the two shelving units, I have situated a second hand table against the wall. Above it I have fastened a café style cutlery holder, to keep my paint tubes, decorative edge scissors (remember them!) and sponges.

On the opposite wall I have seating for guests and a little area for my four year old to sit and scrapbook too. On the wall I have a hanging gallery of my favourite layouts. The other corner is where I have my absolute favourite piece of storage equipment. My Ikea Alex drawers. In here I hide more clear stamps, flowers, bling, 6x6 paper pads and my kids' artwork masterpieces.

On top of my drawers I keep my Design Team patterned paper collections. The latest and greatest at the front of these plastic storage baskets and the excess/double products to the collections, underneath.

On the front of the basket I use a simple clip system to display the paper pieces and candid cards. The smaller baskets keep all my Bella crochet hearts, flags, buttons and stickers in a nice convenient area, without me having to sift through boxes or storage containers until I find the item I need.

My second table/desk is where I sit and create. It has the best natural light, provided by the large and only window in the room. It is to this point, where I will gather the supplies needed for my next project. Sitting permanently on my desk are my most frequently used tools - double sided tape, scissors, wet adhesive, mist, date stamps, trimmer...etc. However, having a desk to sit at, doesn't always stop me from spreading onto the floor. Often, when I come to the end of creating a project, you can see the trail of "options" I've left behind.

On a side note, when I do scrap at night or I just need that little bit extra light during an overcast day, I have used a "day light/natural" light bulb in my desk lamp. It provides me with a more natural lighting than florescent. I always prefer to scrap with natural light so I can better match the colours and collections I am creating with.

So there we have it. This is my space. Thanks for taking the tour with me and I hope you can take some inspiration with you.