Recreating the Haven

Each January, it seems that my hubby and I are inevitably rearranging, redoing, and recreating my creation space, a. k. a. The Haven. This usually happens because I am blessed with new 'toys' for Christmas, and the space needs to be revamped to make space for them. Last year, my hubby decided that he was going to work on one room each month. Yep. January was the month for the Haven. Last year, we put up some new shelves and fixed a nice space for my daughter to play while I'm up there and for my son to 'create' his own stuff. Before January 2009 was close, I KNEW what I wanted to have happen this time. I wanted a new paint job!!!! We had so many holes and messed up places on the walls from bad 'solutions' to my organizational issues that I just needed nice, fresh, clean walls for a change. All holes are patched and all walls are painted. The color that I chose was Heffalump Purple - a Disney color from Home Depot.



The original color was a brownish/taupe. Nice and neutral, but blah for a creation space. ;)













For Christmas, as I've mentioned previously, I received some Copics. I have, since, 'acquired' a few more. (really big grin!!) I wasn't happy with the storage boxes that came with my Ciao sets, so I went searching for something else. Some of the markers that I have added to my collection are Sketch markers and don't fit in the Ciao cases, too. While looking around, I found these. WOW! That would work perfectly for my space. I really like to have the markers at my fingertips, and this just about does it for me. They are stackable and hold up to 36 markers in each one. So, that was another 'little' change that I wanted to make to the Haven while we were working on it.






This is my work area. My punches, scissors, ATG, and other 'hand' tools are up on the pegboard. The new Copic block stand is on my right side next to the pegboard. My main ink holder is on the left side (LOVE that ink pad holder - before you ask, it's by DzynTech, and is no longer available. :( Sad because we could sell a billion of them if we could find them), and my black, Versamark, and StazOn inks are in the holder on the right side next to the Copics stand.









Because a few have asked, here is my Copics holder in it's place on my table. I love it. It is only about 5 1/2 inches square, so it doesn't take up enormous amounts of room. As you can see, the markers are pretty much at my fingerprints. I have them arranged in color groups (B, BG, RV, R, YR, YG, etc) so that I can find the ones I'm looking for easily.














Another thing that I needed to incorporate into my space was a sewing area. A sewing machine really needs it's own table with some storage and space to spread out that fabric. I'm DEFINITELY not a seamstress, but I do enjoy putting together some blankets and other little (EASY) things. When looking for a sewing/cutting table, I found this. I used some of the Christmas money that I had and bought this. I didn't think it would be very spectacular for only $100, but it was worth a shot. I didn't have anything better and couldn't find anything else for less than about $600. (Yikes ... and NO thanks. :) ). When I got it home and put it together, I decided that it is wonderful!! I love it. No, I've not sewn on it yet (tomorrow, though .... ), but it looks good, works well, holds a lot, and is very versatile. Works for me!


Here's the sewing center in my Haven. I have it open in this picture, but it closes up nicely. It opens to about 5' 3" long which is handy to use when spreading out fabric.












My Cuttlebug has a dedicated area, too. This cabinet top is very stable and works great to hold my little bug. My small dies and embossing folders are in the clear storage thing behind the Disney box. The Disney box (made for me by a great Quacker Secret Sister) holds my A2 embossing folder and large dies. I love that it will close with the folders and dies inside. As you can see, my son's CuttleKids shares this area. It works well for both of us.







This is my Cricut, cutting, computer, and embellishment area. The brads and such are in the brown and black box under the shelf. It has a TON of compartments for small embellies. Primas are on the 2nd shelf on the right. My Cricut Expression is to the right of this picture, and my little one is in the middle of the picture. Hanging on the wall are the mats for my Cricuts. I like having them close to my bugs and hanging to keeps them flat. Also, all 3 sizes fit easily here.






My son has his own stamps and crafts, so he needs a place to create. This is his area.













My room has a great window bringing in wonderful natural light. Hopefully, I will be able to 'create' some simple curtains for the window. I don't want much, but it definitely needs *something*.












My SU sets have a home here. They are sorted by catagories. The bottom shelf holds my assortment of vinyl (I use this with my Cricut! :) Great stuff!), and the CD stand holds most of my clear stamp sets.

The plan is to have an area for my individual stamps on the wall to the left of my stamps in this picture. It will, hopefully, be a framed box with shelves for the stamps. The shelves will only be wide enough for one row of stamps per shelf. I don't want to have rows of stamps to hide other stamps. Hopefully, this will work. Until now, I have stored all of my individual stamps in 5 *big* tackle boxes. Because of the size and number of boxes, the tackle boxes stayed under my work tables, and the stamps were never used. I won't be able to store all of my individual stamps on the new shelves, but at least some will be there and will, hopefully, get used.



I'd love to know what you think! I will post about my room again if/when I get the curtains and/or individual stamp shelves done.

Happy stamping, and have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!



:)