In a few short weeks I will be undertaking the largest renovation I have ever done- a kitchen and a few weeks later a laundry. Daunting for me without a doubt- but necessary in this house as storage is sadly lacking. Ikea to the rescue and as measurements are made and quotes given I am getting closer- looking forward to sharing more on that soon.

In the meantime I work on the rooms I can and I am super excited about an entire day next weekend dedicated to hanging stuff on the walls – shelves, hooks, frames etc that all makes it feels more like home : )

Today I want to share with you just a little glimpse at the progress made in one of my favourite rooms – the scrapbooking/craft room. I was beyond blessed to find that this house had the perfect space for this and it almost like the furniture was made to fit here.

Here is a look at progress to date-

Just before the doors went on I took the opportunity to snap a photo I knew would be harder to capture afterwards- the full cupboards and contents.

This is a constantly morphing and changing thing but really just lots of baskets and boxes and magazine files storing all that crafty goodness. I also store all of the boys crafts supplies, paints, playdough, colouring books, textas etc in here.

In my last room I had the cupboards above my desk but in this room that was not possible without support on either side to hold them up. My dad was not comfortable mounting them without the side cupboards and so we made a decision to put them either side of the desk and I am in LOVE. So much extra surface space and room for me to work!!! We still need to create a little plinth underneath to raise these up a little for easier cupboard opening along with re-doing the handles to sit in the middle but for now- it works !!

Be still my couch loving heart I moved the armchair and ottoman in here so I can really relax and soak it all in (it was a tad big for Olivers new room). This is my new favourite place to edit photos and blog at night.

And the beloved Expedit is still here and got a little colour co-ordination too. Excuse the piles on the floor- I am not quite done yet.

And the beloved wall of storage? Well it looks all tidy with the doors on now. I forgot to take a photo of this earlier and so I just snapped one a minute ago.

So that is where I am at for now. Lots more to do and share soon so stay tuned : )

Lately I have no “felt” like writing. A strange concept to me as for 2 years I wanted to write every single day. And even when I did take a break I missed it, this, you the blog terribly. Maybe in a crisis you revaluate what is the MOST important thing to be doing with your time.

If your “time out” is limited to you spend it on your hobby or on blogging about your hobby? It is all about balance right? And I am finding that and as much as this little space in the WWW is not my priority right now I will still be around and back to blogging eventually.

One of the projects I have chosen to work on whilst living with my mum is getting my scrapbooking “up to date”. On the rare night I have “off” I choose to turn of the TV and the laptop and get some scrapbooking done. Let me tell you I have been LOVING it. I was so far behind on the boys albums I cannot even tell you and so I set myself some goals and made a choice to take some time for me. I should have done it a long time ago!!!

I thought I would share with you today just a few of the recent layouts I have done in Flynn’s album and how I have used a mixture of lots and lots of different page protectors and some Project Life stuff to create this snapshot of my sons life as a 4 year old.

Firstly cards have always been an issue for me- where to store them and how. The other day when I was at Officeworks I picked up these great A5 project folders and a little lightbulb went off when I got home. I punched three holes in the side, added a little tag and then placed my cards on the inside. I added it to the front of Flynn’s album as to not bulk up the rest of the album too much. I LOVE this option as the cards are together with the photos and easily viewable.

And a few easter pages, incorporating art, cards and letters etc.

For this look I printed a 8×10 enlargement and then cropped the photo to the same 8×8 size of the page protector- a few Easter stickers and this feature was complete.

I love being able to include some larger versions of my favourite photos in this album : )

I am also using these great flip up page protectors as well to incude a lot of vertical photos in my album.

I just have to say again I am LOVING how easily these albums come together. I am able to get so many pages done super quick and just scrapbook when and where I feel like it.

So along with being mummy, moving house, working, baking, opening bank accounts, getting a PO box and a million other things that is what I have been up to ; )

Firstly I forgot to add this photo in yesterdays post how I am not sure by when someone asked how I store my paper I realised I forgot to show you the cupboards on the right side of my room- my brain is still a little fuzzy forgive me : )

Ok so the end cupboard on the right wall is also for my scrapboking stuff-

This holds-

Shelf 1 – Photo boxes, spare Becky Higgins kits- school and baby kits.

Shelf 2- Spare albums, some small canvases and more scrapbooking kits to the right.

Shelf 3- Scrapbooking magazines and books- these magazines files are two deep and spare albums

Shelf 4- All of my paper. This is not quite organised the way I would like. In fact it is not really organised at all. Other than looking ok there is not order to this huge pile. In an ideal world I would have these grouped by theme and then maybe colour? This is a HUGE job and one I will maybe never ever do but it is on the to do list. I need a lot more vertical files too!! The vertical files are made by Crop in Style and you can get them at most scrapbooking stores.

Bottom shelf- Scrapbooking totes, bags and rolling bags that I take with me to crop nights or friends houses, wrapping paper plastic storage container (target), craft turntable and another white box- this one has srapbooking kits in.

P.S All white boxes and magazines files are IKEA and the clear boxes are from Kmart.

Oh how I love all of your questions and here I will attempt to answer all of them-

1. Donna- I *need* some of those little white shelves above your desk. They look very similar to Ikea ones, but they only come in black. Grrr.

Yes these cute little picture rail shelves are IKEA and they were a bargain at about $8 each I have been back SO many times looking for these as I also need more and I cannot seem to find them at the Perth store- if anyone knows of an IKEA that sells these please link away and help Donna out. In the mean time Donna I would try buying one and painting it- for that price you have nothing to loose ; )

2. Mary- Hi Jade, did you get all your cabinetry such as your craft your room built with your housse or did you do it afterwards? We are finalising plans to build so trying to plan these kind of things. Thanks!

I hope I answered this for you in Craft Room Post 2 Mary but if you have any more questions ask away.

3. Kate- Wow – great room! What a surprise! Been wondering where all your ‘stuff’ is! In the post with more “after” pics, can we have a tour of pics of the whole room, please? Surfaces, cupboards, drawers and how you use the room … Like how often would you go in there to scrap, as opposed to sitting at the dining room table, etc … And you know we will ask … Details of where you got some of your bits and pieces. Thank you!

Thanks Kate : ) Now to how I USE the room- this all depends on the state of the room. If it is super tidy and I can use the desk I go in there ALL the time- like almost every night or whenever i can steal 10 minutes here and there. It is great when it is like this and I use the space so very well.

Then there are times where you cannot see the desk. Everyone uses this desk as a dumping ground and anything needing mum attention gets dropped here- broken toys, ripped books, school notes etc you get the idea. I am trying to change this family habit but our office gets redone this is how it is.

For the sake of being social I often bring a project out to the dining room table so Simon and I can watch a movie together over the weekend and so I can be part of the family dynamics and fun but also sneak away for pockets of time if I am working on something. I do love being out with the family as opposed to always locked away in my room- finding a balance between the two is great.

4. Elizabeth- Love your craft space. There is one word for it….’Gorgeous’. Can I come and live with you? I am looking and sitting at my home office space with a frown. There is but one word for my space ‘Lifeless’. Gotta get me some of that ikea love in my room.

If you are toilet trained and you can cook your own meals you are more than welcome LOL

5. Linda- I am in love with the little embellishment shelves to the right of the doorway in the last photo. Do you mind telling us where you got them from Jade? So handy for little nick-nacks, jars and bottles filled with cuteness. Perfect size for a space I have in mind too… Beautiful room…you’ve inspired me too ;c)

These are made by Making Memories and they are called embellishment centres  after a little googling around I found them HERE at Scrapbooking for less an Australian store. Aren’t they just devine you can fill them with whatever you like and it comes with the wooden spool to have rolls of ribbon at the bottom. I bought tins and jars  over a year or so every time I went to the scrapbook shop or Ikea I would get one packet until I was happy with how full it was.

You can find the jars HERE and HERE

6. Brooke-Gorgeous!! A couple of questions: – We are the opposite of DIY’ers. How do you hang cupboards on the wall like that? We are scared if we try that they will fall down? – I’m convinced I need a Making Memories Desktop Carousel for my new space (much smaller than my last one). Do you know of anywhere they are still available? Some scrapbook stores run garage sales and they are an awesome way to make a little bit of money from your old supplies. I love that by having a garage sale at a scrapbook store your stuff is targeted at other crafters. It might be an option for you.

NO idea on the cupboards on the wall sorry, Simon hung these and he drilled quite  a few holes in the wall- they are very very secure.

Now the Making Memories Desktop Carousel was SUPER popular a few years back as these things rock but my understanding is that they are now discontinued and I have not been able to find them anywhere online- BOO for that.

BUT

Here are a few alternatives that I think are also gorgeous.

If you want to buy local in Aust this is probably one of your only options Craft Turntable with buckets at $29.95 from Urban Baby Very very cute and we have one for Flynn’s bits but not too sturdy for the amount of “stuff” us scrappers tend to accumulate.

If you are willing pay to have something parcel forwarded from the US the Pottery Barn kids Lazy Susan fits the bill very very well and comes in a range of stunning colours I could so see myself with a green one of these at $34 plus shipping they are also very well priced.

I hope this helps : )

7. Shayne- I think I spy some Pottery Barn stuff there Jade Did you use the mail forwarding service to send those over? Are they assembled or flat packed? Love the room – hoping my new study can be just as organised!

As much as I am addicted to that site….must stop looking on there ; ) Everything on the scrap room desk was purchased right here in Australia. The carousel has been covered in the above answer.

The little white desktop storage t the right of the desk holds my Making memories SLICE machine which is a little cutting tool. I have since decided this little organiser is just super cute on its own as well. You can find them HERE at U Cut at home- a US site that delivers to Australia but you might still be able to get your local scrapbook shop to order them in for you.

And the middle desktop organiser is also a Making Memories number as shown below. These are discontinued as well and I was not able to find them anywhere online- if you find some or have a resource- please do share!

BUT

Don’t dispair I found one very very similar made by Kaisercraft HERE the great thing about this option is you can paint it any colour you like and if you are feeling super creative decorate away as well. And it is priced at only $29.99- bargain.

Hope this helps Shayne

8. Kelly- I have scrappers envy!! We just dont have the space for a dedicated room or web area but once we own our own house look out hubby!! I think cause all my stuff is everywhere I have gotten way behind but I plan a huge purge soon and I might invest in some boxes to get me started! (where are the white boxes from??) I love the embellishment wall unit!! That is now on my wish list!! How do you organise your papers??

Kelly all of the white boxes in various shapes and sizes are from Ikea and most of the clear ones are from Kmart. The paper question is answered above : )

9. Laura-Just so organized – wonderful. Following on from the last post, in all seriousness, how do you keep the little ones out of it? Do you have any tips for preventing toddlers ransacking? I’ve often wondered this as I look at the photos of your beautifully organized house. thanks

Laura and Anna both asked a similar thing and so I will answer this in a way that covers our entire home as well.

As much as we have to make changes for our children in our home for their safety we also have to live here. My philosophy has always been to leave everything out and work with your children to help them understand what is theirs to go crazy with- playroom etc and what is mummy’s special things and you should aks first before touching. This is of course in reference to slightly older children like Flynn. Back when Flynn was little this room looked the same and I just kept saying no and soon enough he lost interest. If you pack everything away they just never have the chance to learn what is theirs and what is yours.

A cupboard set up though in a craft room  is absolutely perfect for those that are still learning as you have the ability to add a baby lock and put the things on your desk in the cupboards and bring things out one by one as you can trust them more.

If you have all of these things out and around at home all the time your children will quickly loose interest BUT if you bring them out just occasionally then you will find the up on the table exploring no doubt. This does take time though- but persevere it is worth it- and now I have to do it all again with Oliver LOL.

Also my biggest tip to get a toddler not to touch the things you want kept in tact is a firm no and then time out after 3 warnings if necessary the worst thing you can do is laugh it off and just say no, put everything back and carry on- they will think it is a game and keep on pulling books out etc. Even at a toddler age I feel children need to play in a fun and educational imaginative way not destructive like pulling books out- if they are allowed to do this at home likely they will replicate this at the local library etc.

This may not work for every child but this is what has worked in our home so far.

10. Lori- Jade- a couple of questions- The expedit unit- is that storage for filled scrapbooks or is that the next X-years worth of blank scrapbooks too? If that is just the last few years worth of scrapbooks and you plan to have the same amount again over the next few years, what do you plan to do to accomodate the extras? What I mean is- how far in advance do you plan your organisation solutions? Do you just work with what you have, or plan ahead for what you may possibly have in the future? Or is that just extra work that you might not need anyway? I don’t really scrapbook but I do a few other crafts and craft storage is something I struggle with a bit. Thanks! Also- the cupboards that are behind you when you sit at your desk- what do you use those cupboards for? Are they more craft stuff or just general household storage. I love hearing about storage for general household ‘stuff’ haha, coz that’s the hardest to store!

Hi Lori- thanks for all of your great questions-

Firstly on the scrapbooks- these are a combination of both completed and empty scrapbooks. I do plan out my mini albums and buy accordingly in advance eg I might know I want to do a pregnancy album so I will buy something to suit that. I also have a lot just sitting there with no particular plan that will get used eventually. For our regular yearly albums I choose my colours and buy these at the start of each year.

On Facebook the other day I got asked how many scrapbooks I have completed. Well I had never even counted… so I went about the house with a pen and paper and started adding. Well to say I was shocked was an understatement, I have been scrapbooking since 2001 but I was surprised to find I had completed 75 albums ranging from 6×6 size right through to 12×12. I have most definitely slowed down since having the boys ; ) I also have 33 albums either in progress, planned out for something or just sitting waiting for the right time and project. Needless to say storage is key with this hobby of mine and I will show you where else I store albums in our home tomorrow.

I plan ahead a little with all of my organising solutions. I think about growth what the space might look like in 12 months and what extra room I might need etc I don’t think about this too much though as I have enough to do for the current storage for todays needs.

The cupboards behind my desk? Well the end one is shown above. The centre one is for my ironing board/iron and vacuum. The end one is holiday and crafts for Flynn I am happy to show these if anyone is interested.

Phew mammoth post- I certainly didn’t this expect it to be this long but I hope I was able to answer most of your questions. In closing regardless of the size of your space if it is a room or a box- you deserve it, you give of yourself as a mother wholeheartedly every single day and whatever room you have you should make it yours- make it special and organise it so you are able to use it as much as possible : )

This is the right hand cupboard-

In this cupboard from bottom to top I store-

Bottom shelf- Large white storage box hold all PLife stuff, laminator sits on the right and the green and blue box is all of my old photos.

2nd shelf- These clear pull out drawers are perfect for scrapbooking papers and also page protectors they come from Kmart.

3rd shelf- This white basket with the cute chalkboard label on the front comes from Spotlight and I store all of my most used PL stuff in here journalling cards/ stamps/ pens etc.

4th shelf- in the white boxes I store my punches and the clear boxes hold diary inserts and 6×6 paper

Top shelf- card boxes

Now to the left hand cupboard-

The cupboard stores mainly embellishments  the different boxes are for different things, baby, boys, family etc these really need to be labelled so I am not fishing around for what I need.

How I sort embellishments entirely depends on what they are and what I use them for- some I sort my colour like ribbon, flowers, brads etc but others like stickers etc I store by theme as that is how I use them.

This is what I store in the overheard cupboards-

Mainly I have  stamps, stamp pads and punches up here  and again they really need to be labelled so I know what they all hold. In the open baskets I have the tools I use the most

Now to the front storage -

For the wall storage I used the Making Memories wall storage units and lots of small glass jars and containers for paint, ribbon and smaller metal embellishments etc. I would highly recommended these wall units to anyone they store a lot of bits and are very flat up against the wall too.

So now onto the craft post you have all been waiting for today I am going to cover all of the large storage cupboards/ desk and the configuration of the room. This is the view of my craft room from the hallway. Now first a little on this room. On our house plan this room is listed as an activity room, but after a few weeks of living in our home we realized that this space just would not work for the amount of “stuff” children have and so the playroom was relocated into a much bigger space and I moved in here.

This is an extraordinarily difficult room with an entrance/ walkway on  every single wall- this meant everything had to be flush up against the walls as we need to walk through this space to get into the boys rooms, playroom and the back bathroom. This also means I need to have as much as possible hidden and looking neat as it is not possible to just shut the door and forget about it- shame for that.

SO we went to IKEA my favourite place to outfit this space and use every single inch available to us. The range we used is actually a wardrobe range called Pax Birkeland but we purchased lots of shelves instead of doing railing and voila we have scrapbooking cupboards. On the left side of the room we have two single full height cupboards  and on the right side?

We were able to fit 2 double door cupboards and one single in the middle. Lots and lots and lots of storage and MUCH cheaper than having something custom built into this space.  See on the right hand side there, that is the front hallway.

And for the desk I chose the Ikea Liatorp desk it matches really well with the cupboards and has lots of storage and a great large top. Above the desk we have more of the Birkeland cupboards mounted on the wall above the desk.  The chair is a cream fabric swivel number from Freedom- love it SO super comfy.

For extra album storage I slotted this tiny little LACK bookcase from Ikea to fit in just a few more albums, this is the thinnest book shelf they make and it was exactly what I need to fill this tiny little space at a mere 40cm wide and $89 it is just perfect you can find it HERE. It holds 20 odd albums which is fabulous.

For the front wall as you walk into the room we again turned the old faithful IKEA 8 cube expedit- remember you can  have these either way I just choose to do mine horizontal as it fitted my space better. You can find these on their website HERE. Again super skinny and these cubes are the absolute perfect size for 12×12 scrapbooks and as you can see from the above photo this hold a LOT of albums.

So there you have it : ) That is the major storage in my scrapbook room. That is the bulk of what holds and hides all my “stuff”. Tomorrow I will be sharing with you the desk and embellishment storage I use in my space. I hope this might just give you a little inspiration I loved hearing in the last post everyone’s fabulous ideas of what works in their craft room so agan please feel free to share what works for you.  Also if you have a question ask away and I will slot it into the coming posts over the next few days : )

SO very glad to be back : )

I was struggling to be productive in this room and get anything done and so I knew I had to do a drastic clear out. I had all the correct storage and cupboards etc but nothing had a place and the things I needed to access all of the time were not accessible etc.

Here are the steps I take to clear out a room like this.

Step 1- Set aside some time to clearing out your area, ask you husband to watch the children etc so you can carve out some uninterrupted time. (I wish I had done this, I had  few “helpers” and this clear out took me a lot longer than I would have hoped).

Step 2- Take everything out of your cupboards/ area and start to purge. My rule for craft is that if I have not used it in the last few years and I don’t think I will in the near future it gets donated or thrown out depending on the item. For clothing/ other items I usually work on 12 months but you find with crafts things you do keep them for a longer time like tools/ stamps etc.

Step 3- Access the area and look and what/ if any storage boxes and containers etc you think you might need with what you have left after your purge. You might have a little helper still… like I did, see oliver?

Step 4- Start grouping items together now that you have your best items left.

Here are a few craft examples-

*Stamps

*Tools

*Paper

*Kits

*Project Life

*Albums

*Embellishments/ stickers etc

Step 5- Look at your space. where you sit and what you want to access easily and the most frequently. Make sure these items are corralled together in a suitable container eg-  open baskets for tools, boxes for smaller items like stickers and embellishments.

And tomorrow I will share with you a more detailed look at my finished product : )

And disbelievingly he actually wrote on them (who can say no on your special day). And so last week on my birthday afternoon my husband scrapbooked….

And a few more recent layouts I did a few weeks ago-

And although my pile grows on a daily basis I still love this hobby as much as I did when I started 10 years ago. I love that I am capturing the memories of the youngest years my children, my life, our friends and my family. I hope that I never stop documenting and loving and capturing everything about this wonderful life I am in.

I am excited for my little boy and his first day but also day at the same time. He is growing up way too quickly.

I am working on a layout for Flynn’s album on toys that he plays with in his life right now and so I am ttrying to capture his little collections around the house.

Speaking of layouts I have scrapbooking LOTS lately which has be great. I have now filled our first Family scrapbook of the year and I am almost up to date and ready to be able to focus on all of Olivers photos. I love seeing these completed albums all full : ) Speaking of scrapbooking I will be sharing some completed layouts over the next week or so including how to get your husband to journal it your scrapbook (yes it was a miracle).

So until then, have a great day : )

Ahem

And yet every year I end up planning and cutting and making stuff for weeks and weeks before the big day. This year is no exception and we are well into the party planning here for Flynn’s 3rd birthday this Sunday.

More to share on this next week. But now onto some more FAQ’s

1. How do you organise toys – including storage, culling etc.

Argh toys… well I have a theory on how they are stored and I say theory as as soon as I clean the toy room we seem to have a play group or a party or a BBQ and LOTS of kids come over and trash the place. And so I have resigned that they will always be a certain amount of chaos in the playroom but we do try and have a few areas that are tidy.

The theory is that the Ikea Expedit has lots of cubes and they are mostly all labelled which certain toys in certain boxes eg: blocks, train tracks, cars, puzzles, musical instruments etc. At the moment the toy room although it looks tidy is a mess and ALL of the boxes need to be resorted and relabelled but we are waiting until after the influx of birthday presents to do this.

A few general rules-
*One box out at a time
*Good books and toys which need adult supervision go up the top of the unit out of reach
*No throwing toys
*The toy room is packed away a few times a day normally before lunch and then again before bed time.
*Toys stay in the toy room in this house- Flynn brings them out to play occasionally which is fine but we don’t like them strewn all over the house.

See HERE for my previous post and photos on toy storage. We have since done a huge clean out but after Flynn’s birthday I will re photograph this and do another post for you : )

2. oops i meant to include this question also. Where do you buy your scrapbook paper and embellishments from and what kind of style do you use? and do you do alot of journalling on them? I would love to see some recent scrapbook pages if you dont mind. I started scrapbooking 6 months ago and absolutely love it! xx

I buy a lot of my scrapbooking supplies online from the US. When the Australian dollar is good it works out a lot cheaper this way. When I buy online I buy from Two peas in a bucket or Scrapbook.com I have found both to be very reliable and have great customer service. Be warned though the sites are massive and I cannot be blamed for any over spending on your credit card ; )

Sure I can share a few recent pages for you, these are just a few I have chosen out of our family album that have been completed in the last 6 months.

Journalling is now really important to me since having Flynn I try to incorporate a simple message on each layout or for each event (if the event has multiple layouts I will normally on journal and title once) . I like to use the small journalling tear out pads they have available now as they look cute and you dont need to write too much.

The above layout is how I use up extra photos that I have left over that do not fit into any particular event. They are just snippets of our everyday life. I like to group them all together on a layout because it means they get used and journalled. I tend to keep the page pretty simple and I try to fit as many photos as I can onto the page.

This is a close up above of the tag

A summer layout from the pool in February-

And a close up of a small journalling sticker-

And this is an example of how I use hidden journalling-

If you just place double side tape on each end of your photo you will be able to slip in a journalling note underneath the photo- make sure you place it at the top of the page to you can easy pull it up to read it.

And a close up of the journaling

And one more option is to completely hide your journalling and extra photos- in a cute envelope-

Whew mega long post today, I am sure you are all sick of my blabbering so until tomorrow : )