(Scr)happy Cinco de Mayo!

And welcome to the first stop in a  progressive tour of creative spaces. If you are here from Counterfeit Kit Challenge, you know the drill. If you are popping in from other directions, I hope you join in for a whirlwind tour of where the design team creates. so grab your beverage of choice and come with me to see some incredible spaces. You will come away with a least a few very good ideas for your current or future creative space.

As guest designer this month, I get to be your first host. My basement studio is about 12x30. Formerly a poorly lit "ruckus room" , we emptied the space of its contents, cleaned,repaired and painted the walls and ceiling. After adding full spectrum lighting, my upstairs studio downstairs was moved downstairs and now I can host scrappy events for the day or sometimes even overnight.

Won't you please come in?

As I close the door behind you, to the left is my store corner. I have been a Creative Memories consultant for almost four years.

 Please forgive me if I am being kind of obsessive about my lighting. There are seven of these fixtures in the room. The full-spectrum bulbs make such a difference that we are changing out all the basement fixtures to these.

 The first wall of organizers. Who doesn't love Ikea's Expedite cabinets? Will be adding doors and drawers later this year to curtail the clutter.

CTMH Inks and Pens in tower organizer.

 Next is the Cricut corner. The drawers in this desk organize the "messy technique" supplies. Two Ikea, Besta Burs stretch across the wall. They provide a display space on top and hidden storage, inside.

 Inside the first one is the Cricut paraphernalia.

Followed by Cuttlebug, Copics and other pen sets, and the Zyron I got at a charity shop for peanuts.

 This little glass cabinet is filled with...

 Harmonie mosaic squares,

And other delights.

The cardstock tower is followed by the printer stand, which is actually a microwave stand I picked up at the local "take it or leave it".  I just notice from the picture that I still have one handle on backwards.

 Next to which is another Expedite. (There are more of these upstairs in the living room where I keep finished albums) This one is holding various crafting supplies and the back-up, emergency Cricut.

 On top of this Expedite are the "cold files" Learn more about this storage system in Stacey's book.

A fabric tote/file box is used to organize and store my Creative Memories pallets.

Above this, the second Besta Burs holds arylic stamps. I use Stampin' Up's plastic storage boxes to keep them organized. On the right side are CTMH stamps and more random craft supplies.

 The sewing nook is followed by the TV corner. Fabric stash is in another room

Top shelf keeps my monster guillotine out of reach of little people.

 Closet storage is next. Followed by the library.

 Tens of thousands of photographs to choose from.

Old photos are in decade boxes. Newer ones are in Creative Memory picfolios.

In the library are books and magazines, mostly on scrapbooking, but other crafty goodness as well. This camera is the first one I ever used.

 The Double D Diva award was presented to me after collecting over 400 bras to send to Mexico for breast cancer survivors. Sometimes I slip on my tiara while I am scrapping.

 Little people are always welcome. Tickle trunk for dress up. Tea party toys and lots of books in these cupboards.

We have made our way around the room and you are probably eager to see my work station.

 I expect you are asking by now, "Where did you get those?"

 You can find these incredible drawer units at http://www.bestscrapbookshelf.com/

Under the hutch shelf, We added a restaurant chit rail. I use it to hold photos and other bits that need to be kept safe and available. There are also chit rails under four of the light fixtures. Guests can hang their finished layouts to be admired. The original artwork to the left of the hutch was painted by a high-school girl with incredible talent. Below it is a desk top photo printer. And a Pampered Chef swivel utensil organizer keeps the critical tools super handy.

 It would be nice at this point to have a wide angle lens, But here are the "four corner" views of the room.

 Using folding tables, (that were moved out for photographing the room) up to five people can set up and scrap their socks off.

Future plans for this space involves having a proper floor installed. And to continue to re-organize and improve the storage systems. And to scrap. Yep, mustn't forget that.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. Hope you enjoyed the grand tour. Next we can all go over to Andreas at http://snappingmonsters.blogspot.com/

Have a happy, scrappy, 5th of May.