Were bloggers create 2012!

Wow I cannot believe it has been a year already since the last "Where Bloggers Create" blog hop.  If you have not joined in the fun yet you do not know what you are missing. 

So much has changes in that time at least for me. We moved back to the states from our lovely home in England. I really miss it so along with my nice and bright craft room I had there.The weather is been a big change for us too as the weather here is horribly hot and sticky. I used to love crafting with my windows open but lately we have had to have the air-con on to stifle this heat.

 This year I will be showing you my new space in our house here in the states, the northeast coast to be specific. So as you walk in you are of course greeted by our Lovely Lab Sun and our latest foster Mona, a 2 year old black shepherd mix. Yes that is another change from last year. We have become foster parents to lots of furbabies. Most only stay a few weeks but occasionally we get one like Mona here who has been with us for months. It has given us such a sense of accomplishment to be able to aide in saving some of these poor soles. All they need is a little extra time till the perfect family comes along. So we try to provide them with all they need until that time comes. Just look at those sweet faces. Bet you would not guess who the trouble maker of the 2 is?

So before we begin may I offer you a cup of tea or perhaps a slice of cake? 

My new craft room is just down the hall and to the right. Please do come in.....

On the door hangs a very precious gift given to me by the wonderful children and staff at the school I volunteered at in England for a few years. It really was a joy working with them.

This is the view as you walk into the room. Much smaller than my old room and darker too. Could use some more windows for sure but at least it is mine(or at least mine and my daughters as we share the space together for our crafting needs. it gives us some much needed bonding time especially now since she is getting older and moving onto other things ) I do so love the wood floors instead of carpet. They make cleaning so much easier.

My desk is the one with the back towards the window(with the black cardi on the chair) and my daughters is the one facing the window. We face each other as we work making conversation easier while we work together and share ideas.

This next picture shows the view to the left of the door. This is where we have our sewing and miniature work area and some altered project storage.

Behind the curtain we keep all the sewing stuff such as fabrics and accessories.more fabric are stored in totes in the bottom of the closet just behind the basket shelves.

 We also store extra paper boxes and misc craft supplies in the bottom. the rack contains assorted ribbon and yarn spools as well as other sewing paraphernalia.

This green hutch holds our alterables such as books, wooden boxes, slide mailers and lots of other things. It also holds a selection of our Stickles, Smooch inks and liquid pearls.

This is the view now looking from Belles Desk over to mine and out the window. To the left here is another shelving unit housing our Emphemera, Magazines and misc art supplies. (not sure why I missed a picture on it but will try to add it later. )(you can see it in the above picture of the corner.)

Favorite projects and inspiration up above.......and below

Here is a shot of the project shelves that are on both walls facing each other. This room used to be Belles nursery so it had some nice shelves already existing. It also had this nice molding on the wall that I use to display projects on also. Up on top of the shelf of the bookcase are all my old cameras from my 35 ml to digitals through the years. Not sure why I kept them all.

Now continuing around the room we go around to my desk

Not normally this neat as there are usually multiple projects being worked on. We just happen to be away this week so I hate to leave it messy when away and not working on anything. 

I like to keep my distress inks, and other most used items close at hand.  To the right of my desk is a rolly draw holder with scrap paper sorted by colors. My clip it up sits atop of it. 

I store my quotes on my Cllip it up along with misc embellishments and flowers. I love collecting quotes of all kinds to use in my projects.

To the right of that along the wall are my Paints, Dylusions inks and paints(love love love these!!!, Stencils, Primas and chipboard items. Above the shelf unit on the wall is my Signed Tim Holtz Die I won.

I also store my adhesives and used kitchen roll papers on this shelf unit. 

On the wall above hangs a frame holding some special notes I found in my boxes while unpacking after our move back to the states last year. They were from a dear friend Sandra who helped me pack over the final days there. I miss Sandra, Anne and my other Yorkshire friends very much still. 

I hope to be able to get back and visit them soon. 

In back of my desk sits the window, the only source of natural light to this room. I also store my cut ribbons on hooks on the curtain rod. (can be seen better in first photo)

 Below the window sits another set of shelves containing my 6X6 and 8X8 paper pads as well as gems, brads, charms, ribbon snippets, baby wipes, heat tools, alcohol inks, dabbers and extra inking and painting supplies.

Next in comes my stamping corner. I so do love stamping! 

Here you can see a better shot of the ribbons on the window. The draw unit to the left holds misc sewing bits, tools and beading bits. For my stamps the wooden blocked ones are stored in square red shelves I picked up at a home store on sale. I store the remainder in baskets along with my Stampers Anonymous and clear stamp sets. The cd cases also hold stamp sets atop the shelf unit. Embossing powders are below along with extra adhesive tools, flocking /Flowersoft and more stamps. 

 Continuing along the last wall We have some more draw storage holding Pearls, Glitters, hand Punches, Christmas crafts and lots of pictures. On top is a tin of brushes and masks/stencils/doilies behind. There are also boxes of Brads, trinkets and buttons topped by my travel table top storage tote.

 The remainder of the wall contains Papers(sorted in holders by theme), Embellishments(also sorted by themes in folders), Boxes of beads, Travel totes, Albums, My diecut machine Embossing folders and dies, misc tools and saws, Dremmel, Drawing tablets, cutters and albums. 

The middle of the unit also opens to supply another desk top if needed. Great if one of belles friends is over.

Back around to the door you can see my Sewing table again which also doubles as my miniature work station. We store all the miniature supplies under the table. Our cardstock papers are stored atop the table with one of the sewing machines. My other machine is kept in the closet as it is very heavy and old.

Are you tired yet? I tried to make it just a little whirlwind around the room. Just a little bit more I promise We will be finished soon. 

Some favorite projects of mine can be found around the room maybe you spotted some....

 I love altering things from masks (above) to books (below)

Recycling materials for projects!

plastic packaging(above) and inky Kitchen roll(below)

 This is a layout project I did for Ranger's Melt art contest years back. It won first place. (I almost did not send it because my dog ate my original just before mailing it off. My daughter cried and begged for me to remake it, funny how things work out) The layout in the lower corner is another favorite of mine of some happy times spent in England exploring the countryside.

 Below is another layout of our final days in England last summer and the ending of an amazing 3 year journey. 

On the clips is a copy of Scrap 365 June 2012 issue, where my Beach Album was published. I just love this magazine along with its sister Craft Stamper so it was a complete honor for me. If you looked around the room you may have seen the original mini book .....Did you spot it?

This final project I will share today is sadly a re-work in progress....

It was broken last year during our move back to the states. This greenhouse was one of my first miniature projects I did over in England and one of my finest to date. I have not had the time to fix it yet but I will begin work very soon to restore it to its former glory as you can see it here. 

Now on a final note some items you can never have too much of......

 Kitchen roll, Glossy accents, Melting pots and perfect pearls Heirloom Gold just to name a few.....

Well I hope you have enjoyed your visit and do thank you for stopping by. 

As a little thank you for taking the time to stop in, I will be giving away some goodies including a 6X6 paper pad of Prima's Fairy Belle along with some great accessories to go with. 

Just leave a comment and your name will be entered in the drawing. Become a follower and you will be entered twice(if you are already a follower just leave a note in the comment) I will draw the winner on August 14th. 

A huge thanks to Karen at My Desert Cottage for once again organizing one of the best blog-hops. I thoroughly enjoy looking at all the fantastically create spaces each time. 

If you want to see some amazing spaces just hop on over there and join in the fun!

Have a wonderful day. Angela