enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

IMG_0741
My craft space is in the loft of our apartment. The lighting is usually great in the mornings and early afternoons from a big window. The two walls you don't see are Paul's desk/books and the laundry area. I am very lucky to have so much room and a boy who does not mind a giant mess on the floor.

IMG_0743
Yesterday, at Ikea, I bought this bookshelf. The plan was for it to hold much more than books, but turns out I have too many books. I was thrilled to have the space on top to put my albums/mini albums.
IMG_0745
IMG_0756Recently, I have become pretty terrible at storing layouts in albums and making the correct size layouts – (or making layouts for that matter…) but here you can see what I have… The white ones are from college (my high school layouts are all still in Sacramento with the parents). The chocolate brown American Crafts albums hold my layouts from summer 2007 (absolutely my favorite craft "era"), the daily cards and recent layouts from 2008. On each side are baskets of mini books – stuffed full.
IMG_0748
Across the room is my scrap table – another purchase from Ikea last year. It is actually a kitchen island and the drawers pull completely out. A big part of the recent clean/purge was about CLEARING THE TABLE. I need space to make stuff. I finally (this morning) got my JOY letters hung and the wall above the table has lots of room for inspiration.

IMG_0747
Down below is built in storage for tools, etsy goods and shipping supplies. It is not super tidy, but everything does have a place.IMG_0754
IMG_0760 I have a variety of little "boxes" on the desktop for odds and ends. Binder rings are probably my most frequently used supply along with labels – mostly from Paper Source. The wire boxes hold business cards and other paper collectibles.

IMG_0762
Aaand of course my paper rolls which are quickly outgrowing their metal box. I never really have a plan for these sheets – I just buy for the colors and patterns. Paper is my supply splurge. I do not spend a lot of money on traditional scrapbooking supplies or embellishments and really do not have too much "stuff." I try to keep basics on hand and spending low.

That is the space! Please let me know if you have any questions about it or just in general … I am going to try to blog every day until 2009 and have a feeling I will need some good blogging material.

Posted in

24 responses to “the space.”

  1. Mollie Avatar

    I just bought a “new” scrap desk a couple months ago off of craigslist… and I love it… I just have too much “stuff”. I need to learn to purge and get rid of the stuff I haven’t used in years. I love your space though. do you scrap standing up? Or on the floor? I have to sit while scrapping. lol

    Like

  2. leah eggers Avatar

    it’s nice to see what you did with a space that’s not a martha stewart-esque crafty “studio” room, just two main pieces of medium-sized furniture. it looks great!

    Like

  3. Elaine R. Avatar

    This is a wonderful peek into your scrap space! I loved it. Maybe I’ll do something similar sometime soon. Hmmmmm.
    i loved it!
    2 questions though…
    #1. where do you store your outgoing etsy shipments/thing made for etsy waiting to be bought.
    #2. how do you hang your JOY letters? I’m assuming you can’t poke holes since you’re in an apartment. Maybe you can. I dont
    know. But anyway I was just wondering. THANKS!

    Like

  4. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    What a fun space — and I have to say that my OCD nature LOVES your fairly color-coordinated book collection!

    Like

  5. Nadia Avatar

    love your space! what kind of books are in the book shelf? fiction, art books, reference? share! do you have your basics that you stick too? I just feel like sometimes I have SO many supplies and then when I go to purge I hate to throw things out – just in case! how’s the yoga going? the book? blog baby blog! I love your blog and you are so inspiring! ciao!

    Like

  6. lauren Avatar

    great space, e!
    i love all of the natural light!! that is always my favorite part about any creative space – must have lots of light! 🙂
    question: what do you do when you’re in a creative slump? i’ve been in one for about a month now and i feel guilty when i move to another hobby/project and see that litle 1/2-finished layout calling out to me over there!
    *

    Like

  7. Terri Avatar
    Terri

    Hi! I absolutely LOVE Paper Source and shop their when I get to Boston or the DC area. Do you know if they are planning any stores in the Pittsburgh or Ohio area?? I buy from the website often but there’s nothing like browsing the store….and I would love to be able to take classes!!
    As for your space, I love finding stuff at IKEA. In case you don’t know they have hanging acrylic boxes (kitchen section I think) that I love for my craft room. I have them behind the door and in the closet and they are great for storing items so you can see them………they look great too.
    Thanks for sharing pixs…..fun to see where others create!

    Like

  8. Melonie Avatar

    Such a fun space!

    Like

  9. kristen Avatar
    kristen

    The loft is lookin’ great! I always love seeing where you work your magic! And I also appreciated the color-coordinated books… it reminds me that I still need to do that to my closet 🙂 Man, I miss you guys – I can’t wait to see you over Thanksgiving, and I’m still crossing my fingers that Paul can come too!

    Like

  10. Angela Avatar
    Angela

    Hi Elise!
    Long time reader, first time commenter,
    24/f/Aussie.
    I would just like to say, please can i move into your studio space? I want to live there!!
    Your blog is quite often the highlight of my day, and is allllways a great inspiration. I am an artist (painter mostly) but i love to play around with scrapbooking etc also.
    I adore your bookshelf- i love the look of the colour-organised books, i tried it in my bookshelf a while ago, but i found that the anally retentive part of me couldnt deal with having my books not in catergories!
    Also, i would love to see some pics of those gorgeously full albums you have on your shelf there.
    Keep up the good work girl!

    Like

  11. nic Avatar
    nic

    ive been thinking about all the papers i want to buy from PS (i work there as well), and how it would just be nice to have some sort of ladder like thing to hang the papers on like in my store. it takes up little space and you wouldnt really need that many rungs. yes, i believe that will be my next investment.

    Like

  12. mary Avatar

    how fun to see your work space! 🙂
    do you stand while you are creating?

    Like

  13. amy lapi Avatar

    i have a good post idea! what are your fave books from your stash? i zoomed into the pic and it seems we have 95% of the same books lol.

    Like

  14. Breanne Crawford Avatar

    lovely space to craft.

    Like

  15. Carrie K Avatar

    your space is GREAT!! i loooooove the paper rolls 🙂 paper is my big splurge too…lol

    Like

  16. Whitney Avatar
    Whitney

    No wonder you create such wonderful things! You have a lovely space to do it in! I love the color coded books and the big “Joy”! I’ve been looking for some letters like that…
    I’ve been wanting to reorganize my craft space for a while now and I think this was just the kick in the butt that I’ve been waiting for!

    Like

  17. Lindsay Avatar
    Lindsay

    Do you ever get discouraged with stuff you’re making?
    My problem is, I have a great idea (I think) and it comes out not as pictured- and I get discouraged and scrap everything for a while. I haven’t do ANYTHING creative in about a year. 😦
    I WANT to be creative, but I feel like I’m not. Do you ever feel like that? Maybe not, if so, nevermind. 🙂
    But if you do, how do you push through it?

    Like

  18. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    If you need blogging material, why don’t you show us some of your album pages~particularly the ones from your favorite craft era.

    Like

  19. Frances, New Yorker in the OC Avatar

    Thanks for sharing! Love your space!
    I’m not the only asking but do you scrap standing? I currently have a desk setup where I sit but I can’t believe how lazy I am about not getting off my butt to go to a bookshelf and pull out, say, a set of acrylic stamps or a binder of stickers. I’ll remain on my lazy butt and just use what’s in arm’s reach. Pathetic! So I was considering switching to standing so that I’d be more inclined to use more of my stash since I’d already be on my feet.
    Do you ever run into similar issues and construct your space to accommodate such peccodilloes?

    Like

  20. grungedandy Avatar

    Got a question do you recycle, what do you do with scraps do you hoard them or just bin them dose it depend on the paper? Size, extra! That could be a post. Love the space keep up the good work Seeya hugya G

    Like

  21. mary Avatar

    I think you’ve done a great job fitting what you need in the space you have…and even better that the space accommodates what you have! (I know this comment would be easier to understand if I could highlight some of the words, but I don’t know how to do that!) …and also love that this is the 3rd time (am I remembering right?) that you’ve done your post-college space…adapting is key to keeping the habit going….

    Like

  22. thursday Avatar

    Oh I have that bookcase, too! Just got it a couple of weeks ago, intending it to hold my craft supplies. Alas, none of the craft supplies fit – only my rather ridiculous amount of yarn. But at least it holds all of the yarn. Mine is the black one. I do really like your kitchen island piece, too. That was a good idea!

    Like

  23. Gretchen Skovron Avatar

    great job on your space. I have a mini album question for you. So I just made my first one. I blogged about it here.
    http://cocktailmoms.blogspot.com/2008/02/ohio-mini-vacation-book.html
    so the book has been living on a shelf…I picked it up the other day and the ink from the pictures are bleeding onto one another. Should I have used some sort of plastic cover sheet for each page? Any advice so I don’t screw up the next one…thanks!

    Like

  24. jennifer ramos Avatar

    i always love peeking into another person’s work space…I LIKE THE JOY letters …I have MBG for MadeByGirl….my biz name, above my desk.
    Jen Ramos
    ‘100% Recycled DESIGNER Cards & More’
    http://www.madebygirl.com
    madebygirl.blogspot.com

    Like

Leave a reply to grungedandy Cancel reply