It's finished!!!

Whew. I JUST finished putting the last stamp/embellishment/marker away in it's new home. My stamp room. Wow. I can't believe it became a reality in less than a week! I am SO happy in my new studio I need someone to pinch me--I'm convinced it will all be a dream in the morning:)!


Ok, here is the "before"....


And here are the "afters"....




Isn't it beauuuuutiful? I love the lime green walls. As you can see, my desk wraps around the corner. One side is my stamping side, the other side is my business side. Each shelving panel is 8 feet in length and is 23" deep. I have plenty of room to spread side to side and plenty of room from front to back. Each shelving panel was $20.



I have 8 Target cubes. Sigh. I just couldn't bear taking my whole desk down today to bring them back to Target, so I went on a search of the city to come up with an alternative for a filing cabinet. As you read earlier today, my Target filing cabinet broke from the weight of the SU paper. I decided to keep the shell of the cube in place (the filing drawer pulls all the way out) and replace the file with a metal "milk crate" filing system I found at Office Depot. If you're looking at my desk area, you can see the metal filing crate in the Target shell at the bottom right of my stamping desk (does that make sense?). I had another Target filing cube on the business side of my desk as well (which is the one that had the stripped screws), so I got a metal filing crate for that area too. I don't mind how they look, and they are so sturdy I won't have to worry about IT breaking. These crates are also portable, so you could easily take it with you if you wanted to lug your paper around that way. Just a thought. These were buy 1, get one 50% off, so I think I paid $22 total for 2. I have plenty of room for more storage cubes in the future, too.



On the "RELAX" wall, I have 3 white Ikea shelves that were there before the redecorating. They were bare wood though, so I painted these to go better with the lime green/brown/white theme I chose! On these shelves, I store all my single stamps, both images and sentiments, for easy access should they be called to duty!



Over the next few months, I'm going to try and find fun, creative stuff for the walls. I might do something artsy fartsy for the walls with all my scraps I have stuffed in my scrap box! I need to get curtains or blinds on the window soon too, 'cuz I hate stamping at night with an uncovered window right there!


I can't express to you how excited I am that everything has a place and is IN it's place!!! I don't think I'll ever want to leave this room--for sure it will be where I turn to when I'm happy, sad, frustrated, and overwhelmed. This place will bring me the peace I find hard to come by when I'm out there running the show (chauffering, dr. appt, grocery shopping, etc). It will bring out the creative side of me, the side that's screaming to get out. It will be the place I go to to connect with my inner spirit--the need to create is real in me. Without it, I would be sad. I'm so thankful my husband supported me on this venture, and so happy my boys see me taking pride in my hobby. That is so important. Doing things for yourself is necessary so you don't lose yourself. I hope and pray each of you can design your ultimate stamp/scrap room someday. I know many of you already have a room like this, but there are many other "stamping sisters" out there that are stamping in closets, on kitchen tables, etc, and deserve this as much, if not more, than me.



On a side note, can I just throw major KUDOS out to my 12 year old son, who put together every single Target cube for me? The kid is a guru when it comes to constructing things--he did it all for me, I didn't even ask him. Thanks S--you rock big time! I love you!



Well, that's about all for tonight. Know that I consider all of you my "stampin sisters" and wish we could someday, miraculously, be together stamping the day away! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my new room!



God bless,

Amy