Taylored Expressions Studio Challenge

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for us to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we will have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for September is:

Within Arm's Reach - What do you keep within arm's reach at your stamp table?  Show us what you have access to without leaving your seat.  What organization methods do you use?  Tell us which ones you love and which ones you'd like to change.

I think I need a moment of honesty here.  My desk in only this clean when I have to take pictures of it.  Don't get me wrong, I do clean up somewhat in between cards, but when I get behind and have to make lots of things in a short amount of time, you can't even see my desk, or even the floor for that matter.  And let's be real here.  I just moved one pile of crazy over to the other side of my desk while I took a photo of how neat and organized I am.  Haha!  BUT - what you see here is how I do keep myself organized.  The mess is in all the card stock I will put away "later".  Now that I got that off my chest, here is my post.

Welcome to my desk!  I always rearrange my work space, but this is what I've got going on right now and it seems to work for me.   I'll just work left to right on my desk.  First up is all of my inks and Copic markers.  I bought a couple of these Quickutz storage systems in black a few years ago and then when I went to order another one, they were discontinued!!  The shame!  I love these little cubes.  My markers are about to explode out of it, so I'll have to find something different for my inks soon.  I also have my border dies in a Mason jar, which I love!  It's so easy to find the border I'm looking for.  The rest of my dies are in various school boxes, and well, that system definitely needs a makeover.  I'm still looking for a good die storage system.  You can see my Copic color chart and Moka hair chart there as well.  I use those a lot!

Inside the drawers of the storage units I have my embellishments.  This one has my Kaisercraft rhinestones and pearls in it.  I hold them together with a metal ring clasp and then I can find the color I'm looking for really easily.

I have a hutch on top of my desk that holds lots of stuff.  The things I use most in here are the adhesives and stamp cleaners. 

I also keep more embellishments up here, like buttons, brads and my embossing powders.

In between the hutch doors, I have a shelf with my 6x6 papers and ribbon.

The paper is in the little box and the ribbon is in the jars.  I have most of it wound on doll head clothes pins, but some of the ribbon is in little baggies and spools.  I gotta get in there and organize it again.

To the right of my computer I keep my Spellbinders dies in Mini Binder Boxes and small paper trimmer.   I also have my iPod speaker and a little carousel with scissors, pens, and random tools. Don't mind the dust - haha!

Last, I have my die cut machine - a Vagabond, and my Janome Sew Mini.  These items are used on every single card I make. 

Please hop on over to see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen have at arms reach.  I can't wait to find new storage ideas myself!

• Cammie King
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Thanks so much for stopping by!