Craft Room Tour with Carla La Vera

 

Hello, G45ers!

  We are excited to send you into the weekend with 5 Genius Craft Storage Solutions.  Today on the blog, Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador, Carla La Vera opens the doors to her vintage-inspired Craft Room and gives us a Tour.  Below you will find brilliant organization tips and lots of gorgeous inspiration that will get your wheels turning on how to keep your space nice and tidy, that is until it is time to have some fun papercrafting.  Be sure to share your tips on how you stay organized in the comments below, and send Carla some love for letting us peek into her craft haven.

 

My Eclectic Studio

By Carla La Vera

 

“I invite you to know today my little world, my eclectic studio, a place where I enjoy being and, where I feel inspired to do my projects.

It is a relatively small room and I always feel that I need space to put everything I want, more papers, more flowers, more…everything but, for me it is adorable and I enjoy the time I spend here.

 

 

 

These are views from all angles and as you may have seen I am definitely a Vintage Style lover.

I like to keep my studio tidy but it inevitably turns into chaos when I'm doing my projects.

 

TIP 1: If you are lucky enough to have a space to develop this beautiful art, try to surround yourself with those things that inspire you.

 

 

My work table is convenience furniture when I am working on the edition of the tutorials, I have it folded, but, when I am working on my projects, I can unfold it and, it becomes a 40 ”x 54” table.  Over here I have too this old chair is a 1920-1930s spinning chair.

 

 

This farmhouse style cabinet is my place to store my albums. It is supposed to be placed in a bathroom, but I like its style and I like how it fits in my studio.

Those two illustrations are from my favorite Illustrator: Norman Rockwell, the genius, whose style is represented in various Graphic 45 collections, and I can't fail to mention the beautiful typewriter of the 20's.

 

 

This old mannequin that shows the effects of time is one of my favorite treasures, I did not want to restore it because I think that its essence would be lost. In these hat boxes, I keep my flowers and my Christmas ribbons and cords. Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Sometimes I get inspired by music and I'm definitely retro, I have a collection of vinyl records: Elvis Presley, Ragtag, 40’s, 50’s and 80’s and obviously … Christmas !!!!

 

TIP 2:  Take advantage of dual-use items, decorate, get inspired and organize your materials using them instead of boxes and drawers.

 

 

In this cube organizer shelf, I have my Graphic 45 collections, more flowers, some albums, my vinyl records, my big shot, fabrics, and my new projects.

 

 

These paper holders have only my Graphic 45 papers, I tried to classify and organize them, but … there is no more effective anti-stress therapy than rediscover beautiful papers and imagine the perfect projects for those papers.

 

TIP 3: If you store your papers vertically, it will be easy to review and grab the papers that you were looking for.

 

 

For me, it is impossible to work on a single project. I usually work on the project that inspires me that day, so this is the best way to keep my studio a little organized.  I save each project in process on these boxes.

 

TIP 4: If you like to work simultaneously on several projects, get organized by keeping each one in a box where you can even put the ribbons, flowers, and other decorations that you plan to use in each project.

 

 

Finally another little corner with my small old suitcases in which I keep the Dies I use the most and some small projects.

In one of the baskets, I have tags and travel notebooks, etc.

 

 

I store in small Ziplock bags all the cards, ephemera cards, chipboard pieces and die cuts I had left from past collections. This is one of the things I love about Graphic 45, several of its collections can be combined and will look great.

 

TIP 5: Use small ziplock bags to classify the leftovers, this will make your job easier when you want to do small projects with these little treasures.

 

 

These were my husband's suggestions, he uses them for his nails and screws, and, although they are not with the same style of my studio decor, they are practical and perfect for storage brads, eyelets, and other metal embellishments.

 

 

Also in my closet, although small, I have the option of saving all the tapes, past projects, leftovers, solid cardstock, and some of the objects that I find in the flea markets and to which I see the potential for future projects.

 

I hope you like my little world and that the simple tips I have given you, help to keep your studios organized.” ~Carla

 

 

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Happy Papercrafting!  

   

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