Where I Create...aka, My Happy Place!

Hello friends and happy Saturday! If you're new here, welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by. And for my regular readers, thanks for stopping in to visit...) I'm always happy to hear from both new and old friends! Today I'm joining Karen from My Desert Cottage for Where Bloggers Create. This is my first time joining and I am super excited! My craft room, otherwise known as my happy place is one of my favorite places to be. It is constantly evolving and changing to suit my needs as well as my growing collection of craft supplies. It is a busy, colorful, fun, and inspirational place to "play". Won't you join me for a tour?

This may sound very familiar to some of you as I recently posted a craft room update. It was through that post that a blog friend suggested I join this party, so I am back to share my happy place again. I have made a few changes since that post a couple weeks ago, so stick around and see what I've been up to. We'll start in the sewing table corner. To the left of the sewing table is a closet full of stuff! I recently made a new chair cover for my vintage sewing chair. The fabric was from a pair of curtains I made for my classroom year before last. For those of you who are new here, I'm a kindergarten teacher! You may have noticed the black and white checked floor. This room used to be my son's room. When my daughter moved out, he took over her room and I took over his...lol! He was into racing, thus the checkered floor. It is not in the best shape, but it works!

This sewing box was one of my redo's from a while back. If you visit here often, you already know I love to go thrifting and I decorate my house with my finds. My craft room is no exception. The sewing table was a vanity my mother-in-law got cheap at a yard sale and she gave it to me. I had the hubby attach two shelves (also thrifted) to the back, and now I have a sweet little sewing table. 

Here's a closer photo of the chair. The chair is actually a vintage Singer sewing chair. The seat has a storage compartment. I believe I gave $5 for it a few years ago.The seat cover comes off and there is storage underneath. 

Moving to the right, you can see my $5 wooden file cabinet which of course got a makeover after I bought it home. On top of it is an organizer drawer unit I bought at Michael's with a 40% off coupon a few years ago. Hanging on the wall above is my blog friend bulletin board. I display correspondence from all my blog friends here for a while. When it gets too full, I move the cards, letters to my memento box, which you will see in a bit. 

My ticket stub jar and a photo of my sister and I when we were little girls sits atop the plastic lazy Susan style Scrabble board on top of the units. That's me in the bonnet!

Moving on around is one of the shelves that holds my glass desk top. It holds a variety of things, from stationery to my hot glue gun. 

Here's the desk top. This picture was from a couple weeks ago. I have since changed it and will share those pictures too.  Almost every item on it was thrifted.

Here's the new setup. I added a couple shelves on the side and made an "L" shaped configuration. I also recently found that shelf that I believe was part of a twin headboard at some point. It holds tons of my stationery supplies that I use for my newest hobby...keeping a planner. It involves so many things I love, like organization, list making, journaling, and decorating (similar to scrapbooking). It gives me a reason to buy pretty stationery supplies like stickers, pretty papers, washi tape and so on. I LOVE these types of supplies. 

Here's a closer view. I love having all my pretty supplies in plain view!

Here's a close-up of my planner. This is my latest addiction!

I love making cute clips to use in it too...)

These are two new thrifty additions. I'll show before and after pix at the end of the post.

Here's the top of the new addition on the side. I put scrapbook paper on top of the shelves and topped                                                             it with another piece of glass.

And here are the shelves holding the new side addition. There are lots of supplies in the baskets and containers....stamps, ink pads, punches, sticker paper and so on.

I have also been adding some colorful "artwork" above the desk. I can't wait to repaint this wall white! I am over the green! 

Here's the other shelf that holds the glass top up. It holds mostly paper for the printer, and paper cutters and punches. It is easily reached when I am sitting in my desk chair.

You may have spotted the black and white polka dots in the above photo. This container holds all my yarn and looms and my printer sits on top. I sat it on top of a frame with casters from a chart stand I used to have in my classroom. I can easily roll it out when I need to use it.

This unit was a great thrifty find last year. It holds a variety of things, but mostly my Crayola collection. It is no longer on top of my desk. It will be mounted on the wall after I repaint them.

In the right corner are two shelving units which I have placed in an "L' shaped configuration. They hold tons of craft supplies, from paint to fabric!

Here's my other big desk which is a vintage mail sorting case I bought it years ago from the post office where I used to be a substitute mail carrier. It is actually going to live on my front porch when we get it built. It will serve as a buffet on the porch. I will replace it with lots of shelves. I'm waiting to paint the walls white after this beast is moved out. It will probably be a few months before that happens.

On top of one of the corner shelving units are two baskets filled with printed burlap and vintage sheets. On the left end of the post office desk are some cardboard boxes I dressed up with washi tape and a few other things. Most of my storage is free, like the repurposed boxes, or thrifty, like the wire freezer baskets holding fabric on top of the shelf.

Here's a view of the back side of the shelf. I put contact paper on the back to make it pretty. The painting is one I painted when my friends and I got together for a paint party. The white revolving tiered unit is from Harbor Freight. It was grey when I bought it but I painted it white. It holds a ton of stuff! My little vintage ladder was moved to the corner in front of the shelves. It will be moving to the new front porch as well after it's built.

Another view of the top...vintage sheets and paper straws. I have a thing for both! I also LOVE globes! I've had this one for years. It's the first one I purchased.

And the right side holds another washi decorated box and my fabric scrap basket.

The left side. This caddy from Harbor Freight was one of the best deals I ever got new. I assembled it, painted it white, and loaded it down with all kinds of goodies!

The middle...love the happy colors in this shot!

Here's the right side. Lots more junk stuff!

My Raskog cart from Ikea holds a variety of things! I have plans for it soon.

The other end of the room...near the entrance is the closet and a vintage thrifted record cabinet that holds lots of stuff.  The two drapery tie back hooks on the wall hold lots of thrifted embroidery hoops and a few other things.

The metal card catalogs are among my favorite thrifted items. The wire basket on top holds fabric I will be using in upcoming projects. A thrifted medicine cabinet turned chalkboard is mounted on the wall above.

Most of the storage items in my craft room were thrifted and many are vintage. This little recipe box recently got a makeover and it now holds scripture and quote cards I am using in my planner. I made the cute little dividers as well.

As promised, here are a couple of my recent thrifty finds complete with before and after photos. This little unit was just $2.39. I saw potential in it even with the awful paint job it had. All I had to do was paint the drawer and attach a new pull. All my knobs were too big so I got creative and used a vintage brooch I had in my stash. I love it now!

The next two involve a repurpose and a makeover. The top one is made from a metal Nike brand wallet box. My son needed a new one, so I picked one up for him at TJ Maxx. The metal box with hard plastic lid was not to be thrown away though. I simply spray painted the metal and added one of my Project Life journaling cards to the top with some washi tape to hide the swoosh. The second one is a vintage mug tree I found for $0.69 that I simply spray painted gold to hang my skinny washi tapes from. Not bad for less than a buck! 

Thanks Karen for hosting this fun party! Be sure to hop over there and visit some other places where bloggers create!

I have a few sewing projects I hope to complete this summer. I have four weeks left before I have to return to work. I hope to get everything finished!

And that, my friends, concludes our tour. It's a small room, but I have managed to store everything in it quite  nicely. This room has transformed many times over the past three years and will transform many more in the future. It is truly my happy place and it just gets better with time. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer. 

I am off to visit my daughter for the weekend. My Mama is going with me. I'm looking forward to our visit although it will be a bittersweet one. This is the last time I will be going to spend the weekend with her before her move abroad. It's all good though...as I am looking forward to a visit "over there" during my Christmas break if everything goes as planned! I hope you all have a delightful weekend! And, as always, thanks so much for visiting and leaving such sweet comments. 

Until next time.....