Even as a young girl, Marian King has always loved different forms of crafts. She has dipped her hands into crocheting, cross-stitching, sewing, beading, stamping, card making, baking, cake decorating and finally, scrapbooking.

Marian uses the formal dining table as her craft table. But she has to clear up the table every time they have guests over. Before she got into scrapbooking, it was manageable to just store her craft items in Tupperware containers and put them away in the basement storage. But as her supplies multiplied (mostly due to her non-stop hoarding), clearing up the table has become quite a tedious task. So, Marian and her daughters decided to turn the basement “bodega” into their permanent craft room.

Setting a Goal

“I want to have everything out,
so I can see it and use it.” 

Everything in the room was within sight and within reach. Labels were placed for easier identification . Aesthetics was not a priority – functionality and practicality were. Marian didn't mind if the colors of the storage materials she used didn't match. If it's the only color available in the market, she was fine with it. The important thing was its purpose in the craft room. Brand was not an issue either. She used storage solutions from Make Room where a set of 3 stackable bins would cost more or less P2,500.00 to items from SM or even from an obscure, never before heard of store.

Racks and shelves bought from hardware stores were pre-cut to size by a hired carpenter to suit their needs. Shelves were custom made and can easily be removed should the need arise for them to change the arrangement of the room.

Organizing

Paper and Tools

The room has an all-glass sliding door so natural light trickles in during the day. Two large heavy-duty foldable tables were lined up on one side of the wall to hold most of her tools and embellishments.

Two smaller foldable tables were used as craft table for each of her daughters and a third one to hold finished albums. An old ping-pong table was cut into half and re-varnished to serve as Marian's big crafting table.

Wire cubes bought from Ace Hardware were used to store horizontal paper holders and Sizzix die holders.

Stamps and Inks

Marian was already into stamping before she ventured into scrapbooking. As such, she has a wide array of stamps ranging in size, theme and type. She installed hanging shelves all around the walls to accommodate her huge collection of stamps as well as some of her inks.

She also used acrylic risers to put her punchers and the other inks. Remember the Ferrero chocolates that came in acrylic containers? Those containers were reincarnated and used to keep Marian's foam stamps.

Beads

Beading is Marian's first love. She has tons of beads in all shapes and sizes. She stores most of them in clear acrylic containers or Tupperware for easy access. Finished projects are displayed on mannequin busts which are placed on top shelves. 10-ml test tubes with screw caps were also used to store her other beads.

Ribbons & Fibers

Non-fabric ribbons are placed on a ribbon stand (similar to the one in Valerie's work room). This is really cool if you have a big space like Marian's craft room. She tied one end of a ribbon to one of the pillars of the ribbon stand and attached a pair of scissors on the other end. This way she said, you don't need to always look for scissors when you want to cut the ribbon. Fabric ribbons which can gather dust easily are placed in enclosed containers.

Caboodle, Computer, Printer,
and other Extra Goodies

I've always thought the Caboodle organizer was used to store make-up, hair accessories and other beauty items. But not for Marian! Her caboodle contained most of her commonly used craft tools, like her hammer, cutter bee scissors, cutter and metal ruler. She has a heavy duty 12” paper trimmer but she still prefers using her cutter and ruler. Also in the organizer are her Undu adhesive remover, brayer, setter, etc.

Slightly to the rear left of her craft table is her trusty computer where she constantly checks the goings-on in the scrapbooking world. And let's not forget her on-line shopping! Beside the computer is her large format HP printer which can print 12 x 12 size paper. (Anj: Waaaaahhhh, I want that too!!!)

Marian's craft room is a veritable treasure trove of scrapbook supplies and goodies. She doesn't have just one of each item; she has a back-up supply of pretty much all her craft materials! She never has to worry about running out of any supplies. And she's also got the latest tools in the market – some that normal folks like us can only dream about - the Big Shot for one. I got to try it for the first time and it was such a dream to use! I also saw several new Hero Arts, Making Memories and Heidi Swapp chipboards that I totally drooled over. It's no wonder then that Marian insists that everything be visible to her, so she will remember to make use of all her supplies!

Our Gratitude

Ms. Marian King is a very down-to-earth and private person. For her to allow us into her craft room is quite a feat. But, as Mabelle would always say, scrappers are a loving, giving and sharing lot. And true to form, it is Ms. Marian's hope that by sharing with us how her scrap room was constructed, others might pick up a tip or two. So from all of us at MyScrapworks – Ms. Marian, thank you.

Organization Shopping Resources:

• Make Room – for rolling bins and stackables
• SM – for big stackable containers
• Wellmanson – for acrylic containers for brads and eyelets; beads and other beading paraphernalia
• Unique Trading – acrylic risers
• Ace Hardware – wire cubes
• S & R Price Smart – for heavy duty foldable tables and chairs

*****
Sidenote:
We are in the process of lining up our features on select scrapping rooms/nooks/corners. This will be the focus of this special column JUST for rooms and organizing called "Escape" - appropriately named because where you scrap is where you "escape" even for a moment - be it a room, a coner or a table. The column will also be into organizing tips and local "finds" that could help you put some sense AND order to your hoard. Let's admit it (I do!), not all of us have rooms. Some of us have corners, or even a small table (I do!) that we use just for our scrapping. Does that mean that "non-roomies" will never get featured in the column? Nah. I'm pretty sure there are so many scrappers out there who have managed to maximize their precious scrapping space with a tool or a technique! So do write us and share your secret! We'd love to hear from you! - M