Crafty Space: MaryLea from Pink and Green Mama

Hi I'm MaryLea from Pink and Green Mama Blog and 

today I'm so excited to be guest posting today for Linda

and Craftaholics Anonymous! 

I consider myself to be a Craftaholic with a fully stocked

art studio full of an embarrassing amount of arts and craft supplies.

Our babysitter says this room is like a craft store--

I never know if I should say "thank you" or apologize!

Today, I'm going to give you all a little tour. 

My art studio space, is what is supposed to 

be the "formal living room" in our house,

it is one of the first rooms you see when you walk in the front door.
I call it "Mommy's Playroom."

Our "formal dining room" is on the other side and it's our playroom.

I don't know about you but I needed an art studio

and a playroom a lot more than I needed formal

living and dining rooms. 

Bonus -- these rooms actually get used daily!

We use this room for sewing, crafting,

kid's art classes, painting, peep diorama building,

and whatever else we can come up with!

SEWING NOOK

My sewing nook consists of an old Ikea kitchen table

that I used as my desk in college and my new little

Brother CS-6000i sewing machine

(a surprise Christmas gift from my sweet hubby and girls this year)

I've driven two Singer machines into the ground

in the past 12 years -- probably because I sew everything I shouldn't

including Tyvek, Cardboard, Cardstock, Felt, 

and super thick (painted) art quilts in it!

CREATIVITY STATION

The girls have their own Ikea easel--

it's seen lots of action in the past 8 years as well!

This vintage cabinet was a yard sale rescue

that has been a very handy kid's art supply cabinet.

I also keep my mini fabric bolts in there

(yards and fat quarters wrapped & pinned around 

acid free cardboard comic book boards)

Paint chip samples make great supply labels!

STORAGE

Don't mind the mess, this is where the magic happens!

Along the longest wall of the room I have two Ikea kitchen islands

for storage and workspace. They have super deep drawers

(packed full of supplies) and two deep shelves that hold boxes of 

paint, tape, scrapbook paper, fabric, beads, paper cutters,

and big sheets of drawing and watercolor paper.

If you look carefully you'll see my own art work hanging on the walls

around the studio. The girls' work is on display in the rest of the house!

Here's a sneak peek inside one of the drawers

with the essentials:

glitter glue, felt letters, Martha Stewart glitter dust,

doilies, and liquid watercolors. 

See how much stuff I can cram store under there?!

(Shhh...I have canvases stacked behind the cabinets along the wall!)

The big table in the middle of the room is also from Ikea-

I think it's supposed to be a desk.

It's great to cover with brown contractor's paper and use for messy projects.

I also put my fabric cutting mat on there and spread out when I'm sewing.

I have a second (ugly) fold-up table the same size 

I use when we're having classes or a party and need more room 

(see the above photo - it's older and things have moved around a bit since it was taken)

It's the same table I use for garage sales.

Stools for the table(s) are still on my wish list. 

RAINBOWS !

I like to sort and organize our art supplies in spectrums,

so you'll find lots of rainbows around the room.

Felt stacks, masking tape, fabric mini bolts, paper, and markers.

Makes me smile!

GRANDMA'S LOOM

My grandmother gave me her loom last year.

We shipped it from Colorado in a gigantic box.

The leather cords are rotten so one of my (MAJOR!)

summer projects is to "restring" the loom with my hubby. 

Can't wait to actually use it and make stuff. 

I'm in the process of painting that little bench next to it right now.

She sent me all of her awesome wool yarn spools too!

Thanks grandma : ) 

Here's the room looking at it from the Ikea island's wall.

See the fireplace hiding behind the big basket trunk?

It doesn't work right now and I've got it sealed up with that

shrink-wrap film you put on windows in the winter -- classy, I know. 

To the right of the fireplace is our electric piano for "E"s lessons

(covered in a quilt so the cat won't barf on it ---AGAIN)

On the mantel, I have some little inspirational treasures:

Two of my African Zulu baskets,

 Framed vintage butterfly tabacco cards I bought in Leesburg, VA,

Hand blown glass river stones from Seattle, WA,

Drift wood from the Outer Banks, NC, 

A tiny pink sea shell from Eleuthera, Bahamas,

Rainbow Waldorf-style lantern and Felt Acorns 

from Greenbaboon Designs Etsy shop, 

and

Re-Cycled Crayon Hearts made by me and the girls!

Thanks for coming over for a little tour today,

hope you'll come by again soon for some coffee and mess making --

I need to use up some of these art supplies!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,

want to show off your Crafty Space? read this post!