#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST BLOGGER DANIELLE HEGEDUS ON CREATING THE PERFECT CRAFT ROOM

Today we’re joined by Danielle Hegedus of Modernize.com who shares some tips for creating the perfect craft room.

Renovating Your Spare Room Into the Ultimate Craft Haven

If you’re a serious crafter, you know that it can be a space-demanding hobby, especially if you like to hoard materials for “just in case”. But it’s probably for this very same reason that you know crafting is totally worth it! Beyond the joy that you get from creating your own custom artwork to sell or gift to loved ones, or designing your own jewelry instead of paying outrageous prices at a big box store, crafting is also good for your health!  Studies have shown that crafting affords you many of the same health benefits as meditation and yoga, including decreased anxiety, improved mental acumen, and increased ability to deal with stress—just to name a few!

This means that not only can you indulge your crafting habit guilt-free, but you should also ramp it up—it’s an investment in your health, after all! So if you’ve been on the fence about renovating your home’s spare room into an ultimate craft haven, now’s the time for go for it—and these tips will ensure that you make the most of your space.

First, Get Organized!

Whether you make jewelry, knit, or scrapbook, most crafting hobbies require a lot of supplies. To maximize your time in your craft room, you need to minimize distractions and get organized. Keep an ongoing inventory of your supplies—a list that’s accessible by a mobile device means you’ll be able to add something as soon as you think of it, whether you’re knee deep in a project or away from home.

Next, organize your supplies by type, using baskets, shelving, binders—whatever works best for your medium. That way, if you feel like scrapbooking one morning, you can jump right in without a 15-minute search for that awesome leopard print washi tape that you can’t seem to find anywhere.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on your organization system, but make sure to give it some love. Paint shelves in bright, fun colors that you love but that may be too bold for the rest of your home. Experiment with decoupage to add vibrant images to plain, otherwise boring surfaces. Enhancing the decor of your organization system can be a fun craft project in itself!

Incorporate Artwork that Inspires You

Adding artwork to your craft room doesn’t have to be a pricey investment. Instead, it’s a great DIY opportunity to create one-of-a-kind artwork that truly reflects your personal style. Think about the patterns, fabrics, and color palettes that you love and frame them yourself to create a cool modern design aesthetic. Can’t decide between a chevron or a beehive print? Don’t be afraid to embrace mixed media. Not only is it very much in style right now, but this is your space to highlight everything that inspires your work, so go ahead and place a plaid print next to a polka dot one to create a fun whimsical vibe, or drape some deep purple velvet around the room to add an element of drama. There are no rules in this room, and that’s exactly what will inspire your most creative work.

Shine a Light on Your Great Work

It’s important to ensure the lighting in your craft room is high quality to make it an appealing space in which you actively want to spend time, but also to prevent eyestrain. In addition to natural light from open windows, add lamps to warm up your space and help ease the pressure on your eyes when you’re working on the intricate details of a project.

Make Room for Friends and Family to Join in the Fun

One of the most fun parts of crafting is sharing the activity, and the items you create, with loved ones. When setting up your craft room, think about ways to accommodate more crafters. If your space is large, why not opt for a sizable table with comfortable chairs to give all your girlfriends the space (and back support) they need for a fun girls’ night of jewelry making? If your space is smaller, make use of the walls to install foldaway table surfaces (similar to a Murphy bed or an ironing board) to give you extra space when you have company that doesn’t monopolize precious square footage in the room.

However you decide to set up your new craft room, we hope that you’ll feel empowered to make the room your own. At Modernize, we’re passionate about helping homeowners fall in love with every room of their home, and a personalized craft room is the perfect place to start. Create a space that reflects your personal style and allows your imagination to run wild. Your projects, and your mental health, will definitely reflect this loving investment that you’ve made in yourself!

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST CRAFTER AND AUTHOR JOANNA CAMPBELL SLAN

Anastasia's semi-organized craft closet

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to organize your craft supplies? Today national bestselling and award-winning author Joanna Campbell Slan has some tips to help you fulfill that resolution. Joanna recently released Handmade, Holiday, Homicide—Book #10 in the mystery series featuring ace scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein. She also writes the Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery Series, featuring characters who recycle, upcycle, and repurpose items to turn trash into treasure. Learn more about Joanna and her books at her website. 

Organizing Your Stash

 “If you can’t find it, you might as well not own it,” says Kiki Lowenstein, the fictional protagonist of my Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series.

She’s right. As a crafter, I have tons and tons of supplies. When I lived in a big house, they were well-organized. However, since then I’ve downsized several times—and keeping stuff organized is a challenge. It is so irritating to search high and low for that perfect craft product that I know I have…somewhere. But it’s even worse when I buy craft supplies only to discover I’ve duplicated my stash!

Combing the Internet, I’ve come up with these great organizing tips. There’s nothing new here, but they are all ideas I tend to overlook when I’m in a hurry. I plan to use these in the order I’ve listed them, and I’d love to hear from you! What are you doing that works and what doesn’t?

Start by Seeing What You Have

Drag everything out. Choose a day when you won’t have distractions or interruptions. Spread things out, so you can really see what you’ve got.

Dump the packaging. Packaging is designed to protect the product and to take up a lot of room on a shelf. You’ll save valuable space by getting rid of all that excess. Plus, you’ll discover whether those ink pads are dry, the glue container is empty, and so on. (Tip: I wind ribbons around flat pieces of cardstock. Saves tons of space because they can be stacked on their side in a plastic file container!)

Sort by type of object. For example, put all the papers in one place, tools in another. Make the categories as broad as you can initially.

Toss the trash. Let’s face it, most of us crafters can turn straw into gold, but along the way we accumulate … well … garbage. Stuff that’s ruined and can’t be saved. Send it to the recycling or trash bin.

Give away duplicates. You really don’t need SIX pairs of scissors, do you? (I thought not.)

Set aside what you don’t want, don’t need, and realistically won’t use. Be ruthless! Corral all this stuff in a box that you can carry so it’s easy to donate to your locate schools or community center. (Tip: Why not organize a swap with other crafters?)

Store with an Eye to Functionality

Buy a labeler if you don’t own one. It’s the BEST investment you can make! I like the Dymo LetraTag series.

Measure twice. Too often we run out and buy containers, only to discover they won’t fit, won’t stack, and won’t hold what we need to store. Instead, take careful measurements, both of your space and your items.

Buy containers that match, in multiples. If you store things in matching containers, they’ll always look neat. (Tips: Square containers are more useful than round, as are containers with straight sides versus sides that curve under. Try stacking your new containers. Also, try prying off the lids. If they come off too easily or not easily enough, re-think them.)

Sort and label. Do the labels right away! It will save time in the long run. Label the front and the top of each container.

Group like items, separating small from large. I keep all my small bits of paper in plastic storage bags by color. When I need a small piece, that’s where I go first, rather than cutting into a big piece of paper. I also keep all my pieces of wood in one big plastic bin. Inside that bin, I use plastic baggies to keep the small pieces together.

Store according to use. If you rarely use something, don’t give it prime real estate. Pack it away in your garage or up in the attic.

Create a site map. Make a list of where you’ve tucked items that you use infrequently. List also those items that are grouped with other supplies. For example, you might want to put your chalks in with your colored pencils, but two labels would be confusing. So list your chalks on the site map.

Sure, it takes time to organize your crafts. But that time will pay you dividends by saving you time, money, and frustration!

Handmade, Holiday, Homicide,

a Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery

Super-crafter Kiki Lowenstein is cramming as much into the ho-ho-holiday season as she can. But Kiki’s ambitious plans come to a crashing halt when her student, Eudora Field, drops dead at the start of one of Kiki’s community center classes. An overeager security guard is convinced that Eudora didn’t make her transition without help. Now it’s up to Kiki to determine who was nice, and who was very, very naughty, indeed.

Buy Link 

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- GET ORGANIZED!

Have you noticed the proliferation of articles in magazines lately about organizing your clutter? These seem to crop up every year right after New Year’s, probably because getting organized is one of those resolutions so many people make and break. The articles appear again in the spring for the traditional spring cleaning frenzy.

If you’ve been reading the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries (those books about yours truly,) you know that I had to give up my dedicated studio above my garage to rent out for additional income. I’m now crafting on some card tables in the basement. However, Lois Winston, the author who writes those books about me, has agreed to offer some of her organizational tips. You see, Lois is not only a published author, she’s a craft designer, too. (which is probably how she came up with the idea of creating me,) and if juggling two full-time jobs wasn’t enough, she also works for a literary agency. Rumor has it, she doesn’t sleep.

So Lois needs to be super organized in order to accomplish all that she does in a day. Today I’m asking her about her craft room.

Anastasia: Describe the room where you do your designing and crafting.


Lois: Because, as you mentioned, I juggle three careers, my craft room is both a crafting studio and an office where I do my writing and handle agency business. I have a large L-shaped desk that fills one wall and wraps nearly all the way around a second wall. This affords me a place for my computer and printer, plus a large surface for working on craft projects.

One wall of my room is taken up by a double closet. My husband took out the clothes pole and added wooden shelves that run the length of the closet. This is where I keep most of my craft supplies. The rest are in the bottom cabinet sections of two wall units. Books fill the shelves above the cabinets. I also have two bookshelves that sit on the desk. The bookshelves hold copies of craft books where my designs have appeared, my novels, and lots of research books for both crafting and writing, as well as the overflow of novels that no longer fit on the bookshelves in the living room and den.

Anastasia: Given that you’ve banished me to the basement, do you feel it’s important to have a dedicated craft space?

Lois: Sorry about that, but you did need a new stream of income, and now you have the hunky Zack Barnes living above your garage.

Anastasia: Hmmm…

Lois: Anyway, getting back to your question, having a dedicated space for creativity enables me to work without interfering with other family members. I can spread out and make a mess without having to worry that I need to clean everything up and put away my project and all my supplies because the space has to revert back to being the kitchen, dining room, or den at a specific time.

Anastasia: I remember those days. How do you organize patterns, fabrics, floss, notions, and and all the embellishments you use in your designing?


Lois: I’m a big fan of plastic storage containers. They come in all different sizes and can be stacked for easy storage. I have three extra-large bins for cross stitch fabric, felt, and sewing fabric. Medium sized containers hold floss, paint, ribbons, glue gun supplies, etc. Smaller ones hold everything from pom-poms to specialty threads, to beads. I use very small plastic containers to store needles, sequins, etc. I also use magazine holders to keep my patterns and leaflets organized.

Anastasia: Do you have any organizing tips for our readers?

Lois: If you have a huge collection of floss as I do, it can take forever to find the floss color/number you need for a specific project. I’ve separated my floss into basic colors -- red, pink, green, blue, brown, purple, black/white/gray and yellow/gold/orange. Each group goes into a zippered gallon freezer bag. All the bags go into an extra-large plastic storage tub. When I need a specific color, I only have to look through one bag rather than rake through all my floss.

Another storage tip is to separate your fabric in the same manner. I use a lot of sewing fabric in my crafts. I separate the fabric by solids, floral prints, geometrics, and holiday prints. The fabrics are folded into dedicated piles before being placed in a large plastic storage tub.

Another tip is don’t buy in bulk unless you really have the storage space. Yes, it’s tempting to get a better price on batting if you buy a case rather than one package, but if it’s going to take you five years to make all those quilts, both your money and space could be put to better use.

Most importantly, don’t be a hoarder. If you haven’t used that macramé cord from 1982 by now, chances are you’ll never use it. Donate it to someone who can use it, thus freeing up storage space for yourself.

Anastaisa: How do you maximize the space in your room?


Lois: I try to be as neat and organized as possible, but I don’t always succeed. Deep down, I’m a clutterbug. Every few months I go on a tidying up spree. Since I design for magazines, the products I use in my designs have to be readily available to consumers. Products get discontinued all the time, and I can’t feature discontinued products in my designs. So I’ll collect the discontinued supplies and donate them, thus freeing up storage space for other supplies.

Anastasia: What organizing tips do you recommend for someone who can't dedicate an entire room to crafting?


Lois: This really depends on the type of craft and the storage space in the home. I don’t think there’s a simple answer to this question. If there’s room for it, an armoire with drawers, shelves, and a drop-down desk would be an ideal solution. When closed, it will look like a piece of furniture in a bedroom, dining room, living room, or den.

Anastasia: Any advice for someone starting or re-doing a craft room?


Lois: Plan ahead. Think about your needs -- what you want to store and how you’ll use the room -- before you buy any furniture and storage items.

Anastasia: Thanks for joining us today, Lois! Now get back to writing, and find a way for me to win the lottery.

Lois: Sorry, not going to happen. If I did that, the series would end. I’m afraid you’re stuck in financial hell for some time to come, given that there will be at least three more Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries to come.

Anastasia: So I guess that’s a good news/bad news sort of thing, huh?

Lois: You got it.