In My Studio with Claudia van Rooijen

Good morning everyone. It's Claudia here with you and today I have a something a little bit different to share with you, which is my scrap 'studio' / scrap space. I was a little bit hesitant about doing this post because I feel like my scrap space isn't really worthy of showing and I always get a bit jealous when I see the most amazing craft rooms. At the same time, I realize that there's lots of us who don't have that luxury so I decided to do it anyway.

When I first started scrapbooking I had no desk in my room, so I would always scrap on my bed. Nowadays I have a large desk which has my computer on one side and enough space for me to scrap on the other side (the big wooden thing is what I use to record process videos).

My desk can be quite messy but I like to keep the things I often use close by whenever I'm scrapping. I always have an empty plastic ephemera container on the desk for when I lay out an idea and don't want to have to search for those pieces again. I buy my glue and double sided / foam tape at a store called 'Action' which sells things for a really low price.

The rest of my scrapbooking items and stash are all put in my bookcase. It might not look perfect, but I already had it and it gets the job done.

Since I'm on a budget, I try to spend as little as possible on things. There's quite a few cheap stores in my country where I usually go to get storage items whenever I need more.

One of the things I like about using my bookcase for storage, is that you can always see the scrap items (which makes me really happy because it's all so pretty) and it makes the room look a lot more interesting and personal. I also like to put some of my layouts on display. This can either be a recent layout or a layout with a photo / background story that means a lot to me.

For kit storage I use this plastic container from Ikea. It doesn't fit any papers or larger embellishments, but it's perfect for ephemera, wood veneers and any other smaller pieces that can come in a kit. I like the overview it gives me on what I have to work with whenever I'm creating;

While I put full sheets of patterned paper in my bookcase, the scrap pieces of paper need a place to be put as well. I just use a box where one of my kits came in to put those pieces. It doesn't look good, but it didn't cost me anything so it will do for now. :)

Whenever I can I keep the packaging of ephemera pieces, but sometimes I don't have it anymore so I use cd protector sleeves to store them in. I bought a pack of 100 a few years ago so these will last a long time. I just write on the back which collection / company the pieces are from;

I love these tiny jars. I only just got them recently but they look really cute. I use these for sequins and smaller embellishments such as clothespins, buttons, resins, etc;

I use these baskets to store my items in. Most of my stash is in Denmark so I had to 'start over' and start with no stash. One of the things I love about getting kits is that I have new things to add to my stash every month. I store the items from large to small, so the thickers and 6x12 sticker sheets are in the back. Once I have enough product, I will divide them more specifically;

I use this to store most of my layouts if they don't fit in an album. My mom got it for me a while ago, but I'm sure they sell these type of things in a lot of different places. I find them really handy. Unfortunately it doesn't really fit anywhere in my room so it's kind of blocking the bookcase but that's okay.

That's basically it for my 'tour' of my scrap space. It's slowly coming together and while it's far from perfect, I'm happy with it. Thank you so much for joining me - I hope you enjoyed it! Have a great day!

- Claudia