In My Studio with Guest Designer Mel Blackburn

Hello crafty friends! Happy to be back on the Citrus Twist blog to share my creative work space! As you will see I don’t have a dedicated room, I set up my workspace in the corner of our dining room. As our family grew I’ve had to downsize from a spare bedroom to a corner of the basement (much larger than this) to a single table in the corner of our dining room. I quickly learned to adapt whatever little space I had and made it work! The key to a small space is managing my supplies, I only purchase things that I really love and know that I will use. I also do a purge every 6 months or so, if I haven’t used a product in 6 months it means I don’t need it and I can pass it on to someone who can use it.

My space consists of a small desk, a rolling cart and an Ikea armoire. I added shelves above my desk for additional storage, however since my work space is in the family dining room it always has to be tidy! I can’t let things pile up, so this again forces me to be very organized.  

On the shelves above my desk I keep decorative items but also a small basket for pictures and a wood crate for stamps. The desk drawer is home to inks, tools and other handy supplies. The cart to the left of my desk features a container for my OLW project, a basket for creative team work and a stamp bin for all my favorite stamps. As you can see since everything has a place, keeping things in order is not a problem.

The Ikea armoire to the left of my desk is where I keep all my scrap supplies, from journaling cards, to kit club purchases, to my Cuttlebug and camera bracket. Things are piled on top of each other but everything has its place and small containers are key to helping me stay organized.

Since my space is in a shared room of our home, where we have company or our daughters hangout with their friends, I really have to make it work and fit with our lifestyle. I love that I am able to work and be in the same room as my family as they do their own activities. Sharing and having a small space really is a great thing!

Here is a sneak preview of my upcoming project created with the Sugarland PL kit, for this project I opted to create a fun TN spread, I can’t wait to share the full project with you!

- Mel