Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I am ZE COOLEST!!!

I have had a little secret that I have been hiding under my hat for about SIX months!! For anyone who knows me, keeping a secret about something that I am MUI-MUI excited about is MUI-MUI hard!! But I did a pretty good job with this one!

About mid-September I got an e-mail from Kim Jackson at Stampin' Up (she works on the Stampin' Success magazine). She said she had been sent a link to my blog and wondered if they could feature my stamp room/stamp organization system in Stampin' Success! Was she KIDDING???!!! What??!!??? I immediately replied and said, "DUH!!" (Okay, well maybe not LITERALLY, but I very enthusiastically accepted!)



She and several of her SU buddies came to my house on October 9 and spent over 3 hours taking photos in my room. HOLY COW, BATMAN!! It was soooooo cool!! I actually DID spend a bunch of time the night before re-doing my cardstock files. They had actually been done the same way when I had first set my room up in the fall of 2006, but they were looking kind of dinged up, so I figured if they wanted to use them in any way, it would be good to have 'em cleaned up.




I'm glad I did, 'cause, as you can see, they DID use my cardstock drawer. I feel so honored to be featured on THREE STINKIN' PAGES!! I think I need to PINCH myself (again!!).

I am going to put my color coding system up here once again, because I have been asked by many to share it (and it's kind of hard to read what is in the article, even if you click on the picture!). I punch a 1/2" circle out of the following colors of cardstock, then run them through my Xyron to laminate/sticker 'em:

Outdoors/Nature = Pumpkin Pie
Flowers = Garden Green
Holidays = Real Red
Alphabet Sets = Pretty in Pink
Words/Sentiments = Orchid Opulence
Baby/Juvenile = Bashful Blue
Shapes = YoYo Yellow
Backgrounds/Borders = Green Galore
All Occasion = Taken With Teal

As far as subcategories (where I use a Sharpie and write a letter on the little colored dot) here is what I have:

H=Halloween
V=Valentine's Day
C=Christmas
Su=Summer
W=Winter
F=Fall
T=Tag - which just means any set that uses a tag or a punch (you could just as easily use a P)
4=A set that represents all four seasons
2=a set with a companion set (for example Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories) . . . take note, some sets could be a T2, meaning they can be used with a punch AND they have a companion set (such as Little Flowers/Big Flowers)
B=Birthday
G=Get Well
V=Vintage (think "Artifacts")
Wd=Wedding
Fd=Food
DC=sets designed to go with any of the new Sizzix diecuts (Matchbox Messages, for example)
*=Sentiment sets where the sentiment is in a "shape" or sorts (remember "Alphabet Soup" and "Alphabet Stew"?)

And, BTW, the small 1/4" white circle "dot" next to the 1/2" circle colored dot represents a current set. When something retires, I just peel the little white one off. Makes it really easy. I just add the little white one as I get new sets, that way it is really easy to keep track of.

I have been asked by several people how I store my punches and other supplies as well. I will take some photos later this week and share those with you, too!

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH WOW Wendy! Congrats! I am floored by your room. It is incrediable. I have never seen anything like it! You lucky girl!
~Pam
http://stampsinc.blogspot.com/

Antje said...

Concrats - this room looks gorgeous, I am so impressed by your oranisation of every little bits and pieces... I am rather a messy crafter *blush* and adore people who are so organized!!!

Unknown said...

Oh Wendy I have craft room envy at the moment lol. Your space is so organised just what I love as I am so anal about a place for everything you are a girl after my own heart lol. Thankyou for sharing.
Regards
Michelle M
SU Demo
Australia

Unknown said...

This is just waaaay too cool! I know a famous person... hahahahaa!!!

CONGRATS!

Kelly S. said...

You SHOULD be proud of yourself. How did you keep your secret that long!?! You must have been in pain waiting that long! I love your idea to ID all your stamps. I am going to do this. Thanks for sharing. I am like you......I have to have everything organized and in its place BEFORE I start. My brain creativity juices just don't flow with a messy craft room!

Lulu said...

Congratulations, Wendy! What an honor! I can't wait to read it in Stampin' Success! I must admit, I'm a bit jealous of your gift of organization :)

Connie M. said...

This is wonderful, Wendy! Love the pictures...they are great! You know I think your room is da bomb, what a great chance to show everyone else! Congrats girl!

Katherine said...

Amazing! Congratulations!

Unknown said...

Wow!! Congratulations, Wendy! This is so exciting! Your room is fabulous!! I'm not surprised they called you ;)

Judy McMulllen said...

Wow! What an honor, Wendy, and so well deserved! Lots of envy happening when everyone views these pictures. What a terrific crafting space and love your stamp storage coding system...terrific!!!

Trisha said...

Holy Batman is right Wendy! Congrats to you!!!! Finally, I "know" someone that is featured in Stampin Success!!!! And to have such a gorgeous stampin space...no wonder you get so much done!!!!
Trisha - Cypress (TreasuredFriends)

Christi Flores said...

Wow! Congratulations!!!!! This is fantastic!! I hope to have a room like yours one day. :) I just hope to have my OWN room one day! Hahaha!!

Mary said...

What an inspiring space! Congrats on being featured, and thanks for putting it here so non-demos can see what you've done. I love your cards and can surely see where you find peace and happiness along with your creativity!

Mary

Nancy Riley said...

WOW! Wendy, that is FANTASTIC! You must be so excited! Your space is GREAT!

Kim J said...

Lookin' good, Wendy! ;)

Jean Fitch from jlfstudio said...

Terrific News Wendy and congratulations on being featured. I'm now Garden Green with Envy! I'm lucky enough to have a small stamp room but it has quite a way to go to be as organized as yours. Thanks for sharing your tips and ideas for a working space that's also beautiful and beautifully organized. Now if only they had shown a picture of the floating stairs they kept mentioning. I'm wildly curious to see what stairs that float look like. Hmmmm...I wonder what Google has on the subject....

Hugs and blessings - Jean

Sandy Knecht said...

Your room is fabulous! How lucky you are to have such a space and setup to work in.

TN Granny said...

Oh Wendy what an exciting announcement and for you to keep it quiet amazing. Your studio is just beautiful. Congrats

Jeanine

Louise said...

Good Morning!
Your room is beautiful!
I have a question about the drawer that holds your paper. Did the drawer already come with the hanging file attachment or was it something that you purchased separately. I have something similar but on a much smaller scale. My husband cleared out the closet in an extra bedroom that we have. He installed cabinets in that recess and included an electrical outlet.
Thank You! malo3126@sbcglobal.net

Dawn said...

That's awesome! Congrats! So jealous of your stampin' space : )

Terri H. said...

Holy Cow Wendy! How did you ever keep this a secret?! I am so very excited for you girlfriend! Congratulations and I'll be stalking the mailman now for my copy of SS. I may have to send it to you to have your autograph it (now that I know a real, live celeb :-)

Anonymous said...

What a hoot! I read the article in the SU mag, but I never put 2 and 2 together. WOW this must have been killing you! I love and am amazed at your space. The way you have catagorized your stamps, you are my hero! HAH and my friends say I am crazy organized! You have raised the bar for me, I guess I will be doing some organizing this weekend!
CONGRATS!!!!!

dlove2scrap said...

You are soooooo the coolest!!! OMG, that is just so awesome. Congratulations! I can't wait to see the article. Wow, what an honor. You ROCK girl! Man, I don't know if I could have kept the secret for that long. LOL

Anonymous said...

Very exciting - I just looked at the Stampin' Success magazine and when I saw that page - I thought she looks familiar - I think I visit her blog. I'm going to look some more at your coding system - i need to do something better with my stamps.
Congratulations!
Monika
monikastamp.wordpress.com

Etha said...

wow that is so SUPER cool, love the pics, am I jealous of your wonderful room? naaaa, not at all (*cough*) LOL, WOW!!!!!

dawnmercedes said...

can we send you our copies and get them signed??? way to go!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful and organized craft room you've got. It is every crafter's dream to have a place as beautiful as yours. Would you be willing to share the information as to where you had purchased those shiny spice tins/organizer?

Again, thank you for sharing your organization!!

Dawn B. said...

Oh my gosh that is so awesome. I can't wait to see this. My craft area is not even worthy of a photo. Super job.

Lynn Mercurio said...

Holy cow...how did I miss this post??? I've had this momentous month on my calendar...just waiting to get a glimpse at your awesome craft room.

Congratulations on being the coolest stamper on earth. :)

Tina said...

WOW! that really is a great room!!! It was fun talking to you today!

Jennifer said...

Hi Wendy,

How does it feel to be famous?!
Congratulations! That is amazing. :)

I am new to your blog and I was hoping that you could lead me to some posts about your paper punch organization and your room in general (Who built your cabinets or where were they purchased from? How did you plan the layout for the room? What was your budget? Is there anything you forgot or would do differently? Etc.).

What a great space!

Thanks so much,

Jennifer

Pam said...

okay, my donkey is way deep in the rut...help...loved my SU demo's llttle craft room and since we live 75 miles from a city with a craft store....well. So we were going to the big city of Provo and I rushed to Roberts and bought 4 of the filing cabinet cubes. Got 'em home * the legal/letter hanging folders were too wide; so as hubby was putting the last 2 together he modified them to fit those files for my 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock. No worry; we're going to Vernal in 2 weeks and we'll pick up the 12 X 12" hanging folders. Zilch! From Roberts, Michaels, Staples, etc. On the internet, the "Store in Style" (which I'm finding is affiliated with Crop in Style)carriers are "out of stock", or "no longer available". "Cropper Hopper" and "Isis" are both too wide. Any ideas plllllllleeeeeeeeaaaasssee!!
If you can't do it...I'm sunk.
Pam @ spencerswishes@gmail.com
435-637-7195 Price, UT

Unknown said...

I am working on putting my craft space together. It's my biggest craft project of all!! And proving to be more difficult than I ever expected as I am trying to use supplies I already have laying around to create a room that looks professional. I have total faith in myself for this project but could use the help of other willing crafters! Envy.stacy26@gmail.com/4847640512 Macungie, Pa.