Craft Room at the Cabin

Today I am so excited to share with you December Caravan's room at the cabin here in upstate New York! (I will be sharing about my craft room at the house in the sweet south sometime this fall! *smiles*) I have received so many emails asking about seeing this room since I posted a picture on instagram of my space and I am so humbled to share with y'all. 

I am so blessed to have this space. Truly. Life and space at the cabin is wonderful but very small and I am so grateful to my family for sacrificing this room so that I can continue my shop while we are up here for the summer months. In years past my shop would be piled high in my bedroom (or all around the camp) and this has been such a blessing this year! 

While this space is in transition and I have definitely seen things that I would like to change for next year  (to make it a little more "me"), I have quickly fallen in love with this space that I have spent so many hours in. This space does not have all of my supplies but holds the ones that I work with throughout the summer months! As a side note this space has truly come together without spending an exorbitant amount of money. I spent LESS then $30!! (Less then $55 if you count gift cards and gifts!!) While my craft room at the house has been a little more invested in (i.e. I bought a few more things at garage sales *smiles* since I have all of my supplies there) this space has come together using lots of hand-me down items and very cheap and inexpensive items. In showing both spaces I hope it will encourage y'all to use whatever items you have on hand to create your dream look!

When you first walk into the room on the left you have a trunk (that stores blankets during the winter months) and a bed as this is typically a guest room. *smiles* We have plans for next summer of tipping the bed up to give more room but this summer we left it the way it was. After that "starts" my part of the room. The first thing on the left is some shelving that I found at a garage sale. It is technically for plants on a porch but has worked well to hold the items here that I use some of the time. (I paid $.50 for it!) I plan to spray paint it white in the future but this year it is fine. *smiles* The shelving unit beside the planter (that has flowers painted on the front) I found at at Goodwill 6 years ago and is filled with a variety of different flowers that I use on projects and is transported back and forth to the craft room at home and the craft room here at the cabin.

On the top shelf I hold all of my bingo cards in a vintage bill/letter box that I found years ago at Goodwill for $1. It works perfectly and allows me to access the bingo cards easily as I use them all of the time!

On the second shelf I hold some of the various chipboard albums and journals that I use for projects. I use the chipboard albums to create projects like this one HERE and I use the journals for a wide variety of uses but create altered journals like this one HERE routinely! While you can't see them completely I am holding these items in some simple boxes that were going to be thrown away!

 On the bottom shelf I have a few books that I reference routinely and some of my favorite magazines that are wonderful, some additional chipboard, and also a HUGE stack of vintage calculator paper. (please do not ask what I am going to do with it yet... I am not sure! hahaha! and my father keeps asking each day... to be fair... I have had it for over a year but on the other hand it was being thrown away at a garage sale so it was free! any ideas friends?! *smiles*) Below the rack I have some books that I use less infrequently as shipping supplies and for a couple of custom projects that I am working on.

Finally on the floor next to the flower shelving unit I have my box of books that I love that I use for my storybook bunting like this one HERE. This box is wonderful and was a gift to me years ago by a sweet student. I love it because it can be used to set up my books so that I can easily see them here but also can be used to carry the books as we travel. 

Across from this, on the right as you walk into the room is a small closet that I share with my father who graciously gave up half of his space! In my half of the closet we put a dresser that works wonderfully for holding a variety of different things, including packing supplies, misc. items that I rarely use, linens, etc. 

 On the top of the dresser I have a vintage crate that was going to be thrown out that stores my pain supplies, crafting tape, hot glue gun, stickles, etc. and some boxes full of cards, vintage dominoes, and buttons. While I am not a professional painter, I do enjoy using paints in a lot of my projects  (like these HERE and HERE) and have found it really helpful to see these items out so that I use them more!

On the right side I have a couple of plastic containers that store the vintage wooden squares, vintage domino pieces, and buttons. You can see that to hold the cards I used a box and simply painted it a light green to give it some color. The plastic containers were given to me from someone who was throwing them out. (I typically don't like plastic and don't use it in the craft room at the house, but it works really well for holding some of my smaller pieces here at the cabin due to limited space.)

Straight in front as you walk into the room is one of my favorite sections of items I use all of the time. This space holds some of my favorite and most used ribbons, tags, flashcards and vintage flashcards and stickers. 

My grandmother found this shelving unit at a garage sale this year and bought it for my birthday. (I think she said that she paid $10 for it!) It works PERFECTLY to hold the mammoth amounts of flashcards that I use for every single project! (One of the ways that I use flashcards is for my shipping like this one HERE!)(Next year I plan to put some pictures in the front of this unit it just didn't work out this year!)

Inside the shelving unit you can see that I use a variety of simple boxes (including one from vista print that used to hold my business cards!) and some simple plastic containers that I used to use in my apartment from college! Again, not a huge fan of the plastic but for here and now it works wonderfully and I think I paid $1 for all three of them way back in the day! Between the boxes and the plastic I spent only a $1 to hold these cards!!

Above the shelving unit and to the right I hold more of my favorite supplies.

To the right you can see that I have hung some of my favorite stickers. To do this I simply used the nails that have been in the walls since the early 1950s and strung some white twine from The Twinery between the nails. The twine from The Twinery is so strong that I wasn't worried about it holding the weight and this helped me be able to see the products that I have to work with. (Y'all know that I am a visual person! *smiles*)

For the craft room at the house I had found a "Clip it Up" Sticker Organizer at a Scrapbook Store Garage Sale. I had been looking for this sticker organizer for a while but even with a coupon the cheapest that I had found it (with the number of clips I would need for all of my stickers) was approximately $65.00. This was just not in the budget. I saw some options on ebay for cheaper but not all included the clips, some only had one tower, etc. And to be honest, at the end of the day, despite thinking it would be incredibly helpful, I could never justify spending that type of money on one item for my craft area. I was so delighted when (after trying a number of different options - that never worked-for over two years) I found one at a scrapbook store garage sale! AND it was their 1/2 price day! SO in total for the organizer and WAY more clips then I could ever need (and some divider sections that I love but had never considered purchasing due to the price!) I paid $12!! Isn't God good?! The reality is that for the cabin there is not the room for the sticker organizer. SO I simply take off the stickers (with the clips in tack) and pack them up. SO easy. AND seriously such a blessing!

Back to above the shelving unit that holds the flashcards:

On top of the shelving unit that holds the flashcards I have several containers full of fun clothespins, paperclips, basic tags, and some project life cards that I use for scripture bunting like these HERE! I also have my bags of fun tags that are organized according to color and theme. (I am going to be doing a separate post on this so I will leave this for now but for me this has worked incredibly well!)

Up above that I have some of my favorite ribbon that I use with almost every project. For this I simply used the nails that were already in place and put the ribbon (and the green tickets) on two thin rods that I got for free at a thrift store! (These can also be easily found for very cheap at some craft stores.) (Because I don't always buy or find my ribbon in bulk I did use some paper towel holders (cut in half) to wrap some of my lace around - like you can see at the top!)

So that is the "front side of the room"! Transitioning to the left side of the room ... This is what you see when you walk into the room:

 If you would turn to your left this is what you would see. (You can see in the very right corner a sheet that is hanging. You may remember this project HERE- this is that same sheet!I love that it has a happy home here in the craft room!)

 Hanging on a vintage coat hanger (that I got for free at a garage sale!) are the paper straws that I use in a lot of my projects like this one HERE. I love the depth that paper straws give to projects and was looking for a great way to display them so that they were in easy reach. I found these adorable tins at Target in their dollar section and went crazy over them. I loved the color and also the size immediately and the pattern. I wanted twenty of them (ten for the craft room at the cabin and ten for the craft room at the house) and then couldn't justify spending $20 on these tins. I purchased two for the craft room at the house and kept thinking how practical they were and how much I would use them. I also knew that I wouldn't get tired of the color or the pattern. So I kept thinking about them and saved a few more pennies  and bought two more. Then a few days later a friend sent me a gift card to Target and she insisted that I use it to buy something fun - nothing related to medical world. I still hesitated because money is so tight but after talking with her I agreed that I would use the $10 gift card for something fun and decided to buy the 14 remaining tins (and spend $4 of my own money). I went to Target and found out that there were only two more that they had. I went to the counter and explained that I still needed 14 more. The lady at the counter was no help and she was very rude (which was very surprising at Target) BUT a manager happened to be near by and overheard our exchange. Before I had said anything he called around to all of the stores within a 200 mile radius, found 14 more tins and had them sent to the Target near me, and discounted them so that I only ended up paying $8 for the 14 of them! When I told him the story of how much this had blessed me and the story behind everything he told me to bring in the ones that I had already purchased, refunded me my money and gave me a discount so that all 20 of the tins were purchased on the $10 gift card from my friend (including tax!) The Lord is so good with all of His blessings- even things like tins for a craft room. *smiles* 

Next to the tins I have some extra lace that I use a lot and then I have my stamps and stamp pads. My stamp pads are in the white plastic container and sit on top of some mini white plastic shelving units that I got at Goodwill. These shelving units were originally $3 each but when I got to the front of the store I was told that they had been mis-marked and were supposed to be $3 for both. AND it was 1/2 price day so I paid $1.50 for both! They are the perfect size to hold my letters and numbers and some cards and a variety of different things. 

Sitting in front of the mini shelving units is a teal container from Target (I have three of them in the room and they were $.50 each - so $1.50 total!) that holds my thread that I brought with me from the craft room at the house. (I don't do as much sewing in the summer as I do throughout the year so I don't have that much ribbon with me.)

 Those items are sitting on a small storage unit that my sister purchased for me from Goodwill 3 1/2 years ago. This little unit was in bad shape but I fell in love with it and knew that it would be perfect for my stamps. At the time I thought it was silly to buy this as I was in the process of moving and my health had started to decline. My sister looked at it and paid the $5 saying: "this is good for you." She was right. And every time I look at this little chipped unit I remember the love that it was bought with.

To the right of these items I have some of my favorite linens and my ribbon. 

I found this vintage ladder/display at a garage sale a couple of years ago. I paid $1 for it and it is wonderful! I used it for display for a while and then have loved it here in the craft room at the cabin. (I plan to use it for some of the craft shows/handmade markets in the future in the North.) I display some of my favorite linens and the ones that I use the most here (the others I keep in the dresser drawers I showed above.) On the bottom rungs I have two large lace/tulle packages strung up with twine from The Twinery. 

 Below this (and to the right of the unit that holds the stamps) is my ribbon storage (and some other ribbon/sewing items).

 When I was first organizing my scrapbook items (before I even started December Caravan) I had looked in so many different magazines and on pinterest for ribbon storage ideas.  There are tons of great storage ideas and some of the ways that people store ribbon works incredibly well for them. I found this to be the best way for me! I was looking for something inexpensive and cute and I use this method for both the craft room at the cabin and the craft room at the house because I love it!

I found the two black storage units at a garage sale a couple of years ago. I paid $2 for both (so $1 each) and for a while this worked really well for my ribbon. As my shop has expanded though my ribbon collection also expanded and I use ribbon on every single project! Last summer I found the brown unit. (I had seen a similar one at an estate sale for $20 and I was like "no way"!) I paid $.50 for this and have loved it! (Yes, I do not like that they are different colors, and eventually plan to pain one or both but for now it works fine. *smiles*) I labeled the different sections by color and then by lace and love this system. To keep things very cheap I simply cut up 3x5 cards and wrap the ribbon around it and stick it in! Very simple and cheap! Another benefit that this has done is that this has allowed me to see what ribbon I actually need versus just buying supplies because I like them. Because have I mentioned that I love ribbon?? *smiles*

 Below the ribbon are three sets of locker drawers that I purchased at Goodwill this past year for $6.00. These have worked wonderfully because they are sturdy, have dividers in them, and have a lot of depth. While I don't love the color (and plan to change it) it was incredibly practical and a great price. While it started off in the craft room at the house, I currently use it to store a ton of items here at the craft room at the cabin where they will stay. 

Moving on to the right is a shelf (that has been at the cabin since the early 1950s - yes, I love history *smiles*) and it holds all of my twine and then a small box and a tin filled with flowers and twine.

In the craft room at the house my twine is organized completely differently (color coded and using old mason jars) but here at the cabin the mixture of colors makes me very happy. (ALL of my twine comes from The Twinery where I am honored to be on the design team for and is seriously the best twine in the world!) The tin on the shelf I found at a garage sale for $.25 and the green box was a birthday gift from Target a couple of years ago.

In the corner beside my desk I have two additional vintage coat hangers. Both had been painted (one by my grandmother) and the other I found at Goodwill for $1. It is the perfect area to hang the tins from Target I mentioned and the vintage hoops and hoops that I use for projects. (Those miniature white tins came from a thrift store for $.25 for 3 of them and are perfect for holding embellishments.)

Finally, my desk where I spend a lot of time at is one of my favorite places. You can kind of see in this picture but it looks out over the back of our property and is so incredibly peaceful. Above the desk you can see that I use the built in shelf to hold some misc. items and some of my punches and there is a scripture bunting (seen HERE) that is over the window. We found my desk (and the chair) for $5 at a garage sale and it was the perfect size for the room. (Again, it is black and a little too dark for me so I do want to paint it next year!)

Beside the desk is a small box filled with dividers that I use to store my paper here at the craft room at the cabin. It works really well and I found it for $3 at a thrift store. (I wish that I could find more and am definitely on the hunt!) On my desk I have my planners, my address book, my notepad, and a few more things (that are not shown) next to my lamp. At the craft room at the house I have a different way of storing my washi tape but here at the cabin I use this large bowl that was my great-grandmothers. It was going to be thrown out and while I don't love the colors, I couldn't bear to part with it. So I grabbed it from being thrown out and it is the perfect holder for the washi tape here at the cabin!

 (I love working in this space in the evening too! The light from the trees at night is so pretty!)

 Additional pictures from the desk: (I found the milk glass bowls at a thrift store for $.50 each)

 I found the silver tiered platter for free at a garage sale that was being thrown out. The owner said that it was broken and she couldn't fix it. I brought it home, scrubbed it really well, and fixed the broken screw. It works perfectly to hold vintage jewels and jewelry pieces and tiny tags that I use with each project. Beside that there is my tea box that I bought while I was living in England and fell in love with tea. I found this at an English Antique Market 13 years ago (I think for $1 or $2?) and have loved it ever since. It has had a wide variety of uses (including being used in the kitchen to hold utensils) but it has happily settled here in the craft room at the cabin holding my colored pencils.

So there is the craft room at the cabin y'all!Thank you so much for reading! I hope that this inspires y'all that want to create a craft room for very cheap to do so! If you are interested in knowing- I paid a total of $54.50 for everything (organizing wise) in the room (which includes the things that were gifted to me and the gift cards)!! If I don't take items into account that were gifts and the Target gift card then I paid a total of $27.50 (including the $12 sticker organizer, the ribbon storage units, and the shelving for stamps that I use in both craft rooms)!!

Thanks again for reading y'all! I hope that you have a wonderful day!!