A Few Organizing Ideas from the Whimsie Dots Studio...

The space that I work in is always in flux, it seems. Since the materials I work with are ever changing, coming up with storage solutions needs to be as well. I thought I would share just a few ideas of how I store the materials I work with. Getting to this point has been a gradual process over the years. Acquiring the right shelving and containers has not happened overnight. A lot of the time, it has been trial and error to see if something works. But I have given the area of storage some of my energy because if it is done right, it does in fact save me time when designing new items as well as aiding in the clean up. "The hunt" for the right colors or textures for projects is not so daunting but in fact has become a joy. The area I will show today is strictly recycled wool that is used in the making of mittens, hats, pillows, brooches etc that I sell. I have winded down the "winter" creations for awhile, but have been able to get prepared for when it arrives again.

These shelves originally were used in our playroom, but as the kiddos have been growing older, so have their toys-and I have now inherited these shelves. They were just simple shelf kits we purchased at menards for $20. The open shelving, I have found to be much more productive than crates-having everything at eye level helps in the choosing. And for those of you who have not been following me long-I should share-my "studio" is simply in part of our unfinished basement. These shelves are lining my laundry room area-nothing fancy:) But like I have mentioned before-the fact that the basement is unfinished means that I am never buried in a room working- I have the blessing of being around the kids while I work. So while I may be "distracted" sometimes I am never "unavailable" :).

As a matter of fact, at this moment, my wee ones are sitting at the cutting table with me working on "colors" for the 3 yr old and on "letter sounds and penmanship" for my kindergartener.

For the wool scraps I use for embellishment on my hats and mittens as well as for making brooches, I have finally seperated them out by color. I used to have them all in a big bin and was finding it extremely difficult and time consuming to gather the pieces I needed for projects. Over Christmas when we were all couped up with the flu, I took some of that time to sort(which was awful!!) but how incredibly wonderful the result has been. I have each color in a little laundry basket under my shelves.

And here is one more little organizing or storage idea that I am using right now. I took some regular old clothes pins and hot glued them to my shelves. The are wonderful for clipping my finished mittens and brooches to.

An Afternoon Redo and a Thrifted Treasure

Summertime always brings a bunch of weeks single -Momming- it because of being married to a youth pastor:) It brings trips for both the Jr High Ministry and the Sr High ministry. I have to say though, this has been the most mild summer for trips. Early on in our ministry life, I really struggled with all the time Matt was away, and my heart certainly took some time to soften to it and not be frustrated by the responsibilies of his job. It was also due to being a new mom and not being quite confident in my "new position" as well. I was a pretty weepy mama a lot of the time when he was gone, but the Lord has helped to bring a peace, a strength, and actually a joy or anticipation to these times 12 years later! Not a joy that Matt is gone:)-I still deeply miss my husband when he is away ,and, there is nothing that can replace him being home at the end of the day, but I have come to appreciate elements of the solitude when he is not home, that help to get through those times. The kids an I lay pretty low when he is gone, although as they are getting older, there are still things on the schedule for the older kids, it is a bit different from having all babes that need no outside activity nessasarily to nuture their own growth during these weeks. But when dad is gone for awhile, I usually take the time to dig into some projects that cannot be done during a regular week with deadlines and the precious time OF Matt being home, that I do not want to sacrifice. It is a great time to pull things out that will not need to be put away until they are done.

So this week, I had one BIG surprise project for my husband that I still cannot reveal because the little stinker may be reading my blog and facebook while he is away but I will share that on Saturday when he gets home!! But I do have a project I can share. I was able to work on and finish this afternoon while the kids swam in the pool(or lake more accurately-the summer has been so wet that our pool looks more like a mudhole than a pool-no matter how hard I work to keep it clean). I have talked about the small space issues in our house before. I am learning to appreciate the challenges it brings in function and decorating-darn-I am just going to have to be creative! One of the best solutions for us has been to "hutch" many many of our dressers, adding space for organization and decoration where we may have not been able to do so before. Well -I have had one dresser in our kitchen that sits by the back door in a small nook. It is a very narrow dresser though so it has taken me years to find a hutch that fit it. But finally, a few weeks ago, I did!!! And again-it was a thrifted treasure with a fabulous price tag!! $5.00! So here is the before and after-I am very happy!

I will really enjoy having my cookbooks out and accessible as well as some of my favorite blue dishes. I just love how it fit so snug in the little nook that otherwise would be useless!

Rehab of the Week...Sassy Storage for Small Spaces

This is the first post of the "Rehab of the Week." I am hoping it will be a fun way to share ideas with other creatives that love making something old, new again. Maybe it will spark an idea, solve a problem, encourage a new project, or introduce a new craft.


This is this weeks new project in desperate need of some rehab! We have had this old suitcase forever. It has been our reliable storage for those fun legos! But with 11 years of legos collecting in this house, we needed to graduate the legos to a larger container. As you can see, the kids spent plenty of time letting loose their imagination on the suitcase itself-to my joy and ache! Matt says "What do you expect?" "Look at the Mom they have". But since I now have the suitcase back in my posession, I went pretty again with the spray paint!

If you are in a small space, this is a fantastic way to keep down the clutter but has the lovely mess easily accessible when you need it! For us, this is wonderful. I keep my main sewing machine upstairs in our livingroom on the diningroom table. And of course there are always unfinished projects sitting at the machine for me. With five kiddos, it is unlikely to ever sew a project straight through from start to finish, so it is not likely that I will ever put everything away, since most of my sewing is done 5 minutes here, five minutes there. But, let's face it, no one really appreciates all of my projects left all over the livingroom! So this suitcase is my new storage for ongoing projects. It is so very easy to take along with you wherever you need to work as well! And with me it is probably more likely that I have sewing in my suitcases when I go away, than clothes!

Just a Peek...

I was able to make some wonderful changes to my Whimsie Dots work space a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to share. When Matt and I put the new bed in our room, some things had to go so there was room. So we did a bit of furniture juggling in the house to make everything work out and I ended up with a very big dresser and bookshelf down in my work room. The dresser and bookshelf were in sad shape, I had always put them last on my list of things to rehab but instead of loading them up with things and having to unload them later, I figured I should bite the bullet and just get it done right away. I was so happy with the result and the chance to also have what i have made for the shop be out on display. The hutch we were given from a friend at church years ago and again, the potential was there but I just did not have the inspiration. When I painted the dresser I decided to do the hutch to match since they are in the same space. The hutch is a bit of a muse in my work room AKA the laundry room.
The drawers have worked out so wonderfully for all my made to order items like the totes, coffee cozies, clutches, etc that I do more than one of. The boxes do the same as the drawers and have helped me to stay organized.
The funny thing about the hutch is that I have put it stategically in front of the ugly concrete laundry sink. The sink is still accessible but I do not have to look at it when I am working:)! My mom laughed at me and said, "it is a laundry room, you know!" Yes, it is, but I sure like doing laundry now! It is helpful for storing my shipping supplies too so they are easily accessible as well.

I have learned that some of my supplies are some of the most beautiful items to decorate with as well. They not only serve as tools to make things but they also are an inspiration throughout the creative process. The antique laces, vintage doilies andmisc peices of linens are what I use when I make wedding gifts for friends and family.
And last but not least, not so pretty, but extremely functional. These are my store shelves for the fabrics in the shop. They are safely tucked away on a back wall in my basement. This was one of the most helpful things my husband has done for me was to build these shelves when the shop began to grow and I was struggling to store everything but also be able to get to it quickly when they were purchased. I have turned the ackward spaces in our basement into work areas for me. The spaces just never really worked for family functions but have allowed me to be right there where the kids are playing or working on school. This past year, I moved my main sewing machine upstairs though for sunlight and the need to get out of the basement more often. While I am so thankful for the space, I really needed balance and the chance to get out of the "dungeon".

So there is a quick peek into some of my "Whimsie Dots" life. It is ever changing and ever stretching me.