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Craft Room Tours

Explore the craft rooms, studios & kitchens of crafters to see where they work and how they organise their supplies


This week we get to take a tour of Violet from Blythe Ponytail Parade's charming doll-filled office in Indianapolis.

"I love how light the room is. I have pondered painting the walls for 2 years now and I don't think I ever will. I actually like the white walls with the white furniture. I have so many colorful toys and decor that adding color to the walls might make it too busy."


My office is on the second floor of my home. It's one of the bedrooms that wasn't being used :) I love it because it has a nice big window that brings in tons of sunlight during the day. It's not very big, it's a standard bedroom size, but it holds everything I need it to! When I'm being bad, it's my "junk" room. I am trying to keep it in better order these days though. My husband would never want to work in there. It's far too girly ;)


Is this also your work space?
Yep, I do crafting in the room and any other small projects. I will be taking my iMac up there soon so that editing photos/blogging will be done in there too. Blythe customization is the main craft I do in the room mostly. My desk is pretty much set up with all my sandpaper, screwdrivers, eye chips, glue, etc. that I need to work on my Blythe dolls. I want to customize them more often. I rarely get to it these days!

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?
Adding beautiful, but childish things that I love...like Kewpies, colorful garlands, dolls, stuffed animals, stickers, frames and photos. It's definitely a fun room and really relaxes me.

How do you keep organized?
I'm MESSY. VERY MESSY. My works in progress....honestly just get scattered around the house :P No advice there. All my fabrics, glues, paints, etc. are stored in bins that slide into my expedit shelf. I also keep some of my blythe customizing things in my desk cubicles. I'd say I have a lot of everything. I came from a VERY crafty/artist home so there are always an abundance of art supplies here.

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?
Those storage cubes that slide into my expedit (can be seen in the pics) are seriously amazing. They hide and organize. I'd say, invest in good storage bins or shelves!

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?
Hmm, my dollies are my favorite items in the room. They seriously make the room what it is. I just love their eyes and their outfits and everything about them. I am quite obsessed. But if I was naming a craft supply, my glitter stash is quite important. Excluding my dollies (some of which are custom by me), I have a few of my own creations. I have a lot of other people's crafts on display in that room actually! My mom made the colorful garland that wraps around the ceiling. I have drawings and paintings by friends....I love handmade things! 

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?
My computer. I actually email myself links/ideas/images and then store them in folders so I can find them all again easily. I use pinterest a little bit too! 

Where do you look for inspiration?
I google things. I come up with an idea and then I see if anyone else has done anything similar. That's my go to way. If I am just searching for something to do with no real idea in mind, I venture onto pinterest. 

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream craft space?
More dollies, a chandelier hanging in the middle of the room (though I might hit my head on it :P :P :P), and hardwood floors. :)


Check out Violet's blog at Blythe Ponytail Parades to see more of her and her lovely dolls »
We're off to sunny San Diego in California today to take a tour of Debee's colourful studio. We love her sleek white furniture matched against pops of bright color from her supplies!

"My favorite thing about my studio is how bright it gets. The contrast between the white walls + furniture + floors really brightens up the colorful supplies and hobby items I love. It really is my little corner of the world that makes me happy. :)"


My craft space is one of our 3 bedrooms and is located in the sunniest corner of our home. The studio measures approx 10ft x 10 ft. kind of small but I'm very happy to have a wee space to ponder in :) My space is also home to my online shop Inspire Lovely on etsy.



Is this also your work space?
My studio space is my primary office "work" space but the rest of our home is fair game. I crochet, scrapbooking/paper art and graphic design in the space. A little bit of designing on the computer at the desk, some crochet in front of the telly and lots of paper punching spread around the kitchen table. A beautiful mess everywhere :)

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?
I have surrounded myself with several things i really love: my collections of ribbons, yarns, and thrifted finds. They all bring so much beauty and life into my "work" space. I love looking around at things that inspire me while I create. It makes it fun to get creative and not think of it so much like "work".

How do you keep organized?
I would love to say that I am super organized but I'm not. I have so much stuff I constantly have to clear the mess off my desk and start over. It often happens when i start one computer design project, then start another scrapbook project and have a crochet project I'm itching to start all at the same time. I keep most of my pending projects in specific bins that i like to move around with me either on the go or to another room to be with the family. My husband always refers to me as a gyspy hauling all my stuff around with me hehee. I like to be prepared for some crafty time. I do have a big supply stash and most of it is stored away in storage.I have a large bin for each color of the rainbow.

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?
I keep my large bin supply sorted by color then by kind ( all buttons together in a bag, all ribbons together etc) in clear plastic bins. It's become so much easier for me to find things and create new things for my shop this way.

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?
I love my old sewing machine Nena. She's not top of the line, but she's pretty awesome. I love adding crazy sewing lines to my art projects and she always delivers. I also love my oversized typewriter I got for free a while ago. I love that it types scattered and funky. Kind of like me :)

I do make things and live with them for a while, then sometimes I like to give them away to family & friends or end up in my shop shelves for all my lovely etsy customers to love.

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?
I find that it helps to just do what you love. I will keep a virtual sketchbook ( folder ) on my desktop and add photos i've taken on my phone from shopping adventures. Most times as my tastes change i go back and delete photos.

Where do you look for inspiration?
I love color inspirations from the yarn aisle, the paper store, gazing into store front windows etc. Everyday beauty is what I'm looking for.

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream craft space?
I'd love to wish for 1) a WHOLE wall just for yarn from top to bottom
2) A larger seating area with a huge rug and comfy couch to sit and create
3) gustav klimt's "The Kiss" hanging on my wall :) It's so beautiful and oh so inspiring!

This week we head to Hamilton, Ontario to take a tour of blogger, Love Elycia's gorgeous and trinket-filled office and craft room.

"My favourite thing about my craft space is the wall directly behind my desk. I put photos of friends, prints and paintings I love as well as any little thing that makes me smile. I even have some old Strawberry Shortcake airfresheners stuck to that wall."


My craft space is on the main floor of our home in the back bedroom that overlooks the backyard. I don't know the exact dimensions of the room but I would say that it is a medium sized room, not too big, not too small. The room doubles as my office. It is my favourite place to work from because it gets a lot of light all day long and the way it is decorated keeps me happy and motivated.I share my space with my three kitties. They think they are very helpful while I'm working and like to sit or lounge on top of whatever I am working on.


Is this also your work space?
As I mentioned, this is also my work/office space where I do most of my blogging, email answering and drawing. I really love working out of this room but I can sometimes be found crafting in the living room, on the bed in the other spare room or sometimes at the kitchen table. It really depends what I'm working on, what type of day it is and what else I have going on while crafting. I mostly use my craft space for sewing and I will occasionally embroider, crochet or knit in there as well if I don't feel like sitting on the couch. 

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?
To make my craft room a space where I love to spend time I painted the walls a really happy turquoise-y colour that I am crazy about. I have collected a lot of odds and ends throughout the years and I love displaying some of my favourites in my craft room to keep me happy and inspired. I go crazy for colour so the more colourful my room is the better!

How do you keep organized?
At times I can get a little crazy and become a messy crafter but I have a really hard time staying productive and excited in a messy craft space. Don't get me wrong, I love making a good crafty mess but I prefer to clean it up as soon as possible.  For knitting/crochet works in progress I either keep them in a bag (if it is a portable project) or in my little project basket. For sewing, I like to leave the project out on my table until it is complete and for embroidery I have been hanging unfinished pieces on the living room wall to remind me to work on them. My supply stash is pretty big! I have collected most of it from thrift stores because it is really hard to pass up something awesome that you might someday need for something at the thrift store. I store most of my fabric, embroidery supplies and paint in blue bins on my big shelving unit and my yarn has it's own special box that is buried somewhere in my messy closet at the moment. 

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?
If my supplies are especially pretty I like to use them as decorations while they are being stored. My prettiest fabric is displayed out in the open on my shelves and crewel thread that I love the colour of is usually in some kind of bowl on the shelf. 

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?
I have a really hard time picking favourites of anything but I really love the embroidery that Lucky Jackson did of me. I love Jen's work and it made me feel very special that she choose to embroider me! One of the pieces on my big wall of art is made my me. It is an embroidery piece of a ball of yarn. Oh and there is a cute little amigurimi bunny that I made peeking out of one of my bowls. There might be more but that's all I can think of at the moment. 

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?
I try to write down all my ideas in a notebook because my common attitude of "this idea is so great, there is no way I will forget it" has failed me many times. Sometimes I have a problem remembering which notebook I wrote my great ideas down in but I always find them eventually. 

Where do you look for inspiration?
One thing that I have learned about myself is that I have a really hard time looking for inspiration. It just has to hit me when I least expect it. I get inspired most by colours, beauitful days and good smells so it can really hit at any time, I just need to be ready!

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream craft space?
Wish number one, I would change my furniture from black to white. I really wish I had have bought white furniture.

Wish number two, I would add a few more windows. My craft space does get good light all day but it could definitely use more. You can never have enough natural light!

Wish number three, I would have one of those huge cat tree things that goes from floor to ceiling. I would love to look over and see my kitties hanging out on that!

You can keep up to date with Elycia on her blog »

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