Jen's Craft Room

We head behind the scenes at Something Turquoise to tour Jen's turquoise craft room in Long Beach, California.

"My favorite thing would have to be the light. The wall that it's against is all windows. I love sitting there, working and watching the busyness of the outside."

Tell us about your space?

My craft room is in Long Beach, California - the same city I was born in and have lived in for all my 31 years. I love Long Beach and I love my little craft corner! We live by the University in town and our street is action packed, so there's always someone to watch. I also love that it's all mine! ...even though my cats think it's their's too!

My space is tiny! It's in the corner of our living room... from when the pictures here were taken, it's actually spread out quite a bit more (much to the chagrin of the hubby, lol) Our couch looks at it and our tv cabinet is right next to it. I do crafts and making all over the house - literally. If my desk is clear I'll do things there, or anywhere I have space. Especially when I'm working on paint projects, they'll usually be drying all over the house. I definitely sew at my craft desk... I probably don't do enough at it... it's always covered in projects.

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?

I started by painting the wall with a turquoise ombre... then I made sure to have a few of my favorite pictures, quotes and all my favorite supplies in plain view. Like all the paint, I love being able to see them all. Same thing with my markers, scissors, and adhesives. I love my "Listen from within, your heart knows the way" print... that's a very important saying to me - if I didn't follow my heart, I wouldn't be here with you today. I love being surrounded by my crafty things... so my favorite projects cover my space.

How do you keep organized?

There's a saying, "A place for everything and everything in it's place". Most of the time it's a mess - but I know where everything is. I have to clean up, toss and rearrange constantly. Since I'm a (wedding) craft blogger I get supplies sent to me all the time... so it's important to throw out the

old and make room for the new. I give a lot of supplies away too, which I think my mom and friends appreciate.

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?

My biggest tip would be to focus on your most important and favorite supplies; your go-to tools and the items you use regularly because it will make crafting easier on you. For example, I was tired of getting my scissors, ruler, pens and adhesives out of a drawer - so I put them all OUT. My best scissors hang on the wall - those are only for fabric (and the hubby knows that!) and the others are in a bucket on the wall along with the rulers. All my favorite adhesives, markers, pencils, twine, brads, tape and paper trimmers are also right out in the open. Find the perfect home for your favorite items and work from there.

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?

Sharks! lol! I have a tiny (j/k large) collection of sharks because they are my favorite animals. You can see a few in the pictures ;) I also keep cards and gift tags, little things

friends give me or memorabilia from events like concert tickets and etc. Pictures are my favorite, three to mention are: one of my mom and dad ages ago... they are just so young and cute - one of our wedding day where I'm turning back to hear my dad say that he and my mom give me away - and the last is me and the hubs looking at each other on our wedding day.

I have quite a few creations on display... let's start at the top: the giant "J" scrabble tile (one of my tutorials), the three 'Honeymoon Fund Jars" (also one of my tutorials), the glitter champagne glasses (again one of my tutorials), the tiny shell wreath which I made ages ago, the lamp was an Ikea embellishment also from years ago, and I made the candle on display as well ;) Then if you look under my desk, I have two boxes full of all the projects I've made - I always keep at least one... I love having them and being able to look back through them.

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?

For the most part, it's all up in the good ol' noggin. But if I come up with an idea that I don't want to forget I write it in my reminders on my Mac Calendar. Once I create the project I check off the reminder ;)

Where do you look for inspiration?

I dream about girls planning their weddings. What would I want if I was planning a rustic mountain wedding, a romantic beach wedding, or maybe a green garden event... etc. I try to come up with

projects that fit weddings along with parties of any theme. I also love walking through craft stores and getting inspired by new products on the shelves.

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream space?
OMG - For one I would have my own entire room with one whole wall being floor to ceiling windows! With gorgeous built-ins... like Martha Stewart Craft cabinets, all turquoise of course. A giant table in the middle for making... and the perfect photo shoot station built in one corner - I can see it now...