Sunday Scrap Space

Today we’re taking a look at Design Team member, Nancy Burke”s fantastic scrap area!

Name: Nancy Burke

Hometown: Rigby, Idaho USA

Occupation: Professional Paper Crafter, Certified Professional Demonstrator, Scrapbooking and Creative Lettering Instructor, but I have also done wedding cakes, family photography, and I am a Licensed Cosmetologist.

I can’t live without…. Dove Chocolate and Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper My favourite dessert is… see above!!!

My inspiration is found here… I am always perusing my crafty friends’ blogs and love flipping thru the pages of the latest scrapbook mags. I often find inspiration directly from the products I am working with, and the photos I work with really speak to me. I study them and try to find the perfect paper to convey the story behind the photograph.

On my playlist… a wide variety of music- lots of newer country songs, 80′s hits, Disney songs, Christmas music- I listen to it all year!

On my desk. .One one desk I have my laptop, a giant photo printer, a computerized cutting system, and a can of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper. On the other desk that spans the length of the room is every pen and marker known to man (for my creative lettering), cardstock, basic tools (scissors, glue, trimmer), and whatever products I need to use for the assignment I am working on- usually a fun KaiserCraft project!

What I love the most about Kaisercraft is… all the fabulous patterned papers- I think the graphic artists who come up with the patterns are true geniuses!

“I have a unique situation in which I was able to design my home myself and was the general contractor during the construction. I was able to build my studio area around me scrap storage needs and had custom cabinetry built throughout the space. My studio is right off the front entry of the house with two doors leading into the space- one French door to the main entry foyer area of the house, and a second pocket door that leads into the kitchen. I typically leave both doors open to encourage my family to join me in the space as much as possible.”

Below: This is the area where I do most of my creating. The desk spans the length of the room. I had this desk built “counter height” which is higher than standard table height and I either use my taller drafting chair or I will often just stand while working. The lower cabinets are file drawers designed for large hanging file folders to hold 12″x12″ papers. I took a Crop In Style hanging folder to my cabinet maker and had him design 8 drawers to accommodate the folders. And yes, the drawers are completely full! All of the cabinets throughout the space were installed as unfinished maple. I sanded, painted and then distressed all the cabinetry myself in an antiqued black finish. This area is where I also keep all of my pens and markers for my artwork and creative lettering. I also have two stacking shelves for 12″x12″ cardstock as well as a countertop drawer system to hold essential tools such as scissors, trimmers, adhesives, glue, craft knives, etc.

The tan boxes on the wall shelf on the right side store greeting cards and tags that I have completed for various assignments as well as chipboard elements, lettering stickers, ephemera, and printed photos.

Below: This is a close-up of my “color corner”. Having two girls to scrapbook, I often find myself adding ribbons and flowers to most of the pages I create. I love having this wall storage unit to hold everything in clear jars so I can match colors at a glance. I also keep cardstock on stacking shelves in the corner. It is definitely the brightest spot in my studio!

Below: Another close-up of the jars. It reminds me of a colorful candy shop with all the yummy colors and textures! My girls love to grab some cardstock, a handful of flowers and a length of ribbon to make quick cards for their friends.

Below: This is my computer area opposite of the counter area. Standard desk height for the laptop, large format photo printer and computer cutting system. The boxes on the shelf above the desk store image and music CD’s.

Below: This is the area in front of my window. This window looks out into the front yard. I love this window because it is nice and big and lets in alot of natural light as well as lets me see who is traveling down our lane to the house. Sitting on top of the low bookcase is a spinning storage rack that I built myself from lamp shade wire forms, hanging clips and other lamp parts. I also store a few current magazines and books on the bottom shelf for quick inspiration. The red boxes store more flowers, leaves and larger lace. The wooden box on the shelf stores miscellaneous items that need to be organized and find a more permanent location.

Below: This is a very large 8ft tall cabinet that I had built to store just about anything. The rolling drawer carts to the right of the cabinet store craft items such as acrylic paint, varnishes, beads for jewelry making, wooden craft items, wire and other crafty things. The wall mounted system of small drawers holds all my tiny embellishments such as brads, rhinestones, glitter, bottle caps, more brads, eyelets, metal embellishments, fasteners, photo corners, tags, pins, small chipboard, etc.

Below: This is the inside of the large storage cabinet. The upper part houses a drawer system that hold everything related to stamping- inks, stamp pads, embossing powders, stamp blocks, etc. The bottom part is shelving where I store punches and more small items in plastic containers- buttons, charms, beads, rhinestones, sequins and other tiny baubles. The bottom shelf stores more idea books and magazines.

Below: This is a close-up of the file drawers that I had built to hold 14.5″x13″ hanging file folders for my 12″x12″ paper. The files are sorted mostly by manufacturer, but I also have drawers designated just for KaiserCraft and another company I design for and the files in the drawer are separated into collections.

WOW! We love Nancy’s scrap space! So impressive!!

And here’s one of Nancy’s latest layouts she’s completed in her scrap space!

On another note of scrap spaces, Rona has come up with a clever, scrappy solution for photos to be scrapped…

“Purchase a ready made file, cover with Rewind papers of choice, adding different edges (scalloped, pinked)to the papers, inking and doodling the edges adds interest. I used a large dinner plate as a template for the spotted circle and 2 large stars, one slightly larger than the other.

Cover the chipboard letters with patterned paper and doodle around the edges, add to layout to create title along with the Rewind alpha stickers.”

Materials Used:Rewind Papers, Kaisercraft chipboard alphas, Rewind stamps, Rewind alpha stickers, Rewind inks, ready made file folder, Star templates.