I’d love to show you round my very own creative space.  I built this studio (no, not me personally – there were burly builders involved!) from a ramshackle garage extension – see www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/creating-the-garden-studio/  and am quite pleased with the space as it is now!

So, follow me as we take a tour . . .

follow me

We’ll leave the chicken outside (although she’d love to come in – they’re always pecking at the glass door!).

If you’ve followed this blog for long (or followed me on Twitter) you’ll know all about the way I’ve survived two harsh (by UK standards!) winters with ice on the inside!  Here’s what gets my attention first thing every morning at the moment:

woodburner

I love that I can pop my little camping kettle on top of the woodburner and get some free hot water for my mid-morning cuppa!

kettle

Before the space is warmed through, I sit in front of the woodburner, keeping toasty.  I use the bottom half of an easel as a mini table when I’m painting small things:

in front of the fire

I can fit quite a lot on it

easel

and it’s easily moved when the studio warms up a bit!

The table by the window is my main painting space – I move here once it’s warm, and on a sunny day it warms more quickly.

main workspace

a wider view showing a bit more of the clutter:

Whoops - didn't realise the windows were this dirty!

and this table is where I do all the finishing off  – the pen outlines and the personalisation (I also use this table when I’m at the ideas and designing stage). 

work desk with pens and paint to hand

It looks fairly organised and although I do try to keep it that way, I sometimes fail!  At the moment there’s a spreading mess on the right hand side . . .

work desk

This is where all the packing takes place. 

packing

It was a really busy spot in the run-up to Christmas!

packing desk

Under the packing desk I keep spare cardboard boxes (they’re everywhere, actually!).  I get boxes brought home for me every day by the man of the house – he brings the used ones from where he works.  They work perfectly as recycled postal boxes – sometimes whole and sometimes chopped up (which is why I keep a cutting mat on my packing table).

flattened cardboard boxes

The Gridwall on the packing table is the same Gridwall I use at craft fairs.  It was sitting in the garage, doing nothing, in between fairs and I figured I’d put it to good use during the quiet spell after Christmas.  I wasn’t going to do any fairs before the end of March but I’ve gone and booked one at a local market for the 12th February. Lots of work to get these out to market and back again!

There’s still an element of patchwork about this studio – the floors are just painted concrete and I’ve popped carpet offcuts down wherever I can (just to keep it a bit warmer underfoot), I’ve used anything I can to create worktops (my main painting desk is actually an old door propped on trestles!) but the main thing is, it works for me!

Thanks for looking round! 

Pop over here to see what else is going on in other creative spaces around the world: http://www.kootoyoo.com/2011/02/my-creative-space.html