Coffee Loving Papercrafters

Hello!  We’re excited to continue our new feature on the blog….Design Team Q&A.  We’ll be interviewing the team throughout the summer so that you get to know them!  Today we are getting to know the awesome Dana Warren.  She blogs every other Thursday and her feature is called Brew & Craft Your Stash.  In case you missed it our last post was about Kathy Schweinfurth!

Tell us a little more about yourself!

I live in Michigan and after living with my mom and working on pre-reqs at a local community college I am finally at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan! I started the Medical Laboratory Science program in May and will have my Bachelor’s degree in two years!! So I pretty much just craft and study!!!

When did you join the CLC Design Team?  February of this year!

What is your favorite coffee/tea or cocoa card that you’ve designed?

I really like how this one featuring Waffle Flower stamps and dies all came together with the background and all the little images.

 What is your favorite color/color combo?

Unless I do a color challenge I really don’t pay attention to color combos. I usually try to match my coloring to pattern papers, or just randomly pick out some colors I happen to like at the time.

We would love a peek into your crafty space, tell us a bit about it!

Since Ferris State is 2.5 hours away from home the only option is to live here in Big Rapids. One of the reasons I picked Ferris was they have on campus suites available. I don’t have to worry about utilities or internet or bringing a lot of furniture (other than crafty furniture, of course!), really the only downside is roommates!!  Each suite has 4 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms and a shared living room and kitchen. Of course I had to bring some crafting supplies, no matter what I still have to get crafty!!!

Below is my main crafting area. To take the picture I’m standing in front of my closet. Desk to the right, you can see the end of my bed and on the left is the dresser and the door is on the other side of the dresser.

This cart holds my Big Shot, paper scraps and a bunch of paper on the shelf below. I have my copy paper (for my printer) plus my card base card stock, some 12 x 12 paper pads, 12 x 12 card stock (I paired it down to just a few sheets per color, I have way more at home!). I also have my Crafter’s Companion’s cardstock and watercolor paper along with some adhesive sheets, acetate, and masking paper. I have small plastic bin with my 6 x 6 pads that fits nicely under the cart. If front of the cart you can see a plastic bin that holds my HSN/CC products, when I’m done making stuff this goes out to my car to wait for when the product is available on CC’s website. I happen to be working on projects for HSN’s July craft day!

Under my craft table I have two plastic drawers, the tall skinny one holds my Art Impressions stamps and the other one holds everything else! Crafter’s Companion in the bottom drawer and many different stamp companies on the top two (there are three drawers but can only see the bottom two!). This is just a fraction of my stamps, I have many, many more that I left at home!! You can also see that I lean my paper trimmer, stencils, Misti, and color charts against the wall. And don’t forget my heating tool, ready to be plugged in when needed!

Of course I have to have my inks and markers!! A kitchen tool lazy Susan thingy holds my tools, clear blocks are in a bread pan next to my markers, it’s kind of hidden behind some in progress things and my palette. More markers and inks are underneath the shelf holding my Spectrum Noir Markers.

And yes more markers!! Above my inks are my Distress markers and above them are my Spectrum Noir Illustrator Markers and Aqua Markers.

For my embellishments I have this wire drawer, it holds extra adhesive stuff, embossing powders, washi tape, buttons, watercolors, twine/ribbon, enamel dots & rhinestones. I really, really paired down my stash, so I have just a little bit of everything! (Note: I only make my bed for pictures, LOL!!!)

This drawer also works as a bed side table!! I put my Ipad and cell phone (also my alarm clock!!) here when I go to bed!

You can see the edge of my desk to the right and my little Snake Plant, they are supposedly good for putting out lots of oxygen at night and getting rid of the bad stuff in the air, plus it’s really hard to kill!!! And as a gardener I need a little greenery!!

Of course, there is a lot of storage under my bed, but no need for a photo of that!! Mostly sandals, boxes (big shot, printer, box of holiday AI stamps)… you know the usual!! LOL!!!

On top of the drawer I have a bin of my dies, they are on magnetic sheets, at home I have a nice vintage industrial metal drawer they go it, but not really practical here!!

I have stuff stashed everywhere!! Under my desk is this nice shelf and it holds my Gemini, Colour Blend and Watercolor pencils, along with a box of envelopes, binder and notebook paper of course!!! I also have some stuff in the dresser but no need to show you that, just random crafty stuff!! (Mostly my clear pockets for stamp storage and finished card sleeves).

I thought I would also show you were I store my finished cards! I do a couple craft shows a year and sell them on Etsy so I have to have a place to store them and keep them nice! (I also have a numbering system and data base to keep track of what I sell and when) I found these crystal clear sweater drawers at the Container Store! I can fit a ton of cards in them, each drawer holds two rows of cards. There is a frame that holds the drawers in, so they slide in and out nicely and are easy to stack and move around when I get to the craft show!

And that’s my craft space…. at least for the summer. I have been at Ferris since January working on one last pre-req before May, but about April I had enough of my roommates and moved to this room. My previous room was the smaller rooms they have, so to fit everything my bed was much higher and the die cutting card and drawers had to be under the bed, when I wasn’t crafting. I am hoping to stay in this room for the fall, but will not know for sure for a month or so!

What are your ‘go-to’ crafty tools?  Misti, Big Shot, scissors and tweezers!!

Yay!  Thanks for sharing Dana!  WOW!  She knows how to stay organized in a multi-tasking room, don’t you agree?  I think I need to check out those Container Store Clear Sweater Drawers!

Inspiration can be found on Dana’s blog and you can keep connected via Instagram, & Pinterest.