Other folks' spaces, part 2

I've decided to not try blogging more than once a week and to not blog less than once a week.  Tuesday will be the day, and since it's Tuesday, it's time for a blog!  I've even written it into my calendar every Tuesday until 2014 so I remember.

If you missed part 1 of "Other folks' spaces", click here.  We looked at Judy's room, discussed my mother's project basket, and looked at Sue's workspace.

This week we'll see Sylvia's library, Cindy's work area, and Sherry's comfortable crafting/lounging chair and her very organized desk at work.

I see in my last post that the headings ended up all the way to the right, so I'm going to try something else.

Sylvia

I met Sylvia on a Cricut message board back in 2009.  We hit it off, and when she and her husband visited family in April, 2010, she visited me as well, and I blogged about it (check it out here).  Then a few years later I blogged about pages I scrapped about our visit (read about it here).  Sylvia and I are friends on Facebook, where we like to discuss the odd eating habits of our cats.  Our Pixel and Katy are crazy for Bugles (Cindy calls them "corn horns") and Doritos, but Fe doesn't care for them.  Read below for what Sylvia's cat likes to eat.

Anyway - on to Sylvia's craft room/library.  Sylvia scraps (as you already know if you read the blogs), but she is also really into genealogy.  I like genealogy, too, but I find it's quite the time suck, and it's easy to get confused.  Sylvia seems to have the same issues:

So I finally got time to sit down and get these pictures out to you! Gad, what a weekend. Some lady emailed my uncle that he and I were wrong about our family tree and that really got me hot under the collar!! This was Saturday morning and needless to say I spent the weekend proving her wrong! But, even after e-mailing her all of the evidence, she still wants to stick to her story. Very maddening! Why people can't listen to reason is beyond me!

Here is my craft room/ library. My desk has 3 drawers dedicated to genealogy files, as are two drawers in the cabinet under the TV. Then there is all of my paper, which I have been weeding through these past couple of weeks. I have way too much paper!!  All of my Cricut cartridges are in the closet, I forgot to take a picture of that. Oh well. Then there are the book shelves filled with books, but the tall one (with all my Star Wars Legos on it) is pretty much all loose paper totes, embellishments, ribbon, and card making supplies. All my plants are up high because Onyx loves to eat them. One of her favourite things to do is sit on my desk and stare at the plants. I think she's trying to figure out ways of getting to them!

What I like about my space is that it's cozy and I have a view of the open space and golf course behind the house. What I don't like is the fact that it is too hot in the summer and in the winter, I get the sun in my eyes from just after sunrise to about 10 am. It sucks to have to keep the blinds closed in the morning.

I'm sure you figured out that Onyx is her cat.  :)  Since I have not personally seen Sylvia's library, since she's in Colorado, I'm just going to give you the pictures as she sent them:

What a sophisticated, cozy space!

Cindy

Cindy was another one who participated in the Loose Bead Society panel discussion on organization.  In entering my contest, she just sent me what she had prepared - a 22 page PDF!  I'm not going to extract and post all of that, but you'll get enough of an idea on what she does.

Studio overview:

I am lucky enough to have a dedicated studio space. I am so grateful I don’t have to drag everything out and then put it away again every time I want to work on something.

This does, however, encourage bad behavior. I leave way too much stuff out that seems to never get put way until I just can’t take it any more,

Cindy and her husband, Russ, (I've talked about both of them from time to time here) share a large room in their basement.  Russ builds remote control cars and other things, and Cindy designs and makes jewelry - beaded, chainmaille, and polymer clay (among other things, I'm sure!).  They recently redid the whole room, putting up shelves and reorganizing everything.

Here is Cindy's main work space:

I can assure you, the desk NEVER looks that clean.  :)  Remember she took pictures for a presentation.  Granted, she did include a "before" picture, but I'll spare you that.  You're welcome.

On the wall directly to the left of her desk she has a number of bamboo drawer organizers:

She bought them for a song, and Russ was able to attach something to the back of each of the boxes so they could be hung on the wall.  They can be easily taken down and put back up.  She stores many of her seed beads in these boxes.  They're functional and also provide a neat design element!

Here's a closer look at the area behind the desk:

As you can see, she has a number of rolling carts.  The drawers are labeled.  I love these rolling carts, too, especially those with drawers that are actual boxes with lids.  You can just take the box and go.  The surface on the above rolling carts is a regular hollow core door she got at Home Depot for less than $20.  If you don't have rolling carts to rest it on, you could probably attach it to a wall with brackets where the studs are.  Put a piece of thin plexiglass on it, and you have an instant desk!

To the left of the door-desk, Cindy has a dedicated photo booth:

She keeps it set up at all times so she can quickly take pictures for Etsy listings or whatever.  She's still trying to find the right lighting for optimal picture taking, which is always a difficulty!

Turning the corner, she has a dedicated polymer clay oven and even more drawers:

Whew!  That's Cindy's space in a nutshell.  She has extra storage way to the left of this last picture - past the TV, past Russ's desk, and over on the wall where they share some shelves.

Sherry

Sherry was a coworker of my husband's, a hundred years ago (or six), for the Daily Commercial newspaper in Leesburg, Florida.  Steve says he's the one who hired her, so she can blame him for that crappy job.  :D

Here's what she sent in:

I'm so glad Steve shared the link to your blog and giveaway! I am one of those craft-loving people who try something, get frustrated and then move on to a totally different project in hopes I'll be awesome right away. That hasn't exactly worked out...but I'm optimistic (haha).

Picture 1: This is where (the wannabe) creative magic happens: a Papasan chair. It serves not only as a comfortable bum rest but also a depository of failed projects like knitting. In this picture, there is an Android tablet that I put down after not finding pictures I wanted for Pinterest. The knitting needles are not pictured—because when I saw them, I realized I shouldn't leave such sharp objects lurking around, even for a picture. (Ow, I broke my Kindle that way!) I love my chair because it's comfortable, but I need a more dedicated work space with storage.

Picture 2: It's my desk at work. I couldn't remember whether you wanted just home spaces, so here you go. It's fairly straightforward, even down to the stress ball I haven't needed to use much since leaving newspapers. I love the storage and the walls to pin things on. I used an Ikea Finlir photo frame as a postcard holder. Looking at it on my picture, though, I realize I could decorate/organize better!

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Okay, that completes 2/3 of my contest entries!  Come back next Tuesday for the rest, then I'll go on a different topic.  Possibly knitting, because I made a really cute baby hat for Steve's coworker's son.  I also have a book review I'm about 3 years late on, and there's a review for some new crimping pliers I just got from Xuron, and... Goodness!  I'd better stick to my every Tuesday blogging schedule!