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I use an old maple wooden desk that was my sister's when she was in high school. I refinished it about 4 years ago with a crackle finish and several whimsical paintings on it. BUT---my FAVORITE thing that I put on top of it to stamp on is an outdated desk calendar pad. It's about 18"x22", so it covers most of the desktop. I just turn it over and use the back so it's plain white. I can overstamp onto it, hammer on it, write notes on it as I go, take messages when the phone rings (ha!) etc. My girls even come in and draw me surprise pictures on it for me to see the next time I sit down to work! Then when that page gets all full, I just tear it off and start on a new one. It usually lasts me all year as there are 12-18 sheets on the pad. I just get a leftover one from my mom's office that they don't use. FREE!! Perfect!!
I use a wooden work bench found in many garages and workshops. have a 22x20 self healing mat. my stamp pads and markers are in a porta-link on the same surface. use a lazy susan for stamp cleaners and paper towels. cutters are behind me on an old microwave cart. due to height of the work, use an old padded bar stool that makes the work space easy to use or I can just stand to complete my cards.....
I had a kitchen island redone once and they goofed by not angling the ends. The contractor made another and I got to keep the "mistake". My DH built sturdy legs and frame for it and it makes a wonderful formica worktable.
Location: formerly of southern CA, now of southeastern MO
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Tables I have used
I have used a number of things. I have used my wooden dining room table which is now scarred with inks, marks from cutting and other things. We still have that dining room table. When we have company I always use a tablecloth. I used a folding card table I got for $1 at a garage sale with thick glass from a coffee table someone else was throwing out. That one was very economical but not very pretty. My favorite is the island i just had built when we moved to southeastern MO from CA. We had an addition put on the old part of the house. I got a stamp room! It has an island that is waist high with countertop on it. Most of the time I stand at it but then again I never have sat much when I stamp. I am so blessed to have this. Anytime you are in Perryville MO come by and see it.
__________________ Carey
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I'm lucky, my hubby lets me buy all the stamps
and accessories I can hide.
I LOVE my craft table. It is an old doctor's exam table. The old wooden/plywood kind with storage underneath and four drawers, albeit small drawers, at the top, just under the work surface. I mounted some screw hooks on one end to hang things and the other end, I mounted a paper towel rack so that I always have paper towels handy. (I need them. I am very messy when I work).
My wonderful hubby added a room off the kitchen just for my stamping, two 10ft. long countertops with handmade cabinets underneath to store all my stuff and recessed lighting, ther is no life outside that room!!
Right now I have 2 10 foot banquet tables the wooden kind from Staples, my husband is making me Corian countertops this weekend for my craft room. He templates Corian Countertops and we get corian tops and sinks for free!!!
I work on my grandmother's hand made roll top desk. Her brother made it for her and my aunt didn't have room for it after Grandma died. So, while there's not a lot of surface space, it sure is a wonderful place for memories!
Location: I am a Utah desert rat! I fry in the summer, but, oh, the winters are spectacular!
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I have a craft table and my old kitchen table. I also have a desk made from formica-covered particle board. I love each and every one because I am just so grateful to have a place to work on all of my projects!
Location: the south bend of the St Joe River, Indiana
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I use the front door! Actually it used to be our front door until we replaced it. It's metal with decorative trim on one side (the underside!) and smooth and white on top. It sits on 2 cheap 2-drawer filing cabinets. I have shelves on the wall in front of me and a small 2'x4' table beside that that my paper stackers (from Sam's club) and ink caddy sit on. I also use a sheet of fun foam under scratch paper when I'm stamping. The metal door/table is wonderfully cool in the summertime down in my basement.
I bought 2 countertops at home center for about $15 each and have them arranged galley style on top of couple of cabinets from the university surplus store. In the basement. Works great. Enough room for myself and my 2 daughters. They complain that my stuff overflows onto their space, but I love it when we're all down there together.
Check this out - - I am a teacher and when the library was getting rid of the old card catalog cabinets, I snagged them and use them for ribbon, misc stamps, and stamp pads. I label the front of the drawers. It's soooo cool!
I guess I'm really lucky because I have the whole downstairs of a tri-level home for 'my space'. It's a room about 12 x 20 I have a huge u-shaped desk for workspace, computer and sewing machine. Wall-to-wall bookshelves and over-the-door shoe pockets hold stamps, punches and supplies. I have a TV, DVD player, my loving Blue & Gold Macaws and two recliners. I think I'm in Heaven!
I am VERY fortunate to also have my very own scrapbooking/craft studio. I purchased two speckled formica countertops from Lowe's. One has a four-inch backsplash and is the entire length of the wall. It is permanently installed. That is my work-in-progress table. My working table is another formica countertop (both tables have rounded edges) that is 7 feet long (the longest that would fit in my room) and is 26 1/2 inches wide. I may have special ordered it...I don't think it was too pricey. The challenge was finding folding legs to attach to the bottom of the table. To my surprise, there's a company right in town (St. Louis, Missouri) that manufacturers these legs and they were extremely inexpensive. We found them on the internet. The table is extremely sturdy and I love how it matches the other counter in the room. Just some other thoughts....I have wall cabinets installed in two places in the room. They store a lot of handy items. I also have a large walk-in closet that has strong storage shelves to house all my supplies. Be sure to put a t.v. in your room. My t.v. is mounted on the wall. It's fabulous and doesn't take any counter space. Good luck.
Well, I have two 6' tables that we bought from the company my husband works for. They were getting rid of them for a great price! I also have a small craft table that I use. I have it set up in an "L" in the corner of my basement with the craft table directly in the corner. That helps save space on the table for actually stamping! It has worked out great!!!!
__________________ Misti (Mististamps4fun) PROUD Fan Club Member!!! Love Blogs?MistiStamps4Fun!!
I have a round oak table that was my grandmother's that is my work area. I have the table covered with a clear plastic. I also have a sewing cabinet that my husband's grandfather made for his grandmother and have my stamp pads etc. on top of this for easy reach. This is all in the basement in my own little corner. I have my stamp sets on a bookcase behind me for easy reach. It works great!!
Back before having kids, DH and I bought a pool table in a crazy moment. I tried and tried to find someone to buy it and get the enormous thing out of my house. No luck.
So now I have the biggest craft table in the world! I went to the home improvement store and had them cut me three pieces of 3/4" MDF to make a top for the pool table. It is 6" larger than the pool table all around, so 9 feet long and 6 feet wide! I decided not to put any kind of finish on the MDF, so it doesn't matter if ink gets on it, or if my kids get paint or markers on it, or whatever. I use painters tape to stick down my grid sheets (two or three wide - hey, I've got the space for it!) and just go to town. We can fit at least 12 stampers around this table with plenty of elbow room.
My strangest recycling for this project? To keep the MDF from sliding around or marring the pool table cover, I cut an old yoga mat into strips and put them under the MDF. Free rubber! (Hey, that is giving me ideas for homemade texture stamps!)
Location: The kids are asleep, I'm in my happy stampin' place!
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Couldn't you still use a counter top by building supports for the back and keep your files/drawers/shelving underneath and towards the front?
Right now I have a drafting table for projects and a portion of a desk for paper cutting. I will be moving soon and get a kitchenette. I'm looking forward to being able to spread out more!
Back before having kids, DH and I bought a pool table in a crazy moment. I tried and tried to find someone to buy it and get the enormous thing out of my house. No luck.
So now I have the biggest craft table in the world! I went to the home improvement store and had them cut me three pieces of 3/4" MDF to make a top for the pool table. It is 6" larger than the pool table all around, so 9 feet long and 6 feet wide! I decided not to put any kind of finish on the MDF, so it doesn't matter if ink gets on it, or if my kids get paint or markers on it, or whatever. I use painters tape to stick down my grid sheets (two or three wide - hey, I've got the space for it!) and just go to town. We can fit at least 12 stampers around this table with plenty of elbow room.
My strangest recycling for this project? To keep the MDF from sliding around or marring the pool table cover, I cut an old yoga mat into strips and put them under the MDF. Free rubber! (Hey, that is giving me ideas for homemade texture stamps!)
MDF= Medium Density Fiberboard
It is very strong and inexpensive.
I have a formica topped second hand desk. The surface should be ample (3' x 6') BUT i usually end up working on an 8.5" x 11" area. (I am still ignoring my mother's voice ringing in my ears "Put things away when you are done with them.")
I have two 6' banquet tables that are butted up against each other. Love it! I think we got them at Sam's Club but really can't remember. I have my own little craft area in the basement and have shelving etc for my supplies. I have created quite the "my" space for my stampin' & scrappin".
Hugs, Joanne
I use an old computer desk that a friend's daughter was throwing out and it actually works out great for me. It has a hutch on top which keeps most things at my finger tips. When we move to NC, my husband "thinks" he will build me a work area in our office where the closet would normally be. He will definately have to show me his plans because I just do not think there will be enough room. I am in the guest room now and have the use of 2 large closets, plus my desk and sometimes part of our real computer desk! Ha! there is never enough room!
My daughter and son-in-law got two upper cupboards and two lower drawer cabinets and a corian countertop for free and gave them to me to use in my craft room. I can stamp on the countertop and clean it off with the stamp cleaner. It's the best I've ever had.
__________________ LeAne SCS#2819 & Grandma to Lindsey! [email protected]
I took over our enclosed porch for all my creative endeavors. Hubby bought me a sewing desk at Walmart and I use that. I have an SU cutting mat that fits a grid paper on top that I like to stamp on. I store my sewing machine on the shelf underneath along with my sticker and tag binders and my accordian file of paper scraps. I storw my serger in the cabinet part along with any extention cords I might need-no electric outlets in the room-another bizzare tale. I have stamp and punch holder/shelves mounted on the wall over the desk. All my paper crafting supplies are in grid storage lining the wall to the left of the desk. I also have some items in an Iris cart that has my tool bag on top on a lazy susan. Paper work and non-current stamps are stored behind me in Grid cubes.
The sewing desk is rather small and no one else can stamp out there with me. So if friends come We all go to the dining room table. Studio is just through the french doors of the dining room so it's easy to get what you need when you need it and clean up is quick.
I use an old 50/60ish Formica top table that was left in the house when we bought it - has chrone and brown wood look top with two leaves. I have it extended all the way. It is deep enough to have plastic storage drawers stacked on the back within easy reach. I work on a foam pad with old copy paper on it that I can toss when grungy. I also have a pile of old copy paper to my right to stamp on to try colors etc. Peel that off when it also gets grungy.
I am in our particially exposed basement and have a large picture window that looks out ---to the wood storage leanto----but I can tell if it is raining, dark or sunny anyway. AND it is cool in summer and dehumidified and has heat in winter. I never have to put my stuff away if I don't want to or run out of time (or too lazy) as no one but me goes in that room. Sewing machine there also.
The area I stamp in is actually my sewing room (actually 1/2 of the basement). We had built the sewing area about 10 years ago, cabinets and regular countertop. There is a 5 foot area in the middle of the length of countertop where my machines were that is dropped down to desk height and it is open underneath for my legs, so that is perfect for stamping. The cabinets all around me are filled with sewing stuff, but I bought two pantry style cabinets from Shopko that are on the other wall that hold my stamps and supplies. I have all my other stamping odds and ends fairly well organized in those plastic drawer things they sell in all sizes at Wal-Mart. I have small ones actually in the pantry cabinet and also many floor ones. It works well. There is also our old kitchen table (formica top) down there that I used to cut fabric on, but now it is usually filled with all sorts of stamping stuff as I am working. It will seat 6 to 8 to stamp when I have friends over. I really appreciate the fact that I can start a project and leave it 1/2 done until I'm able to get back to it. That makes it easy to stamp often, even if I only have a few minutes at a time.
I use a 3-piece wood computer table made by This End Up. When we bought a smaller computer table, I tried to sell the wood table, but now I'm glad no one wanted to purchase it - I've got lots of space to work.
Wow! You ladies are great! I've read through all of your responses and I am going to have a countertop (formica) against one wall (supported by a filing cabinet, etc) and then I'm going to have some tables that I picked up from our local hardware store that are only 2 feet deep to make a middle workspace that more people can sit around and I don't care if it gets all inky!!!!
Thanks for all of your input! You are wonderful!!!
__________________ Nicole Happily stampin' in Missouri!
I actually used to use my spare room as a craft room upstairs, but I really like to stamp downstairs -- so I moved all my stuff into the front part of my garage. I like to stamp at my kitchen bar because I can stand up, which is more comfortable for me, particularly with BG stamps. Besides, I like to watch TV while I stamp.
I could jump up and down on it if my head wouldn't hit the ceiling lol.
Oh Man, that's too funny! What a vision of that is dancing around in my head, now! Ha!
I have to say... I feel blessed - my craft area is about 1/4 of the basement, which is nicely finished with cushy carpet, painted walls, fairly good lighting, big screen tv nearby for watching chick flicks while stamping (my fave is Love Actually). At a garage sale, I found a great U-shaped desk for my computer, printer, etc which has drawers & a hutch for storage. The 3rd side of it sticks out from the wall so for classes I can put two people there to work comfortably. Then, I found another awesome contraption at a local antique auction (I paid 5 bucks for it 'cause no one else knew what it was - lucky for me!!): I think it's called a "buffet" where when it's all closed up it looks like a normal little desk, but then you open it up, pull out the front sort of frame thingy and put in 4-5 leaves like a dining room table. Then I can sit 4 ladies there pretty well. When I bought it, I told my hubby that I would open it up when I had guests for classes, etc. It's been over 2 years and hasn't been folded back into itself since! I have another, nicer one in my dining room instead of a traditional table - save a lot of room, but works great for company -also found at a garage sale.The last part of my work area is a very cool oversized solid-core door that I found for FREE at a garbage sale - I mean garage sale. It sits on top of two metal/mesh multi-drawer units like those found at the Container store (also from garage sales for cheap!) There's a hole in the surface for the door knob that of course I find useful for running the lighting cord through. Above that I found some old kitchen cabinets at -guess where! yes, yet another tag sale- that I use for even more storage. Like I said, I'm very blessed to have such an awesome -and inexpensive- craft space. Guess you could call me the Garage Sale Queen, but I don't care - I love how it all works together. And, we live on a river and I call my area the "Rubber Resort."
