Creative Chat - Desk Tour & Favorite Tools

It's time for the MFT Creative Chat. The My Favorite Things Design Team Creative Chat is a monthly feature, where we are challenged to explore our creative spaces and share valuable organizational methods, tools, and shopping strategies with you. You'll be able to peek into our creative spaces, ask questions, and share your own ideas in the MFT forum.  This month, we were asked the following questions:  

Show us your desk.  How do you have things set up, and why?  

What are your "go-to" tools?  Tell us what you can't live without.

Visit Kim's Blog for a full list of designers that have taken up the challenge and get ready to delve into the minds of our creative team.

I love when the Creative Chat comes around each month.  It "forces" me to make my stamp room "company ready" and get things clean and organized, which secretly makes me SO HAPPY.  I love sitting down in a clean stampy space (side-note: Dear Autocorrect, please stop changing stampy into stumpy), although it only lasts a couple minutes.  LOL

I made a VIDEO this month where I take you on a desk tour and share my favorite tools with you.  You can watch it HERE or click the "play" icon below!

For those of you not interested in a video, I also am writing it out in a "photo tutorial" format.  I aim to please.  :) 

Here is my stamp desk.  I cleaned it for the occasion.  Normally it is a total disaster.  I took a picture of it "before" and then realized I couldn't use it because I had new products laying ALL over the place.  OOPS.  LOL   I keep my desk pretty bare because once I start stamping, stuff is EVERYWHERE and then I don't have room to work.  LOL  I have lots of stuff within arms reach that I need, but that doesn't necessarily need to be on my desk.

I use a Pampered Chef Tool Turnabout to house my Prismacolor pencils.  I don't use them very often, but I don't like to get up to get those, so they stay on my desk, to the left.  You can also see my iPhone sitting there.  If I am stamping, it is there with me.  I am usually multitasking playing Words with Friends, or checking my e-mail obsessively.  Just keepin' it real. LOL

I always have this little embellishment organizer on my desk.  It houses my most-used "normal" brads in black, silver, pewter, and 3 different sizes of aged copper.  It's looking kind of empty, let's refill shall we?

I buy lots of brads when they go on sale at Hobby Lobby or Michaels and then empty them into these plastic bags.  When my organizer is running low, I just refill it from my stash.  If my stash is running low, I start shaking (signs of withdrawal - joking... sort of).

Ahhhhh, now my OCD is happy again.  (joking again... sort of).  LOL

My two most frequently used ink pads:

I like to keep a nice assortment of acrylic mounts on my desk and accessible.  These are my fave.

This picture drives me nuts.  It reminds me how badly I wish I had bought ONLY Copic SKETCH markers.  Having a mix of Ciaos and Sketch markers drives me insane.  I need the number on the cap.  Every time I convince myself that I am going to replace them all with sketch markers, my frugal side pops in and stops me.  One day...

I like the X Cubes for my Copic storage.  I like to separate things into like categories to make them easier to find.  I also must have my Copic color chart.  I like Sharon's which you can find HERE.  THIS is where I buy my Copic markers (when you "add to cart" they are cheaper than they show on the site).

This is a gift from Arlene that I LOVE.  It's a Surebonder Detail High Temp Glue Gun and I LOVE it for adhering large embellishments to cards and using to create MFT's rolled flowers.  It holds SO well and dries quickly!  (PS: it is on the stand backward right now.  When I used it, the tip goes over the white thing and you can peel any drips right off.)

I keep my smaller tools in another Tool Turnabout from Pampered Chef.  As I was editing this picture, I went and cleaned out some of the stuff in there that I hardly use, so it's not quite as full now.  

Here are my most-used tools from my Tool Turnabout.

• paper piercer - use for brad holes and removing the liner off sticky stuff
• quilling tool - use for making rolled flowers
• pen and pencil - making light, erasable marks on paper, jotting down measurement notes
• teflon bone folder - doesn't leave shiny marks on your card stock when creasing.  Expensive, but well worth it.
• assorted scissors for ribbon, misc, and adhesives

I also love my centering ruler.  (Michaels, around $3)

My Teflon Bone Folder.  Love it. 

This is the paper trimmer that I have (and love).  Here are the pros:

• 6 inch base, so I rarely need the "arm" thing
• wire cut line to help decide where to cut
• lightweight and easy to maneuver around my usually messy desk
• measurement grid is printed from underneath, so it will never wear off

You can buy one HERE.

I use a Scor-Buddy to score my card bases.  I also have a full-sized one, but this one is my most-used.  It's small and cute.  LOL 

I keep my embossing tool and Swarovski crystal heat-setting tool (Michaels) nearby and always plugged in.

Ahhhhh, sweet, sweet Janome Sew Mini, how I love thee.  It's small, cheap, lightweight, and I've been using it for YEARS without incident.  I love it SO much that I have a brand new backup that I store in the closet.  When this one breaks (knock on wood), I'll be prepared.   

• extra scoring blades
• Eclipse masking tape
• sanding blocks (for fuzzy edges of card stock)
• Basic Grey sanding tools

My most-used adhesives. Red line sticky dots, tape, and dimensional dots.  Love.

My paper-piercing pad takes a licking and keeps on ticking... but I NEED a new one.  Anyone know where to get one EXACTLY like this one?  

Some more frequently-used adhesives: glue sticks, glue dots, mono adhesive, more dimensional dots.

I feel the need to have lots of mounting blocks.  What if I want to use every stamp in a clear stamp set without cleaning them??? (sarcasm)

Shelving unit to the right of my desk, within arms-reach.

Bad lighting in my stamp room = the need for plenty Ott Lites.  I have 5 in there... 2 of them are on my stamp desk.

One last look at my very tidy stamp desk.  Within 30 minutes the desk was TRASHED!  LOL  

Thanks for joining my on my desk tour.  :)  I'll see you tomorrow for the start of MFT Teaser Time!