Back from the Dead

Well, it's been six years since I've posted on my blog.  I've been busy closing my manufacturing business, dealing with my new disease... the dread Diabetes, and figuring out how to cope without my beloved employees and my warehouse.  After closing the warehouse, we had a very small space to store our convention stuff to run the Original Rubber Stamp Conventions. I lost my personal office space so I had to work out of my house... not a good thing!  Last September 2014, we got a new space that's about 670 sq ft.  It's been a joyful space to work and do art. First thing I did was plan to decorate my back wall to create an inviting space to work in.  I gathered stuff from my house, from my former stuff out of storage and went to IKEA for shelves,  great room dividers, etc.

I had bought this huge roll of remnant linen of polka dots years ago for about $10 bucks.  Everyone tried to convince me to sell it at the warehouse sale, but I refused.  I had no idea what I would use it for.  So once I got into our space, I dug out the roll.  That's my friend, Raul, who is stapling the fabric onto the wall. As he worked I started planning the wall.

I saw in some magazine a photo of mason jars used to put "stuff" in.  I got them at Joann's and Michael's on sale and started filling them up with useful stuff.  That way when someone comes in and needs a rubber band or a postage stamp or color pencils or needs a roll of washi tape, it's all behind me on my credenza or on the wall. It's really fun to see all that stuff in these useful bottles.  It's visually stimulating.

Now when I need something, I just spin around from my desk and pick out what I need. I didn't have this set-up when I had 8700 sq ft.  I was so busy running the business that I never really had the time to play.  And that's why I started A Stamp in the Hand Co. so I could play.  Well, it took about 33 years for that to begin to happen.  Hey, it's never too late, right?

It's getting there...

This is what it looked like back in September of 2014...

This is what it looks like today.  The black and white room dividers on the left were the ones I got at IKEA.  What's great about them is that they are larger than the normal dividers and the white panels are plastic and easy to clean.  No chance of poking holes in them like the Japanese paper inserts. They cover the cages of stuff for the conventions.  I can easily move them around for privacy if I need it.