My Den of In-Ink-quity ...

... is otherwise known as my craft room. When I first occupied this house in 1990, the room, which is located just off the kitchen and contains the doors to my back yard and to the carport, was set up as my den. The furnishings included a sleeper sofa, a comfortable recliner, a side-chair for extra visitors, bookshelves that actually held books, and a television set.

In 1999, I discovered the world of rubber stamping, and my cozy den soon became a thing of the past. When I first started stamping, most of my supplies would fit into my office closet. It didn't take long for me to outgrow that space, so I soon converted the den into my stamping room. Over a period of several years, I've managed to fill it almost to capacity.

Four eight-foot shelves that hang on the wall, plus several free-standing units, hold boxes of stamps and stamp sets, which after 12 years of acquisition are too many to count. Multi-drawer units, about a dozen of them, hold papers, ribbons, embossing powders, and other accessories. Three six-foot tall bookcases line the back wall. Tools of the trade occupy the shelves of one of them. Boxes of envelopes, reams of specialty cardstock and other 'have-to-have' items almost fill the other two.

Gardening Daughter helped me convert an old library table into my stamping surface. The sturdy table, which made the journey from New Mexico to Arkansas in 1950, has been raised another 6" on wooden blocks to allow me to stand to stamp, which is sometimes preferable, or to sit on a bar-stool and have the surface at the proper height. The top is fitted with a 3' x 5' piece of three-quarter inch plywood, upon which I stamp, and where I keep my most often used supplies (inks, pens, colored pencils, glue, tape, scissors, bone folders, a small paper cutter, etc.). Several drawers of  the legal size file cabinet next to the table hold yet more card stock, the colors I use most often.

Between the stamping table and the back wall is a revolving, four-sided cabinet with shallow shelves on which I store additional ink pads and other items. (A few of the shelves, and a few of my ink pads, are shown in the photo above. Someone, not a stamper, once asked me why I had so many ink pads, to which I replied, "They are all different colors!)

When I walk into this room, I am completely surrounded by my obsession hobby.

What brought all this on, you may ask? I’m in the midst of preparing for another Stamp Camp. I will be up to my eyeballs in paper, ink, and stamps for the next couple of weeks.

I’m not abandoning my blogging, however, since it will be a relief to write about something other than stamping. Aren’t you glad (that my posts will not be about stamping)?

Tomorrow is also a day.