Yeay!!! Today is my birthday 🙂  I am officially leaving my roaring 20’s behind. I turned 30, OMG!

Every birthday, I sit and evaluate my life, personally and professionally. I think about what I’ve accomplished so far and what I still need to do before my time is up in this world. A few days ago I began  this process as I listened to 90’s hits on my computer and ate caramels. “I’ve done well”, I told myself as I looked around my home office. I didn’t mean that in a conceited way. I said that because I was surrounded by love, by family and by passion. I’ll explain how below…..

Today’s post is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m opening the doors of my Studio to give you a tour. I’m constantly sharing glimpses of my work space through my Instagram posts and sneak peeks on Facebook but I’ve never actually shown you where the magic happens…. until today.

I am going to show you the SUGAR, the BUSINESS and the CRAFT that makes this space extra special to me.

As you take this tour, I want you to keep in mind that what you see, is what it is!! I wanted to show you the REAL studio. As pretty as some “tours” look on Pinterest, we all  know they are not practical nor how they truly look in the everyday life. Well, here is the real deal. It may not be magazine worthy but I like it like this and it works for me. I hope you find some inspiration and motivation to create a special space for you too.

(I apologize in advance for the quality of some of the photographs. I had a few on my phone that I wanted to share with you on here too.)

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SUGAR

I’m going to start by showing you the sweet side of the studio.

I LOVE my stainless steel counter height rolling table. It sits in the middle of the studio most of the time.

I store my colored sugars in zip-top bags and keep them handy right on my work table.

This is my fabulous storage solution for all the “stuff” I need right beside me as I’m working.

I love the colors, the perfect size drawers and that it’s mobile.

Here’s what’s in a few of the drawers:

All kids of tools I use daily. Scissors, picks, brushes, molding tools, tweezers and more.

Disco dusts, petal dusts, and luster dusts.

Tips!!!

Couplers and special decorating bags.

Edible ink markers.

Isomalt and cocoa butters.

Here is a full shot of my racks wall.

The first rack is fully stocked with KRAFT Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.

They make the studio smell divine!

I dehydrate marshmallows so I can use them for photo shoots and projects year-round even after the season has ended.

I live in Las Vegas where the air is very dry. These boxes are not airtight; therefore, the marshmallows dry rock hard and stay pretty forever. Don’t worry, these marshmallows are not used for consumption.

 The middle rack holds all my add-ons and supplemental ingredients.

On the top shelf I keep my styrofoam shapes and cake dummies.

On the second shelf, I keep all my Sixlets, Gumballs and Sugar Pearls from SweetWorks. It’s hard to see the amount and variety I have but you can kind of see it from this bottom view.

The gumballs are so pretty!

These Sixlets are awesome. I use them on my marshmallow designs, desserts and parties.

I like to take the sugar pearls out of their jars and store them in these cases.

Don’t they look so pretty?!

I store all my mini cutters and presses in this drawer case. It makes it so much easier to find something when it’s labeled.

My labels are a little cheesy (just printed on plain white paper and taped on) but they work and I can change them out in no time!

I love these yogurt sprinkles my mom gets me from Mexico. They taste so much better than jimmies.

Here’s my collection of sanding sugars, crystal sugars, special pearls and sprinkles.

These are my most valuable and most favorite storage solution- my sprinkle books!

Just a few weeks after starting TMS I realized I needed to find an efficient way to store my sprinkles as they were adding up fast and taking up too much room. In marshmallow designing, you only need a few sprinkles at a time to embellish so there is no need to have a full jar of sprinkles out. I searched high and low online for ideas and didn’t find anything that worked for me. I went to Michael’s one day in search of “something” and found it! I started off with one then another and now I have three.

Ready to see the inside?

It’s meant for beads and jewelry making but it works even better for sprinkles!

Here’s the inside of all three. I think I might need a fourth one soon.

Here are some loose containers that I purchased separately to store my royal icing flowers and small pressed sugar candies.

I keep my sugar and royal icing decons on acrylic storage cases.

The next rack is filled with colors!!

I have air brush colors, spray can colors, food gel colors, food liquid colors, food color powders, candy gel colors, gel icings, writing icings and piping bags.

Below are my supplemental ingredients such as cereals, cookies, crackers, caramels, chocolates, candy melts, candies, and more.

And then on the last shelf, I keep the bulk goodies to refill the top shelves with.

The third rack is used to store the non-edible supplies, stands, packaging supplies and other tools.

I’m obsessed with these greaseproof cupcake liners from Sweets & Treats Boutique. I keep them right next to my paper straw jars.

Seeing this just makes me want to make pops and crafts all day long!

My pop stands collection.

I have rolls of satin ribbon for days! All 75 rolls are organized by color and hue.

I keep my twine rolls there too.

These pans and rack have been one of THE best purchases I’ve ever made. It has enabled me to take on huge wholesale orders and keep my work space clean. If you are a sugar artist of any form (cake, cookies, cake pops, candy, chocolate, fondant, whatever) you NEED this.

On the corner between the racks and the windows, I have all these boxes with meringue cookies.

(I really need to clear space. If you are interested in purchasing a case, please email me asap!)

Sitting on top of these cases, I have the fun props from our booth at BASH. Which remind me daily that I need to write a recap of that fabulous conference. I hope to get to that soon.

Right below the windows, I keep my cases of marshmallows. This is nothing… I usually have about 20-25 cases all stacked up!

Speaking of windows, this is where I’m staring to take my photos and do some of the tutorials. I like how the light bounces off the brick wall and into the room.

 On the right wall, is my ghetto backdrop system. I have a metal zip line to hang backdrops from. Right now I have a few of the neutrals up.

On the floor in both sides, I keep backdrop rolls, props, slabs, boards, and frames that I use for photographing.

CRAFTS

On the other half of my studio, is my crafting space.

I love having a few of my favorite showpieces up on display.

 I also love having all my crafting supplies readily available and organized.

As you may already know, I’m a total DIYer. I like to paint, do home projects, style parties, scrapbook and do tons of other crafty stuff.

Being able to quickly pull out whatever I need for a project, makes me want to do it and actually do it!!

Here’s a perfect example. I keep my washi tapes on tie hangers so I can quickly see them all and use the one I need.

I wish I had more rolls…. don’t judge me!!

I collect books. Nope, not the reading kind… more like the eye-candy kind. Here’s where I keep my creative books like cookbooks, party, styling, entertaining and photography books and a few business and leadership books too.

It feels pretty cool to personally know most of the authors behind these books. It’s like my girlfriends are hanging out with me in the studio because their books are here, haha!

I have tons more cookbooks that I don’t keep in the studio because they are more of the everyday cookbooks so they are in the kitchen but I wanted to show these four to you. They are my special treasured cookbooks.

BUSINESS

This is where I sit and get down to business. Not just TMS business but family business too.

Pay bills, manage social media, blog, file, edit photos, write birthday cards, design printables, order stuff online… everything from this little desk.

Five years later and I’m still happy with my company name, logo and my branding colors.

I’ll have to write a post one day and tell you how I came up with it all.

I have a copy of my book standing next to this card that reads: “Work hard in silence. Let your success be your noise”.

I absolutely love that quote and I’ve made it my new motto for TMS,

Keepin’ it real here – the bottom shelves need some love.

It’s a mess with all my scrapbooking sheets, photograph prints, albums and kid’s school stuff that I haven’t had a chance to organize better.

That biggo green bin holds all my fabrics. The black filing box holds all of my greeting cards I’ve received since I was in 4th grade including Kyle’s and the kid’s cards. Apparently I have a problem with throwing them away.

My poor sewing machine stays in it’s box while not in use. I’ve yet to go through my BASH swag bag. Oh boy!

Here’s another perk to having a studio….

When I’m in the middle of party planning, my kitchen and dinning room is clear. I set up a temporary table in the back of the studio and craft there until the party day. Right now it’s all pirate stuff as Keiran’s birthday party is on Sunday.

Did you think I worked alone? Oh no… I have an assistant who likes to sleep on the job.

I hope you enjoyed the tour!!

What was your favorite part? Do you have a special space just for you at your house?