I know some of you will have seen the gorgeous work of talented artist Roben-Marie Smith over on her blog Every Life has a Story, well today we are lucky enough to have Roben-Marie as our Guest Desk! Roben-Marie makes wonderfully unique art, often using the supplies themselves as inspiration.  She has been published in numerous magazines and books.  Living and working in the USA Roben-Marie teaches all over the country and also online where she is currently teaching 5 on-workshops to students all over the world. Roben runs her own business PaperBag Studios and has a fabby store selling wonderful stamps and supplies - you can find PaperBag Studios online or go direct to the Art Goods Shop.

After taking one of Roben-Marie's online classes I know 2 things:

• her style is unique and heaps of fun to play with (I love her hearts and circles) and
• she is TERRIBLE if you are trying not to buy any new supplies!  Roben introduced me to supplies which previously were unheard of, plus a few which I'd thought were only for 'artists' you know the painting on canvas or large watercolour sheets kind.  I now have a large stash of gouache paints and fabric dyes which I adore using on my work. 

Roben-Marie sent me 2 photos, in photo one, there is a tall cabinet with multiple drawers.  It sits on top of the desk, against the wall and holds lots rubber stamps, tape, tools and more.  It fits perfectly in that spot and I am thrilled that the drawers are within my reach.  I found it at Home Goods.  I agree with Roben-Marie, fabulous find and I love the way these drawers look.

Roben-Marie says: The second photo shows a top down view of my work table.  I didn't clean it or anything before taking photo. On each side of the table I have old sewing machine cabinet drawers that hold my acrylic paints and spray inks.  They are pretty and I like that they are small and long and fit nicely on the ends of the table.

Roben-Marie Smith's craft space

If you are interested, Roben-Marie has more photos of her craft space over on her blog - you can view them here.

I asked Roben-Marie what were the things she couldn't do without and she replied 'the top ten things I have to have in reach while I work in no specific order are:

1. Gesso
2. Oil pastels
3. Water brush
4. Stencils
5. Spray inks
6. Acrylic paints
7. Colored pencils
8. Sewing machine
9. Canson journal
10. Scrap paper bin'

If you would like to see more of Roben-Marie's work them pop on over to her fantastic blog Every Life Has a Story or if you're in the mood to learn some new ideas then why not take one of Roben-Marie's fantastic on-line classes.  I can tell you from personal experience that the class I took was wonderfully detailed and step-by-step so you can really see what is going on!   You can find out more about Roben-Marie's classes here.