After All These Years

Scraproom Solutions #1

I've recently had a bit of a change around in my scraproom. The way I scrap now is so totally different to the way that I used to so some of my systems needed updating. Here's what it came down to:

• I had too much stuff! I wasn't using a very large percentage of it. 
• My most used items and tools I wanted to use more needed to be ready to go at any time and easy to access.
• I wanted more space around me. 

Basically: a downsize.

So over the past six or so months I've had a major cleanout. And then I've had another major cleanout. I've given away to some very lucky friends and children boxes and boxes of stuff. And I don't even miss it. It was an awesome feeling.

And I literally downsized. Out went the original Expedit with 25 shelves and in came the smaller Expedit with 16 shelves. 

 

 

Having smaller shelves meant I could use the space on top. So I took the top tiers off my Clip It Ups and up they went! On them are all my alphabet stickers arranged by colour. There was room beside it then to add my easel from my desk where I can pop layouts as I complete them, before they go into albums. Next to it is my typewriter which I can easily lift down and pop on my desk when I need it. 

Here's a breakdown of what's in my shelves:

1st row: buttons in jars, baskets storing my clear blocks for stamping and a few handled date stamps, Big Shot die cut machine (I can use it right in there easily) and mists/masks (more info below)

2nd row: Photo boxes with photos in the top one and extra adhesives in the bottom one, clear/cling stamps, dies and embossing folders, wire basket with 6x6 paper pads, envelopes, prefolded cards and other cardmaking supplies.

3rd row: scrapbook magazines, basket with blank mini albums/off the page items ready to use, basket with extra page protectors and Project Life page protectors, magazines.

Bottom row: Box containing memorabilia from my childhood and some heritage photos/information, box containing memorabilia and drawings etc from the kids, box containing fabric/felt/sewing items and the last box contains some mixed media supplies such as embossing supplies, glitter, paint, mediums etc.

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I just want to share a bit more about how I'm now organising my dies and stamps. I've tried many different ways over the years but now I'm keeping it very simple by just using baskets.

 

For my stamps, I've just kept them in A5 plastic sleeves and created some dividers from card to make it a bit easier to find what I'm looking for. 

 

I also like to keep the brand of stamps written right on a piece of white card that I slip in the sleeve behind the stamp set. 

 

 

My die system is similar except I have them in plastic ziploc bags. I added a couple of small plastic baskets inside to keep them all upright. You can see my embossing folders at the back and any longer dies just down the side.

I put a couple of strips of magnetic tape inside the pockets so my dies stay in place. 

 

 

I can now flip through them easily and it takes no time at all to return them to their place after using them! I know I've already used them more since changing them to baskets.

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And finally, I still have my mists stored in this old drawer that I painted up a while ago (although I have significantly more now!) I actually cut down an old pizza box to fit in beside it to store my masks in. Again, easy to access and not tucked away so I forget about them!

 

 

Each mask is in a plastic sleeve, labeled with the brand. I'm really looking forward to using these more since scrapping with Sharmaine and Ebony at Escape 2 Create earlier this year!

 

 

So there you go, a little glimpse into my revised scraproom. I hope it wasn't too boring for you and I hope to share a couple more changes I've made next week!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

{Scraproom Revisited}

It's been over a year since I shared my scraproom on my blog. You know what? It has changed a little over the past year. My needs have changed and my supplies have changed.  Want to see?

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I did a little tidy up on my desk and ended up with only two piles of stuff to put away! I'm utilising under the desk to store my totes and pizza boxes for posting layouts. And the gate is never closed anymore. Amelia can open it anyway so she's often in there touching the things that she knows she's allowed to touch.

Here's the "stuff" on my desk - a couple of boxes of new supplies that's been growing over the last few months, some scraps from an almost-complete layout and a bunch of Zva Creative bling that still hasn't been hung on my Clip It Up.

 

There used to be a window on this wall but my handy husband took it out to complete Noah's room on the other side. We still haven't finished this side! Buuuut it is actually handy to have some little shelves to put pretty things on! I've also moved a set of drawers in next to my cardstock trolley.

On top of the drawers now sits my Cuttlebug and some dies. It is sooo handy to have it accessible at all times! Before it sat under my desk and I had to pull it out to use it. Which wasn't hard but I do find I'm using it more now!

This side of the room hasn't changed much except that HUGE pile of magazines in the basket! Who has time to file them away properly? Not me lately!

My Expedit has only changed a little with the addition of the drawer (which I'm loving by the way!) I now have my buttons stored along the top (I needed larger jars). I also store anything up there that Amelia must absolutely not touch such as my flower frogs, scissors, gloopy glue and cabachons. 

And finally, my baskets aren't what they used to be! Amelia sometimes gets into my alphabet stamp basket (which I said she could on a whim one day) and now I always find them in piles on the floor. So much so that I stopped putting them back in their rightful containers.

Sigh. The things I do to get a little time to craft!

Thanks for visiting!

 

{An Old Drawer}

I picked up an old drawer at a market a couple of weekends ago. I immediately saw its potential as it is a divided drawer. Today I gave it a couple of coats of aqua and it's ready for the scraproom!

 
It was originally beige and I will probably get a clear or pale pink knob for it but the brown one that came with it will do for now.

 
Perfect for housing my collection of mists, stickles and other mediums!

 
And into my shelves.

I have some scrappy deadlines that I'm taking care of this week, hence the lack of posts. So of course I choose to rearrange my shelves instead of scrapbooking today! Hehe!

Back soon!

 

{Storing My Pretties}

Since my studio is featured in this month's Scrapbooking Memories magazine, I thought I would try and do a couple of posts with 'updates' from my studio and ... ahem ... I have aquired a lot more stuff since then!

I've ended up with quite the stash of dyed doilies - some I've done myself and some from the original and best doily store Sweet Vintage. They were all just plonked in a container that I dug through each time I was after one but that wouldn't do for me - the other night I sorted them into colours.

 
And they're now into the appropriate colour drawers where all my little bits and pieces are stored by colour. It's where I go when it comes time to embellish my projects!

 
And will you take a look at these pretties - make me so happy!

 
I should store my stash of resin flowers in my colours drawers too but I can't just yet! They live in a little bowl right beside me as I create! I just love looking at them and playing with them!

 
I think I need more in that bowl . . . what do you think?

 

{Kaisercraft Storage Folder}

I've finally finished yet another organising project. A while ago I purchased a 12inch binder and storage pockets from Kaisercraft with the purpose of housing my large stamp sets. I was a little disappointed to find that the folder didn't fit into my Expedit shelves. Luckily, I have a handy husband who cut about an inch off the top and bottom of the folder with a sharp stanley knife so now IT FITS!

The pockets are perfect for the large stamp sets I've collected from Fancy Pants.

They are also perfect for storing my growing collection of masks.

 

This large lettering template (I think it belonged to one of my brothers from school) has now finally got a home too thanks to a couple of holes punched in the top.

The finishing touch was a strip of fabric wrapped and tied around the spine. I didn't worry about glueing it or even cutting it too neat . . . 

Now my large stamp sets are lined up next to my small stamp sets and I can relax. Yes, that's what it takes for me to relax! Haha!

 
  

  

{Another IKEA Must-Have}

Phew! I've been scrapping up a storm this past week! I've completed six pages and as I'm possibly the world's slowest scrapper, that would be like 26 pages for most of you! It must be the new scraproom - it's nice to scrap in there with lots of light!

I've got to share another IKEA must have with you all. I originally bought this for Amelia but I've been using it it much more than she!

It's the MALA system - a paper roll and stand that makes it super easy to tear off what you need.

The paper is actually quite thick and because of this it makes a great surface protector for when you are using Glimmer Mist.

Glimmer Mist . . . umm . . . stains carpet. I found this out when I put my layout on the carpet to spray and only had a few sheets of photocopy paper spread out around it. Looots of overspray!

So now I tear off a couple of large sheets from my MALA paper roll and no more mess!  It's also useful when doing lots of painting, stamping or inking.

I'll be back soon with the winner of my giveaway below!

{Sorting By Colour}

Woweee I've had a lot of visitors to my blog over the last few days! It seems that you all are waaay interested in my scraproom organisation! Thank you and I'll continue (I hope) to provide lots of organising information and inspiration!

Today I want to share a few more tips regarding my 'sort by colour' system.

Firstly, I want to list the colours that I sort my supplies into . . . I know a few people are thinking about changing to this system so maybe this will help :)

• Black
• White
• Clear
• Metal
• Pink
• Purple
• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Aqua
• Blue
• Brown
• Beige/Cream

1. I use these colour categories for my letters, embellishments, ribbon, buttons, flowers, papers, cardstock and scraps.
2. Whatever the main colour of the item is it goes in that colour.
3. Yes, I needed a whole aqua category!
4. Sometimes I combine a couple of colours if I don't have much of them. I do this for yellow/orange embellishments.
5. Sometimes I split a colour into two if I have too much of them. For instance, I have two lots of pink ribbon - one for pastels and one for brights.
6. If something has too many colours to categorize or I can't split things up from the packaging, if goes on my Clip It Up!

Sound easy? It really is but after 10+ years of scrapbooking and *ahem* collecting supplies, it's the best method of organising I've used to ensure I actually use my stash!

 

{Scraproom Organisation}

So all the good stuff is easy to find, here are all the links to my scraproom organisation!

Come inside my scraproom here.

See inside my drawers and Clip It Ups here.

Check out more of my scraproom here.

See my ode to IKEA here (aka an in depth look at my shelf storage system).

See the before photos here and here.

Check out my favourite organising links as well as my top tips here.

For even more organising ideas, links and contemplations, click on organising in the categories in the right sidebar.

{Organising Links & Tips}

Firstly, thank you for all the lovely comments that have been left for me over the last few days! I truly appreciate it and it's nice to know that you are actually interested in my obsessive organising and reorganising!

I would love to address a couple of question/comments that have popped up:

• My room is absolutely not always this tidy! I most definitely tidied it up for the photos! I will post photos one day of when I'm in the middle of lots of projects and it looks messy!
• On the wall under my stamp shelves is a small TV/DVD player. My computer is a handy and portable laptop that saves a lot of space.
• When I'm working on a layout or project, I usually tidy up a little as I go. For instance I'll have a stamp folder out along with my basket of blocks and wipes. As soon as I've finished stamping, I'll clean up and put them away to make room for the next thing. I usually keep all scraps, extras, tools and adhesives out on my desk and put them away right at the end.

I also want to share a couple of links, ones that feed my organising addiction:

• Stacy Julian is the instigator of the 'organise by colour' method. On her blog, over the last couple of months, she has shared short videos of her colour baskets. If you've been thinking about switching to this method, the videos will give you a great idea of the types of things you can divide up and store by colour. Here is a link to just one video. You'll have to go back through her blog to find the others.
• The Crafty Storage blog is still one of my favourites. They post new studios and organising solutions frequently.

Aaaand I have a few organising tips. My 'top tips' I suppose:

• Start with your work surface. I recommend you have the biggest desk/table you can fit into your space and don't clutter it up too much!
• This one is obvious - keep your most used tools/supplies close to your desk.
• Tidy up after each project or every couple of projects at a stretch. It's the only way to upkeep organised supplies.
• Categorise your supplies but don't make them too specific. You want to make things as easy to put away as possible. What I mean is, I store all one type of supply together (such as pink alphabets) but I don't make is soo hard that they're in ascending order of letter size. I do draw the line somewhere!
• If you're daunted by the large task of organising ahead of you, just do one supply type at a time. For example, do ribbons one night, then letters, then patterned paper etc. You'll be organised in no time.

Hmm. I'm sure I had so many more tips to share but my head cold has flared up again so I'm a bit fuzzy . . .

Next up on the old blog-o are some new goodies for my Etsy shop - stay tuned!

 

{Scraproom Part 4}

This post is an ode to the greatest piece of furniture EVER . . . the Expedit.

The organisation within an Expedit is always changing. Some of what I'm sharing today is the same as the last time I shared but some is a little different.

The top shelf still holds my albums. Some of my older albums I've moved to the lounge room as I only wanted to dedicate one row of shelves to these in my scraproom. 

The two aqua photo boxes are Martha Stewart from Spotlight. I waited until they were heavily discounted to purchase them as they were quite expensive BUT they're the only boxes I could find that were the right shade of aqua for my room! One of them holds photos and the other holds my felt collection.

Here are my A5 folders where I store all my clear/unmounted stamps. I put coordinating patterned paper in the spines and have them numbered so I know which stamps are in the folders, starting with my most used.

In the cubby next to them is a small basket where I keep my clear blocks, stamp cleaner and wipes all together. When I'm stamping, it's nice and easy to pop this on my desk!

 

Well, hello buttons! I've had to upgrade a few of my smaller jars to larger ones! They are all from IKEA of course. The smaller ones are on a spice rack so I can see them.

Moving onto the baskets now. All the baskets are from Kmart. The first holds my ribbon collection. They are all stored by colour in A4 binder pockets. I have waaaay too much pink ribbon by the way!

Here are my chipboard alphabets once again stored in binder pockets (A5). I've labelled each one with which letter it contains. I have separate pockets for punctuation, brackets and the numbers.

Right next door are my chipboard shapes organised in exactly the same way. Some of my larger packets of chipboard shapes are just shoved in the side there.

My card making supplies are still stored in a basket also. I have dividers for my A5 cards, envelopes and made cards, ready to give away.

The final basket on this shelf holds some idea books, quote books, old books that I cut up and my colour wheel. 

The first basket on the next shelf holds tins and tackle boxes full of alphabet stamps. 

Next one holds foam stamps stored in A4 document boxes. I actually haven't used these in a long while but I'm hoping it's a trend that will come back one day!

Here's my fabric collection. I'd better not buy too much more or I will have to find a new system! Fabric is just as addictive as patterned paper isn't it?

This is a basket of random goodies such as boxes, items to alter and easels.

 

And finally, one last basket of even more random stuff to alter such as tins, canvasses and mini albums.

The bottom row has large boxes jam packed full of extra adhesive and other bits and pieces along with memorabilia. And there are three cubbies full of magazine holders to round it off!

Phew! I hope that wasn't too boring!

I just want to share one more photo . . .

This is the other part of the room (between the playroom and the scraproom). The desk on the end is my sewing table (with a child lock on it!) and the other two drawer units hold lots of that household . . . stuff that accumulates. For example, balloons and other party supplies, wrapping supplies, packaging supplies, old tea towels for spills and a bit of stationery.

The drawer unit to the left was another freebie (yahoo!). I will paint it one of these days!

By the way, usually the surfaces out here are pretty cluttered! I cleared them to photograph them but I assure you, they're not always like this!

Come back tomorrow as I have a few organising tips and links for you!