Paper Storage - An Evolutionary Process

My paper storage has been just that, an evolutionary process.  Much like any kind of organization, it evolves, changes, and gets better (or sometimes worse).  Depending on our needs at the time, our storage and organization can take on many forms.  I am really happy with my paper storage in its present state of evolution.

I will take you through my paper storage journey.

My first way of storing paper was in a 24 cubby paper storage organizer. The kind you find at office supply stores.  Since I had all 48 SU colors plus the neutral colors, I had to double up the papers in each slot.  It worked, but I wanted something better.  Back then I didn't think to take photos of my storage - who does that sort of thing?

Then one day, my husband came home with two of these metal storage shelves from a friends office that was closing down.  The were free!

I now had enough room to put each color paper in its own slot.  Hurray!  I had more than enough room for this shelf in the closet of my craft room.  This was very early on in my crafting days, hence all the storage space, and it was important to me to keep my paper out of the light to reduce fading.  I used the second shelf to store my stamps.

Then we moved.

And I lost half of my closet space.

I had to find a new way to store my paper.  Or an old way.  I went back to the 24 cubby system, but ended up with two of them.  I still had to double up some of my paper, but it worked for the time being.

Then I decided to store my paper by color families in magazine holders.  This was a much better system for utilizing my space - something I was losing at an exponential rate.  (Crafting hoarders know what I mean!)

I layed the holders on their backs so I would have full access to pull the papers out, and it also lessened the space between my shelves in my closet.  Each color family had its own holder.  My 12x12 paper was stored in Cropper Hopper storage units in no particular order.

I haven't mentioned yet how I stored my scraps.  At first, I had a binder for each color family and a page protector for each color.  Boy, how I was organized!  But if I needed access to more than one binder, it became quite a mess pulling out scraps all over the place.  I decided to use a portable file box and used a hanging file folder for each color.  (Still sorted by SU color families).  This was a great method to keep all my scraps together, and I do use them.  I always look at my scraps first before cutting into a new sheet.  You know how I hate to waste my supplies!

This is my portable file box with all my scraps.
Then one day, my husband came home with a modular wall storage unit he got at a garage sale that he thought I could use in my craft room.  He is always looking out for me!  One of the units was a file cabinet, and perfect for all my 8 1/2 x 11 papers.

All of the SU colors fit in one drawer.

And the neutrals and other misc. papers fit in the other.

I still had to keep my scraps seperate because there wasn't enough room to combine them like I really wanted to.

Then my room got a make-over, and ScrapNcube had just what I needed.  I wanted to put my scraps with my full sheets, and their file drawers are much larger than the ones I was using, so I was able to put them all together.  That is one of the best decisions I have ever made.  No more going to two different places for the same thing.

I decided to abandon the color families and organized by ROYGBV.  That is the second best decision I have ever made.  I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't do that sooner.

The top file drawer has all the SU colors including the neutrals and In Colors.  Each color has its own hanging file folder.  I keep my paper in the plastic wrap (no, I don't know why) and the scraps live in front of the full sheets.  These drawers are huge - I have at least a full pack of each color plus scraps, and they all fit in one drawer.

The bottom drawer has misc 8 1/2 x 11 papers and all the retired papers that I now keep in the portable file box.  I just stuck the whole thing in the drawer.

Now for my patterned paper storage.  ScrapNcube's hanging file drawers are perfect for all my 12x12 papers.  I purged a lot of my patterned paper when I was putting my room back together so I would have room to store what I really wanted to keep.

The first drawer has all my SU patterned paper, and the second drawer has SU solid/textured 12x12 papers and misc patterned paper from other companies.  If I ever get back into scrapbooking, I'll use some of this paper.  I find it very challenging to use it on my CAS style cards.

I think I have finally found the perfect paper storage for me - file drawers with a file for each color, scraps together with full sheets, protected from the light, and very accessible.

If you're still with me, I hope you have found some inspiration for your paper storage needs.

K

Ribbon Storage - Before and After

You may or may not have noticed how my ribbon was stored in my before picture.  I picked up two cardboard ribbon display holders from JoAnn's one year at the end of the holiday season.  They just gave them to me, and they were great for storing my ribbon.

Until I ran out of places to put them.

I could have painted them a pretty color, but that would have been too much trouble, and I always viewed them as a temporary storage solution.  They were fine until I could figure out how I wanted to store my growing supply of ribbon.

This was the old way.  I put SU ribbon in one holder, and all other brands in the other one.  Once I ran out of room, they ended up stacked in front of each other.  No matter which one ended up in front, I always needed what was in the back.  Ugh!  I had the cardboard holders, SU ribbon storage thingys, and jars with ribbon in them.  Nothing but a big mess!!  My ribbon needed some serious help.

When I use ribbon, I like to have the whole spool out.  Once I decide what ribbon I am going to use, I tie it to my project and cut it from the spool.  I hate to waste ribbon.  Almost as much as I hate to waste paper.  For that reason, using a dowel system would never work.  I would be forever removing and replacing spools.

I considered using a gutter (or three), but didn't have the wall space.

The pretty little boxes with grommet holes wouldn't work for the same reason as the dowels.

I even tried wrapping my ribbon around clothespins that was all the rage a couple years ago.  Boy am I sorry I wasted my time on that!  I didn't like that system at all.

I tried wrapping the ribbon around large flat spools like the ones you can use for embroidery thread.  Even though the ribbon wasn't wrapped tightly, it still came out with creases.

One option that was left was to go back to storing them in drawers like I did when I first started accumulating ribbon.  Sometimes you don't know how good a system is until you try everything else.  Since I was planning my own storage, I made sure to include what I needed for my ribbon.

One thing I like about storing them in drawers is that they are protected from light and dust.  With the ScrapNcube drawers, I can organize them by color, and I put a divider made out of foam board between the rows to keep them tidy.  This is a QB3 drawer.

This is what my ribbon looks like now.  It's so much nicer this way!

I underestimated how much room I needed for my ribbon, and need another drawer or two, but I love this way of storing my ribbon.  It is all together, protected from light and dust, and I can get to it very easily.

I put tiny tags of each color of ribbon on the drawer handles, so I can tell at a glance what drawer I need to open.

Since the SU grosgrain spools are so large, I have all of them stored in one of the larger drawers you can see in the above picture.

All in all, I am very happy with this way of storing my ribbon.  It is everything I want and nothing I don't.

Hope you have a great weekend!

K

Are You Ready for a Tour?

Finally!  It's only been 2 months since I received my ScrapNcube order, and I'm finally settled in.

Well, almost.

I just got an email yesterday that ScrapNcube is offering 10% off all orders placed for a limited time only.  I have been keeping a list of what I need to store a few more of my items, so I will be placing another order soon.  Then I will have to rearrange and get organized again.  Merry Christmas to me!

Without further ado, here is my room before and after.

Wall A.  This makes my eyes burn.

Wall B.  This makes my eyes water.

Wall C.  My 30 year old desk I had in high school!

Wall D.  I can't stand it anymore!

Do your eyes hurt yet?  I'm so glad I don't have to look at that ever again!  I don't know how I ever made anything in that mess.

Are you ready for the big reveal?

Drum roll please...

Ta-da!  My new Craft Cave!  All organized and no clutter!  Believe it or not, this was taken over two weeks ago, and with the exception of a few papers on my desk and my coffee cup, it looks the same.

Wall A.  The white shelf holds only part of my stamp collection.  I'm still working on that unmounting thing.  The hanging file drawers hold all of my 12x12 patterned and solid papers.  I work standing up in the corner so I can get natural light during the day.

Wall B.  All of my 8 1/2 x 11 papers are stored in the two file drawers.  The file unit was custom sized to fit between the corner tables to fit my room.  From left to right in the cubes, I have my color organized embellishments, embossing folders, ribbon, more ribbon, individual stamps, and misc. punches and tools.  Most of the items I have in the photo storage boxes will find new homes in the cubes I will be ordering.

Wall C.  Empty space I can fill up with more cubes!  I couldn't bear to take down my kids' artwork, so it just got rearranged.  The window on this wall is the original basement window we left in place when we added on to the side of the house.  It still lets light into the main part of the basement.

Wall D.  I love my new punch storage.  I kept my sewing table the same for now, but it may change.

So there you have it.  I am still in awe everytime I walk in my new room.  I hope it never wears off!

I will post some more detailed pictures of my before and after storage later this week.  It is amazing how much room I saved by going with the ScrapNcube system.  Plus, it is soooo much nicer to look at.  I can't say enough about the superior quality of their products and the excellent customer service I received.  If you are thinking about getting organized, I highly recommend that you check them out at http://www.scrapncube.com/ .  You will not be disappointed, and it is worth every penny!

(Disclaimer:  This is not a paid advertisement for ScrapNcube.  I just love them and their products!)

Make it a great day!

K

Making Progress

I have spent the last four days, almost entirely, in my craft room.  My ScrapNcube order arrived on Thursday, and my room wasn't even close to being ready.  I still needed to move most everything out and paint the trim.  Back track to 3 1/2 years ago when we first moved into this house.  In my haste to get my room together, I elected not to paint the trim.  I had painted the entire house, and couldn't bear the thought of painting the trim.  (Note to self - don't ever do that again.)  Right now, my craft room is the only room in the house that has painted trim.  And that makes me feel special.

I finished moving things out on Thursday, and prepped to paint.  I won't tell you that I elected (not forgot, but rather chose) not to caulk after I taped everything off.  Stupid!  (Note to self - don't ever do that again.)  Visions of the perfect room must have been clouding my brain, because I obviously wasn't thinking clearly.

Friday morning was spent painting the trim, and then we started moving things in.  My order came on 2 pallets, and it took almost as much work to get them unpacked as it did to put them together.  It took the entire day to get all my tables moved in and assembled.  I moved a few things in on Friday, but was so exhausted I had to get some sleep.  I wanted to sleep on my new tables, they were so pretty!  But that wouldn't have been very comfortable, so I went to bed instead.

I woke up early Saturday and started the big move-in.  I don't even think I made my coffee before I started.  I knew I hadn't ordered all the cubes I would eventually need, but I have a place for the things I use on a regular basis.  Once I decide how I want to store the left-overs, I'll know which cubes to order.  Moving all my paper out of my closet and into the file drawers has freed up a ton of shelf space in my closet, so now I have that storage space to use.

I can't tell you how happy Mr. Brown made me when he delivered my order.  This is one of two pallets.

Here is a peek at how I organized my embellishments.

Each color has a drawer of its own, with a few drawers having more than one color.  I tied a colored tag on each knob so I can see what color lives inside.

Here is a look at my orange and yellow embellishment drawer.  I decided to include my SU markers in my color drawers, and I'm not quite sure how that is going to work out. I'm going to give it a try, though, because that frees up other drawers I would otherwise use just for markers.

I have my ribbon stored in a similar way with colored tags on the knobs.  I love that my ribbon is now protected from the light (and dust).  It looks so much neater, too.

Here is my red, pink, orange, and yellow ribbon drawer.  I organized my ribbon with SU brand first, followed by other manufacturers for each color.  I was amazed at how much ribbon fit into each drawer.

I spent a good part of Saturday, and most of the day today unmounting and combining my stamps in SU storage cases.  My record is eleven sets in one case.  Granted, some of them are single stamps, but it would still take eleven boxes to store them, and I reduced that to one DVD sized case.  I'm not even close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but if I do a few sets a day, I should be done in a couple months.  Just kidding - maybe a couple weeks.  I hope!

Here is a look at my record combination case.  It is the Extreme series and the Just (sports) series.  Eleven sets in one!!!

And that is why I don't have any pictures of my whole room yet.  It is still a mess with stamps, and cases, and stuff all over the place.  But I am making progress, and it looks so much better than it did.   I will try post pictures of my whole room soon.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you understand why I haven't been stamping lately.  That is going to change, though, now that I can get to all my stuff!

Toodles!

K