Friday, September 11, 2009

Paper Storage, Flowers, Tools and more

Ok--I think my second love (or obsession) after stamps is paper. I love patterns and mixing them on my pages. And I think I love collecting them even more...my goal this year is to use up a good amount of my papers and really crank out more layouts. I'm hoping now that my space is completed that I will have more time to actually work on layouts instead of doing all this organizing! :)


We'll start off with my pattern paper. It's located in this cabinet behind the 2nd set of doors down.

My pattern paper is sorted by color for the most part. I use the Cropper Hopper vertical files and love being able to flip through the papers and patterns. I have a file for each color (Red/Pink, Orange/Yellow, Green/Blue/Purple, Brown/Black/Neutrals) and within each color section, I have grouped the various patterns in order (such as polka dots, stripes, plaids/diamonds, florals, etc). There are also files that have multi colored categories such as jewel tones, pastel, and brights. Basically I file patterns in these categories if there is more than one dominant color.

I also have files for certain themes (Vintage, ledgers & numbers, alphabets, words, girl and boy, holidays and a few other specific themes such as calendar, cooking, music, travel, etc). Then I have some files that have my favorite manufacturers together (Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, etc). For my stacks, I have them labeled with a sharpie marker on the spines and they are on the far right end. I know what patterns are in these stacks and can easily access them. When the stacks get used more, I break them up and file the patterns into the appropriate places. My pattern paper scraps are stored in 12x12 sterilite drawers under my desk (also sorted by color).Just under my pattern paper in the IKEA cabinet in the open shelf are my stamps. The doors underneath that shelf also hold some other important goodies. :)

This is a wooden box I purchased at Goodwill. I'm not sure what it was used for originally, but it has dowels dividing the sections (similar to a coke crate but much bigger). I had these black buckets I purchased from Target and repurposed them for my scrapbook room. These hold my flowers by color. I have separated the flower types and grouped them into baggies, then labeled them with their manufacturer's name. This is where I store my larger flowers and the buckets are easy to pull out of the box and then pull over to my workspace.My smaller flowers (mostly Prima ones) are separated by color also, but I used small plastic jars from Making Memories and an old rack that I have used many times for many different things over the years. They hold the flower bottles easily and I'm able to quickly get the color I need. This rack hangs on the wall next to the laundry doors right beside the stamp and pattern paper cabinet. The other paper cabinet is to the left of my stamp area.

On the very top, I have my crochet threads stored in a basket. The top closed door section holds an assortment of items (see labeled photo, below).
The next set of doors down is where my cardstock is stored, again by color. I also have several files for glittered/shimmery cardstock and specialty cardstock, such as vellum, glossy, metallic, embossed etc. This is the open section under my cardstock storage. My cardstock scraps are stored here, along with some other items.Just below that open area is a narrow drawer where I store most of my tools.This is the next drawer down, where I keep my liquid glues and some other tools I use when I teach classes. The very bottom drawer in this cabinet is a set of hanging files where I keep my kids' school papers and other scrapbook items I want to use in their albums for the year.Right across from this cabinet is a bookshelf that was made by my dad many years ago. This has been repurposed throughout the house many times, but I love using it in my scrap room and somehow it always finds it's way back home to my room. :) Right next to it is a cabinet with a set of 4 drawers that my dad made when I was little to hold baby clothes for my dolls and I keep office supplies in those drawers. I store many different things on this bookshelf. On top of the bookshelf itself, I keep my Cricut Expression and my Cuttlebug. On the first shelf, I keep my rolodexes with layout sketches and card sketches. These are divided by number of photos on the layout and are very easy to use in layout kits. I pull the card out as I need it and place it in a ziplock bag with my photos and any papers I think I may use on that layout. On the 2nd shelf, I store my 6x6 pattern paper pads in a basket along with my adhesives and photos I currently am working with in another basket. The bottom shelf holds vinyl for my cricut and a tote I use for embellishments, etc when I'm teaching classes or going to a crop.
This sums up my paper storage along with the other things I store in those same shelving units. My next post on Monday will cover my die-cut storage.

1 comment:

Jennifer Stewart said...

Look at your room! Wow, it looks just beautiful. I bet you are having such a wonderful time creating in there. I love it! Great storage, too. :)

Jen