1. Scraps. I store my scraps by color, in 12×12 ziploc bags. I keep them in a bin–once they get too fat to fit in the bin, I know it is time to clean them out. Here are some ideas for cleaning out your scraps stash:
- Take the scraps from 3 bags that coordinate and create cards. I took green, orange, and brown scraps to the Diva crop a couple weeks ago and got 30 cards done, 100% from scraps! Better yet, after you create a layout, create cards to match and then you don't have to put any scraps away.
- Purge the scraps you have not touched in 6 months. Donate them to a local school, adult living facility, or women's shelter.
- Create punchies — Tammy I creates journal spots from scraps and then keep them ready-to-use at crops in her cases.
- Use scraps first – before using a new sheet of paper for diecuts or a mat, check your scraps first. One lady on scrapbook.com said she posted a sign over her paper to remind her to “Check Scraps First!”
2. Ribbon. I have 5 different ways of storing ribbon. You probably won't need all of these because I am clearly out of control when it comes ot buying ribbon but hopefully some of these ideas can help you stay organized.
- Rings. I got a curtain rod from Ikea, set it on brackets that extended it about 3″ from the wall and threaded on Binder Rings. On each Binder Ring I aded more rings. Then I looped on my ribbons, one color per Binder Ring. This works great for ribbon purchased by the yard.
- Drawers. if you line up your spools of ribbon in a drawer, they will be easier to see and you're more likely to use what ytou can see easily.
- Cafe Rods. You can get a couple thin cafe rods from Target, some extended reach brackets from Ikea and create your own ribbon spool rack like I did here:
- Scraps. I keep small bits of ribbon in baggies by color. I try to keep it to a sandwich sized bag or smaller. I lay it in my drawer with my spools of ribbon so I will check the bag before cutting a strip off a spool.
- Go Whole Hog! A while back I got some wire ribbon racks for retail stores and they have been sitting in my garage. I could not decide how I would use them in my room and then I finally settled on pegboard. Last Friday my dad and I cut the pegboard, I brought it home, and then Xaver installed it when he got home from work. We still need to paint it but I could not wait to get the ribbon I use for classes up on it –this is going to make planning classes so easy! Plus it is kind of fun to look at :) I won't be posting a photo until it is painted!
3. Paper. I have tried all kinds of things and for the last two years, the thing that has worked THE BEST for me is storing my paper by color, vertically.
I can thumb through all the papers to find exactly what I need and my paper almost never gets bent. I keep cardstock to the left and patterned paper to right of each color section. For example, white cardstock, white patterned paper, then red cardstock, red patterned paper, etc.
4. Stickers. I cannot stand stickers but I still buy them. I tried file folders, Iris carts, drawers, stacking them vertically in a bin, a Sticker Stadium…nothing worked. Until I got the Clip It Up. I only have Stickers on my Clip It Up but it is perfect for that.
5. Embellies. A few years back I got some Dot Boxes from Cottage Mills for my embellies. They come in a couple sizes–it is basically a case where you can insert small modules, that coe in diff sizes, to store small items. Here's what it looks like:
I have all my embellies by color, with some drawers having two dot boxes. The boxes come in a much larger size than what I have but I wanted something that would fit into the drawers I own now and that I could easily toss into a scrapbook tote. Again, these are all by color. If my dot box is full, I know that I need to use some stuff up before I can buy more.
wow, that is some scrap room you’ve got there – love all the organization tips – i’m a neat freak :D
I thank you for sharing all the ideas from your scrapbook room. I will definitely use some of them to put my scrapbook room together….