Making It Mine.

A couple of weeks ago I got some new tables at Ikea and some shelves. DH and I moved alot of stuff out of my scraproom so we have room to move around and put it all up. I've been slowly moving things back in and “making them mine” as I do it.

The biggest eyesore in my room has been these four FIRA boxes from Ikea I had used to hold all of my chipboard, metal, and other diecut alphas. Two sets were spray-painted glossy black with some spray paint I had leftover from a class I taught last year. the other two sets I got over 4 years ago and they were painted all kinds of crazy colors on the front. I had originally put bookplates on the fronts to hold labels. Then I ripped those off and stamped letters on the front in paint. The result was kind of fugly:

Also, I had several letters in one drawer and it wasn't working out – they were overflowing and difficult to open. My nephew and dd were both trying to help me organize them but they only got to like “C” and gave up.

At this rate I knew I wasn't using my letters because they were too much trouble so a solution HAD to be found–I had to tackle this monster project.

I chose several PP I liked in B&W and blues and started covering each drawer front. As I finished one, I sorted the contents and made sure there was only one of each letter in each drawer–and I pulled out the stuff I knew I'd never use and put it in a big bag for the yard sale at Collective Journey this weekend. Right in the middle of my project my first kit from Polka Dot Whimsy came in the mail and it had the PERFECT papers in it for my project!! I added the Hambly and KI Memories papers from the PDW kit for a total of 9–one pattern for each drawer in each box. I also used some Lil Davis Letters to label the outside of each drawer. You can't see all the texture from the pics but the Hambly paper is shiny and there is doodlebug flocked paper too–I just love it! It took a day and a half of alot of sanding, gluing, and sorting but it was worth it.

The papers I used were:

Doodlebug (Flocked Turquoise and B&W flower print)
Luxe (B&W scribbles, blue parenthesis, big blue polka dots)
Heidi Swapp (B&W Polka Dots and HUGE polka dots)
Hambly (black with furniture on it)
KI Memories (blue prints)

These FIRA boxes are the bomb and I have seen many scrappers use them to organize their goodies. Here is another place to get ideas to alter these boxes: Ikea Hacker

I love my little boxes now and they are the perfect shelf to store my inks on:

I also have my laptop and Silhouette on this table too:

And honestly, I really do use my letters more now that they are organized.

Author: Jennifer Priest

It started with jewelry, beading, sewing, home decor, painting, basket weaving, pottery, and cross-stitch. Marry that to an entrepreneurial spirit & at 9 years old a girl is selling her wares at craft fairs as far as her parents and grandparents would drive her. These days, Jennifer enjoys crafts of all genres from sewing to scrapbooking to jewelry with a little dabbling in the mixed media world. Her style is approachable and she wants everyone who sees her work to feel that they too can embrace creativity and make their home and life beautiful.