I have been SO excited about today’s blog posting ever since the idea was born.  I’ve been much like a kid in a candy store, reading about all of your wonderful ideas for organizing your supplies.  I’m sure that you will feel that your cravings for organization will be satisfied after the the series of  organization How To’sdays are complete.

I have to admit, that I love the organizing of supplies *almost* as much as using them. I’m always looking for ways to make things more effective and easier to use.  It seems to be a constant work in progress and after reading through all of your ideas, I’m pretty sure I’ll be making a few changes to my ways.

Let’s start off by a little tour through my scrapbook area.  I’m fortunate enough that I have a room to call my own.  However, I’m sure given the chance, my kids would take it over in a heartbeat.  They *get* to learn loving by sharing rooms.  One for girls.  One for boys. 

One of my very favorite parts of my scrapbook room is my magnet strips from IKEA.  While they don’t really do anything to “organize”, I love hanging up my current favorite layouts for decoration and inspiration.

I have a magnet board on my wall as well which I use to keep notes on as well as any magnetic embellishments.  I also tend to have a love note or two from my kids stuck on the board.

I LOVE my Clip It Up!  I cannot say enough good about this organization tool.  I really didn’t think I’d need or even want one, but decided to try it out.  I’m so glad that I did.  It’s so nice having all of my embellishments at my fingertips rather than stashed away to be forgotten.   I think that is a key factor of useful scrapbook organization, is to have things visible.

On my desk (which is one day going to be replaced!), I have an assortment of embellishments as well as a wire tiered basket where I keep my adhesives.  You can also see my Ott Lite.  This is probably the most important investment I have ever made.  It provides me with natural light, even at 3am!

I have a bookshelf from IKEA where I keep idea books, papers that I don’t often use and various other odds and ends.

There is a shelf on my hand me down desk where I keep some of my “go-to” embellishments.  I have a container holding my Pebbles Chips as well as my ribbon and flowers.  I have them all organized in bags Roy-G-Biv style.  They are within arms reach which I find very helpful.

On the ground, right next to my feet I have a container holding all of my paper kits.  I have them organized alphabetically by manufacturer.  It’s taken me years to realize that I either need to “use it” or “get rid of it” and make room for product that inspires.

I organize my buttons in an embroidery floss container by color.  I used to keep them in a baggie, but this is so much more effective to immediately find a button in the color I’m looking for.

On the wall next to my Clip It Up! I have a towel rack from IKEA.  I have a kitchen spice rack hanging on it where I keep my Doodlebug Glitters as well as some jars of flowers and eyelets.

Last but not least, the storage for my Thickers has also got to be a favorite of mine.  I have another kitchen towel rack from IKEA with hooks.  From the hooks I have my Thickers organized by colors on jump rings.  I love the ease of being able to grab a particular ring of colors and flip through them to find what I want to use.  This method also really makes it easy to “grab and go” when I’m going to a crop.

Even though my room is always a work in progress it continually becomes more functional, and it will become even more functional after implementing some of the ideas that were sent to me.

I was thrilled by all of the responses that I received.  In fact I was sent so many that we will be splitting all of the tips into three weeks.  To make things easy I decided to present them to you in alphabetical order.

Brettany Quinton

Here are a few photos from my craft room. I don’t scrapbook, but I make cards & home decor items, and I sew a lot. Basically I will try to make just about anything!

I love having my bins & containers labeled and having a place for everything. (This is the only room in my house that is this organized!! Haha) I got all the little clear plastic shoebox size containers from Costco and they are all over my house. In closets, cupboards, organizing kids toys, everywhere! I love that they are clear and I can see whats in them without digging.

I also love the magnet board that I made. It is great to hold little knick-knacks in the magnetic spice containers at the top, and to hold instructions as I sew etc. (That way I’m not burying the instructions in a pile and always looking for them!)

I find that the things that are on the desk and close by are the things I use the most. The big shelf is across the room so I don’t use stuff on it as much.
Please try to ignore the ugly wood paneling on the walls! I would love to paint it someday, but we have bigger priorities for now!

Brittany Perry

I prefer to organize by item & color, and my paper kits by theme (Christmas together, Halloween together, etc) or by manufacturer.  My guest room is also my craft room, so I use an armoire and dresser to hold many of my supplies.

Chloe Salerno

My tips:

Utilize wall space! Cheap towel rails from Ikea for about $2 are perfect for holding punches, or the little cups made to clip on are great for pens/markers and things. Shoe organizers are also great storage! And of course peg boards are great for tools.

A simple shelf will not only hold stuff on top of it, but use the space underneath to Velcro jars, or in my case, stickles! If you’re not a fan of Velcro, you could try magnets on a cookie sheet tied underneath or attached to the wall.

Manila folders are a cheap way to store paper collections! (the Cropper Hoppers are nice to have, but not necessity)

Blank CD holders are the perfect way to store rubber stamps. I found this little CD storage cupboard for about $10, which fits almost all of my stamp collection.

“Parts Organizers” from the hardware store are a great way to store buttons, brads, eyelets, and other small items. These were about $3 each.

I know I already mentioned wall space, but anywhere I had extra space, like the sides of my bookshelf, I stuck up some command hooks. They’re the little removable hooks by 3M that come in all different sizes.

Cristine Redmond

After using my dining room table as a scrap room for a couple years, my Mother’s Day present last year was my very own scrap space!  We converted a closet in the kids’ toy room into my scrap area.  I’m bursting at the seams in this little closet, but it will have to do until we move into a bigger house.  I have three drawers on my work space.  The top drawer holds embellishments, small brad cases, thread, needles, etc.  The middle drawer holds stamps and inks, some 8×8 cardstock and pictures to be scrapped.  The bottom drawer is for adhesives.  I have a filing bin under my work space that has file dividers in it.  They hold my small and large alpha stickers, Thickers and various stickers for almost every occasion.  This bin also holds some of my ribbon.  The rest of it is hanging in the closet, but can’t be seen in the photo.  On top of the bin are my paper pads.  Standing up next to my sewing machine box are my paper paker-like cases which hold all of the paper I’m hoarding.    I have baskets hanging above my head that hold buttons, ink pads and chalks.  I love my hubby for putting up particle board for all of my scissors, Sew Easy supplies and other random things to hang out.

Heather Conklin

I finally got some photos of my scrap “space”… It’s actually the back room/laundry area/foldout couch space.

I store my supplies on a bookshelf   I go “shopping” through my things and then take them to the kitchen table or coffee table when no one is around.  Sometimes I just work in the back room.

This is my storage for Thickers, stickers, embellishments that I don’t use often, extra glue and ribbon, cardstock. All in drawers so that if I want to take the whole drawer with me, I can.

This is the bookshelf in my crafting area. The top shelf includes completed cards, works in progress, embellishments, 2nd shelf: left-scrapbooks, paper pads, box of scraps; right-drawers, interest books, 3rd shelf: left-schools supplies with paper cutters on top, right: scrapbooks, decorative scissors, drawers with photos, printer paper and ephemera from our life to scrapbook, bottom shelf: left-more school stuff, right-paper storage, sewing kit, unfinished Christmas cards.

My favorite embellishments!! I take the basket no matter what.

Scrap paper storage (it was a gift box that has an attached lid. No pieces smaller than $1 bill)

Cricut, Gypsy and cutting mats

Paper storage (and this was after I purged some and took it to my classroom…) It’s divided by company (BG, AC, CC, MME) if there are whole kits or a ton of paper that “matches”. Otherwise, it’s divided by season from January-December.

How I go “shopping”. I just fill a 13×13 box (from a former scrapbook purchase) and grab all of the items that I think I want… Take it to wherever I am going to craft and VOILA! I also keep all of my 12×12″ bags from SS for the same purpose when I go somewhere else.

I don’t want to overwhelm you with ideas so we will take the next two weeks to feature the rest of the organization ideas beginning with Heather Gray.  If you haven’t had a chance to send your ideas and would like to see them included in the next two weeks of How To’sday blog posts, feel free to send me your photos and tips to kristy@stealnetwork.com.

I want to thank each and every one of you that have offered your fantastic tips and thoughts on organization.

Make sure you check in tomorrow for our Mid Week Mojo.  We have a guest designer lined up.  One you will not want to miss.

Have a great day!

Scrap happy.