Mission: Organize Scrapbook Room - Scrapbook Paper

Before I started scrapbooking I never drooled over paper. Paper was just something to scribble a note on, or print a report on - blech! Now if you get me in a scrapbook store, you might never get me out. My husband can attest to that!

Am I alone, or do you also wander the scrapbook paper isles as if you had just wandered into Ali Baba's cave filled with gold? Do you find yourself caressing first this paper, then that one. Do you hear oooh's and aaah's from the next isle over? I swear sometimes I think it's better than... oh well, maybe not... but close.

Before you know it my arms are loaded with treasure and I feel like it's Christmas. Then I get home and have to find storage for yet more scrapbook paper! Well, I am a lucky gal to have a handy hubby who built me really nice scrapbook furniture.

My paper organizer

I know that is not possible for a lot of scrapbookers, but there are lots of different scrapbook paper organizers on the market. You can spend as little or as much as you want. But do keep a couple of things in mind: sturdiness, practicality and portability.

Whatever you spend, you are going to want to make sure your scrapbook paper organizer is going to last and that it will protect the paper you've already spent money on (tons if you're like me;) It doesn't make much sense to spend $12 to protect $300 worth of paper.

You also want your choice to be practical. If you have to work to get at your scrapbook paper everytime you need it, you are going to get very frustrated. I like my paper in easy reach, where I can see it and grab what I want.

Finally you may want to consider portability. If you never go to workshops or "crops" this may not be important to you. I like to scrapbook at home most of the time. But occasionally I go to a crop. So I have a portable case that I slip some of my paper in.

I did a little checking and found some really great scrapbook organizers in several price ranges. Starting at the lower range, and keeping in mind my criteria I found a sturdy looking magazine style folder by memory dock.

Although I don't personally like upright magazine style storage for my scrapbook paper (I find the paper edges tend to get bent and it is hard to not damage the paper getting it in and out), this one is very sturdy looking.

My favorite style is the shelves that hold my paper lying flat. There are several options in this style. If you have more shelf space than floor space then you might like Display Dynamics Perfect Paper Stackable Paper Trays (try saying that 3 times fast!). I find these a bit pricey at around $60 for 10 trays, but they are durable, easily accessible and very flexible. They are also lightweight which should keep shipping costs down.

An alternative is the Paper Cube wire unit. It holds way more paper with 23 shelves. It is also light weight and very durable. The Paper Cube also comes with casters if you want to be able to roll it around. It is priced nicely at about $45.

Paper Cube

I have one of these without the paper shelves that I keep larger scrapbook supplies on. I love mine because it is versatile - it comes apart to make individual cubes, and it is easy to move. The individual paper shelves would make it even sturdier. This would hold a lot of paper. Even if you don't have much paper yet, trust me you will!

If you are really ready for an upgrade and want to outfit your whole scrapbook room with furniture made just for scrapbooking, take a look at Organizeit-online.com. They carry several lines of furniture including Freedom Rail (deluxe), as well as Modular Scrapbook Storage Units.

Freedom Rail

You can get the Modular Scrapbook Storage Unit which has a lot of storage, including awesome paper storage, or you can buy individual modules to customize your scrapbook room just the way you want.

Modular Scrapbook Storage Unit

Lastly, if you need a portable solution here are a couple of options:

The 26 Pocket Paper Organizer from Retrospect by Smead

This one is my favorite because it is so pretty and durable! Form, function and fashion all in one!

Crop In Style - Red, Black and Cream Collection - Paper Taker

I am still working on my scrapbook room, slowly, but surely. As I was organizing my paper it got me thinking about options, thus this post was born. I love shopping, but online it can get old wading through page after page, back and forth trying to find what you want. If I've saved one of you some time and exasperation, then I will be happy. Until next time...

Happy Scrappin!

Mission: Scrapbook Room Organization - Ribbons

I love scrapbooking with ribbon but storing it has proved challenging. When I only had a few rolls, I kept them in a plastic shoe box, but I very quickly out grew that. Next I hung them on dowels so that I could just unroll and cut off the amount I wanted. My cat loved that! I soon got tired of finding my ribbons all unrolled! They also got dusty.

Next I placed my scrapbook ribbon in the top of my sterlite sewing bucket. That worked pretty well, but again I quickly outgrew it.

Recently I found a very inexpensive plastic ribbon box that you assemble. You put the ribbon rolls inside on little dowels, then stick the ends of the ribbons out through holes in the sides. It is very compact and holds quite a few rolls. Plus it keeps the dust off better than the open dowel system I was using.

It is a bit awkward getting the ribbons in initially, but not too bad. Overall I like it, but it isn't very strong - I wouldn't stack anything on them. You could actually make one out of a shoebox, but it wouldn't be very strong either. Its not something I would want to take to a crop as the lid will come off easily and dump all your hard work.

I did some searching and found a couple of options that look promising. First is the Cropper Hopper Ribbon Revealer. It looks sturdy and the drawer slides into it's case making it unlikely to dump your ribbons. It hold up to 36 rolls too, which is more than the one I have holds. I like that the ribbons stay organized and won't get tangled. You can find it at Scrapbook.com. Just click on the store tab, then do a search for ribbon organizers and it should come up.

For my ribbons that are not on spools I rolled them up and put them in one of those divided plastic boxes you can find in the fishing tackle dept. Although it's a pretty good and inexpensive solution, it does have a drawback for me. Everytime I want to use a ribbon, I have to spend a little time rerolling the ribbon back up to replace it in the box and I have to roll it just right for it to fit in.

In searching for ribbon organizers, I found another solution also at Scrapbook.com. It is a ribbon purse organizer and comes in black, pink, purple and blue. It looks like you just throw your loose ribbons in and thread them through to the outside. I think I am going to get me one of these. I like the handle too so I can just grab it and go.

It also comes in a preloaded version with 50 yards of ribbon (now that's a lot of ribbon!). If you are just starting out and need a nice assortment of ribbon, this just might do it for you.

I will try to post more tomorrow if I can find time to do a little more organizing.

Happy Scrappin!

Mission: Organize Scrapbook Room - Getting Started

After a very busy weekend, I finally found time to get started on organizing my scrapbook room. What a mess. You can see what it looked like before here. I decided to clear off one of the desks completely and made labels for different scrapbook supplies such as scrapbook magazines, whole paper, paper scraps, photos and tools.





Next I started piling the items next to their appropriate labels. Anything that didn't belong in the room went into a box. I also had a trash can handy for, well, trash!



If you have more catagories you could go through this same process as many times as you need. Now I've got my scrapbook supplies divided up into piles by catagory. Next post I will begin organizing them into containers and setting up the room the way I want it.

Happy Scrappin!

Mission: Organize Scrapbook Room - Eyelets

If you are following along my Scrapbook Room Organization posts, you might want to start at the beginning - Mission: Organize Scrapbook Room

Do you have about a gajillion eyelets in your scrapbook room? I sure do and I've tried several different ways to organize them. Those little beasts are the darndest things to hold on to! They go skittering away and lose themselves in any little nook or cranny.

Originally I tried organizing them in tiny ziplock bags. At first I slipped the bags in baseball card or sticker sleeves and put those in a binder, but everytime the binder got tipped upside down they would slide out.

Next I put them in those plastic boxes with dividers (found in the fishing dept.), which worked fairly well, but they were a little hard to see from the outside and the little compartments were hard to get my fingers into. Plus if the box got tipped they sometimes slipped into other compartments, mixing the colors up.

Finally I found the neatest, little compact containers for storing small scrapbook embellishments at Scrapbook.com. They take up about half the room of the fishing tackle boxes and each one holds 24 little flip top containers. No more spilling, just tip out the number of eyelets you need and they are see-through too!

I had a hard time finding it on their site but if you go to Scrapbook.com, click on superstore, then type "uniek" in their search box it will take you right to it.



I like to slip a note in with the company name and color of the eyelet so I can replace just the right color when I run out.



If you want something more portable to take to scrapbook crops with you, Craft Mates has a really nice, compact system that includes 6 little organizers that all slide into a carrying case with a handle. It is more pricey, but if you go to a lot of crops it would be so nice to sit on your table and not have to paw through a bunch of little boxes. It's called the Craft Mates - Ezy Lockin Caddy - Craft Embellishment Organizer - Purple. Here is a picture of it:

My next post will be on ribbon organizing, so stay tuned!

Happy Scrappin!

Mission: Organize Scrapbook Room

Do you have an area to scrapbook at home? Having a special place to scrapbook has made so much difference for me. I can leave my project out to work on as I have time and I love having all my scrapbook tools, paper and embellishments in easy reach.

My first spot was a corner in my home office with a desk area and a closet I converted to storage for my scrapbook supplies. It worked well for a while, but in the process of some home rearranging, my office space also became home to our homeschool supplies and a sewing corner.



So I had to search for another scrapbooking area. There was an unused nook at the top of our stairs under the eaves. The space was pretty much unused except for some low bookshelves I'd tucked under the knee wall.

A couple Saturday's ago I hauled everything up and arranged the desks, shelves and plastic drawer units where I wanted them. Everything else got stacked here and there, but now it awaits organization.

I am anxious to get back to scrapbooking, so I plan to tackle that job this week, working a little at a time. For the next several days I will chronicle how I organize my scrapbook room and post pictures of the progress. Maybe you can get some ideas of how to organize your scrapbook room too.

Here are some before photos of the moving mess. You can get an idea of the layout of the area at least. As you can see it is organized in a U-shape! The desks and shelves form the U and the plastic drawers are at the top of the U.









I'll keep you updated as Mission: Organize My Scrapbook Room - Getting Started progresses.

Happy Scrappin!