A Place for Everything - Scrap Oranization by Loretta Cooper

One of my grandmother's (many) cliches... "A place for everything, and everything in it's place". This is the first essential rule of organization. And it was an absolute necessity for my grandmother, as she never threw out anything.

In this, she unwittingly taught me the second essential rule of organization: Be willing to part with anything you 1.) don't use 2.) don't like 3.) can't remember why you bought it in the first place.

One of the things I've observed about scrappers as a group is that we are all collectors. It's part of the hobby. It's a little impulsive and and little obsessive... and frankly, that's why we love it. But it's also very easy to get overwhelmed or frustrated if you can't put your hands on "the stuff" you need when you finally carve out those few moments to play.


For this blog, I'd like to invite you into my scrapping space-- a small extra bedroom upstairs -- and show you some of my organizing tips. As you can see, I use every inch of space. I added the little daybed because somebody is always coming in to chat. ( It's the perfect resting place. Stiff as a board so nobody stays too long! )


My workspace is a standing workdesk I found at Ikea eons ago. I am certain they have much nicer things now, but I'm afraid to look.

Underneath and to both sides storage of the things I use the most... cutters, inks, distressing tools.

Good lighting is important too! This room has two huge windows. But I scrap a lot at night-- and I am really particular about color, so I have three lights in this room -- the two you see here and another on the opposite side of the space.



Above the work space I have a magnetic bulletin board also covered in tools and a few published projects that inspired me.

Again, I try to keep the tools and materials I use most within arms reach. If I have to take even a few steps away, I get distracted...

Storing supplies get's complicated.
I used to keep all my paper, sorted by color in paper racks. I've pretty much abandoned that. It got too complicated trying to figure out where all those multi-colored prints should go.




Now my card stock stays sorted in racks and most of my paper is is sorted by manufacturer in these very cool paper bins.

I have discovered I really like this system. Even though I can't see it all, it's fun to flip through the files and discover all those wonderful prints.


I have several of these bins. One with only holiday or special event papers (Christmas, Halloween, Summer, Fall) Another holds project categories (Sports, Travel, Family, etc.)

In the second closet I keep all the other goodies separated into drawers.
Brads, snaps, flowers, chipboard ... Basically anything that can be used to embellish a page lives in here. This is also where punches and circle cutters live.

And finally, there's the computer center. I've only recently moved my old laptop up here.

I use my computer a lot (unloading and retouching photos- printing out journaling -- you know.) Running up and down the stairs to the desktop was really cutting into all that good "scrapping karma" I had going. I also moved my good Cannon Printer and my wide body scanner up here too.

And in case you're wondering ... that big thing full of stickers is called a scraprack. It's a new addition to my organizational system. The jury is still out on it's usefulness for me. Let's say I like it a lot "in theory".

I'd love to hear (and see) how other scrappers are organizing their loot! A well organized stash means there is that much more room for more!

Happy Scrapping!
Loretta