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

School's Out For The Summer! by Esther

This page showed children having fun in the summer sun. A fun thing is a pinwheel. Here is a cardstock one made for the summer theme. I used the Flair Summer Daze for the yellow swirls & adhered it to solid red Bazzill. Any contrasting combination or a two-sided cardstock will work. Some of the DT used two-sided cardstock from Best Creation. The cardstock is displayed at the Scrapbooks Plus.

The pinwheel is easy to make. Cut a square of the two-sided paper. Cut a hole in the middle with either the Big-bite or a Crop-A-Dile. Cut slits from each of the four corners to within one inch of the center. Punch a hole in each left-handed side of the slit shapes. Now overlap the holes moving around the shape so that they can be secured with the brad in the center that goes through the middle hole. I used a lollipop stick for the handle.

The page was laid out based on the three photos. It began with a solid blue cardstock. I cut the theme "School's Out For Summer!" & the sun shapes from the Flair paper & adhered them to chipboard to bring them forward. My sub theme is "The Sun." Glitter was added to the sun.

The journaling was done on the computer & printed on photo paper to easily read. This paper was a challenge for me because it is so busy. But the colors were good for the summer hot sun theme.

I hope you will enjoy the summer & the sun with family & friends.

June Design Team Kit, Esther, Designer of the Month

Who doesn't like summer? It is a time to relax, change your pace and vacation. The Design Team kit this month is filled with a summer theme and glitz. The blues of the glitter cardstock contrast with the oranges in the Flair Summer Daze papers. There are also water pages the will remind you of swimming in a cool pool. The vivid colors and the messages in the Best Creation cardstock are a great compliment with added glitter. Add some jewels and flowers.



The Design Team has successfully risen to the creative challenge of working with the blues and glitter. You must see the display on the wall at the store. There are a lot of great design ideas to get you thinking of your summer themed layouts. Examples are a card with a water window; a clock; a glitter covered gift box; a surfboard, just to name a few ideas. And there are flip flops galore.