Friday, July 3, 2015

Organization My Way


After my 'After' post on Monday I had a couple questions.  This post is a little long but there's great (I think they're great) tips on organization in my craft room.  Again this is what works for me, it may or may not work for you.  I had a question on my filing cabinet and how I store cardstock and what's on top of my filing cabinet.  On top, the big 12x12 holder on the left holds my 12x12 DSP and other 12x12 papers (foil CS, vellum, etc).  The bigger one on the right holds my In Color Cardstocks and other specialty 8.5x11 cardstocks (vellum, heavy white, etc).  I also store stamp sets I'm currently working on there :)
How my cardstock is stored: I'll talk a little more about this in a minute but basically every color has their own section and a smaller file folder in with the full sheets of cardstock. The file folder holds scraps (more on this below).  The DSP I keep in the plastic, and keep it all together, scraps and full sheets in that plastic.
Inside my filing cabinet everything is labeled, from the big file dividers that separate each color to the file folders in with each color.  I'm a big fan of labels :)  The filing cabinet is for the 40 core Stampin' Up! colors.  Brights and Subtles are in the top drawer, Regals and Neutrals are in the bottom drawer.  Bet you never thought you'd see the inside of my drawers huh?  LOL!  I'm really sorry, it had to be done :)  Let's continue before we get waaayyyyy off track.
I mentioned each color has it's own file folder stored with it.  This is where scraps go.  Anything that's not 8.5x11 goes in there.  I'm not a scrap hoarder.  If it's no bigger than about 2x2 sometimes 3x3 I won't save it.  I used to save every teeny tiny scrap and it got out of control, I have a recycling box that I keep under my desk, smaller scraps go in there and are recycled.
The bottom drawer is done the same way.  The color groups are stored alphabetically, except the Neutrals, for them I have Vanilla and White first because I use them the most.  Then they're in alphabetical order after that.  They're also in the bottom drawer because I use them the most I have the most of them, I also have tons of Crumb Cake, Black, etc.  While this cabinet is organized it's crazy heavy with all that cardstock.  It's one reason why it doesn't get moved a lot :)
That's my paper...now on to framelits.  I store them in these 6x6 albums that I got at a big craft store.  I cut up 12x12 pieces of cardstock and used my label maker :) and made sure to label each one not only with the name but with how many are in that set so I know if I've misplaced one (happens more often that you'd think).
As for the original envelope they come in, I do have all of them in a box, stored away so that IF they retire and I sell them I still have the original packaging.  For the most part they're all just dropped in each sleeve, with the exception of the really small ones like the letters.  Those I kept on the cardboard they come in so that I can pull the letters I need right away without having to sort through 26 different framelits.  The framelits are not in alphabetical order for the most part.  I had planned to do it that way but as I get new ones or they retire it would be a constant chore to keep them alphabetized.  I had to give up on that. 
Reinker storage.  I mentioned I moved my reinkers to wood cases to store, and some of you asked questions about that.  Each case holds 10, which is perfect for our color groups.  The In Colors share a box.  You can fit 5 across the bottom the other 5 stack on top.  Works great!  Plus it stores them vertically, which I love!  I've never had one leak (knock on wood) but I certainly don't want to tempt fate by storing them on their sides.  I like this storage a lot too because I can easily pull them out and look at them and see what color is running low or what color I need.  I am not smart enough to come up with this, I saw this on Pintrest.  
No one specifically asked a question about these but I thought I'd share them with you anyway because I love them and they're my absolute favorite storage bin EVER!  I did not discover these on my own, I saw them on a blog, I think it was on Nicole's blog I loved them and immediatly (within the hour!) went out to buy them, this was maybe a year ago, maybe a little more.  When I knew I was doing my room I went out and got more.  They're fantastic!  I buy them at Target (plus it's a reason to go to Target!), I haven't seen them anywhere else, but I haven't looked in other places.  They come in a few different sizes, this is the small, I have 6 of these and 2 of the medium size.
Here's what makes them so great and sorry about my wonky picture here.  They have dividers inside but if you need more space they snap up against the sides, if you need a smaller space you can snap them back out, do both just do one side.  Endless possibilities!!!!
I have 4 on my desk alone, 3 of them are on their sides, and one (just barely pictured on the right) is standing up.  I love them on their side.  They store everything I need right in front of me and easy to reach!  Plus I get extra storage on top of them too! (Boy I have a lot of clear blocks!) The one in the middle is the medium sized one.  It has 4 flexible sides, one in each corner.  This one has all 4 of them extended.
Then I have a couple in use in my cubes.  The top one is another one of the small ones, again on the side, it holds extra markers spritzers, etc.  The other one is a medium sides one  It holds a bunch of different stuff.  I have 3 of the corners extended, all but the top left.  This way I have room to store longer stuff like the watercolor paper.  I love these boxes, if you're looking for some new storage bins I recommend these.  They have another larger size that I don't have.....yet....  They're so so so sturdy.  They're not cheap plastic or cardboard, and they're covered in material so they're pretty to look at too.  They have a couple different patterns, I have the neutral Crumb Cake colored one.  This was not a paid endorsement for them I just really really love these bins.  BUT if anyone from Rubbermaid is reading this I'd be happy to have a couple free samples :)  Oh and one more quick note, you can see the cushion for my bench in the bottom picture :)  Really cute! 
For my USA readers have a really safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!!!  I'll see you Monday with a card :) 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

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