If you don’t organize your going to find your self using up to much precious scrapbooking time to find supplies. Don’t think yourself beyond a good organizing plan it not far fetched to set one up and keep it up.
The Room:
Here is your space, whether it’s a small piece of closet, a whole giant room, the basement, the spare bedroom, no matter it’s a scrapbook room! It need to be organized to give you the most for your time!
So now the plan needs to be worked out.
Maybe your room is already occupied with your scrapbooking supplies and tables. Take a good look around and see if it’s functional. Can you walk around that table, do you have to reach over to get the pile of stuff off the shelf. You want things within reach but you don’t want to have everything in reach! What you want to watch out for is not to knock things off of one place to get to things in another.
If you have a empty room, think about what you will need in your room and how can you start to keep it organized. Here are a few things
Peg board and hooks: This is a giant one to keep things you use right at hand. Remember scissors will hang on a hook, so will rulers and other packaged things you use like stickers. Also you can purchase containers and other things that will snap into the peg board to keep you organized. Peg board is inexpensive and a great way to get things in sight for use.
Shelves and storage: If you can put up a shelf or two go right ahead, believe me you will find some use for them. If you are like me and it’s a basement Scrap Room I can’t put shelves up in the cement blocks so I use bookcases. I have 3 in my room alone. I store all the larger things I need on them including my scrapbooks. I also make use of small baskets for my smaller things like inks and punches.
File Cabinet: This is worth mentioning if you have an old one laying around that you aren’t using. This is a great way to organize your paper scraps, stickers and other things in. So if you have one you don’t know what to do with, you might want to consider putting it in your scrap room
Work Area: Got to have a table. Maybe it’s a small one or perhaps it’s just a card table, but somewhere you have got to have one to work on. I have 2 in my scrap room. One just in case I have a scrapbooking friend over to work with me. It also comes in handy when I have my tools and cutters out. This way I can keep one table clear for my pages and one for my tools and cutting.
Paper Storage: This one is tough. If you got the big bucks and can afford a great paper rack, then there is no problem. When I was starting out I couldn’t afford that, so I had a terrific dad that created me some paper storage cabinets. They are absolutely fantastic, but sorry not for sale. Before that I used some trays and stacked them up and before that I used paper boxes. You can find something to store you papers in, just make sure you keep it in mind. If you visit one of your discount stores, they do have the nice 12x12 cases that you can put hanging folders in and store your papers. They are pretty reasonable and they will work for you until you have way to much and need to upgrade.
Trash: Keep those trash cans handy! You’re going to need them. I even have a containers for scraps on my tables. Don’t forget to include them in your room. I have 2 med sized ones and a small container on each table to keep them cleaned up.
Now take these things in consideration and draw out your scrapbooking room:
Things to include:
Pegboards
Table and a chair
Shelving and ShelvesTables
Trash Cans
Paper and supply storage
Who needs brand new things? Look for items people want to get rid of and take them off their hands. A coat of paint and you can have some descent in your room. I always see people trying to get rid of an old table. Your gonna need one and why not get it for a great price or better yet free!
Here is my scrap room layout!
Go ahead and give it a try. Just think about what you need then draw it up, organize and get your room the way you want it to be. Be sure to arrange it so that it will be efficient and you don't do to much walking back and forth. Remember eye catching and within a small amount of distance. Your goal is to look up and see the tool or know where to get it and then use it and put it back after you are done.
Good luck and we would love to see some of your rooms! Email us a picture to
debbie@accents2scrapbooking.com
Article by:
Debbie Ruggles
