Paper Organization

Today I did not stamp. Today was all about organizing supplies. My friend Leslie came over and spent over three hours trying to get me organized. We have a LONG way to go but she's keeping me on track. The first area that seems to be under control is my paper and cardstock. Paper in my house seems to multiply like bunnies. Whenever I turn around, the stack just gets bigger and bigger. (Well, if I stopped buying all the cute new papers out there, I wouldn't have such a problem!).

So let's talk patterned paper first.

This is my tower of patterned paper. I bought wire cubes from Target and made the base squares. I then gave Mo the job of creating my "shelves". Using the wire sides and zip ties, I had him create the shelves. About 9 shelves fit within each cube.

Leslie then went through all my paper and separated it by color. Then there is a shelf for multi-color stripes, one for dots, Halloween, Christmas (3 shelves for that), spring and I'm not sure what else yet. I told her to do whatever she wanted. I wasn't about to complain! It also turns out I like pink. Apparently there are three shelves of pink alone!

In the picture, you'll notice some plastic drawers next to my tower. Those are 12x12 stacking shelves I got at Walmart. In it I put large scraps of cardstock, sorted by color. I also have a drawer for patterned paper large scraps. To the left of the door in the background is a tower of 8.5x11 plastic drawers that contain all my small scraps of cardstock, seperated by color. (With a drawer for patterned paper). The key to these is removable drawers. That way I can grab the color drawer I want and bring it over to where I'm working to go through the various shades of scraps that I'm looking at. Not every plastic unit has removable drawers so if you want to take and go, watch what you buy.

Here is a close up of some of the shelves. It may take some time to look through a certain shelf but it sure beats have to go through a three foot (no lie) stack of paper.

Now we turn our attention to cardstock.

  One thing I would point out is that I do not use a certain brand of cardstock exclusively. Therefore I mix and match my cardstock within whatever storage unit I am using.

Here I took a magazine rack (bought at an office supply store) and turned it on its side. I have tried it right side up but I found I could get the papers much easier when they were vertical.

I then just separate the cardstock by color using a basic ROY G BIV scheme. I have realized that I have a LOT of blue cardstock. I ran out of room here in the racks and have quite a bit stored in my back room to use when these run out.

And that's a little peek into my slow to be organized studio. Right now a lot of stuff is everywhere as it has to be brought out to be properly organized. But I got rid of a bunch of stuff today and I am trying to keep what I know I will use and weed out the rest. If you have any great organizig tips, I'd love to hear them!

Comments

[Jennifer]

Love your paper storage! I wish I had room to set up something like that!

[Lisa]

Wowza, looks like we'll be pen pals well into our golden years! Too funny about having a lot of pink! Maybe you just use all your purples? LOL TFS!

[Cindy]

Great job on the organization...

[Shannon Bracken]

Lookin' good!!!! I need to figure out something for my DP. It's all hidden away in the closet so I never use it.

[Alison]

Ok, how great is Leslie?!? Kudos Leslie, kudos.

[Barbara]

It may have been a lot of work but are your ready to get to work or what!Love it!

[Wendy]

Your room looks great. I also love your snowman card below. Very cute!

[Debra]

Wow. That's what I call organised! I think you have to do this every now and again otherwise you just forget what you have!

[Vicki Hook]

OMG you look like a scrapbook store with all the paper/cardstock - you go girl! Love your system!

[yuki]

Very beautiful. I wish my stash can be that organized.

[Sharon]

I love being able to be a "nib-nose" and being able to look at others spaces!! TFS!!

[elizabeth]

Great organizing! Well done. Your cardstock looks like a shop display :)

[Velta]

I LOVE organization...and I think all paper crafters have a bit of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) when it comes to organizing our papers...You have done a great job here...wanna come help me with mine?

[Susan]

Good job on your organization. I also have the Target wire racks and made them up like you did (but not so high). Unfortunately, it's not working well for me because my paper is still an awful mess.

[CoveredInCrafts]

Wow! I'm green with envy. I thought I was a paper hoarder! I'm am saving this to show SO. Next time I hear "don't you have enough paper?!" I'll bring this up. Thank you!! :)

[Ann]

TFS--I'm always curious about how others store all their stuff!

[Joanne Travis]

Look at that beautiful rainbow of cardstock colors. I love your paper storage. Excellent work Leslie and Laura!

[Wendy Hall]

Way to go , I am in the same process right now too!!