Inspiration Friday: Organizing It All!

Do you ever feel like your scrapbook supplies are taking over?! I'm grateful to have a 10x10 space which I share with my hubby's computer desk, but alas, that 10x10 is completed PACKED. So, to combat the crazy unorganized feeling (which does not help with creative mojo in my case), I've been implementing some organizational techniques that may just help some of you out there who can...ahem...relate.

Some tips that seem to help:

1. Keep like things together.

I recently moved all my diecutting related products into one shelf on my bookshelf. All my Cricut cartridges live in the box with my Gypsy and my Sizzix, too. I don't have all that many so it all fits. It's important that these things are out in the open, too, and not hidden in my closet because I've been using them MUCH more because I see them!


I just love this basket I found while shopping at Hobby Lobby (when I was in Utah for the awesome 2011 MemoryWorks Scrapbook Retreat)!

I bought it to use as a little countertop trash can while scrapping, but love it so much I decided it needed a more dignified use. All my Fiskars punches live here on my desk within reach while I'm scrapping. I especially LOVE the Fiskars border punches and use them a lot more now that I can reach them while I'm scrapping!

I keep all my 12x12 Cardstock together in vertical storage:

I'm in LOVE with the Cropper Hopper Paper Holders. They seriously revolutionized my scrap-space. It takes up a lot less room than the horizontal paper trays. And, you can easily flip through to see what you want. The American Crafts cardstock multi-packs carried by MemoryWorks also come in their own vertical storage box. Love that!

2. Organize and decorate in one!

I'm a sucker for glass jars. Especially with pretty colors inside. But, I don't have a lot of space to put them. So, I bought these jars for my ribbon scraps...at The Container Store...and also bought a snazzy kitchen shelf organizer rack...at Walmart...so I could get more on my shelf!


These pictures are telling me that it's time to do my annual sort and purge on my ribbon...those jars are too full!

3. Dump (or recycle) the packaging.

Now, when I'm demonstrating product as a MemoryWorks consultant, I often want to show how the product comes packaged, so people know what to expect. But, do I REALLY need to hold on to all that plastic and extra packaging for everything else? It's amazing how compressed the supplies can become when they're not housed in all that. For example, I've had jars and packs of flowers in cute little plastic tubes for a long time, but I found I wasn't using them. So, I sorted them all by color...then tossed the plastic tubes and kept the jars for other altered art projects. (I kept a few sets in their plastic bags so they wouldn't lose glitter.)

When I'm working on a project and need orange flowers I can see them all in my box! This is way more portable, too, when I scrap on-the-go! I've done this with my brads, eyelets, and other small tidbits, too.

4. Invest in what works for you.

After long consideration, I finally picked the Clip In Style to help me organize my many open packages of rub ons and stickers. (These are one exception to my rule about tossing the packaging. Rubons need to stay inside the plastic so they don't rub off on other things.)

I snagged the white wall shelf at a yard sale and the little green buckets from the dollar bin at Target. Love collecting the little "doo-dads" like brads, or floss, or metal rings, or tiny individual clear stamps in these buckets.

So, from one scrapbooking supply fanatic to another, what's your best organization tip?