Hi!  It’s Nicky again!  Where was I?  Oh – spinning racks!

After a lot of begging and pleading my Dad made me this really cool spinning rack to store my Stickles, Liquid Pearls and Perfect Pearls. As you can see, it fits a lot of them on there and I just love how I can just spin it around to find what I’m looking for! 

Under the laptop desk I keep all the dies and embossing folders on the top shelf and my Big Shot, large die folders and a couple of bags on the bottom. I found these DVD storage boxes at my local discount store and knew as soon as I saw them that they would be perfect to store all the dies in! 

I’ve spent a lot of time working through all my dies and organising them into a way that would be best for me to find them. First I got some CD cases from my local discount store then some adhesive magnet sheets from Officeworks as well as copy paper in shades of purple and green. After trimming the paper down to size I used my score board to score fold lines to fit into the CD cases then stuck a square or rectangle piece of magnet that was big enough to hold the dies to the inside. The next step was the front of the covers. I took advantage of my two eldest nephews for this one! They would contact me and ask to spend time with me so I’d say sure but can you help me out in my scrap room? When they arrived I’d set them to work cutting each die onto the black or white paper. (Thanks so much John and Jordan, you were a big help!). Then all I needed to do was stick the shapes to the front cover. I have one more step to go for this project and that is to get my Dymo out and make up name labels for each die and stick it to the front cover.

Over in the corner is my Expedit unit which stores most of my goodies in it! At the top of the unit is a pretty white cabinet that my Mum gave me a few years ago. She used it in her bathroom to store her perfumes in at one stage and I had always liked it so was pretty excited when it came my way. When I started setting up my scrap room I really wanted to use it for something so added it and since then it has held quite a few different items. These days it holds all my washi tapes in the cupboard part on cute racks that I got online and the two drawers are where I keep all my string which are separated by colour in 5 little plastic containers. To the left of this is a box that I made when I first started scrapping. I keep USB’s, cords for my phone and iPod and SD cards inside and on top sits the charging pad for my phone. Next to this is a cute china bowl that used to belong to my great-grandmother. I usually put little bits and pieces that I can’t be bothered putting away in the bowl until I do a big room clean up. The cute picture that you can see to the left is something that I made around 2 years ago using a blank canvas, some paint, a few pieces of paper and some ribbon. It’s so nice and bright in my room!

In the Expedit unit I store the majority of the main items that I use for scrapping. In the top two shelves are containers that hold my brads, doilies and flowers. The next shelf down is where I keep all the paper pads. Then we have pearls and rhinestones, wood flourishes and the two boxes that I keep all the cards I make in and all the envelopes, card packs and cellophane bags for card making. On the bottom shelf are the die cuts and journal tags and a container full of all different kinds of embellishments. All of the plastic containers are the same size and all have lids. I found them at my local Spotlight store and they were quite a good price. I can fit two containers into one square of my unit. These have become so handy for me as I create as I can just pull the container that I need out and go through it on my desk then when I find what I need for my project I just put the container away with no mess to clean up. To the left of the Expedit unit is my paper rack. I spent a few hours a couple of months ago making labels for my rack and organising my paper via manufacturer although there are a few rows that contain papers that are just one offs. And last but not least I have my cute Chistery soft toy guarding over the Expedit! He came home with me when we saw Wicked here in Adelaide and has kept my company in my scrap room ever since.

I have to admit, I adore flowers! There are so many pretty flowers out there and I am quite a fan of paper roses, Manor House Flowers and Prima Flowers! I haven’t stopped there though, in total I have 6 of these containers and they are all full of flowers from flat paper flowers to fabric flowers to beautiful paper roses – I have them all! Most of the containers are organised via colour but I have two that are organised via manufacturer so that I could keep them all together – the Manor House and Prima are in these containers. Keeping them together via colour has been the best way for me to store them all. When making a layout or card if I want to add flowers I am usually pretty sure of the colour I’d like to add so now all I need to do is pull out that particular container and pick which one I want to use.

This is another part of my room that is a favourite feature for me. On the left is my inspiration board where I keep some of the photos that I’d like to use for a layout. I find this a really good way to plan layouts as I can see the photo that I want to use and being it is in my sight it stays in my mind. There have been plenty of light bulb moments for me where I’ve been sitting down watching tv and suddenly thought up a layout so headed into my room to pick the photo that will be used for it. I also like the way the board brightens up the room! On the right side of the wall is a whiteboard where I keep track of my To-Do list. Like my inspiration board, this is something that I am looking at all the time so that I know what I need to do and to keep track of my priorities. I don’t really like working with To-Do lists these days so this one keeps track of the projects that I need to finish so the rest of the time in my room is spent making whatever I like. Against the wall is my sewing machine and cupboard. I inherited the machine from my Mum and mostly use it to sew on my layouts or to mend clothes. I do plan to use it more along the way, it’s just a little overwhelming at the moment so I want to take time to get used to it and work out all the features before I get started.

This is my sewing cabinet and as far as my scrap room project goes this is the biggest bargain that I’ve found along the way. As you can see by the photo above it looks like a small cabinet. Below is what it looks like fully opened, isn’t it amazing! I recall at the time I was trying to work out what to get for my sewing machine that I had googled ‘sewing cabinet’ so many times with no luck that I was ready to give up and just put it on the back burner. I really wanted to find something to keep my machine on but also something useful but not too big so that I could fit it in my room. I googled one last time and found this amazing cabinet on Gumtree which is an Australian buy, sell, trade site. And it was only $50! I got my measuring tape out and worked out that it would fit perfect in the room so I called the lady up and asked if I could come take a look with intent to buy. We arrived at her house that next weekend and I knew as soon as her husband opened it up that it would be coming home with us. I like how it all fits in snug to look like a little cupboard and how it has a little space inside that has a drawer and a little storage space. I keep my sewing boxes in there. The bonus part of the cabinet is that I can also use the pull out desk in front to take photos of my layouts and cards for my blog.

We’re at the last part of my room now and I hope that you are all still with me! This is a bookshelf that was part of Mum’s quilting room. The other main area to store all my goodies!

On the top of the bookshelf is where the sewing basket that Mum made me is kept and my cute bunny likes to sit on top. Next to that is a jar that I keep all the sewing threads in. These also came from Mum’s sewing room and I really love looking at all the different colours and how bright they are. Next to the jar is another layout stand and this one has a layout I made of Mum showing my 4-year-old niece how to sew. Another favourite of mine! The box that you can see on the end of the bookshelf is one that has 3 racks that sit on top of each other inside and is full of metal embellishments and trinkets that I plan to use on projects along the way. The photos and elephant trinkets at the front of these items are also from Mum’s quilting room. She collected elephants for years and I wanted to bring a few of them into the room with me.

On the top shelf in the first cube I keep ribbons, my Magnolia Ink magazine collection and mini albums that I have made along the way. The next cube holds a large desk organiser that I made a few years ago and fits Glimmer mists, Big Shot cutting pads, measuring tape, stapler, ruler, etc. On the last cube I have two boxes that have a special mini album that I have made in each and on top is a cute sewing box that I gave to Mum a few years ago that has now come back to be a part of the room. I keep my sewing needles and a few threads in here so that they are easy to find when I want to hand stitch on a layout or card.

The next shelf down in the first cube has the rest of the ribbon, lace and a folder that I store all my tags in. There is another folder in there too and I plan on putting the lists of all my scrap room products in there when I finish that project. On top of the ribbons and lace are other albums I have made. In the next two cubes are all of my stamp folders, ink sponges and my Smash books and journals.

Here is a quick peek at what my ribbon and lace storage drawers look like. I purchased them from Kmart and the dolly pegs from my local discount store and all up I think after around 4-5 visits and some 20+ packets of dolly pegs I had enough to finish the project with! These items are all sorted via colours and have labels so that I can find what I need without having to go through them all.

These are the folders that all my stamps are stored in. When organising this project I wanted to make sure that I kept with my colour scheme so decided to buy the folders in the same colour and add a touch of the other colours to them. I made the labels with my Silhouette machine and made sure to make a few extra in case I needed to add more folders. The labels were then put through my printer so that I knew what folder had which stamps in it. The folders are organised by manufacturer and there are two that have various stamps from several manufacturers in them as there weren’t enough of them to warrant their own folder and I didn’t want to get too overwhelmed with folders.

This is what the inside of each stamp folder looks like. As you open the folder you can see the paper in the plastic sleeve on the right (I have moved it for this photo so you can see the whole of the inside together). On each page is the stamped image and the name of the stamp. Under each page is a stamp panel that holds the stamps that are showing on the page. I found this idea on a blog somewhere in cyberspace and am so glad I did as it is such a great storage idea. Before I started this project my stamps took up 2 cubes of my Expedit unit and were still in their original packaging which was quite annoying to manage when stamping lots of different images and finding the one I wanted was a nightmare! The other good thing about this storage idea is when my friends and I share our stamps. I just have to pull the folder out and they can flip through and see which images they want to add to their collection. They can stamp away and when they’re done just clean the stamp and put it back onto the panel. Saves a lot of time when there’s no packaging that’s for sure! A tip I have for managing my stamps is that I don’t add them to the folder until I have added them to my spreadsheet. Once I’ve done that they stay on my desk until I have made a label with the name of the stamp and stamped the image onto the sheet of paper in the folder. Then they can be put away. It may seem like a lot of work but trust me, it’s worth the effort to have a nice organised folder and if you’re like me and like stamps then it stops you from buying the same stamp twice!

And finally – the last two shelves which have paper holders and plastic containers stored in them. At the top in the left cube is where I store my score board, kits that I have purchased as well as alphas and Thickers. In the next cube I have all the Kaisercraft collections that I mentioned at the start of the post. Alongside them is an expanding folder that holds templates for misting. In the last cube from left to right in the paper holders is chipboard, tags and acetate then coloured cardstock, black/white and kraft cardstock and in the last holder is all my Tim Holtz paper products. Next to them are 12” Kaisercraft paper pads. The plastic 12” containers at the bottom shelf are where I store all my current projects. I usually have a few projects on the go at any given time from off the page projects that take a lot of time to other small projects like a mini album or layouts. When organising these projects I usually have a good idea of what items I want to use so go through my room and take them all out and put them into the container. When I want to work on a particular project I pull the container out, put it on my desk and it stays there until I am either finished the project or if I run out of time I just put it back on the shelf. As soon as I have finished a project any leftover items go back to where they belong and I start organising the next project for the container.

The last item I wanted to share with you today is labels. I have found through all of the projects for my scrap room storage that labels are one of the most important things that should be added. I think this because not only does it make it easier for you to find what you are looking for but it will also be easier for someone else to find something. I am at the stage now where I can be in a shop and call my boyfriend, direct him into a particular part of the room, tell him to look for the box in that area that has a particular label on it and he can see what I’m looking for. It’s also good if I have my scrap buddy over and she is after something. I just point her in the right direction and she finds what she needs in no time! I think labels are a good idea for any type of room as you should be looking for an item and getting back to what you’re creating and not spending so much time trying to find things!

1. What kind of budget did you have when organizing your space?

I didn’t have a set budget to organise my room as I had a bit of money saved in my bank account that I can use for things like this. When buying items for my room I didn’t have the ‘money is no issue’ attitude as I still wanted to save as much money as possible and focus on buying smart and ensuring that what I bought would be used and that each item would last a long time.

2. What was your greatest challenge?

My greatest challenge was going through my room regularly and making sure that there was nothing in the room that I wasn’t using, that I hadn’t used for a while, that I had bought with good intent and not used or that I did not need. I have learnt to be quite brutal with myself when shopping for scrap products or else I’ll buy things that are cute but won’t ever be used. It’s so important to have an organised space and not to fill it up with items that seemed like a good idea at the time.

3. Are you a “organize it once” kind of girl, or are your storage solutions constantly evolving?

No, I’m an “organise it regularly” kind of girl! My room changes every few months and at times I have to move things around to accommodate this. It doesn’t take long for things to grow in your craft room and this happens to me often. I have a large collection of Magnolia and Gorjuss stamps among other types so that means when one folder is full then I have to add another and make space for it. What started out as two folders in a cube on my bookshelf has now grown into 13 folders on two cubes! My storage solutions are constantly evolving. When I have too many of similar items and they’ve outgrown their current box or shelf then I move everything around to make it easier to keep them all together.

4. What is one thing you’d like to improve about your storage/organization?

I’d have to say that I’m probably like every other crafter when I say that I’d love a bigger room! I don’t feel cramped in my room as it is but I would like it to be at least two metres longer and wider so that I had a nice big open space to move around in. It’s ok as it is at the moment so long as I don’t buy too much more scrap goodies and that the furniture I have in the room can hold everything I need. I’d also like to have big cupboards on either side of the room to store things inside and keep them away from dust but also to make the room more tidier being it’s part of the hallway…

On that note, that’s enough from me. I hope you all made it through to the end of the post and that you got some good ideas for your own room. I don’t believe I’m an expert in organising but I have definitely learnt a lot about making things easier to store so if you have any questions about my room or anything to do with storage then feel free to send me an email (auntiecole@gmail.com) – I’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to check out my blog for other ideas I have put together along the way you can find it here. Thanks again for taking the time to check out my Scraptopia and thanks to the ladies at Craft Storage Ideas for the privilege of sharing it with you all!

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Here’s a super loud thank you to Nicky for sharing her space and organizing ideas!  Did you see something you’d like to implement into your own craft space?  Share with us!

Nicky xo