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For being an organized – at least, I TRY! – person, I discovered that organized CHAOS works for me! I can handle messes much easier if things look somewhat ordered. So, when I have stuff all over my crafting area, it’s in neat piles, stacks, and there is actually a rhyme and reason to my madness! For me, aesthetic isn’t as needed as efficient. So when I store my card stocks, I do NOT follow the rule of organizing by rainbow colors. MANY crafters do this and it’s beautiful and visually appealing, but I prefer a different method.
I store my cardstock in two hanging file drawers by my desk area. Colors are NOT alphabetized, BUT are grouped in color families of SUBTLES, BRIGHTS, NEUTRALS, and REGALS. ALL current in Colors, as well as specialty papers such as vellum, water color, etc. are in the next drawer below. If you look in the pic above, you will see the tabs are off-set in 4 groups. When I need Blushing Bride I go straight to my first section which is subtles. When I need Jim – aka Pool Boy – to pull the Early Espresso card stock folder, I simply tell him group 3 to look for the color. Fast, speedy, and efficient AND IT WORKS FOR ME! My process may not appeal to you, but this is part of the crafting! The organizing and planning so you can quickly get to the crafting and playing versus searching and looking.
As do many paper crafters, I have my studio full of Stamp ‘N Storage inserts to store and organize my inks and paper. I love this little unit above because I can store pieces of each color here perfect for card bases. When I am ready to design, I can quickly pull the needed color base and start, OR cut a few if the color isn’t already there and slide them in. Some people may have troubles figuring out which green is which – I have thought in color for years with my painting, so it is easy for me to grab what I want without thinking “Is this Mint Macaron or Pool Party?” These units are designed to fit the IKEA cubbies which by the way are AWESOME!!! Lots of storage for a great price!!!
This unit helps me to store my open 6×6 DSP packets, but more importantly for me, my Basic White, Very Vanilla, and Basic Black card stocks, and more importantly, SCRAPS. We go through large amounts of all three of these colors, so this is our go to spot when in need. I stand the cardstock on the left, and a folder of the scraps to the right. Jim knows exactly where to go when he is searching for the scrap folders when running die cuts for classes. And yep, I can see I need to switch out the blacks, because the card stock should be on the LEFT and the folder to the RIGHT! I was hurrying to put things away before we left for New Orleans and I messed that one up! The reason I separate the folders by card stock is so you don’t accidentally pull two scrap folders at the same time. I speak from experience on that one!
Problem with 6×6 DSP packets is that I need MULTIPLES like 6 packets of each DSP when designing for card classes, and I can’t store everything in the unit pictured earlier. I have several of these acrylic boxes that are perfect by 6×6. Thanks to our friend Lynn – I tip my hat to the Queen Of PCOL – Paper Crafting Organization Land – she found these units in the Home store in the kitchen section since they are made for refrigerator and pantry storage. These are great storage pieces being clear and compact, perfect for a crafter! Put me in my craft room any day over a kitchen!
This gives you an idea of storage and organizing AND what works for ME! Everyone has to find their own way to organize. Because let’s face it – the idea is to be able to CRAFT, not SEARCH and DIG for things because you don’t know where it’s at. I DO THAT TOO, but only because I set something off to the side like an ink pad. When it comes to paper, I’m pretty efficient.
Final Goal – we want to play and craft! Remember playing Barbie’s with a friend, and it took so long to sit up our houses, and matching the right shoes and outfits, etc., we ran out of time to play before we had to pick it up and go home???? What fun is that???
Have a great day and go play!!! Keep stamping and crafting, and God Bless!
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