Battle: Organize Scrap-Space

Battle: Organize Scrap-Space, a set on Flickr.

Yesterday I had the house to myself. After finishing some work in the morning, I went to Ikea in the afternoon with the intent to check out the Alex cart that other scrapbookers have recommended. See, I intended to play and scrap this weekend, but the mess was just too much for me. Luckily it was in stock, I got to see it and found that the plastic drawer containers that another Instagrammer (Mrs Jenny G) had recommended would fit great.

I was excited. But dang that box was heavy!

But I got it put together and stayed up until 2am puttering, but I got it done and am so happy with it!

So here is the current state of things in my scrap space. I wouldn't call it a studio, because on the other wall of this room is my bed and the computer is in here too. Oh the joys of living in a small space!

Here we go! Here is what I see when I come in: This is a bookcase from Ikea. Still needs some work as you can see. The white boxes hold page protectors and materials files for projects in progress. I have vertical organization of 12x12 and 8.5x11 papers by color. Library of Memory category boxes and binders by color: All About Us (black), People We Love (red), Places We Go (brown) and Things We Do (green). Just to the right I have my Project Life albums, for 2011 and 2012, which are grey We Are Memory Keepers albums in 12x12. Various other storage containers, vintage locker baskets hold stuff yet to be tackled. The silver boxes have my wooden Stampin Up stamps and another one holds punches. Behind the doors are books and a plastic container that holds essentials like adhesive and other products. Let's just say I'm happy to have doors on the bottom!

Here we welcome the newest member of my scrap space: the Alex 6 drawer cart from Ikea. More to come on that below.

My work table. Also from Ikea. Can I just say I love it?

Above it I have a metal organizer from the Container Store which I also love.  Updated: I found the link! Here it is. The Polytherm Grid System. In the pantry section no less!

I love that I can change things up from time to time. Currently I have baskets with my clear stamps and current favorites, my embellishments in spice tins from Ikea, a banner with photos (I like to change that part up for inspiration), a vintage chalkboard where I will write my latest project on to keep me somewhat focused, a big vintage A that I found on my first trip to an antique store and haven't found another like it since!

Also the brown basket is from Target. I love that it fits 12x12 papers in it. I have my current favorites and current projects in it in plastic envelope sleeves from Hobby Lobby. I also store alphabet, number and label/border stickers in sleeves here. I really like having it so handy.

Moving to the left of that, various binders including my One Little Word and Move More Eat Well binder- the orange Russell + Hazel one. A blue Smashbook that is my Me: A to Z book. The green mini drawer container is from Target and holds items I use most right now. Some inks, date stamps, washi tape and embossing powders. The grey box is from the Container Store and holds tools I use all the time: punches, scissors, tape, Tiny Attacher, Crop a Dile, etc. Nice having so close and the lid pops up easily.

Next to that is my collection of mists, paints, glossy accents glue, etc. I found it at an estate sale, where the gentleman's grandfather had made it when he was a kid. Just seemed like the perfect use for it and I love it. Then there is my Ikea 6 drawer box, which I have had since my very first Ikea trip back in 2001 or so. I added Martha Stewart chalkboard labels recently which has been fun. It's been a well-used item over the years. And hanging from the metal rack are fabric bins I found at Target. They hold my clear acrylic blocks for stamping, grid cards for project life and then the big one tends to collect stuff.

I love glass jars: I rotate product in these just to keep it fun. Right now I put some of my bakers twine and fabric tapes as well as some wood veneer letters in the small one.

This is my Project Life bin. Found it at the Container Store. I wanted another locker basket but this one fit perfect and I really like it. Holds the Clementine core kit, 6x6 paper pads, Martha Stewart labels, and letter stickers all in one place. And it's portable!

A happy little bowl of recent purchases/tidbits that just can I say it: make me happy! (Maggie likes to pretend she is drinking soup out of my little bowls. Which is totally cute until she really puts things in her mouth!) I got this bowl recently from Jenni Bowlin at the Country Living fair. She is just amazing so this bowl really makes me happy!

Closer look at the Ikea box of mini drawers. Little vintage butter pat bowls. Mini salt and pepper shakers hold glass glitter. A flower frog holds a vintage number 3 for three people in our family and a letter H for Haring. And a few ceramic bowls from yard sales hold stamps and paint brushes. I like having them out and handy.

Paints and mists.

Acrylic stamps. I am getting quite the collection!

Spice tins from Ikea hold various small items. Buttons, paper clips, little rubber stamps, metal embellishments, etc. The tops are clear so it's easy to see what is in them.

Love this quote from Elise. You can find it here. The one above it is free from Simple Scrapper. You can find it here.

Basket from Target with current papers and projects.

Spice tins are perfect for my new little rubber cling stamps. These are from Bananafish studio and from Nicole Reaves.

And now here is Alex! The top three drawers are smaller but fit utensil holders quite nicely. Currently have my tags and other favorite tidbits here. Vintage jello mold tins are also fun for holding little items.

Second drawer: muffin tins! I have my flair tin, plus two vintage ones holding my Studio Calico veneers plus one is a jumbled mess. I tried doing Twelve this year and organizing by color in the tins. It was just too much for my brain and I will eventually organize it. I may try doing it by color just to have a quick selection of items, but trying to match them up with categories was too tough for me. So I let it go. That's how it goes with projects. Some things work and some don't. What works for one won't necessarily work for another. And that is ok! I've also got a few extra spice tins here and a vintage graniteware pan there with larger embellishment sheets, etc.

Third drawer: holds my stamp press so far! I like the idea of leaving some room to grow here. Not sure what it will be yet.

Fourth drawer: the first larger drawer holds these plastic bins from Ikea just perfectly. I've got things for cards here, plus other embellishments like the office metal tags, chipboard, etc.

Fifth drawer: holds my small scraps, and I decided to put some of our most used Martha Stewart paints here. Maggie loves getting them out and painting with them (supervised of course!)

Last drawer: Right now holding a few bags for my Scrapbook on the Road adventures. If I ever go to crops or to my LSS to scrap then I use a few of these. And my little reflector. Used it on a recent photo shoot and it worked beautifully!

So there it is! That's kind of where things are right now. Under the big table is another post for another day! I am really happy with the Alex cart and it was totally worth hauling it up the stairs and putting it together. I followed Sam's advice to lay everything out first. It made it so much easier.

Anyways, hope that was fun! Oh, and I decided to put my 2012 Project Life binder out top of Alex. I did better in Jan-March when it was out but had put it up for the past two months and very little has been done in it. I think having it out will be a good thing.

Until next time when Battle Organization continues, because we all know it will! :)