Making Memories

Organizing Ribbon

I have a ridiculous amount of ribbon and have organized it a hundred different ways.  This has been my most successful attempt.  I utilize an Ikea kitchen island as a desk and it has a shelf underneath the drawers.  I need my ribbon to be handy, I need to find it quickly without hours of searching, I need to keep it clean, and I don't want to see it.  I bought these lined baskets on sale from Michaels, then stored ribbon in sandwich sized plastic bags, and stood them up inside each basket, arranged by color. 

For the ribbons themselves, I either wind small amounts in finger eights and utilize the ties that come with my boxes of garbage bags (string could work just as well), leave it on the roll, or cut it from trim cards.  The key for me is that the ribbon is in smaller bags, meaning I can easily grab a bag and see what's in there without having to rummage around in it.  It saves me a lot of time.  Granted, most people don't have this amount of ribbon to contend with, but....

Suzoone

Organizing Embellishments

I have an endless supply of small embellishments that need to be organized and easily accessible.  I purchase these plastic boxes that come with plastic jars (usually in the beading section of craft stores).  I can arrange small amounts of embellishments by type and then stack the boxes on a shelf.  I still see what I have, but it feels a lot less cluttered.

I take the candy store approach to organizing a lot of my larger odds and ends.  I mix various sized jars and again, display items by type.  In my case, there's baker's twine in one, buttons in another, butterflies, shells, pine cones, gift toppers, pressed cotton balls, corks, vintage millinery items, mini clothespins, etc.

How do you store your embellishments?

Suzoone

Organizing

Over the next two days, Suzoone is going to share with you her secrets for staying organized. Her number one tip is, make your supplies accessible! If your supplies are not accessible, you are more likely to forget about them, less likely to use them, and definitely likely to feel frustrated.

I use a lot of kitchen accessories in my office.  I use magnetic knife strips that I get from Ikea (I think they're about $5 or $6 each) to organize my hole punches, scissors, awls, wire cutter, etc.

I use a silverware tray to organize my Making Memories' Shimmer.  I insert it in the drawer horizontally and prop up all the bottles.  That makes it very easy to see what I have available and it's a very portable means of organizing. This is also a good way to store bottles of paint (if you have a manageable amount) - like Making Memories' Scrapbook Colors.

Check back tomorrow to see how I store my embellishments.

Wilna's Card Organization

This past Christmas we got so many beautiful Christmas Cards. I am so sentimental and I was looking for a way to store them in a creative way. This is not only applicable to Christmas Cards, but it can include Birthdays and Get well cards or any special occasions when you get a lot of cards like an Anniversary!

My idea is just so simple. Take a ordinary box like the one's you can get at Walmart (in packages of 3) for wrapping gifts in. Cover it with your favorite papers. I used Making Memories' Fa-la-la Paper for the Christmas Card box and some pretty Pink paper (from Making Memories' Animal Crackers) for the Birthday Card box.

 

After you have covered and embellished it, make sure you add a sticker to the side of the box so that when you display it in your book shelve, you can easily find the box and browse though it's contents. I love keeping cards. Sometimes when I make a card I look though old cards for some journaling ideas. Plus when you are as sentimental as I am, this is an ideal solution to all your cards.

Happy Organizing in 2009!
Wilna

Wilna's Scrap Space

Prepare to be jealous.  Wilna’s scrap space has received a makeover that will have you hitting up your local furniture/home improvement store to do the same.
If you thought it looked good before take a look at this before and after…

And more photos of what it looks like now:

 

 

Wilna said, "For years I have wanted a floor in my scrapbook room that's easy to clean (especially if I spill paint).  This fall we did some home renovations and I got a maple hardwood floor, so I want to share a few pictures of my new scrapbook room. Most of the furniture is from Ikea. I think my favorite thing in the whole room is the pink crystal chandelier that we got for $60 at a local retailer. It's just that final stamp that says, “girly-girl.” You can see more pictures of the room here.
Thanks for looking!

Laura's Scrap Space

I am very fortunate to have my own scrap space in our house. About two years ago, I moved up to the loft area in our upstairs. It is a fairly large open space and from there I can see all the bedrooms below. I share the loft area with my two girls. They have their computer desk, a TV and a big comfy chair, the foosball table, and extra floor space to play and I have all my scrapbook stuff. So even when I'm creating in my space, I am still hanging out and chatting with my girls at the same time. I love it.

 

My large black shelves are from IKEA, and I just love them. I had a really long wall on one side of the space, so I put two of these shelves side by side. I love that I can cram them full, and they don't look too busy. Or I can spread things out and make it a little bit more decorative. I love storing my supplies in baskets. I have a mix of wicker baskets, silver metal mesh baskets, and black metal mesh baskets. I organize in several ways. Some things are by product type. Like chipboard letters, letter stickers, rub-ons, etc. But I also have some things that I organize by manufacturer. I pretty much know where everything is. However I do love just dig around, going through baskets and bins till I find what I'm looking for. And more often than not, I will find things that I wasn't looking for that work perfectly too.

The rest of my furniture was all built by my mom. I'm lucky to have a very handy mom, and she can make me whatever I want to fit the size I want. I just come up with the dimensions that I have in mind and the style, and then she does everything from there. This island is one of my favorites. It is huge, 4 by 8 feet. The front side of it is actually for my girls and their scrap stuff, which would explain the messy side! When I don't have anything big going on, I keep the top pretty clean. I have a large black cutting mat, my trimmer, my embellishment box which holds all my brads, and two desktop carousels (one for me and one for my girls). When I am working on projects, the entire island will usually be covered in product.

 

On the long side of my island, I store all my paper and cardstock. I use horizontal paper trays for all my cardstock. The majority of it is organized by color, but I also keep some organized by collection or textures. I store my pattern paper in vertical paper holders, organized by manufacturer. I also have lots of 12" x 12" plastic boxes that hold different projects that I'm working on or need to work on. I have a few three-drawer plastic containers that hold my paper scraps, organized with a few colors in each drawer. The small white plastic bins directly under the desktop hold my tools, random adhesives, and stamping supplies. They are really easy to pull out and grab what I need, and then push the basket back in.

Another favorite of mine is my "embellishment shelf", also built by my mom. This shelf is only six inches deep, but is four feet wide and about six feet tall. It has nothing but jars, filled with every sort of embellishment you can think of. I find that if I can see things, I'll use them more. So when I am at the point on my projects where I'm ready to embellish, I simply walk over to my shelf and start scanning the jars for ideas. These jars are mainly organized by manufacturer. Although each manufacturer may be broken down into several jars. The bottom two shelves are all my random ribbons and buttons that I've collected from the craft store. But I also keep separate jars with ribbons and buttons from specific manufacturers.

In the corner of the space, I have a simple computer desk and my printers. I also have this large red cabinet that my mom built me. It has two sides to it, with four doors on the front. I used to store all my finished albums in there, but have recently moved those out. Now I use it to store supplies that I don't use that often. Spray paints, extra adhesives, foam stamps, extra albums and refills, my sewing machine and larger tools. On top of this cabinet, I have some really large jars that are filled with all my Making Memories ribbons. Like I mentioned before, I love storing things in jars. And the ribbon is one of my favorites. I will literally dump all the ribbon out onto my desk and look for the perfect one to match, and then in one big swoop it goes back in the jar. I also keep a few smaller jars of fun embellishments up there too, whatever I'm loving at the moment.

That's it for now.

Laura Vegas

Keisha's Scrap Space

I am so lucky to have a craft room such as this all to myself. 

We have 4 bedrooms upstairs and I took over one that we used to use as a playroom. The girls never played in it and all it did was store toys. I was out growing the little office we have downstairs pretty fast.  One day it dawned on me that I should take on the extra bedroom for my “toys.” 

   

My husband offered to have a craft table made for me, so of course I took him up on his offer.  Not long after that I had a desk with shelves made that was supposed to go into the closet. The measurements were off so it doesn’t’ actually fit in there, but still works in my space perfectly.

I love the six windows and high ceilings that flood the room with natural light, especially on sunny days.

There really isn't anything that I would change. It makes me feel good to be able to scrap in such a great space. I try real REALhard to keep it clean and organized.  My husband and the girls are often in here with me, they usually take over the computer while I am scrapping. It nice to have them around so I am not alone! I am lucky...and I am very grateful!

~Keisha

Wilna's Scrap Space

I love my scrapbook space. This little sanctuary is where I spend most of my time. It's my favorite room in my home. Often when my friends visit, we drink coffee in here. And this is where my creativity flourishes and my he{ART} gets it's wings. My favorite thing in this room is my iMac computer. I have a 20" screen right infront of my work space that provides my entertainment when I work! YES! like watching my favorite movies/ music dvd's or just listening to my favorite music on iTunes. Once you go Mac, you'll never go back!

Happy creating!
Wilna
x

Christy’s Scrap Space

Today for your viewing pleasure you get a real treat.  Here is a peak into Christy’s scrap space.

My office is one of my favorite rooms in our house. Probably because it's painted a very soothing aqua blue color which just relaxes me to be there. I also love my office furniture not only because it's functional but because my husband built most of it. He built me an "L" shaped desk.  On the right side the table top is only 24" wide (just wide enough to fit my computer, printers and office stuff). On  the left side I had him build it deeper to fit a 12" shelf (that sits at the back of the table)  plus another 18" of scrapbook space. It worked out perfectly! He built also built the bookcase on the right hand side of the room. Unfortunately in our old house our ceilings were 10' tall, but this house (which was built in the 70's) is only 8' high. So he ended up cutting off two of the bottom shelves to make it fit! He backed both the bookcase and the shelf with beadboard and then painted all of the furniture dark brown and sanded it down in places to give it a worn look. I am the kind of person who has to hide most of my scrapbooking stuff. Whether in baskets, boxes, or drawers I find it works best for me because I am not an organize person and this way I can just throw it in the drawer and close it! ( If you know me, I don't even fold my clothes, I just throw all my shirts right into the drawer.. is that bad?) 

Okay back to my room, on the right hand side of the room, is where my bookshelf is.  I  store my patterned paper, cardstock, and acrylic stamps in magazine holders (both 12x12 and 8x11) that I purchased from Ikea and Karen Foster Designs.  I also have a few baskets on this bookcase that houses my Making Memories foam stamps, mini books, and tools that I don't use very often (like my heat emboss gun, glue gun, die cut machines etc). On the top shelf I have photo boxes that house items like beads, fibers, thread, glitter etc. The bookcase is also home to my Albums filled with layouts.

Next to my bookshelf I have two tall furniture cabinets that I purchased at Target a few years ago. They were on clearance and at 30 bucks a pop were perfect for me (I am a very cheap person! LOL). They have 7 drawers in each of them that are 8"x15"13. These two pieces are reserved for my Making Memories product only. (Making Memories is great about sending us products to use for assignments.. YUM!) 

 

Each drawer holds things like rubons, stickers, chipboard, tags, buttons, brads and metals, tools and accessories (like the grommets, tag maker and punches), and least but not last all my Making Memories ribbons!  Next to my furniture drawers is a chair I found at a thrift store... I put rollers on the bottom so when guest come, they can roll around from space to space with me. I also use it to sit and read books, and magazines. 

Above my comfy chair, is the Making Memories MOS wall organizers to display my children’s artwork and favorite layouts/product on. 

The left side of my office is where the real work is done though. On the scrapbooking side of my "L" shaped desk, is where I keep the tools and products I use most. On the bottom shelf I found a fun basket with 6 slots in it that holds stuff like scissors, hole punches, stapler, adhesives, etc. I also have a couple of other baskets that hold my inks and other most used tools.  On The second shelf I keep all my non Making Memories ribbons in jars and a basket that holds all my Making Memories glitter. The top of the shelf was a perfect place for all my Making Memories paints, which I coordinate into rows by color. I also have pictures of my family above this space, which is great because it's where I scrap and spend most of my time looking.

I have a few other fun things in my office like my green two-teired basket which the lovely Keisha Campbell MADE ME BUY.. and I love!  It holds Making Memories storage bottles full of buttons and other fun products. By my office door I have a 3-tiered wire basket that stands about 5" tall, that I purchased at Tai Pan. It also holds Making Memories storage bottles full of flowers and all of my other flowers as well. I love using baskets for storage and my "assignment/project" basket is no acception. I purchased a wire file basket that holds 8x11 hanging file folders. Each time I have an assignment due for Making Memories or Scrapbooks Etc. BHG magazine, I gather my papers, pictures, and embellishments and put them in a folder until I am ready to work on it. I also use it to store layouts and projects I have finished before I mail them off. It's a great way to stay organized!

So that is my scrapbook space! I forget to mention the one piece that brings my whole room together. I purchased the rug on my floor a few years ago at Shopko and used it in my living room. When we moved into this house, and painted my walls blue, I knew that this rug had a new home!  It has all the wonderful colors I love so much and just grounds my space and makes it feel welcoming! I am blessed to have a space that I can work and create in. To be honest I am a very messy scrapper, and although I appear organized, if you look closely you will find clutter in corners and paint, ink and glue dots on my scrapbooking desk.. but I love it. It makes the room feel "lived in". Thanks for letting me share apart of my scrapbooking life with you! I hope this inspires you to find new ways to organize your scrapbooking products!

Christy

Maggie's Studio

I feel lucky to have an entire room in my home that I can use for scrapbooking! It really makes it so convenient and nice to have a big work area and all of my supplies within reach! It is also our den so we have a desk in the room with our computer, printer, etc. I spend a lot of time in here so my boys tend to be in here a lot too. I added a little kid-sized table and chairs so that they also have a place to sit and color or make projects. Matthew, especially, loves to "scrapbook" with me! I think he mainly just likes using all of my tools - punches, decorative scissors, etc!

Almost all of the furniture in the room came from Ikea. I have my desk on one wall and then bookcases on the other three walls. In the center I have an island where I do all of my creating and it has storage inside so I can keep all of my tools and most-used items right at my fingertips! The island is actually two wall cabinets from Ikea that we attached together (back-to-back). Then we added a table top and 4 legs - also from Ikea - and we ended up with the perfect work station! We put doors on one side of the island - the side that you see when you enter the room - and then we left the other side open, without doors, so that I can just reach down and get things easily! It is probably my favorite thing in the room - so functional and yet it was so inexpensive because we did it ourselves!

I am a very neat and organized person and I like to have everything in its place! I try to keep this room as orderly as possible so that I can think and be creative in here! I do make a mess while I am working on projects but I always have to clean everything up and get it back in order before I can move on to the next thing! It's just the way I function - I have a hard time focusing and being creative when things are cluttered and messy!

Maggie