Craft room overhaul!

I started the process of sorting through my stuff. In an attempt to organize everything in a way that would be useful to me and help to keep my stuff clutter free and accessible, I got some racks to sort my papers. At first I bought a collapsible metal file drawer bin (or whatever it’s called) and it came with hanging file folders. This was great; I was able to sort my papers by color and theme. Over time, however, it turned into a disaster. (this is the overflowing bin to the right of my desk).
It became a quick dumping zone for scraps and other papers I wanted off my desk while I was working and I rarely went back to properly place papers into their correct folders. After a few months, I took out all the paper stacks (themed paper bound together) and piled them on top of tubs because I used these coordinated papers more than the individual ones. Soon the file bin became a home for lost and loose papers (that didn’t belong to a stack or theme) and it became jammed packed. I rarely got into it and since I couldn’t reach papers I had previously put in there, I just forgot about them.

Seeing that this wasn’t working out and was becoming an eyesore, I decided that I will clean out this monstrosity and devise another plan. At first I thought of using a type of upright rack that you use to sort mail. I figured that if I laid my paper flat I wouldn’t be able to thumb through to find what I wanted and it would get messy. So I got a rack, but the coil rack proved too small to use for this purpose. I went back to the craft store and found what I wanted, but the price was outrageous!!! $20 for one metal rack was absurd! It’s like paying $7 for a tiny bottle of flowers just because it’s labeled for “scrap booking”, when you can get a bunch for a buck from a Hawaiian lei! Since I was determined to find something, I went to Staples Office Supplies on a whim. Wouldn’t you know it? They had what I wanted, but bigger and better, but best of all on sale for $3!!!! I bought two. You can get a better visual here.

When I got them home they proved so sturdy that I used them sort the massive amounts of paperstacks I had from DCWV and K&Company (among others)! I used these the most anyways and the racks were so handy that I could pull out what I needed and easily put back whatever was left when I was done. I’m not sure these racks would have the same effect on the loose papers as the other and so I’m at a loss what to do with them.

The good news is that as I sort through these papers however I find stuff that I bought 5 years ago and never used. Some of these are wonderful papers that can be used on multiple projects and some I know I’ll never use and can be passed on to a new home in a swap or to a friend. I think that once I condense the amount of paper, I’ll be able to fit it all back into the metal folder system with ease. Since I hardly ever use it anyways, it won’t become congested if I move it away from my desk to find a new home in my room.

Another thing I have done recently was to sort my projects and store them in one place. I used to work on a project (for example: my Camping album) and when I was finished I would put all the papers, embellishments, flowers, ribbons etc. back to their rightful places, but when I wanted to work on it again the next day I had to start all over and pull everything again. After a while I would just heap everything in a stack and put it on my floor. Imagine having various piles of craft supplies on your floor! Needless to say, this wasn’t working. So, on a trip to the Dollar Tree with my mom we found these 12x12 wide, clear plastic envelopes that expanded to an 1 deep! They were perfect for storing my work-in-progress projects. The best thing was they tie closed and are clear so I can see at a glance what’s in them!!!! I ended up buying 10 of them and they are now neatly stacked (filled with projects) in my metal racks. The best part is seeing something similar at my local scrap book store for like $4 each!

The next task was to get rid of my blue tubs on the left against the wall. I thought at first that these would be great to store stuff I don’t use very often, but soon they turned into another place to dump stuff I wanted out of the way. I started cleaning them out and found that half the stuff in there was stuff I didn’t want and I found other homes for them. Since I needed a place to set my racks on, but that would still be accessible I figured that a small bookshelf (like the one my TV is sitting on) would be the way to go. I started shopping around nearly fainted at how expensive these things were. The cheapest one I found was $50 and it was ugly and black. I’m more of a wood kind of gal when it comes to home décor. So I went home and tired to picture the perfect wood shelf thing. A few days later I was able to get one from work! Read the full story here

With the blue tubs gone and the new shelf in place, my room is starting to look less cluttered. I know that this will take time, but so far the small improvements have had big results to the overall feel and practicality of the space. As I go I continually sort items into their own bins: faux flowers, tags, brads, embellishments etc. It’s taking some time, but everything is starting to come together.