STEP 6 - FLOWERS & RIBBON & EMBELLISHMENTS
I NEVER EVER EVER used flowers until my friend Jean and I went to a scrabooking weekend.  She is a flower maniac and one day I needed just a little something on a page.  She recommended a flower and gave me some to use.  Well, that was the beginning of a "horrible" addiction. :)  Thanks Jean!   Then we went to the scrapbooking Expo in NJ and I was hooked on Prima Flowers and then there was a spray to spritz on the flowers!  This is wonderful!


So now that I have these hug jars and containers of flowers, what the heck do I do with them?  I can't throw them in the closet, there isn't a bin large enough, and I can't take them out and shove them in a box or envelope.  Hmmmmmmm, the only thing I could think of is to grab my 50% off coupon and go to Michaels!!!!  What else?  I bought the wall unit with shelves and the ribbon dowel.  I LOVE everything about it!!!!  Except the ribbon dowel.  It is too fat and doesn't fit in the hole of 99% of my ribbons.  I had to but a plain wooden dowel, cut it, and use that instead.  You can't tell so I'm okay with it.


I was also able to put all of my brads, eyelets, and buttons on one shelf instead of a drawer where I never saw them.


In the middle shelf, I didn't know what to put.  I was at my grandparents house the other night and we were talking about the original camera, the Brownie.  My grandfather said he had a Baby Brownie from the 1930s and I could have it!!!! OMG!!!  It is adorable and in amazing condition.  I thought it would be the perfect piece to put on that shelf in my craft room!  Thanks Granddad!


This wall unit is my favorite piece in the whole room!

STEP 5 - TOOLS

As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for about 6 years now, I have collected almost every punch they sold.  They take up A LOT of room and are clunking.  Thank goodness they switched to a more streamlined "box" style.  They are much easier to store.  They are the grey ones in the picture on the shelf.  The big black ones I had in the closet just tossed in a metal bin.  I could never find the one I want, would just toss them around trying to move them out of the way, and I couldn't really see in the back of the bin in the closet.  I wanted them out where I could get to them.  I brought a white shelf from my bedroom in and bought adorable little yellow bins from the dollar store.  In the top bin are the regular shapes- squares, circles, ovals, etc.  In the second bin down are the other ones- butterfly, label, flower, etc.  On the third shelf are the new style punches.

I had two more shelves available.  So in the tall one, I put all of my Sizzix Big Shot materials.  On the bottom shelf, in the other yellow bin are all of my Cricut cartridges (I only have a few- I'm a newbie.) :)

STEP 4 - Scraps  :(
Those little guys that you have sitting around, don't use, but hate throwing away, and then forget you have it and cut up a brand new piece of cardstock instead, only to have more scraps!

So originally, I had all of my scraps in a bin.  Well, the bin wasn't big enough after a short time.  Then I kept my colored scraps in a box and my neutrals in a plastic holder.  Nowhere near each other mind you.  Makes complete sense to ummm,,,,,,NOBODY!

So my first idea actually came from my friend Jeff who does not scrapbook at all but is a teacher also and knows all of the organizational strategies we use in the classroom.  He said, why not use the magazine files you have sitting around?  Each box can be a different group of colored scraps.  I thought he was a genius!  Here is how it turned out.

One box was for neutrals, one for patterns, one for warm colors, and one for cool colors.  Plus the red and white boxes matched my room!  Perfect!  EXCEPT, where the heck was I going to put my 12x12 scraps???

So I took them all out again and looked around the room  Low and behold, I have a 12x12 cube for 12x12 hanging folders!  That 40% off sale gets me every time! :)

Awesome!  I have 12x12 file folders at arm's reach with all of my scraps.  I have files for pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, light neurtals, dark neutrals, and patterned paper.  I think this is going to be the easiest way for me to utilize the scraps and them not get out of control!

STEP 3 - PAPER!!!!  PAPER!!!!  PAPER!!!!
I am SHOCKED at the amount of paper that I have.  AND I feel silly hoarding and not wanting to waste any on my cards/books.  From the following pics, I have plenty to go around. :) 

The first thing I did was to group my paper.

• 8.5x11 solid
• 12x12 solid
• 12x12 patterned
• kits
• other sizes

I put them in piles on my table.

Then I took one pile at a times and organized it.  Since 90% of my paper is Stampin' Up!, I organized my solids by color family.  I did this for my 8.5x11 solid and my 12x12 solid.

The solids went on the shelves on my 12x12 cubes from Michaels.  I like to have my paper easily accesible to me and not in boxes.

The top 5 are organized by color family with my 8.5x11 paper sitting on top of my 12x12.  The third from the bottom is my 12x12 glitter papers (LOVE THEM!!!).  The second one up holds my 12x12 pattern paper.  The bottom shelf holds paper that is SU! and retired. 
Now I'm done right??? WRONG! What about the numerous pads of paper that I HAD to have?  The ones that are 40% off this week only!  (and the next week, and two weeks from now, and I can use a coupon on the weeks they aren't on sale)  BUT..... I needed them THAT week.  So what do I do with those?  Well, again, if they are not near me, I will not use them.  Or worse, forget I have them and buy them again (sound familiar?).  So I put them right next to  me, along with my odd shaped pads, kits, and albums.

YEAH!! Paper is done!!!!  Uh oh, what is that small piece of paper sticking out of that drawer????  Could it be?????  AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  It's a SCRAP!  Where the heck are they going?!?!?!

STEP 2 - List
Now that I actually "saw" what I had, I listed it all in a spreadsheet.  I did it using Excel but you could do it anyway you'd like.  I am attaching the first part of the list I made and you are free to use it and/or change it to fit your craft room.  If you want me to send you the full and detailed one I made, jot me a note and I'll email it to you.  The important information that I wanted to get from the list is if how I'm storing my supplies works for me.  If it is working Alleluia!  More often than not, it isn't working. (Which is why I'm renovating to begin with.)  This is where the hours of searching on the internet, and Pinterst, and those magazines will come in handy.  Jot down ideas for those supplies that you think would work for you.  Don't worry about the budget yet.  That comes later.  Right now, let's dream...........hhhmmmmm.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  Ok, back to reality.  Fill out those lists and get ready for the next step.

Step by Step Craft Room Transformation

Step by Step Craft Room Transformation

July 15, 2012
So it's time to finally organize and finalize my craft room.  I have more "stuff" than I know what to do with.  I have looked everywhere online to get ideas, pictures, color schemes, etc.  I think I have a handle on what I want.  I think. :)  I'm going to walk you through my process step by step.  I hope you get some ideas for your own room.  Please feel free to share your own ideas and pictures too!

STEP 1 - What am I working with????
I needed to see what I actually have.  I cleared off things that were on the "counter" area and put everythere somewhere.  Not it's final home, but somewhere out of my way.  I cannot focus if I have to keep stepping over everything.  So I recommend taking pictures.  Then you can see what your room looks like from another person's point of view.  I didn't think my room was bad UNTIL:

This is only one wall!!!  I have paper shoved everywhere, flowers all over (thanks to my friend Jean), and ribbon squished in boxes.  I don't have any window treatments, the rabbits' litter boxes in the corner, and no consistancy at all.

Wall number two- A little better but kinda BLAH!!  BORRRRING!!!  Stuff is tucked sideweays and hey, there's MORE paper and MORE flowers!  :)

Yes, those door or mirrors- very 80's I know. LOL  That's on my list to change someday.  What is this you ask???  JUNK- CDs that no one listens to and a piece of IKEA furniture that I bought 3 years ago to hold my crystal figures. Yup, still just sitting there.  The clock doesn't work, the ottoman doesn't get used, and I probably don't need a framed copy of my college diploma sitting there.  Let it go Lisa, let it go.

OMG!! What the hell is this wall????  It once had a couch that reached the bottom of the NY skyline.  Now the skyline looks dumb.  It's ok.  You can say it.  It looks dumb.  That's gotta go.  And yes, there are the litter boxes again and a gate that obviously didn't keep the bunnies out of the room once they chewed their way through.

Closet time- At some point I must have thought that if I put it in a box and shoved it in the closet that it was put away.  This closet needs tome TLC!  Let's look at the other side shall we?

There are no words.....................

So the whole experience of taking pictures and really taking a step back from the room helped me see what I have, what is working and clearly, what is NOT working.  I will be back later to share Step 2- Lists. :)