Workspace Wednesday: Paper Storage

Pretty papers are such a big part of my scrapbooking. Give me paper and I can make just about anything. Flowers, embellishments, journaling cards, you name it! Which means that I may have a wee bit of a paper addiction. If I see a pretty paper, it is hard to walk away! So inexpensive and useful, I think. Well, I don't know how I jammed all of my supplies into one little closet, but a whole room is so much better! I finally have a place for all of my pretty papers, and my storage system makes it so much easier to find that paper that I know I have "somewhere". It took a few days and evenings to label and sort, but this is my system, and right now it is really working for me.

I store most of my papers in these fantastic storage units from Wal Mart's Better Homes And Gardens brand , for less than 70 bucks each:

The fabric cubes in the bottom of the storage units are also from WalMart, about 6 bucks each, and they have quite a few color choices. So roomy,and they fit the storage units perfectly. I don't have an Ikea anywhere close to me, and these units fit my 12x12 papers and albums very well, so this is a great solution for me.
I have loads of paper pads, because that is what is most readily available to me, from Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx/Marshall's, and Joann's.  I saw the idea of labeling the spines or sides with a Sharpie on a craft organization group on Facebook that I am a part of, thought it was brilliant, and had to duplicate it:

Labeling the sides makes it so much easier to pull the collection I want, and I use these paper pads all of the time when I am pulling papers for my monthly stash kits (I'll show you how I store my kits another day). I also have them grouped by manufacturer, just to make it a little easier. This saves me so much time when making my kits, because I don't have to pull out all of my paper pads to find the right one! I have a pretty good memory for what most of these paper pads contain within each collection. And yes, I still have some Hot Off the Press booklets of paper. Anyone else? Or is it just me? LOL!

My loose papers and cardstocks are sorted by color into Cropper Hopper Paper Holders , which I also found on WalMart.com for about $6.50 each.

I made the labels myself with some chalkboard label downloads and sticker paper, and cut out by hand.
The only thing I don't like? They are jam packed FULL, especially the Brown and Cream bin. Which means I can't purchase loose paper without using or getting rid of some. Oh well, I have realized in doing my craft room that, save the occasional adhesive purchase, I have enough supplies to scrapbook for a LONG time with out buying anything at all...but, new goodies are so much fun! I guess a mini freeze on scrappy spending until Christmas might not be too painful. We'll see...

How do you store your scrapbook papers? Link me up or leave me a comment,  I would love to see!

Workspace Wednesday

I haven't forgotten my promise to show you my crafty space when it's all finished, but for now, I will keep showing you bits and pieces, as I put them back into the room. I am ever so slowly getting all of my little bits unpacked and organized. I have decided that, as I am a very visual person, the best type of organization is by color. So, here is a peek at some of my pretties as I sort and put them away:

A spice rack for brads that I picked up at a garage sale, and I spray painted (my room's accent colors are red and turquoise), and punched pinked circles to label the lids:

A rolling cart of drawers that I purchased with a gift card on line for my flowers (still working on sorting and filling this as I have tons of flowers):

Now, any ideas or inspiration for using all of these flowers?

Workspace Wednesday...It's A Process!

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that I have been working on making over the bedrooms in my house. Lucky for me, one of those bedrooms that I am making over is going to be a scrapbook studio! I have been working on it, and organizing, organizing, organizing, organizing....16 years of scrapbooking=A LOT of stuff! I will show you a few little peeks, and when I get it done (hopefully with in the next week or two!), I will show you my whole room completed.
disclaimer: These photos are all taken with my phone, I will pull out my "real" camera for the big reveal.
Here is the space I started with:

Negatives: dingy walls and trim, 20 year old wallpaper on one wall (it was a fabric wall paper and kind of fuzzy-it was probably gorgeous and expensive way back when), ancient ceiling fan, loose outlets (all the plugs fall out), broken blinds, old, bent register cover that doesn't open...

Positives: Great space, great windows, lots of potential-and hey, it's a studio space of my very own!

I started by taking down the wallpaper and patching holes-it's messy but necessary!

After I got it all puttied, filled, sanded, and painted, Eric came in and wired a new ceiling fan for me, wired new electrical outlets, and hung new plantation blinds and valances (I am sooo blessed to have such a handy hubby!):

And I started bringing in the furniture:

Which I am now in the process of unpacking into, labeling, moving things around, and filling. I can't wait to show you all the big reveal! Soon, I promise!