Scrap Room Organized!!! The Reveal

I am in love with my space!! It was a lot of work but so worth it. You can see how my room was set up before HERE. The layout of the room is still the same but I organized the closet and re-organized what was in my cubes and bookshelf. I would love for you to come along on the tour with me. Hopefully you can uses some of my ideas to help organized your crafting space. Let's start with my closet storage.

I took everything out of it (which is why my previous post looked like this) and sorted all the items into 3 piles. Keep, donate/trash, or move to storage. I am trying to only keep scrapbook/DIY/school items in my room, so only those items were allowed in the keep pile. I also knew I was not using my space in my closet effectively. Since this is not a closet that will be holding clothes I have the ability to go vertical in my storage. A quick trip to Target and I picked up this 20.00 bookcase. I added some cute paper to the back to make it pop! Meijer had these pink bins on sale and I had no problem finding supplies to put in them. I then added my favorite Martha Stewart chalkboard labels, and wrote what was in the bins with my Bistro Chalk Marker. I added some colorful paper and washi tape to my magazine files to give them a fresh look. The polka dot box (also wrapped in new paper) is my mist/glitter/glue spray box - the inside is not as pretty as the out! The cheveron bin (also a sale find at Meijer) holds all my vinyl and shelf paper.

 I have a love/hate relationship with wire shelving. I hate when things fall through the wire or sit funny. My only shelf in my closet right now is a wire one. To avoid this I took some foam board and some pretty shelf liner to lay on the wire rack. I choose to put the foam board face down because who is really going to see that pretty shelf liner if it is under all my items??? I keep items that I use every so often up top like my sewing machine (I have never used it but I swear I am going to learn how to sew!), spray paints, photo albums, office supplies, and miscellaneous scrapbooking tools.

The biggest change I made was what lives in my big expedit. I thought about the last few times I worked at my desk what I used. I made a list, and then began moving those items into the expedit. I now have scrapbooking items that I use the most at my finger tips.

I of course had to label everything to satisfy my labeling obsession! 

Also in the lower cubes I have office supplies/tools that I use all the time, my planners/binders and files. This is a combo room and I do homework, planning, blogging, and more in this room.

 

In my bookcase I decided to only house my scrapbook albums that I am currently working on or know of pages that need to be added to them. My stickers still live in the zip up binders and my cricket cartridges fit perfect in my narrow shelf. I added my 8.5 x 11 cardstock papers as I use those a ton and need those with in reach. 

All my electrical cords live in the little drawer, and the big drawer is an open space to add items that need a space after living in this space awhile. The bottom shelf holds mostly my patterned paper in the carry cases.

The patterned paper was another disaster that you could see. I really needed to organize this as well. So here is what it looks like now! I love it.

I sorted out my papers by what the papers were - stripes, polka dot, holiday, etc. Again using my favorite way to label -Washi tape and my label maker - I labeled inserts.  I then cut a label on my Silhouette and laminated it to create a label of what was in the box, and stuck it on the outside of the box. I laminated the label first because I like change. In 6 months I might not like having my patterned paper in these boxes, or I might accumulate more paper and need to shift paper around. With the label laminated I can just remove the label tape and make a new label to stick on there!

Another big change was this baby in the corner. There was no organization to these drawers. I had all kinds of stuff in each drawer and most of it were things I hadn't used in years. I am a firm believer in using up my scraps! So after every project I sort my solid scraps by color, and I used to keep them in a 12 x12 box (like the ones that hold my pattern paper). This worked for awhile but due to the various sizes of the paper it was becoming a mess. I decided to give each color it's own drawer. So now all my color scraps live here! The top drawer is my pattern scraps drawer for now. I am starting to get quite a few scraps so I might have to come up with a new place for these soon.

Across the room my 12 x 12 solid paper still live in these drawers, organized by the rainbow!

I still use my Cricut, so this guy lives on top of my smaller expedit. Below are in the cubes are items that I use but not daily, and items that I don't need at my fingertips. It houses a lot of my binders, school stuff, and photo boxes. 

This is where the tour ends. I hope you enjoyed your tour and maybe even picked up and idea that you can use. I would love to hear any of your ideas that you have used in your scrap room/craft room. Leave me a comment below!

My Scrapbook Gallery

One of the "non-visible" projects in organizing my scraproom, was to take pictures of all the layouts I have done, and post them to my gallery. This is a big, over due project!! I first had to wait for a some what sunny day, which here in Chicago, in the middle of winter, is hard to come by. Once my lighting was good I snapped away. 

I then did a little brightening, cropping and a few other edits in Photoshop and was ready to upload. When I went into my account at Scrapbook.com I had to make some edits here too. First off I was still 34!! Nice!! The boys were a little bit younger too. I also need to shift around some of the previous layouts I had in there, and separate out my paper layouts from my digital layouts. 

It took awhile to complete this project but I am so glad I got it done. I have learned so much from others sharing their techniques and tips that I just want to do the same -  pay it forward. So hop on over to my gallery and let me know what you think. 

Laura's Gallery @ Scrapbook.com

Labeling - my favorite ways to label

I have been hard at work organizing my scrap room! Have I ever told you I LOVE to label things??? Well I do and my scrap room is my favorite place to do a labeling project. If you are a scraper you know how messy things get when your scrapping. I sometimes have to stop and clean up a bit before I can continue working on a page. 

I like to have a place for all my scrapbooking supplies and have them at my finger tips. I use several different types of storage bins to keep my supplies organized. But what good is a bin with scrapbooking supplies in them if there is no label on the outside of the bin telling me what goodies are inside. 

I have a few favorite ways to label. 

1. My favorite is Washi tape and my label maker. I use this type of labeling for file folders, but also used it in my re-organizing of my scrap room.

2. Making my own and laminating. Sometime I need a "tough" label, or a label that can get messy and would need to be wiped off. I love to make my labels in Photoshop and use all the neat fonts out there. However, for Christmas I got a Silhouette and something tells me that I will be playing with that the next time I need to make a label! 

3. My other favorite way to label is with chalkboard labels. I love to use these on containers that the contents in the container might change. I am constantly organizing. Sometimes my "OMG this is an awesome organizing idea" ends up flopping after living with the idea in action. Being able to wipe the label and write a new label makes those not so great ideas disappear!

What ways do you label? I would love for you to share your ideas. I am always looking for new ideas.

January's Focus - Organizing My Scraproom - The Details

My word this year is focus so I have been trying very hard to focus on one project at time and completing it from start to finish. So I just wanted to pop in with the details.

I am currently working on taking this mess:

and this mess:

to an organized state. There are some very visible projects and some not so visible projects involved in this re-organize of my scraproom. Here is the break down, and I will be showing you a few peeks every few days with the grand reveal at the end of the month

1. FUNCTION: now that I have lived in my scraproom for awhile I have found things I need are not where I need them. I sat in my room and really thought about what I need close to me, and what I use every so often that I didn't mind getting up for. I also thought about what is in this room that is does not need to be here.

2. CLOSET - I cannot do a California Closet at this time so I need to work within a small budget and make this storage area more efficient and organized. 

3. LABELING - it is needed all over my room!

4. PURGING - getting rid of or donating scrapbook items that I no longer use.

5. STORAGE - using all storage that I have on hand to make a more organized space.

6. UPDATING - updating my Scrapbook.com account to reflect what I have created. Updating my "scrapbook to do list" to know what pages I still need to do, what pages I need to add journaling (knowing the pages I need to create helps keep me focused). Updating my blog to reflect more of my love for scrapbooking memories.

My goal in this project is to create a space that functions for me, that shows me what I have available to create, that creates a sense of calm when I enter it, that keeps important tools at my fingertips. I am half way through this project but have a lot to go. So come on back to see my progress!

One Word 2014

Happy New Year!! 

I love starting off fresh in January thinking about everything I will accomplish in the New Year! Now I am not one who sets resolutions, but I have always been a goal setter. The past two years I have participated in the one word movement and have had great success with it. My first year I choose the word CHANGE and you can read about it here. Last year I choose the word ORGANIZE.

To reflect on my one word for 2013 I had two areas I wanted to organize - my home and my life. Moving into a new home required me to organize a lot. I got motivated with some help of my favorite bloggers and ended up winning fabulous prizes for my organize home. Go check out my organized playroom that won me first place. 

I also organized my life better this past year. I went back to using a planner where I actually write things down. I attempted to use a technology planner (Cozi) so I would always have it on my phone but it just wasn't working for me. I think because I am such a visual person I needed to write things down (in pretty colored pens too!). There are so many free printables for planners online. I used several printables from Jamie at DIY Home Sweet Home when I created my household binder. 

It was so colorful and worked out great for me. I was remembering more, staying on task more, and overall just felt more organized in keeping track of things in my life and my family's life. Organizing is a never ending word for me as I am constantly organizing, and re-organizing. 

So bring on 2014! What's my one word this year???

Yep Focus! I have so many projects on my to do list, started but not finished, and rolling around in my head but no plan for them yet. I need to focus and complete the ones I have started, plan for the ones in my head, and act on the ones on my to do list.

I have to focus more on my school, my blog, my family, and me this year. I need to focus more on staying on task, having a plan for everyday, and focus on sticking to it. 

I need to focus on not getting distracted. This will be a hard one for me because it happens all the time. I go to get one thing out of the pantry and the next thing I know I am re-organizing it because it's a mess. I need to get better at putting the "need to re-organize the pantry" on my to do list and stay focused on that days tasks! 

Do you have a one word? I would love to hear about it. Feel free to leave me a comment or link up you blog so others can be inspired by our one words.

Christmas Fun!!

Tonight I surprised the boys with a 

Christmas box of fun. 

I found the tickets HERE but they said the minivan express. Well I don't own a minivan so I opened them up in Photoshop, made a  few custom edits to personalize them, and printed them out. I then ran them through my laminator so we can use them year after year. 

After whipping up a few hot chocolate K-cups ( love these!), some marshmallows, bag of popcorn, a few cookies, and an envelope for the tickets, I put them into a Christmas box. The boys were so excited when they opened the box!! We have a house, not to far from us, that has you tune to a radio station in your car to watch the lights dance to the music. The Kotwica Express was a big hit and I can't wait to do it again! 

Merry Christmas!

Handmade Christmas Cards

This year I made my Christmas cards. I have done this before, and I love to do it, but you have to have some time on your side. I have over 50 cards that I send out! So doing the same card 50 times was just not an option for me. I knew I would get bored fast.

I found my cards at Hobby Lobby and loved that they had some chevron prints in the mix. I can never get enough chevron in my day! Then I used a mix of Cricut cartridges and cuts on Sure Cuts a Lot to make the pieces of my cards. 

Here are all the cards I made. I hope you get some inspiration from them! 

Merry Christmas!!!