Welcome to the ScrapCave

My scrap room is a perpetual work in progress. I am somewhat of a neat freak, and I am always looking for the best way to keep things organized and easily accessible. At this point, I am reasonably happy with my system and I am really excited to be able to share it with all of you!

First of all, my scrap room doubles as my study. Of course, I call it my scrap room, but if my husband hears me, he quickly reminds me that it is a "study." However, on occasion, he will sarcastically refer to it as my "cave" because if I am not cooking meals or entertaining my children, this is where I can be found.

Because this room is also our study, I tried to give it a neat, organized and professional look. It is the first room you see when you enter my house so that is important. Fortunately, that wasn’t much of a stretch for me, because even if my room were in a basement, it would look pretty much the same. I am a messy scrapper, but when I finish a layout, I have to clean up before I begin my next project. In fact, I can’t even go to sleep at night if my supplies are not put away.

In my room, I have two work surfaces. The first is my table desk. I generally keep that free of clutter so that I can spread out when I begin working on a project. Second is my computer desk with hutch. My computer is my most prized possession and I need to have it at my fingertips at all times. On my hutch, I keep my magazines, idea books, Zig Pen set, QuicKutz and my Xyron sticker maker. I rarely refer to my magazines so I do not subscribe to very many. But, they do make for nice decoration. I also have two of my favorite layouts displayed on the wall next to my hutch in Picture It page frames.

Next to my desk is a two-drawer lateral file cabinet. On top of the cabinet, I keep my HP PSC 2210 all-in-one scanner/printer/fax. I use it ALL the time. In the top drawer, I keep anything made of paper that will fit into a standard-size file folder. In the file folders I have stored:

• Cardstock paper scraps, sorted in page protectors by color.
• Patterned paper scraps from my favorite manufacturers, particularly KI Memories and Chatterbox, also in sheet protectors.
• Alphabet stickers sorted by size/manufacturer.
• Paper embellishments such as cutouts, rub-ons and defined/3D stickers
• Older cardstock sorted by color
• Scratch paper
• Publication letters
• Receipts

On the wall adjacent to my desk are three bookshelves purchased from Staples.com. I use these shelves to store the majority of my supplies:

I have two wire shelving units that were purchased from NovelCrafts.com. Each has 20 shelves, ten for 12” x 12” paper and ten for 8 ½” x 11” paper. I bought the dual-sized racks because I am an 8 ½” x 11” scrapper and that is my preference when using cardstock. However, the 12” x 12”-paper shelves are handy for storing my patterned paper because the majority are that size. As far as patterned paper is concerned, I store most of it by manufacturer in large Ziploc bags. I find that this works best for me because most of the paper I use tends to be from the same companies. For all other paper, it is sorted by holiday/theme.

I keep all of my photo albums by theme. Each of my children has an album for each year. I also keep a family album, vacation album, and Christmas album.

I have not decided what I want to do with magazines I’ve been published in.. So, for now, I keep all of them intact. I have a typewritten list of the issue, layout & page number so that I can easily find them.

All of my embellishments are stored in photo boxes, purchased from Michael’s. I have them sorted by type of embellishment and clearly labeled on the front. The majority of my embellishments are sorted in embroidery floss organizers, also purchased at Michael’s for $1.99 each. They are nice because they have several compartments for sorting and they fit perfectly inside the photo boxes. In addition, you can easily stack 2 in each box. I have all of my embellishments sorted as follows:

• Brads
• Buttons
• Charms & Embroidery Floss
• Metals (tags, conchos, frames, etc.)
• Miscellaneous items
• Ribbon on spools
• Ribbon & fiber card
• Gemstones & eyelets
• Paints
• Punches & circle cutter
• Alphabets (charms, bubble letters, metal stamps, alphabeads)
• Design Team products

I also have my ribbon by the yard stored in an embroidery floss organizer which I keep on top of the boxes, for easy access. I rolled each ribbon onto a floss card and pinned it at the top with a straight pin. I think this works great because it keeps them neat and organized and easy to see.

On the top center shelf, I have two 3-drawer bins. I keep memorabilia and misc. items in one of the bins. The other has my favorite embellishments in organizers as well as more fibers.

Last but not least is the newest addition to my room. I found these five-shelf photo towers at Sam’s Club for $106 each. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to have them! Two of the shelves come fully equipped with six photo albums each for a total of twelve. I use these albums to store all of my photographs (by theme) so they are easily accessible. They are great because my friends and family can look at the pictures any time they want and I can flip through them when looking for pictures to scrap. My favorite part, though, is that I can display eight of my favorite photos on them and that there are three doors that flip down for additional storage. This is where I store my stamps and inks.

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I also have a television mounted on the wall above the photo-storage towers. I don’t really watch much t.v. but it is nice to have when my favorite shows come on. So, really, I have no reason to leave my "cave".

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my scrap room. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.