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I'll share mine, in case any one wonders! I have 6", half, and full sheets in hanging file folders by color family. I love this filing cabinet, by the way. I think it was $15 at Goodwill... in the top drawer I have mixed media supplies, 2nd drawer holds all my dies (except steel rule), 3rd drawer is all paper, mounting foam, acetate, and specialty papers, and the bottom drawer is for stencils, big paper packages (Neenah etc) and extra sheet protectors. TON of stuff in a relatively small footprint.
I keep my scraps in these DVD sheet protectors - I got them at a thrift store as well, and they're apparently discontinued, but I did find some on ebay as Wilson-Jones CD/DVD Binder Pages #21450. They're very heavy weight, and the pockets have a flap, which I have tucked in behind the papers.
I don't have a good system for 12" papers - they're just stacked in a drawer. My 6" paper pads need a smaller box... I had them together with a bunch of loose 6" papers in rainbow order, but I did a deep purge through those, and put the solid color sheets in the file folders.
For 8.5x11 I use magazine holders on their side on a shelf, putting colors or color families in job ticket holders - a Jennifer McGuire system. Screenshot is from a video on her blog.
For 12x12 I use a wheeled Advantus file cart with hanging folders. Solid colors are in the front.
Thanks for the ideas. I have mine in a file drawer (well, some of the paper any!). I still have problems with pattern paper - often there are several colors and none is a dominate color - where to put it? Also, some times I like to file by themes, such as sports, or food.
I store my CS and patterned paper in hanging file folders by color family. In addition to each folder, I also added a clear 8.5" x 11" Job Ticket Holder so I can easily see/organize the scraps. The patterned paper is a little trickier for me, but I choose the most predominant color (if there's multiple colors) in the pattern, then file them in the same hanging file folder with the best match of CS. "File together what you'd use together" is my motto!
(I'm very fortunate that my DH made me a file cabinet with full extension drawer glides! What a marvelous invention for those of us who loathe wasted or inconvenient space!)
I have my cardstock and patterned paper arranged in these cubes. Each color family gets one slot for solid colors and one slot for patterns - from white/black/neutrals on the left thru yellows and oranges thru blues on the right - and a slot for multi-colors last. I have separate containers for scraps, but I try to keep the larger partially used pieces with their color families in a file folder.
__________________ Cheryl "Mom" to Jazz & Cubby bungalowdays
I store my paper in heavy plastic job ticket holders. It will hold a package of 25 sheets of cardstock. I put these holders in a magazine file (on its side) on a shelf. With the open end facing outwards it is easy to choose my cardstock and remove it for the job ticket holder
Before we moved, I didn't have a permanent place for anything, since I didn't have a craft room. After the move..yippee! Here's how I set up the plain c/s. I bought 2 of these 12 cube shelves from Target. I believe the cubes themselves are 12" square. The 8 1/2 x 11 c/s fits either vertically or horizontally, but I liked it better horizontally. The 2nd pic is the side that faces my work desk. The colored plastic folders on the middle right 2 cubes are the scraps & cut sheets by color. The 1st pic is the side of the cube shelves that have all the full sheets. Never realized I had so much paper until I saw it all in one place! The 3rd pic is the closet (still working on that!). The plastic tub w/ the green top has the 6x6 pads & the rack on the right has specialty stuff..vellum, mulberry, acetate, etc. Sorry, the last pic won't rotate correctly. It should be turned to the left to show upright.
Take a look at Jennifer Mcguire's YouTube video on her favorite crafty things. I think the paper organization was from 2016 I think. I use it and it's great!
I store 8.5x11 cardstock by color family in a HON 4 drawer file cabinet. I use file folders. First folder is odd size scraps, second folder is full and half sheets. Unopened packages are stored behind the 2 folders. These are all SU! brand. Other solid cardstock I had cut to 8.5x5.5 by a commercial printer and it is stored in a file box I bought at Target in their home office dept. I bought 6 Iris boxes to store DSP by catalog year. I keep a copy of holiday and occasions catalogs in the box also for reference. Now...other people's OP 12x12 printed paper I have stored in kraft keepers by theme or company. It's an imperfect system. I have too much paper I don't use and need to PURGE. I had older SU! 12x12 glue bound into tablets and cut into 6x6. I use them as gifts, sell them, or keep them handy to flip through when I make cards for personal use--not for demonstrations. Current DSP is kept ON my creative table to see and use. I recently cleaned the file cabinet and purged all scraps under 4.25x5.5. My Whisper White, Very Vanilla and all my Stampin' Write markers are stored in a Sterlite 3-drawer unit also kept next to creative table. It's not perfect. I need more creative time to use it up!
Space in my file drawers is limited, so I just toss all the scraps into a Hefty Jumbo bag--color coated of course. They are around $3/box and each measures 16" x 14.5". I store all the bags in cardboard file box (moving box), which is lightweight and easy to move around the room as I 'm working. If I'm in a hurry and need a specific color, I just empty the bag on the carpeted floor. Pick-up is easy too, since the bag is so roomy. Viola! When I get "an idea", but don't have time to act on it--I just assemble paper, ribbons, stamps inside and put it in my To Do pile (another plastic tub). The 12" x 12" paper fits easily. These bags make packing a suitcase a dream.
I am a card maker and I'm currently switching to a Totally Tiffany products and organization systems. Recently I discovered Tiffany. She has a whole class on organization, online, that's free. Currently I'm in the organization class along with about 16,000 others. I think is primarily a scrap booker's class but is easily adaptable. You can just watch the class and wee if is makes sense to you. It did to me. Take a look at everything on TotallyTiffany.com is for Sale! @ DomainMarket.com Have fun!
Good Morning!
I am a card maker and I'm currently switching to a Totally Tiffany products and organization systems. Recently I discovered Tiffany. She has a whole class on organization, online, that's free. Currently I'm in the organization class along with about 16,000 others. I think is primarily a scrap booker's class but is easily adaptable. You can just watch the class and wee if is makes sense to you. It did to me. Take a look at everything on TotallyTiffany.com is for Sale! @ DomainMarket.com Have fun!
I only have two of Tiffany's products - though like them a lot - but was in the last session a few months ago. It was motivating, giving me a pick-me-up to complete major purging I was partway through.
I'm attending most of the live sessions this time too. For anyone interested in joining, you can catch up since videos of the sessions are on the website, or jump in any time.
I have mine in expandable file folders, then in a drawer to keep the light from fading the edges. Really convenient to open the drawer and have all the colors in labeled sections.
Especially for my 81/2 x 11 cardstock, I use a stackable product called EZSTAX originally designed to stack things like tee shirts. Each shelf is clear so you can see the next color. I group color families together and put names of the colors on tabs on the front of the shelves. To retrieve a sheet you just lift the stack above, pull your selection out and set the stack back down again. I have different color groups (reds, oranges, yellows) in one stack and (purples, blues,greens) in another stack etc.
Last edited by Sarge; 02-07-2018 at 03:53 PM..
Reason: mis spelling
I guess I am the only one who orgs them by subject and not color. I have them in divided expandable clear carriers. They say they hold 300 sheets but I dont think that is true unless they are very thin ones. (12 x 12) I think I get them at AC moore but I cant find it online there. IE all my baby paper is together regardless of color.
I have read through all of the paper organization ideas but I need lists of how you divide the patterned paper please. Flowers, stripes, dots, or occasions as opposed to color families. I cannot decide which is going to be best for me.
I have so little, I probably won't be much help. If it is definitely a holiday or occasion, I sort it that way. If it goes with a color of card stock I use that for a heading. I have all SU card stock, so those are the names I use. If it is shiny red, say, I put that in a folder in front of all the SU reds as I could use it for Valentine's or Christmas, or even July 4th. I do have a file for multicolored, that will go with several different color families, but I'm using those up quickly. All the rest I had I gave away, as I probably wouldn't use them ---ever!
I sorted all of my patterned CS by color a few years ago. I have not regretted doing it that way, if fact I find myself using it more now. I was determined, so was as objective as possible about which color to put each pattern in. Some might even call it stubborn and ruthless ;)
My exceptions are: holiday papers, patterns that I had multiples of - I split some of them between more than one color file and the few odd patterns that I just could not decide which color to put them with. That last file is very thin and hardly ever used.
I think some of the problem with the remaining unsortable papers is that they are not my style and/or I just don't like them. I think I hear a voice whispering purge off somewhere in the background.
I have read through all of the paper organization ideas but I need lists of how you divide the patterned paper please. Flowers, stripes, dots, or occasions as opposed to color families. I cannot decide which is going to be best for me.
Thanks for any help!
Canshe
I'm sure people will give you categories, yet most important is how you think when choosing papers, and how much you have. For example, I mostly sort light/medium/dark/black & white/bold/special/etc., but have lots of bird and cats/dogs papers. So I have a category called Birds and one called Cats/Dogs, ignoring color/light/dark/etc.
Someone might put Flowers, Plants and Trees in Nature, but someone with a lot might put each in a separate category. It's a balance between too few categories (can't find anything) and too many (also can't find anything) and it's different for everyone.
You mentioned Flowers, Stripes and Dots, so maybe that's a starting point. Maybe you could quickly leaf through papers and jot down what comes to mind - not sorting at that point, just noticing what you think about. Your brain, your categories. And they may change over time.
Btw, when I really like both sides of paper and have multiples, I turn it in both directions or put it in more than one category with Post-Its on each referring to the other.
Thank you bjeans! When reading your post I just realized (DUH) I have stickers sorted into categories, so maybe my patterned paper should be in the same categories. I may never have correlated that if I had not read your post. Also, I have all of my stamps sorted by categories in bins with drawers. That may also be some of my categories. I think you just helped me solve my problem! You never know what some small comment may spur in someone else's mind. You are AWESOME!
Thanks for the ideas. I have mine in a file drawer (well, some of the paper any!). I still have problems with pattern paper - often there are several colors and none is a dominate color - where to put it? Also, some times I like to file by themes, such as sports, or food.
I struggled with this, where there are multiple colours, and I read if you squint what colour jumps out at you...make sure noone is watching it works for me!
For 8.5x11 I use magazine holders on their side on a shelf, putting colors or color families in job ticket holders - a Jennifer McGuire system. Screenshot is from a video on her blog.
For 12x12 I use a wheeled Advantus file cart with hanging folders. Solid colors are in the front.
This is how I store mine as well. I do store my 12x12 CS/ DSP in the 12x12 paper keepers from The Paper Studio the same way. Takes up so much less space, I can see the colors at a glance. The DSP is filed by Holiday for the Halloween/ Christmas then the rest is in alphabetical order. I'll post a link to my youtube.
__________________ Kelly BlogYouTubeS2S $0.00
Scrapbook Layouts: April: 0/4
Pay no attention to how I store my inks in front of the window. My new kitten can't keep from dumping them all over so I've had to change how I do that and will be doing an update video.
__________________ Kelly BlogYouTubeS2S $0.00
Scrapbook Layouts: April: 0/4
I have read through all of the paper organization ideas but I need lists of how you divide the patterned paper please. Flowers, stripes, dots, or occasions as opposed to color families. I cannot decide which is going to be best for me.
Thanks for any help!
Canshe
In the Scrap-Rack group we tell everyone to file according to what comes to your mind when you look at the pattern. If you look at a pattern and think garden, then that's where you want to put it. If you think 'green' then file it with that color. How YOU see it is how YOU will use it most often.
We also say keep things together you will use together. Hope that helps.
__________________ Kelly BlogYouTubeS2S $0.00
Scrapbook Layouts: April: 0/4
I've been crafting for several years and I thought I had a lot of paper, but I see I dont! I just bought the white wire set on amazon. It was originally 6 cubes. I used a tutorial to learn how to convert it to paper storage. It only cost $19! The other paper storage shelf is from Michaels. I accidentally broke one of the shelves. I have a few 6 by 6 and 8x8 pads that I still need to change around. In the little tote on the side I have 12x12 folders I bought from hobby lobby. Here I store all my loose papers by color. Scraps too.
Wow, Kelly. In my dreams, I want to be this organized.Do you have room to expand, or do you get rid of things when you buy new?
My husband had this space built for me two years ago. The corner I showed is part of a 480 sq. ft. office space so that I can create and write. I'm a published author, music promoter and entertainment writer as well as a paper crafter/ SU dem.
I am incredibly organized - for the most part. My husband commented the other day he thinks I buy stuff just so I can organize it. LOL
As to your question, I really do use what I buy. When it comes to stamps I only buy what I know I will use repeatedly. The only exception to that are the Sale A Bration sets. I often will pick up the freebies, use them a couple of times then gift them on to a new home.
__________________ Kelly BlogYouTubeS2S $0.00
Scrapbook Layouts: April: 0/4
My husband had this space built for me two years ago. The corner I showed is part of a 480 sq. ft. office space so that I can create and write. I'm a published author, music promoter and entertainment writer as well as a paper crafter/ SU dem.
I am incredibly organized - for the most part. My husband commented the other day he thinks I buy stuff just so I can organize it. LOL
As to your question, I really do use what I buy. When it comes to stamps I only buy what I know I will use repeatedly. The only exception to that are the Sale A Bration sets. I often will pick up the freebies, use them a couple of times then gift them on to a new home.
This is exactly why I struggle with buying stamps. I am not the type of person who would make the same thing twice. I would tend to use a stamp once. This is why I prefer digis, tho I have the same problem there too. I just spend less.
This is exactly why I struggle with buying stamps. I am not the type of person who would make the same thing twice. I would tend to use a stamp once. This is why I prefer digis, tho I have the same problem there too. I just spend less.
Keep in mind there are lots of designs to be used with one stamp. I challenge myself to use a stamp set at least 3 different ways. Before I slacked off at the holidays, I had a Friday blog post where I used one stamp set three ways every week. I should be back on track next week.
__________________ Kelly BlogYouTubeS2S $0.00
Scrapbook Layouts: April: 0/4
In the Scrap-Rack group we tell everyone to file according to what comes to your mind when you look at the pattern. If you look at a pattern and think garden, then that's where you want to put it. If you think 'green' then file it with that color. How YOU see it is how YOU will use it most often.
This is how I store my patterned paper. It's not in 'one' system like color or manu. or theme.
Some is by color. The dominant color. If there's not really a dominant color then I use whatever color it makes me think of.
Some is by holiday/season. I used to have winter and Christmas together but the storage I started using didn't have enough room for both so I broke it down separately. Same with Halloween/fall/Thanksgiving. I used to have it all together but had to put Halloween separately.
Some is by theme like flowers or stripes or dots. Now if it's more of a single color (like say a tone on tone like the core'dinations patterned cardstock they sell at JoAnn) I put that by color in my color category. But multi-color patterns of certain patterns are sorted by theme. Like flowers, dots, stripes, chevrons, and some others. Plus I have themes for Disney, family, etc.
Some of my paper is sorted into one of the themes or seasons/holiday if that's what it makes me think of even if it's not a themed paper. For example, I might have a patterned paper that isn't fall themed but the colors in it make me think of fall and I'd like to use it for that, so that's where I put it.
Some people sort by manufacturer. That is one thing I don't do. (with exception that for the longest time I had all my Making Memories heritage paper together. Some of you might remember it - it was tone-on-tone. I still have a bunch of it. LOL)
I have 3 filing cabinets with 4 drawers each. I mostly have Stampin Up and keep each 8 1/2 x 11 color alphabetically in a hanging file folder along with matching DSP. A couple of years ago I bought retired 12 x12 CS and DSP from a local demo. Over 1,000 sheets. I cut the CS to 8 1/2 x 11 since I am a cardmaker. This left a piece 3 1/2 x 12 which I cut to 3 1/2 x 6...mini slimline. Filed in folder by color. The DSP I cut to 4 x 5 1/4 and filed with the CS. I have since bought more 12 x 12 DSP (of course I did). I purchased 6 vertical metal file holders (thrift stores $3-6 each). Each holder has 4-6 sections. I bought StorageStudios plastic sleeves to hold the 12 x 12 DSP. Labeled, alphabetized and placed in each file holder on top of my filing cabinets. I made an index of each DSP name and the colors found within. I cross referenced a list by color so I can just go to that package and pull out the color I need. I am very monochromatic so this works great for me.
My 6 x 6 is stored in 4 (Sterlite I think) stackable cubes by manufacturer. Yes it is way too much paper, but organizing it all makes me happy. Beginning of the year I committed to using it and am doing pretty well, averaging 50-100 cards a week. I use Call Me Crafty Al's Sheetload of Cards, Jess Crafts Templates, Kendra's Card templates and Operation Write Home for Inspiration. Love to watch Kristie Markotte for her card templates too. I surf Pinterest for One Sheet wonder ideas and Stampin Up demo Connie Stewart's Flash Cards. Wow I am impressed with myself at how organized I am.....:lolo:
I have drawers like, pattern drawers at fabric stores, that my hubby built for me that hold my cardstock vertically as they would be in a file drawer. I store them by ROYGBIV no matter where they come from, but the majority of my CS is SU. This drawer is to the left of where I sit/stand to stamp. I have another drawer for background and texture paper that I cut to about 12 x 12. Most of it is from wallpaper sample books, magazine pictures and anything else I can recycle. I have very little designer style stuff, sunless I was gifted something that I thought I could use. I'm the least paper hoarder there is. If I find something that will work for what I'm doing, I use it with glee. There is no thought of "maybe I should save this for something I will need later" in my thinking. The project I'm working on at the time is the most important one there is until I move onto the next. I figure I will have accumulated something just as nice or better for that possible future project.
Paper storage systems
Paper Organization
