Organzing SU and non-SU stash

[mobrien207]

HI all,

I've been scrapbooking and cardmaking for 20 years and became a SU demo about 2 years ago. I have a large amount of non-SU supplies and paper. Just wondering how y'all organize your paper, etc. Do you separate SU from contraband? DSP separate from solid colors? By size as I have a mix of 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11? Trying to organize all this has me overwhelmed and stumped. TIA.

Mob

[fionna51]

I don't keep my SU and non-SU separated. If I was a business demo, then maybe I would keep current SU separate, but I file stamps and dies by theme.
Papers, inks, designer paper...all that is by color.

[auntiof8]

Same with me Fionna51. I am a "Hobby" demo, and still love some of my non Stampin' Up supply. I keep my Stampin' Up stamps and non ones alphabetical, and are theme cross referenced in DVD cases. Periodically I go through all the non-Stampin' Up DSP, and pull out sheets I don't think I am going to use, and pass them on to a very crafty great niece or friends. Some of those paper packs get pretty wild in some of the designs and colors, I typically have a certain color palette I like to use-lots of earth tone, greens, blues, cranberry, and neutrals. Probably use more the Stampin' Up color palettes. No Fluorescent, etc. Good luck deciding.

[wavejumper]

I think this is the thread that is supposed to be linked in the Inkling but that link is going to the wrong thread-it is going to the chipboard one.

I would never be able to find anything if it was by company. G-d bless people who can remember that way. I have way too many companies. I have my master stamp index by subject and that is how I store them. B/c I am old school and manual, if the index was by company it would a huge PITA to look at all my bday for example. Then wouldn't I have to sub-org them by subject anyway? This way I see all my bday at the same time to make my choice. Same for EFs and dies for storage. I have samples of my EFs by subject. Dies I just look in the storage box by subject. The exception are PSX and Stamps Happen because they are still on wood and SU because of their plastic cases. (Although the ones I got without them are mixed into the general population.) If it was not for the cases they all would be mixed in. I wrestle with the idea of taking them out of their boxes from time to time.

People who use the electronic systems can do that easily bc they can bookmark both by company and topic. I am just not going to do that conversion.

Paper-I have the pattern DP by subject. The 12 x 12 solids by color. I do have 8 1/2 x 11 by company...and I am seriously thinking about changing that. I have a bunch of companies bc I wanted to check them out in file folders in a cabinet. I have samples so I can look at those to decide what colors/company I want but really....going thru a bunch of file folders for the orange I want or whatever...it is too labor intensive to me. I need a serious overhaul on my papers.

If I had the room I would have them in vertical boxes. I just don't have the shelf space.

Unfortunately I find the more I organize, the more time I spend at it. Seems counter intuitive but it is my experience. But so far better that and I can find stuff though. Labels are everything!

[jeanne3579]

I pay no attention to company. I am more familiar with SU and others like Penny Black, but everything is separated by theme and or color. Depending on what it is. All paper is by color. I do separate cards stock from background paper, but they are just in different drawers and separated by the same color scheme. I have picked up pieces of paper here and there over 20+ years, so I truly have no idea where most of it came from.

[cnsteele]

I do not separate by company, but in the interests of keeping crafting simple, I stick mostly to Stampin' Up! anyways. I do have some Club Scrap paper plus a couple other companies, but it's all mixed together.

My cardstock is kept separate from my DSP, though. I also keep 8-1/2 x11 paper separate from 12x12. I bought paper holders from Stamp-N-Storage and LOVE them! My cardstock is arranged in rainbow order, which makes it easier for me to find the particular shade of a color (i.e. I want a yellow, and having the paper in rainbow orders allows me to see which yellow works best).

Another thing I do is keep a page protector with each color of cardstock. The page protector holds scraps of that specific color, which keeps me from unnecessarily cutting into full sheets. I also keep a gallon-sized plastic zipped bag with each DSP slot and put DSP scraps in those. I much more readily toss DSP scraps then I do cardstock scraps since I've found I do not use DSP scraps much at all (although there are some fascinating ways to use them!).

Overall, I'm a loose craft organizer, meaning I don't have a system really. Outside of my paper, I tend to throw things in baskets so that the area looks neat and uncluttered, but if you were to peek in any of the baskets, you'd be like, "WHAT is in here?" I find it so fun to dig through a basket and rediscover my stash!