I started plotting and planning my scrap room revamp in late October, and then after waiting to have time to make the trip to IKEA (the closest one to me is about four hours away) I finally started the actual makeover process in early December. It took about a month of work interspersed between my regular job, family gatherings, and Christmas prep and celebration, but I’m finally finished and am thrilled that my scrapping space now looks like this!

I’ve got a full tour posted on my personal blog (where I’ll show the scary, not-so-perfect parts of my room, too – trust me, it still has its warts!), and I’ve also linked up posts showing how this room has changed in the two and a half years that we’ve been living in our current house. It definitely didn’t all come together at once!

I’ve also got a few tips to share here for those of you who are also thinking of tackling your crafting spaces – or any room in your home!

Don’t think it all has to get done at once.

I mentioned earlier that it took me nearly a month to complete finish my scrap room’s overhaul. During that period I worked in short bursts as I had time: 5 minutes here, 15 minutes there, and a couple of times for an hour or so at a stretch. It’s unusual for me to have any longer than that to devote to a project between my day job, trips to the gym, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, and all those other things that go along with everyday life. I learned the value  of working in short bursts many years ago when I discovered Flylady‘s system of housekeeping, and while I don’t follow every part of her method (I just can’t stand wearing shoes in the house), her 15 minute cleaning and work sessions truly helped me get my life together in many areas.

The trick to working on a project like this in small increments is to take some time at the beginning to plan things out. What needs to move first? Do you need to clear things like bookcases before you can move them (if so, do that in small increments, too, and put things back on the shelves as quickly as possible to avoid creating an avalanche of stuff)? When do you need to assemble new furniture pieces, if any? Should you do it now, or will it be easier to move the new items around in their flat packs before assembling them in their final homes? Take a little time make your plan of attack before diving in headfirst.

Even with all the planning ahead, there were still a couple of times that my room looked like a natural disaster had occurred, and I sat in the middle of the floor, despairing of ever getting it finished. You’re likely to go through these times, too, and the best way to move past them is to get up, set a timer for 15 minutes, and keep working in those same small increments. I promise you’ll eventually get there!

Don’t think it has to be perfect

I really don’t think that there is such a thing as the perfect scrap space. Scrappers are always bringing in new supplies, creating new albums, and learning new techniques that require new tools and new storage and working spaces. You’re learning and growing and changing in this hobby, and your space will inevitably grow and change with you. Embrace that and let your space evolve as your needs change. If you find things that annoy you about it, make a list. Eventually that list will shape up into something that will help you redesign your space to better suit your workflow.

Don’t think you have to spend a fortune

I don’t have a room filled with custom cabinetry and Pottery Barn Project Tables, but I will admit that I do have a fair number of large pieces from IKEA that make my space work. When I started this room two and a half years ago, I had saved up for a single 5×5 Expedit shelving unit from IKEA and my large Madison Trestle Desk from Target. I didn’t add any other pieces for another year, when I added the second Expedit. The narrow Expedit (the “corner” unit) and the Alex carts (more on those in a bit) came a full year and a half after that. While all of those pieces do add up to a small sum, I spread the expense out over time and allowed my space to grow with me. My advice is to start small (but not too small- more on that later, too) and build slowly, adding pieces as you find them on sale or save up for them.

You’ll also see a mix of inexpensive storage items (some are downright cheap!) mixed in with a few pricier options. Take this section of one of my bookcases, for example.

The larger Pjas cube baskets from IKEA (about $16 each) are my more expensive storage options. I do have several, but I’ve acquired them over the years. The medium sized baskets that hold my punches are actually repurposed from another part of the house. I’d stopped using them there, so I brought them into my scrap room. The white bins that hold my embellishments sorted by color are the cheapest storage pieces of all – they’re actually white plastic dish tubs from Target that cost  $2.25 each! And before I got to this stage of my scrap room storage, I went through a plethora of even less expensive options like cardboard boxes and recycled paper shopping bags (think Bath and Body Works).

Building your dream scrap space definitely doesn’t have to be a budget breaker!

Do choose pieces that multitask

One of my favorite new additions to my scrap room is this pair of Alex carts (also from IKEA).

I purchased them because I needed something for my Cricut Expression and Silhouette Cameo to sit on so I could get to them easily when I wanted to use them. The tops of these carts are the perfect size for that, and the amazing bonus is the amount of drawer space they have underneath. The drawers are shallow and flat, perfect for cutting mats, paint, glitter, ink, and host of other tiny items.

Do leave room to grow

This tip may seem at odds with my earlier advice to start small, but I promise it isn’t. Instead, it’s a matter of planning. When you’re looking at how much paper storage you’ll need, for example, plan for those new purchases that you know you’re going to bring in. There’s not a scrapper alive who doesn’t enjoy a little shopping now and then, after all! The trick is to plan for a little growth, but not go overboard.

Remember those Alex cards I talked about earlier? When I was showing the contents of the drawers, I didn’t show the bottom two that look like this.

Yes, that’s glorious, free, empty space! But only two drawers worth, which should be just enough. And if you’re wondering what going overboard with extra space would have looked like, it would probably have been me buying a third cart. Two, in this case, is plenty of room for me.

When I purchased these baskets ($4.99 each at Target) to hold my kits, I bought two more than I needed at the time. That turned out to be a great choice, because now I have one free to hold the supplies for my current projects, and the other was pressed into service to hold paper scraps. In this case I grew into those baskets pretty quickly, so I was glad I’d planned for a little extra room!

Do use what you have

So far I’ve shown the newer pieces that I purchased specifically for this space, but there are also a fair number of pieces that have been repurposed. For example, when we moved, our new entry didn’t have room for this large table that used to sit by the door at our old house. It made a great addition to my scrap room, though!

I’ve had this dresser since I was a baby, and when I moved into this space I repainted it to use as a stand for my sewing machine (the drawers hold unfinished sewing projects and supplies). I also replaced the knobs with several pretty new ones that I found on clearance at Anthropologie – their sale bins sometimes hold a treasure trove of decorating items!

This bookcase is nearly 10 years old and has moved house a couple of times. It’s one of the cheap ones from Walmart, but it’s the perfect thing to have nestled right behind the door. Behind the curtain (that I hung with a tension rod) you’ll find boxes of unfinished projects and other assorted items.

Do make it yours

You may have noticed the Star Wars prints and the Ninja Bunny painting in some of the photos I’ve shown thus far. I love finding little things like that to personalize my space, and I think it’s one of the most important things you can do to make your scrap room an inviting and cozy place that you’ll want to spend time in. Whatever your passion is – sci-fi, horses, or teacups, for example – make sure it’s represented in your crafty space.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you as you rework your current crafty space or perhaps plan a new one!

Want to see more of Melissa’s scrap space? Visit her blog for the full tour!

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest scrapbook news?

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The Panel

• Wendy Smedley
• Molly McCarthy
• Nancy Nally
• Noell Hyman
• Izzy Hyman

Sponsors:

Art Journaling Bundle with Dina Wakely from GetItScrapped.com: Click here for the course information, and make sure you use coupon code dwajbundle4prt at checkout.

Big Picture Classes! Big Picture Scrapbooking has a new name! Click here for a promo code for Paperclipping Roundtable listeners to use to save 10% on any one class at Big Picture Classes! (Don’t forget that you can still use the link to support Roundtable even if you’ve already used the one-time discount code.)

Picks of the Week

• Gazelle.com
• Scraponizer
• Etsy – LittlePutBooks
• Teresa Collins Die Cut Library Giving Thanks Collection

More Links

• Darcy Miller Designs
• Marth Stewart Living Article about Darcy Miller
• Jessica Helfand

Disclosure

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It got to where I had to come up with a new way to find my stuff, and a new way to avoid making duplicate purchases. I had to be able to find what I need! I considered using the photo gallery tool in my Photoshop Elements, and I may still do that, but first I decided to do some basic file organization so my hard drive wasn’t chaos.

My digital elements are stored divided into the following folders:

• Alphabets
• Brushes
• Card Templates
• Embellishments
• Kits
• Papers
• Templates

I will probably divide out my patterned and solid papers into separate folders soon since they are starting to get a bit crowded.

The next key was coming up with consistent file names that allowed my files to naturally sort themselves into the way I usually look for them. I wanted things sorted by store, then by designer, then by product name, so I came up with the following file name style:

store_designer_productname

Some of these items are abbreviated, especially store and designer names, to keep file names manageable. But the result is that I can see everything I have within a folder from a single store together, and then see what I have from each designer at that store listed together. Since different stores and designers tend to have distinctive styles, just like in paper design, it helps me to be able to have all of their items together since I tend to use them together. My file list ends up looking like this:

This way, if I’m using a product by a certain designer, it is easy to look for something to use with it that might be a similar style. And it is easy to double-check my files to see if I already bought that item on my wishlist (and forgot to delete it from the list) before I hit “buy” again!

Being able to use the filenames to find my files is especially important to me. I’m on a Mac and Mac OS X doesn’t allow you to set an image for your folder icon the way that you can on Windows. So when I’m looking at a folder, all I have to go on for the contents is the file name.

This method, which is actually similar in many ways to how I arrange my paper scrapping supplies, is working for me for now. I will likely have to use the library in PSE 8 to be able to do more tagging and previewing at some future point, I realize, however. ACDSee is a popular option for doing this on Windows. Currently there is a beta version of the ACDSee Pro software for Mac but since beta usually equals buggy, I’m in no hurry to take that on.

If you would like other ideas on how to organize your digital supplies, check out these resources:

• Hummie’s World
• Katie the Scrapbook Lady

Katie’s system is similar to what I use, only she divides stuff out by type and topic way more than I do and uses numbered folders to keep things in the exact order that she wants.

Just because digital supplies aren’t sitting around in messy piles doesn’t mean we don’t need a way to impose order on them to be able to find what we want when we want it. An orderly hard drive makes for a happy digital scrapper!

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I’d love to have a bag like this one by Anna Griffin. The problem is, what would it hold? How would I use it? The answer, sadly, is that it would sit in the back of my closet. I mention this because it shows that the difference between what is lovely and what you want (versus what you need and what works) can be wildly different. There are two things that I find the simplest and most effective in most cases for storage:

1. Boxes. Usually in the form of plastic bins, crates, pull-out drawers, or any other item that you can put supplies into.

2. Shelves. Sometimes the easiest way to store things is simply by not putting them inside anything at all, but rather leaving them out but contained on a counter or shelf.

These are effective because they are basic, and they are smart picks because you can utilize them for absolutely anything. If you change your mind or your needs change, you won’t have invested in specialty storage items. With that in mind, there are a lot of other options, and today I will talk about the ways I use, and  other ways I have considered to use, to store my “other” supplies.

Ribbon storage is a tricky thing. I love dowels for rolls of ribbon and cool boxes like this one, but because I tend to buy single yards or ribbon that comes on cards, neither is a viable solution for me. I find containers with ribbon (loose) sorted by color to be the most effective method. I have heard that pinning lengths of ribbons to a string or even onto hangers in a closet is good, but I’ve yet to try it.

This unmounted stamp binder from the Idea-ology line by Tim Holtz is intriguing, and I know some people have great success with this kind of a system. I’ve just never been able to make it work long-term.

This holder for clear/unmounted stamps by 7 Gypsies is intriguing, I’m just not sure that it would hold enough or be the right size for my stamps to work well.

As far as wood mounted stamps go, I choose to store them on shelves around my studio. They’re out and visible, and easy to access. I have some older (rarely used) wood stamps stored in a box.

The supplies I have in boxes or on shelves right now depend on my frequency of use, and need to have at my fingertips. I keep most punches boxed:

Due to their frequency of use and to keep them away from prying preschooler fingers, I keep ink pads, paints, and mists up on high shelves just above my work surface.

Pens are a unique challenge, as most require you store them tip-down or sideways so that they do not dry out. I have a little box that I use (no idea where it came from) for most of my pens that keep them tucked right where I need them – within arms reach!

For my tools that get used often such as scissors, paint brushes, hole punches, and more I try to keep them in cups. I have this craft caddy (made by Fiskars a few years back) that I use for most things, but any kind of cup will work. The trick is finding ones that are a good size for the items you’re using them for.

This wraps up my articles for Scrapbook Update on storage and organization for now, but I have a feeling that I’ll be re-visiting some specific topics and challenges as I find solutions for myself. If you have any comments, or would like to add your own solutions please feel free to leave a comment here or contact me via e-mail at may@scrapbookupdate.com

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If you’ve got a laptop, you’ve got portable digital scrapbooking. The question is, how do you haul it with you? And what accessories do you need to take along? I’ll tell you what I use to haul my digital creative tools.

First, let’s talk about the all-important tote. I have several for my MacBook. (I actually own more camera and computer bags than I own shoes. Seriously.) Which bag I use depends on the situation.

My workhorse bag is by geek favorite Timbuk2. The San Francisco-based company makes premium bags that are functional and durable. Mine is a discontinued model called the Hacker, a vertical messenger bag which features tuck-away backpack straps as well as a messenger-style shoulder strap. It is very similar to the Blogger bag (the major difference was the backpack straps) that the company still offers, although the Hacker doesn’t have the TSA-compliant feature that version 2 of the Blogger has. The Blogger is available in several different colors. List price for it is $110 but it’s available for as little as $88 on Amazon.com depending on the color.

This bag has some features that I really like. It is very weatherproof (ever seen what a summer rain storm looks like in Florida?) when it is wet outside. There are lots of small pockets to corral my various small items like card readers and earbuds. And the laptop compartment is incredibly well cushioned and lined in lush, sturdy corduroy to protect my machine.

(Note for trade show attendees: I also have Timbuk2’s Hidden Tote, a zip-away tote that is made from fabric created from recycled plastic bottles. It is fabulous for throwing in my trade show roller bag and using for carrying the overflow of catalogs and handouts that I pick up over the course of the day.)

As much as I love my Hacker, however, it isn’t the perfect bag to take everywhere with me. When I fly, I am usually carrying both my dSLR camera and my laptop. There are advantages to being able to keep them with me in the same bag, so I have another bag  for my laptop when I fly: the Kata KT DR-467.

This bag is great because it keeps all my gear together but still fits under most airline seats, and gives me a little extra room for in-flight comforts. (When I don’t have my laptop with me, I frequently use this bag for hauling my camera gear on theme park day trips. The empty laptop compartment can hold souvenirs such as t-shirts or spare supplies for my daughter. It also comes with a foul weather cover in case we get caught outside in a shower.) The updated version of the bag (the Kata DR-467i Digital Rucksack) has a feature I really like – a tripod attachment – and sells for $89.90 on Amazon.

And of course, if you’ve ever seen me at CHA you know I also have a rolling bag for my laptop as well. Currently I’m using a Swiss Gear one that is styled like a catalog case. It would make a great companion if I wanted to attend a crop hybrid-style, with some digital and some paper gear.

All of these bags are functional, but they look, well, functional. So for the rare occasion when looks really do count, I have a leather bag that I picked up at an outlet that isn’t very practical but carries my laptop and lets me look good doing it. Sometimes we must suffer for fashion, right?

What goes in these bags is surprisingly minimal, at least as it relates to my creative pursuits. I have a Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger, a Sandisk MobileMate SD Plus USB Card Reader, and my power cord. I don’t carry a mouse, or other external devices. Occasionally I carry a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive for back-up purposes. I know some serious users will carry a small tablet device (you can even buy a case for some of the smaller Wacom ones). But for me I just stick to a trackpad when I  am on the go (and most of the time at home too). It keeps things simpler.

Using this system of bags keeps me pretty well equipped to be creative digitally anytime, any place!

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