We Will Always Have Paris

Two For Tuesday: Stamp Organization and Pencil Case

I've been working on getting the studio re-organized for the past couple of weeks.  Here are two things I'm loving:

1.  Jennifer McGuire's Clear/Cling Stamp Storage:  Have you seen this?  Oh my!  The amazing Jennifer McGuire has come up with a great way to store your clear and cling stamps.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, please go check out this video.  I've completely re-organized my stamp collection.  It is so much easier to find my stamps now...

 

I found a ton of pink plastic folders at Wal-Mart for $0.50/each.  I cut them down to make my dividers (I think she gives the measurements in the video).  Here are the supplies I used for mine:

 

I have been slowly labelling and organizing all of my old cling mount (including Stampin' Up!) and acrylic (including CTMH) stamps.  I am pondering pulling all of my old wood mounted rubber off their mounts and storing them this way as well.  I have an entire wall of stamp drawers, and I could really use the space.  Plus, I REALLY love this system...

2.  This super-cute pencil case on Amazon.  I'm currently obsessed with grown-up coloring books and bullet journaling.  Both require colored pencils.  I've been keeping my colored pencils in an old coffee cup in my desk drawer, but I could never really see what pencils I had.  After some research, I discovered this bad boy:

The elastic in the case is only big enough to hold pencils.  You won't be able to use it for Copic markers or Sharpies, but I absolutely love mine.  It comes in a handful of colors, but you can't go wrong with pink.  You'll find it here:

 

Note:  These are affiliate links.  That being said, these are all items I purchased for myself and am absolutely using.  Should you decide that you can't live without them, use the links and kick a little money back my way!

Week Three SCYS: Paper

Whew!  Inks are purged, labelled and (almost) catalogued!  Now, let's talk paper...

I'm pretty happy with my current paper system.  Years ago, I purchased a ton of Cropper Hopper vertical paper storage holders.  I've organized all of my 12" x 12" cardstock by color in one section:

My 8.5" x 11" paper is stored in a similar fashion:

My DCWV Cardstock Paper Pads are in another section:

I have a ton of patterned paper organized by company:

And then there is my Basic Grey (which has long since outgrown it's cube):

All of my remaining patterned paper is organized by color:

I have two additional cubbies filled with Club Scrap papers as well.  I've outgrown my cubes.  Too much paper!  My goal this week is to purge, purge, purge! 

Here are my suggestions to get your papers organized:

Step One:  Gather It All Up

Find all of your papers and bring them into one place.  All of them.  Even the scraps.

Step Two:  Decide How You Are Going To Store It

As I mentioned, I love vertical storage.  I buy my paper holders at Michaels, using a coupon.  Or, you can wait until they have a "scrapbook storage" sale and take advantage of buying a ton of stuff at once!

Before I had sooooo much paper, I used these clear trays from Display Dynamics:

I know a ton of people who have used this:

If you only have a small amount, you might try this (found at Michaels -- use a coupon!):

or this:

Step Three:  Sort It All Out

I have my cardstock sorted by color (ROYGBIV),  I tend to buy patterned papers by lines within a brand (so that they coordinate with one another), and I sort them that way (for example, I just bought a ton of paper from the Hometown Summer line by Pink Paislee).  If I have a ton of one brand, I keep all of the lines within that brand together (for example, all of my Making Memories lines are together in one big paper holder).  I am an absolute whore when it comes to Basic Grey, so I have an entire cube of Basic Grey.

If I have a few remnant sheets or I bought a single sheet of patterned paper, I store it in my patterned paper holder by color.

To see how I store my scrap papers, you'll want to read this blog post from 2007.  I'm still using the exact same system and I still love it!

Step Four:  Purge

Really, how much do you need?  I plan to purge and sell off the good stuff in bulk lots and give the really old (I've been scrapbooking since 1998 and still have paper from then...) stuff to my daughter's old pre-school teacher. 

Step Five:  Label

You won't know where it is unless you label it!  If you are using the same vertical storage holders I do, it is very easy to label the fronts.  I punch a circle from patterned paper and put it in a metal rimmed tag.  The tag is glued to the front with a pop dot.  I love being able to quickly access my papers when I need them.

Hop to it!  Time to get that paper organized!

 

Week Two SCYS: Creating An Ink Catalog

I'm woefully behind in my Studio Spring Cleaning this week.  Life and warmer weather keep getting in the way.  That, and wanting to sleep more than four hours a night...  A number of you have e-mailed to confess that you're falling behind.  No worries!  Take it at your own pace.  Focus on getting yourself a clean primary workspace.  The rest is secondary.  You need a clean place to work and then you can start organizing your inks, papers, stamps, etc.

In that spirit, I'm not even going to try to work on organizing my paper this week.  I'll bump it out a week and give myself time to catch up on my inks.  I have worked my way through my Stampin' Up! and Close To My Heart ink collections.  Everything has been catalogued on index sheets I created myself:

I am more than happy to share my sheets with you to save you the trouble:

Stampin Up! inks by group
Stampin Up! inks by color
CTMH inks by group
CTMH inks by color
(Added 4/10/11) Adirondack inks by color

I saved each index by color (i.e. reds, oranges, yellows) and group (i.e. CTMH Cozy, Stampin' Up! Regals).  I personally index mine by color (see above) so that it is easy to distinguish between the varying shades within each color family.  Others prefer to keep them in their selected groups.  It makes it easier to find complementary colors.

I will add more ink indexes as I do them for myself.  Feel free to change the fonts up and make them your own.  If you do post them on your own blogs/websites, please make sure to credit www.wewillalwayshaveparis.com.

When you print out the index sheets, make sure you print them on good quality smooth cardstock.  You'll need a good stamping surface.  Find a solid stamp that fits in the squares and start stamping away.  I found it handy to work right next to my new stamp cleaning station.  Stamp.  Clean.  Ink with a new color.  Start all over.

"Seasons" Planner Available On Etsy

 

Fall is my all-time-be-all favorite time of year (I know I said this about Summer, but come on now.... Summer is so last season!).  At the beginning of each season, we sit down as a family and plan out what we want to do as a family.  Baby A. is still too little to really have an opinion, but Baby G. was quite vocal about what she wanted to accomplish this season -- Pumpkinville and jumping in the leaves after Daddy raked them up.  I've discovered that if I  use my Seasons planner to plan out our season, we get so much more done and I don't feel like things are just passing me by.  I can really enjoy the season with my husband and kids.

With that in mind, I whipped up two more Seasons planners for my readers to buy.  The first one sold before it went on-line, but I just finished this pink/brown Basic Grey beauty last night.  Each planner has over 200 pre-printed pages for you to use to take advantage of the most each season has to offer.  You'll find the Basic Grey "Blush" version in my Etsy store by clicking here.

I've been fielding requests for 2011 Nancy Drew Date Books, so I'll be working on those next!

Photo of the Week: Summer's Coming

Back in January, I posted a picture of the inside of our hall closet during the winter months.  I received a lot of positive feedback from readers who were delighted with the organizational idea.  Now that summer's almost here, all of the hats, gloves & scarves have been boxed up and stored in the attic.  In their place, my shoe bins are now filled with swimsuits, sunscreen, bugspray, sandals, beach cover-ups and swim diapers.  It makes it so handy to have everything at my fingertips during the summer months.  If the kids want to play in the sprinklers outside, we can just get them dressed on the main floor, rather than traipsing the entire family upstairs.  It also makes packing for the pool a snap.

I've cleared the top shelf of the hall closet off & stacked our pool towels and pool bag there as well.  Our linen closet is upstairs and well, who needs a beach towel upstairs?

Now, if we could just get this blasted rain to stop and bring back the sunny days from a couple of weeks ago....