Scrapbooking Made Simple

As I mentioned I have redone my scrapspace. Here's a photo of what it looks like now. I placed a giant styrofoam block behind the desk to hold the draws, ribbons, stamps and ink pads as I use these things alot and I like having them within easy reach. Plus the ribbons are decorative when displayed this way. I also like that I was able to find another use for all that styrofoam rather than throwing it away. I think this temporary shelving unit is the best buy I've ever made. It cost me around $20 when I purchased it 6 years ago... so I'm not sure if it was $19.99 or $29.99... Anyway I've used it next to the change table to hold all the stuff for nappy changes and then in the laundry to keep all the washing powders and liquids and stuff away from the kids and now it's doing a great job in my scrap space. As we don't own this house we're not able to install permanent shelves and things so this works great.

Getting your stash organised can seem impossible! I recently had to re-organise my re-organisation....... you see when I moved my scrap space to the laundry I organised all of my stash into a well organised easy to find shelving unit..... Now after scrapbooking in this space I discovered that although I could find my stuff easily it was a pain in the butt putting it all away again. You see when I start a project I pull out several paper and cardstock options and then chose the one I like best. So then I have to put everything away again.... Consequently I discovered that filing all my papers by colour doesn't really work for me. So sometimes even the best system won't work for you! It's all about finding a filing system for all you stuff that works best for you. For instance I was watching Scrapbook Lifestyle and they were looking at a desiners scrapspace. (Not sure which one) Anyway this designer put all of their chipboard letters away by letter. So each draw held letter...

Several posts ago I talked about my complete house reorganisation. And here finally are the photos of my new scrap space. These photos probably don't show how great this area is for me, so you'll have to trust me on that one. Behind my desk on the opposite wall is the family computer printer, scanner etc and a book case filled with supplies and idea magazines. The shelves are a simple plastic (very cheap) free standing shelf system that I have used over and over for the last five years in a number of areas. Whenever I have had a baby this shelf unit moves to above the change table so the wipes and bags etc are always within easy reach. Then between babies it has been a great place to store laundry items like the iron and washing powder. But now it's for my scrapbooking supplies. Between this shelf unit and my sewing table I have just about everything at my finger tips. (The sewing table has great storage space for all those things I like to put my hands on quickly...