Friday, April 9, 2010

My Scrap Room - Paper Storage

Paper storage . . . a topic of much discussion among scrapbookers!  Here is what I do:

For my full sheets of cardstock:
Close to My Heart has 60 different colours of cardstock.  I found these great Generations accordian files for 12x12 paper at Michaels.  Each file has 15 slots . . . so 4 files hold all 60 of my regular cardstock colours.  (The fifth accordian file in the photo holds a variety of Close to My Heart textured cardstock). 

I file the cardstock sheets by colour family and have the colour names labelled on each divider.

I love this system because it is portable!! I can easily grab my accordian files to pack up to go to a crop or retreat.  (They even have handles!!)
Unfortunately I believe these particular accordian files are discontinued, but I have seen similar ones recently in WalMart and Michaels. 

For scrap cardstock:
I hate to waste paper - so I keep all of my scraps.  I also store my scrap cardstock by colour family.  I have resealable zippertop bags from CTMH for each colour family (i.e. reds/pinks, blues/greens, neutrals, etc.)  If you are looking for something sturdier than the zipper bags - you could also use the 12x12 Paper Organizer Envelopes, which are made from the same clear, sturdy plastic that the CTMH stamp sets come in. 
I always go to my scrap bags first before cutting into a new sheet of cardstock.  Again - I love this system because my scrap bags are portable & easy to pack for crops & retreats!    I store all of my 'scrap bags' in a clear pull out storage bin on one of my Expedit shelves (along with some larger chipboard & die-cut packages).

For my patterned paper:
I store all of my open packs of Close to My Heart patterned paper alphebetically by the name of the paper pack (i.e. Aspen, BackCountry, Caboodle, etc.)  Each paper pack is in its' original zip-top clear plastic bag (although I do combine my opened Level 1 & Level 2 kits into one bag for my personal storage and also store the matching Stickease packs in the same bag as well.  This way everything is together! Note - I remove all of the cardstock out of the paper packs when I receive them and file the cardstock seperately in my cardstock files). 
All of these paper packs are filed in the top of a rolling cart storage I found at Michaels.  The unit came with dividers to put in the top area to store miscellaneous items.  So when I assembled the unit, I simply left the dividers out and it holds 12x12 paper packs perfectly upright!!  This way my packs are easy to flip through when I'm looking for something in particular. (my paper packs are in the top right of the photo . . . more info on the other contents of these storage units to come in future posts!)
I didn't get a picture of it - but I also store loose sheets of miscellaneous patterned paper in Cropper Hopper vertical files.  (Tip:  These Cropper Hopper files will fit on the Expedit shelves if you use an Exacto knife to trim a little bit of their height!)

I hope that gives you some ideas for storing your paper!  Please leave a comment if you have any questions on my scrap room organization!

5 comments:

  1. This was very helpful...thanks for the glimpse into your craft room! I'm moving in a couple months from a tiny apt to hopefully an apt where I can have my own craft room, and I'm constantly brainstorming how I'll organize everything. I like your ideas :) The Expedit is the one item I FOR SURE have on my wish list...maybe 2 of them!!

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  2. I love getting these little glimpses into your crop scpace! I sometimes struggle with how to store things! I'm in a very limited space! Thanks for sharing, sweet friend!
    Blessings,
    Kim xXx

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  3. Thanks for the post! Paper storage is one thing that I haven't found a good system for - I've been using the Michaels white storage shelves ... hmmm might have to go reorganize tonight!

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  4. love the portability of the Generations accordian files for 12x12 paper.

    why didn't i see this post before i ordered a bunch of cropper hopper vertical holders. oh well...we can never have too many oragnizational tools. will check walmart out...

    boleyn

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  5. Thanks for posting the pics! We just had a crop and this was a huge discussion for a lot of us... a good way to store it that is transportable for crops, etc... I am going to have to give these a try!

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