The ScrapRack: 2012 get organized challenge

2012 Get Organized Challenge

Take control of the piles of pictures that are floating around your home, office, or craft room. 

Are you ready to tackle those piles (or files) of pictures, both printed and digital?  If so you'll want to join The ScrapRack for a FREE online Webinar.  They will help you set up an easy system for sorting, organizing , and storing your photos both printed and digital. 

Click here for more information!

Declutter and organize your life in the new year

Declutter and Organize

January is “National Get Organized Month”, and getting organized is one of the most common New Year's resolutions.  

Come to the Vernon Area Public Library to learn the ins and outs of organizing any space in your home or office with Certified Professional Organizer Amy Trager.  Amy will teach you how to tackle spaces in a manageable way. She'll have examples of creative ideas for all your problem areas, too. Bring questions about your toughest organizing challenges to ask her!

Click here for more information!

Declutter and organize your life in the new year

Declutter and organize your life in the New Year

Come to the Vernon Area Public Library to learn the ins and outs of organizing any space in your home or office with Certified Professional Organizer Amy Trager.  Amy will teach you how to tackle spaces in a manageable way. She'll have examples of creative ideas for all your problem areas, too. Bring questions about your toughest organizing challenges to ask her!

Click here for more information!

CHA 2011 Winter - Simply Renee Sneak Peek

Simply Renee Inc has a new product coming May 2011. This new organizational system will help the crafter get her space organized and ready to craft.

With the Clip it Up All-In-One you're in charge! Choose the components you need to create the storage that works for you. Mix and match. It’s all up to you!

The All-In-One Base allows you to add and adjust components for your personal needs. With its sturdy, yet simple design, grooves are placed every inch apart to allow maximum use of the entire frame.

Check out the Simply Renee Inc blog to see more configurations and pricing details.
Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Craft Storage Ideas

This open cabinet normally corrals footwear, but it can be a crafty storage solution.

Towels, toothpaste, and bubble bath can be tucked away, yet still handy, with this simple storage unit. The same cabinet works for crafts supplies, too!

Pick up a wire toilet-paper holder from any discount store and convert it into a sorting system for crafts supplies.

Keep shampoo and soaps tidy in the shower with this handy wire shelf, or set it up in the craft room to serve a different purpose.

Plastic cubes that typically hold paper clips, highlighters, staplers, sticky notes, and reams of paper can be useful for crafters

Look at everyday items in a new way when organizing your crafting space.

The Creativity Bugs ~ Sandy and Sue

Easy Organizing Tips

As you saw from my earlier post, my crafting area is a total mess. While doing a quick Internet search on organization of crafting supplies, I found a few nifty ideas and tips that I wanted to share.

Add jars to a shelf for easy storage of buttons, ribbons, and other small embellishments.

Prevent pen and marker frustration by storing your writing utensils sideways. The ink won't pool or dry out. And it is easy to find the color you need.

Keep a picnic utensil container on your crafting table to store items neatly. Plus, the handle makes it easy to take on the go.

Fill a notebook with magazine clippings, color palettes, sketches, and other items to keep inspiration at your fingertips. A purse-size notebook is ideal for when you get those creative sparks while out and about.

Make your craft supplies inspirational and functional by arranging items by color. It'll cut down on planning time and brighten your work space

More great organizing and crafting tips coming this week.

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Organize your crafting space

Keep your bookshelves tidy with baskets and bins. Use baskets to corral loose items, such as fabric samples, paint swatches, and project folders. Add labels to each basket to identify its contents and give your shelves more personality

Use vertical paper storage holders to store a lot of paper in a little amount of space. Sort paper by color to make it easy to find

Always create a backup of your digital images by burning them to a CD or DVD. Make sure to label the disk properly; or make an index of the images on the discs. Then place in jewel cases for easy access.

Use ribbon as a decorative accent. Placing scraps of ribbon in glass canisters is a great way to keep scraps tidy and add color to your space. For your favorite rolls, hang a small rod and place ribbon across, sorting by color or pattern.

Keep your tools in reach with a lazy Susan. Organize by type of tools and label accordingly to ensure they return to the right spot.

Don't have time to scrap the last concert or trip you took? Save ticket stubs, name tags, and souvenirs in an accordion file until you're ready to sit down and create a beautiful page.

Keep your ribbon neatly organized in inexpensive floss containers. Wrap ribbon that is less than a yard around the paper spools. Then organize by color and pattern, making it easy to find what you're looking for.

Keep small accents in clear jars, then place in a spice-jar organizer for easy storage without spending big bucks.

Dress up empty wall space with a pegboard storage area. Buy pegboard at your local hardware store. Then add molding around the edges and paint according to your room. Customize your board with other gadgets such as hooks, baskets, and shelves.

Use inexpensive thrift-store jars to show off your supplies as a decorative item in your craft room. Clear jars make it easy to quickly spot an embellishment you need.

Find just the right paint color by placing tubes in a handy spinning spice rack or lazy Susan.

Try these ideas to get your crafting space organized!

The Creativity Bugs ~ Sandy & Sue

Organize 2011

Cluttered table tops, an overflow of supplies, and no floor space to move around? Then welcome to our world! The Creativity Bugs have a new year's resolution to become organized. Which means starting today January 17th, you will begin to see a series of posts concerning organization of crafting spaces and supplies along with organization tips and tools.
Here is a picture of Sue's crafting area. Oh what a mess!

The Creativity Bugs ~ Sandy & Sue

Organizing It All

As you can see, I haven't been crafting lately. That is because I have been trying to organize all my crafting supplies to make finding things more easy. It also gave me the opportunity to inventory all my stuff and do a little purging. I ended up donating a box of papers to my sister for the Boys & Girls Club and the other box of items is coming along with me to share at the next scrapbooking retreat in March.

So are you interested in seeing what I have done so far in my scrapbooking space and bonus room?

This is the double set of closets in my bonus/dining room closed. My mom and I painted them to match the wall and put a bookshelf in between for knick knacks. You can't tell from the picture, but they are painted in a light coffee color.

Here are the closets opened, organized, and labled.

And in my office, here is one of the two shelves of pens and markers

And lastly, my pegboard with odds and ends

I am still working on organizing my 12x12 papers and all the scrapbooking paper scraps.

Scrap Spaces Challenge - ribbon

As you can tell from my lack of posts lately I haven't had much of a chance for crafting lately. This is due to the fact that my crafting spaces are a disaster and I can't find anything, hence the reason I joined the Scrap Spaces Challenge group at Simply Scrapping Crafts.

The first thing I did was organize my ribbon that was stuffed in a huge box all tangled. It went from this:

to now looking like this:

Another idea for ribbon organization is to buy wooden clothes pins from the dollar store, wrap your ribbon around them, secured with a pin, and storing them in plastic shoe boxes. This was a suggestion from a fellow organizer in my challenge group.

Hope either idea has helped you in your own organizational goals!

Organize on the Cheap!

A friend and new scrapbooker asked me how I could I afford storage for all of my crafting supplies. I told her the magical secret; shop at dollar stores, thrifts stores, garage sales, and clearance areas of Target & Walmart.

Why spend $8 for the fancy bottles to hold beads, brads, or flowers when you can spend $1 for salt & pepper shakers from the Dollar General that will do the same thing.

You can also save frappicino bottles from Starbucks, decorate them, and store buttons, brads, etc. I enjoy salsa and save the Pace jars to use as storage or decorate later for fun gifts.

Look at things in a different way. I went to the thrift store and found a Mary Kay demonstrator’s cosmetic display for $2 and turned it into a painting caddy.

In my pantry, I found a cupcake rack that was never used. I purchased a few votive candle holders from the dollar store and turned it into a caddy that sits on my crafting table and holds eyelets, brads, and other small objects that I am working with.

Take out your Tupperware chip/veggie divider that never gets used and turn it into a supply caddy that you can leave on your crafting station.

Leah Fung had pictures posted of her scrapbooking room and for under $20, I was able to copy her wall storage. All it took was a pegboard from the hardware store ($4), a can of spray paint ($2), peg hooks ($8), tiny buckets from Target’s dollar spot (on sale for a quarter), and buckets from Michaels (used 40% off coupons).

Wait until the gardening season is over and pick up a bunch of different sized flower pots. Leave them as is or spray paint them. They are great for holding pens, scissors, adhensives, and ribbon.
If you have any organization tips, tricks, or storage ideas leave a comment or e-mail me a picture so that I can include it on the blog.