Organizing... and dusting.

I've been organizing things in my craft area over the past few weeks, and thought I would share a bit of the fun! If you're not "crafty", I'm sure this post will be of little interest for you. I'm working on a farm update post so all you un-crafty, non-stamper readers have something to look forward to! *grin*

 Bit by Bit...

My crafting area is all about function, not so much about being "pretty". I love drawers and having lots of places to put things, which is good because I've gathered a LOT of things over the years! I literally have a WALL-o-SUPPLIES in front of me when I'm sitting at my work table. And I love it this way! My table is nice and wide, provides me with lots of work area, and is sturdy enough to support all of these things.

One of the first things I did when I started the reorganizing project was sort through my "miscellaneous" stamps in the drawers I have above my table. There are specific drawers now for things like snowmen, and chickens, and I also divided up sentiments by theme. There is a Christmas drawer, birthday drawer, etc. Sometimes it just makes sense to keep stamps organized by company; I do this for Rosie's Roadshow, A Muse, and most of my wood mounted Whipper Snapper stamps. Some wood mounted Whipper Snapper stamps are stored in other drawers, like chicken and snowman, where appropriate.

I use old Stampin' Up stamp cases to keep the smaller sentiments contained within the larger drawers. The cases keep the small stamps lined up and facing upwards, so I can easily see what each case contains. One of the things I did during the "reorg" was pull sentiments out of Stampin' Up sets, and put them in with my other sentiment stamps. So now, if I want a birthday sentiment, I go to the birthday drawer and all of the sentiments I own that are birthday related are there for me to choose from. Previously, when the sentiments were stored with their original Stampin Up set case, they just weren't being seen (or used).

I went through all of the little drawers I have on my desk, making sure things were in the right drawer, and that the drawers were in the best order. Glitters, watercolor pots, sparkly powders, and flocks are on one side, pens, pencils, and various drawing tools are in the next row, miscelaneous doo-dads, tags, office supplies are in the next row, and buttons, brads, charms, and other embellishments are in the next row. The large white wooden drawers are used for 12x12 paper, tools, prima flowers, 6x6 paper, and various envelopes and pre-scored card bases.

I used to keep all of my Stampin' Up ink pads grouped by their assigned color family (brights, earth tones, subtles, etc), but decided I would rather have them grouped by ROYGBIV, which is how I sort all things color related (glitters, pencils, buttons, etc). I find this method of sorting much more logical, and it's easier for me to find what I'm looking for. I took all of the ink pads out of the spinner, dusted them off (yoyo yellow was crazy dusty!), and put them back into the spinner in ROYGBIV order. A spinning rainbow of color!

The ink pad colors that don't fit in the spinner flow over to the wooden storage rack next to the wall. Pinks, purples, and the neutral colors fit there perfectly, along with the selection of pigment ink pads I own. The wooden ink storage that's sitting on my desk is from Storage Units, Ink. It's wonderful quality, and is in like new condition even though I've been using it for about 6 years. I only wish that I had opted to order the version that only has the ink pad slots and the re-inker holes. I don't store markers in the unit (which is what the smaller drilled holes are for), so that is a bit of waste of space on my storage unit. I do like having the re-inkers next to the ink pads, though -- that's a great option! (The little white capped bottles stuck into the storage unit, and on top of the storage spinner, are the ink refills for the ink pads.)

The wooden rack mounted on the wall houses other inks (Ranger Distress, VersaMagic, StazOn, etc). It is a curio cabinet I got years ago from my Aunt Judy. Thanks Judy! Bet you didn't think it would still be used after all of these years! It's mounted on the wall sideways...it's light weight, doesn't take up a bunch of space, and the shelves are the perfect size! And it's a cute spot for me to display a few of my stamps, too! Above that is an old Coca-Cola bottle case, storing little bottles of buttons. These will soon be replaced with small stamps and doo-dads set on display, as the Coca-Cola shelf is a bit high to reach to often for supplies. Everything got a good dusting, and straightening up.

Next, I settled on a new way of organizing the markers I use most frequently. These storage cases are meant to stand upright on the surface of the table, but they were taking up too much space, and it was difficult to see the colors. I decided to turn the cases on their sides at a slight angle and stack them. Not only did this solve the issue of not being able to see the colors well, but also takes up a LOT less space! I used two small foam adhesive dots to adhere each case to the one below, so if I choose to change the way they are set up, it will be as simple as removing two foam dots from each case. I used an old cutting rail (a 1/2" piece of teflon from my 12" Fiskars rotary paper cutter) as the prop under the cases. A piece of sticky strip tape holds the teflon strip in place. Perfect!

Another thing I did to the markers was add a cardstock dot, along with the color number, to the tops of the smaller markers. Since my markers are two different sizes, I wanted to be able to quickly know which colors fell into a series, and keeping them in numerical order also makes it quicker to find the colors I want to use since they'll always be in the same spot. I used a standard office supply paper punch to make the circles, a fine tip marker to write the color numbers, and small zot glue dots to hold the cardstock circles in place. Easy as can be, and I'm quite happy!

The largest organization project I took on was regrouping my Stampin Up wood mounted sets. A lot of people have chosen to unmount their wood mounted stamps to save space, but I don't want to do that. I LIKE stamping with wood blocks, and I like seeing the image art stickers on the blocks. So instead of unmounting all of my stamps, I chose to move them into larger storage containers, and combine sets with similar line art style and theme. I chose to use Thicker Stuftainers from Stampendous, which are the perfect depth for wood mounted stamps.

Here you can see stamps from several sets all mixed into one box ... but really, all of the images could be used with each other, due to their similar art style.

I also used Thin and Thick Stampendous Stuftainers to store some of my cling mount images. The Thin and Thick containers are the same size as the Thicker containers, just thinner, so they line up nicely with the newly combined sets. I keep stamps that are just bare rubber in three-ring binders, by company and by theme. At the far left, you can see I still have a few sets in their original containers from Stampin Up.

It's obvious that people who choose to completely unmount their stamps are able to save a great deal more space than the option I chose, but I'm pleased as punch with my newly organized shelves, and I love how inspired I am to use more of my stamps! They're so much easier to get to!

And what's left over? Loads of empty Stampin Up cases (most with lables). Need any? $1 each plus shipping. *grin*

I also tidied up the ribbon rack that hangs on the door that opens up to the water heater area. This rack used to be an over-the-door towel rack. No more towels... it has been "ribbon central" for several years, and it works great! Hello, my pretties!

So... now I want to hear from you! How do you organize, any tricks up your sleeves, and I wanna see photos! *grin*

Comments

[Bernie H]

I love the way you set this up and I have a question... would you have a listing of how you paired up the sets? That would save tons of time for the some of us who would like to get organized better also but we don't have a clue to what can go together.
I have done a reorganization to put some like things together, mainly Christmas, winter, sentiments... but obviously there are lots more groupings that can be done. Sometimes it's two sets that are similar in appearance or style but not in theme (know what I mean?). I guess I'm most interested in what sets you put together. Any help would be most gratefully appreciated.
Joyful Blessings

[~liz]

What case do you have your pencils stored in and where can I get one? p.s. always have loved your work space. It looks all nice and dusted. I need to do my again. Its imploded

[Lisa Bakovic]

Wow! Just Wow! Please tell me you have all your supplies insured! Heaven forbid something horrible should happen, this is worth a fortune! I just dont know how you do all the things you do....I want to be you when I grow up!

[Joan V]

Hi Anna. I arrived here via Turned Gypsy. Wow, I love the organization of your craft area. I'm a basement crafter. Yep, my husband says all the stuff has to stay in the basement. It's ok, I don't mind. LOL. Looking at your ribbon, I don't have as much, but I took it all off the spools. I hate when it unwinds. I had a hanger for belts, I think it has 10 hooks, and I unspooled my ribbon and put on a saftey pin, then key rings and hung on the hanger. My ribbons are right at my fingertips and I can see all my colors. Ribbon was one element I forgot to use because it wasn't in my reach, just stored in a box. Well, about all your stampn up boxes, I may want some if you still have them for sale. My stamps need to be reorganized a little, so I will need new containers. Most of my stamps are Close to My Heart and their cases are so flimsy. I enjoyed reading some of your back posts. Thanks for sharing. [email protected] or http://athomewithjoan.blogspot.com/

[Shellie Daniel]

Beautiful job, Anna! Doesn't it make you want to get in there and play, play, play? I cracked up when I saw your "Hello, my pretties" about your ribbon spools. :) That's how I feel about my beloved ribbon too. I have my loose stamps in a plastic storage unit with wheels under the countertop. This is funny, but I arrange them by size of block(!). That way, when I get ready to participate in an SCS sketch challenge, I have all of the same-sized stamps together and can select whichever one I want to use that fits the sketch.

[Jane Harrah]

If I beg really hard, will you come straighten me out? I mean, my stamps, not me personally although, I could probably use some help too! LOL
Fantastic org ideas.

[nise]

So, here I sit overdosing on Anna stuff - - super cool stamping, Dad "juice" and the cutest little cattle around, then I see this. Are you kicking my behind or what?! I have my new studio space in an upheaval and not an ounce of desire to set it to rights at present. Maybe tomorrow or next weekend. On a very positive note, yesterday I transplanted some of Chuck's antique roses outside the window where I'll eventually sit. Now I pray they blossom there {heavy sigh}...

[idette]

its always fun to see very 'talented' ladies and how they orgainze their workspace. thank you for sharing very fun...any chance you can post a full picture of your craft room? maybe more ideas there too--

thanks for sharing...
i want to get some of your very cute animal stamps 2!!!

[Maureen W.]

Wow!!! Such a fabulous space! Love all your different ideas and I'm definitely using the Ciao labeling idea - just genius! I'm trying to clean and reorg my craft room right now and you've inspired me even more to get it done. Thank you!!

[Judy Huettel]

Dang girl! I wanna come play in your organized playroom!!! Love it! And thanks for sharing pics and tips!

[Kelly Schirmer]

I like when you organize. I love me some hand me downs ((SMILE))...those oodles of markers and inks and pencils make me giddy...and I love your ribbon racks! I see you like gingham, too :) HUGS!

[Kelly Bee]

Loved this post! I'd been putting off my seasonal tidy up but decided to get 'er done when I saw your pictures...I didn't reorganize but I did put a lot of stuff where it's supposed to be...and I *may* have done a little dusting too:
http://kelly.studiobeemusic.com/?p=1664

[Jo-Ann]

wow!! very nice!!

my system isn't so fancy, just see through ziplock containers LOL

[Dee in N.H.]

Oh big sigh....That just looks awesome! Now can you come and do my mess...I was pretty organized at one time. Now, not so much. This has been a great inspiration. Thanks!

[Shala]

Wow. I mean. Wow. *shaking head*

Wow.

Did I mention, wow?

I am giving serious consideration to sending you photos of my style of organizing, but Steve would kill me!

[Diane M]

GREEN with envy, this is a fabulous workspace!!! My stamping space is sorely overpacked and crowded since it also functions as the computer room and spare room. I unmounted nearly all of my SU! stamps to save space, even though I do prefer wood mounts. Thank you for the inspiring ideas.

[SweetMissDaisy]

Hi Beth!
ROYGBIV stands for...

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

:)

Thanks!
-Anna.

[Beth Mak]

Love the organization & using things for a purpose other than what they are intended for.

What does ROYGBIV stand for?

[MichelePhillips]

First of all, I have to say that I LOVE that you have a drawer (or, likely drawerSSS) dedicated to snowmen and chickens. However, after that gorgeous display of art supplies just waiting for your next inspiration, there is no way I am telling you or showing you what my craft room/office looks like. In fact, it's pretty tragic; you should move back to the PNW and intervene. Help me Anna, you're my only hope. . .;)

[Carolyn Sue Groves]

Wowowowowowow! I am so a fan of yours, your art, your photography, your coloring, your stamping, your cooking, your farm, and now this organizing! I unmounted my stamps a couple of years ago, but I can see such wisdom in having things sorted in catagories. I really need to do that. Sometimes I feel like I don't stamp much because I'm finding other things to do in the stamp room to avoid it. I just have a hard time being confident about my stamping "ability" or lack there of. I don't think I will live long enough to get it all done the way I want it. LOL Thank you for sharing your life with us. Do you sing, dance, play musical instruments, write poetry?

[Bonnie H.]

What a wonderful, helpful and inspiring article!! As much as I LOVE seeing your cards and adopting your farm animals as my own, I REALLY NEED more ideas for organizing my poor, neglected craft room!! Thank you so much!! I, too, have LOTS and spend more time looking for things than crafting with them, which is just too frustrating. You're my new best friend!!!

[Karen Pounds]

Very Nice! I need to show this to my DH, he thinks I have a lot of stuff! haha.

[diane mcvey]

Oh, this all looks very familiar! I also have the white organizers (composite ones) with a shelf across the top for more things! And the SU inks in the wood, and jars, and little bins with drawers...I LOVE your space! I have five 6' tables in my room, and they are all covered. Well, actually right now they are BURIED! haha We are going to be moving early next year, and packing things is a nightmare! A friend came last week, and we sorted and packed stamp sets and supplies for 13 hours. EEEEKKKK! And it's not nearly done. But when I get to my new place, I want things to be organized by "subject", so I can place it all easily. Whether that will really happens remains to be seen! ha
Loved your Mom and Dad's comments. They are so awesome...
Thanks for sharing with us! Oh, and I saw just recently where a lady used an acrylic nail polish display rack for her wood mounted stamps. They were at graduated heights, and very visible. It was fantastic! They have them on ebay, and also on amazon.
Have a great weekend! Hugs to the critters! :D

[kathynruss]

I love your Dad's comment! Where is my daughter and what have you done with her? Also wondering where the "real" Rangers have disappeared to. Typing this on a craptop with no mouse, but had to comment on your organization. I am in awe! I bow to you. Like Norma J, my craft room looks like a hurricane went through it. I want to be you when I grow up! You go girl!

[Janine]

Me too!! All about function and what flows the best! Your space is amazing!!
I am always cleaning and moving around.
There will never be enough space!!

[Susan N.]

Your craft room is a stampers dream come true. You are an inspiration to get my craft room cleaned :) I would love to see your craft room in person and meet all your animals. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

[katie]

OMG I want to come play at your house! What a great work area. I have been thinking of reordering all my inks and papers by ROYGBIV but just haven't taken the time. I have a question though how do you reach all those stamps up high in those drawers? Aren't they heavy?

[Toni K]

Hi Anna! Love your craft room! You have sooo much. I just got my own craft room this summer! My son moved out so I took his room! He has since moved back, but he's on the sofa ;) Love having my own space. http://koolnkraftymom.blogspot.com/2010/06/craft-room-update.html
I am constantly changing things around as I find better ways to organize the furniture, and those inkpad holders are FULL now ;)
This link shows my ink pad holders. Love them!!! On my sidebar you can see my Copic Cubbies! They are wonderful! I searched high and low for a solution for the markers and these won hands down!

[Carmen]

I love the way you organized everything! I have my ink pads in a plastic container with little drawers (the kind for nuts and bolts, etc.). The inks are grouped by SU color families. My SU stamps are in cabinets and organized by the size of the box. Each group is organized in alphabetical order. And my paper is in a filing cabinet, organized by color families too.

I think that you have inspired me to change my ink pads and cardstock to the ROYGBIV way. Now the stamps... I love the idea of taking them out of the boxes and grouping them by theme, but I don't think that I'm ready to take that step... It's weird, but I feel like they need to be together in their SU box for some reason!!!

Thanks for sharing your stamping area with us!

[Kathy Martin]

My craft room needs this kind of sprucing up real bad! ;) Love your space and all the fun goodies to play with!

[NormaJ]

There is no organization in my room at all.
It looks like a hurricane went through there. But it is my intention to get it looking similar but no where near as organized as yours, one of these days. I took my stamps out of their cases too, and I fully intend to have them in similar sets, with birthday stamps, christmas stamps etc. It makes more sense than having them in separate little boxes. Love
your room and your tips on saving space.

[Debby Watkins]

Love your crafting room and the organization is wonderful!!!! I am a very organized person ... at least I thought I was ...until I saw your post, lol!!!! Anyway, thank you for sharing all your pics and tips. PS - Love your dad's comment. Funny!

[Sandy Luckett]

Hi Anna, I also use the plastic drawers for wood stamps. I wanted to suggest using plastic photo frame boxes for smaller stamps. It's so much easier to see the 2 layers of stamps when you can remove an entire layer. Hope that made sense. I can take a picture if you'd like? Love your room! Oh happy crafting!

[Sue]

Very cool. We are moving to a new house in january and I am going to get the WHOLE basement (at least thats MY plan LOL)
Lots of ideas here.

Ha..want to swap wooden stamp organizers? I have one with inkpad and reinker spots and would love to have the markers there too. Always regret not buying it that way.

Thanks for sharing!!

[DK Wight]

WWWWWWoW!!!!I dont know where the spaceship took my daughter, But I want her back! This just freaks me out......She has to be on the planet with the real Rangers baseball team.............Holy Jumpin Catfish!!!!..... Dad

[Anette Eakins]

Holy Moly!!- How I would LOVE to be let loose in your craft room!!!! I think I could be in there for years and not have used every single thing you own!!! (Hang on while I wipe the drool of my chin) ;o)
I have lots of the plastic drawers in my craft room, but I just seem to have a big mess no matter how I try to organize things.
You should see my room now, there are papers, stamps , my cuttlebug, my cutter, various containers with misc. stuff and who knows what else over the floor and my desk. I've been trying to crank out some cards over the past few days and things have just exploded everywhere. HELP! On top of that my oldest is moving back home for a while and all his stuff is all over the living room until we can get the spare bedroom cleared out for him.
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to get it organized. One can only hope!

[Anna Wight (SweetMissDaisy)]

Hi Lisa,
The case I keep my pencils in is an acrylic display case for some unknown object. I picked it up about 6 years ago, either at a store that sells used store displays, or at an acrylic cutting shop that was in the town I lived in. I can't remember which. You might try checking ebay for acrylic displays -- i haven't seen anything identical to the one I have, but I have seen similar items.

Hope this helps.....

Thanks!
-Anna.

[Sharli]

Holy Cow!! I will have to come back and study these photos with a magnifying glass - your system looks absolutely awesome Anna - very functional! Whew! I'm impressed!!!

[Lisa Foster]

Hi Anna! I love your organization! I love how it's all surrounding your work space!
I have a question...
What is that nifty container that holds your Prismacolor Pencils? I really like it! Mine are in a case, therefore...sight unseen, so the Copics get all the attention.
Thanks! Congrats on your new space!
Lisa

[Lori W]

Wow!! Your organizing superb...How soon can you come home and help me with my sewing room? It is amazing how much you can get in a small space. Love to see your antique sewing machine sitting out. Oh what will you do with mine?!!!MOM

[Jan]

Thanks for sharing. I also labeled my copic caio markers a while ago and it works great. I posted a link on my blog to share your great organizational ideas.

[JulieHRR]

Yippeeeee!!! Another functioning studio like mine!!! LOVE! Love you, too, Anna! *blowin' kisses*

[Jami]

Hey Anna - thanks so much for sharing your photos and tips. I've kind of been in the re-org process for the past few months and plan to share pics when I'm just a little closer to finished. I totally agree with you about stamping with wood blocks - still my favorite! I've also combined some SU sets (mostly just sentiments), but now that I'm not a demo I might do even more like you've done...really does make sense! And I've struggled with the idea of taking the sentiments out of the sets...I do think it makes sense, yet I haven't been able to do it...yet. We'll see. ;)

[Yvonne Russell]

I've only ever seen this much crafty goodness in a shop. Wow! And so organised too. Just fabulous.

[Carol Dee]

OMG.... I want to come play in your stamping room! I am no where near as organized. Nothing handy. Maybe my room is TOO large! I also have my beading, fabric, yarn and leather tool supplies stored there. I have my work table in the center of the room with a Pampered Chef tool turn about to hold a few markers, brushes, scissors, etc.... Then there are some built in shelves for the S.U. stamp sets. Loose stamps in boxes (for now) Hubby is supposed to be makeing me some wall racks to hold them. Ribbons in boxes. (too hard to find what I want) A large armoire full of bins and tubs of misc BLING. I really need to sort and clean again. Sigh. you room looks like a great place to work/play. :)
Hugs.... CAROL DEE
p.s. I love the stamp in the coke a cola case. "Caution Artist at Play" LOL

[Alyssa B]

That was fun! Thanks for sharing, loving all the tricks and tips that you shared. Need to clean up my space too.