2012 Organize your Stash Challenge-Stamps & Inks

Another wonderful thing that comes from being a member of the Cricut Circle is the way all the members support each other on the message board.  From inspiring us with their creativity, providing a needed shoulder to cry on when tragedy strikes to helping us celebrate achievements, this group of crafters really are a big part of my online family.

Now some of that support is a "wee bit bad" since they "enable" you by posting deals on scrap supplies they found.  But then, that is balanced by also helping us figure out how to store those items in our craft room !

For 2012, we have an Organize Your Stash Challenge going.  Each week the host post an area we need to organize.  This week we are organizing our Stamps.  I mostly had a system going but needed to straighten this area out and re-org how I was sorting them and all my inks.

This is my stamping station.  My DH added a larger shelf

to some existing builtin bookcases in my craft room so I

had more room to stamp.  Yeah !

I store all my stamps in CD cases.  They are sorted and labeled

by theme and type.  This works out great for me to easily

find what I am looking for when I need a certain stamp.

This is what they look like in their CD case.

As you can see, you can get quite a few in here.

I have a small wire basket

(it's  cute & pink...I bought it at Target last year)

and I keep all my "new, need to be stored" stamps

in here until I get around to using them and putting in

a CD case.  I even have some scrap white cardstock

tucked in the front to use when I need test a stamp.

My inks are stored with my stamps.

I found this wooded shelf set out for

trash in my neighborhood and re-purposed it

to hold some of my inks.

Starting at bottom: embossing inks and large acyrlic blocks

2nd shelf: stazon, waterproof inks and small acrylic blocks

3rd shelf: permanent inks & 7 Gypsy stamper

top shelf: Paper Towels, wet wipes

On the side wall , I hung my roller. And tucked in

between wall and shelf is Ranger Dry Foam and Felt Sheets.

I even have some 12X12 chipboard sheets covered in plastic to use

for portable stamping, painting, glittering when I need to set aside to dry. 

My Distress and Chalk inks are stored temporarily in

some photo boxes...it ain't pretty I know, but

DH is gonna make me two little shelves across that

whole area for me to keep these most used items on

above the stamp cases.   And my markers are stored here

as well in a folding pen holder I turned on it's side.

And my latest addition to this area

is my awesome 4 tiered revolving tray

where I have my mists, daubers, ink daubers,

blending tools, alcohol inks, ink refills, etc.

I LOVE this !  And I saw one on Pinterest and

hunted it down.  For only $20 I can hardly

believe how much this stores !!!!!!

I keep my Cats Eye inks, Stickles and Ranger Pearls and Paint on a shelf next to my inking station.

My Cats Eyes are stored in this Plano box and sorted by color family.

I do keep some basic colors like Chestnut Roan and Black in my tool bag.

My Stickles, and Dimensional Pearls I keep in this

taller Plano box.

I store this box upside down on my shelf so the Stickles

stays to the top and does not dry out. 

Again, I keep one of the white glittery ones like Crystal

or Star Dust in my tool bag for easy access.

My Perfect Pearls. Perfect Medium and assorted brushes are kept in the clear plastic shoe box.

Well, I hope this inspires you to get your stamping area set up.  It's nice to have everything handy

and a specific place to stamp.



Introducing Lady Cricut

I have a new scrapbook buddy...Lady Cricut.  She has a slight British accent and comes from a Royal Cricut Bloodline...or so she says.  She has decided to take up residence in my scraproom and appearantly decided to steal my crown for her very own.  We are going to have a talk about that...

Lady Cricut reigns over her scrapbook domain.

Lady Cricut is wearing her ever so fashionable Scrapbook apron. 

She is a great example to us all since she keeps her camera ready for picture taking

so she doesn't miss capturing those specials moments to treasure and share with others in her scrapbooks.

I have a feeling Lady Cricut is here to stay and will want to tag along on all my own scrapbook adventures

so don't be surprised if you see me with her at my next scrapbook event.

                                           

See Why They Call Me ScrapHappyDeb

Ever wonder why my MB name is "ScrapHappyDeb"?
My DH took this picture tonight of me in my scraproom tonight for a contest on the Cricut Circle Blog that requires we submit a picture of ourselves in our scrap rooms. 

We decided to ham it up a bit...I am wearing my "signature crown",

surrounded by some of my Cricut machines including my new E2 while

reading my inaugural copy of the Cricut Magazine.

Sadly my Cake Machine, YUDU and V1 didn't make it into the picture. 

Now all I need is the IMAGINE

so I can have a complete and happy Cricut Machine family !

I have decked out my adorable Cricut Plushie in his own Scrap Apron courtesy of Build A Bear!

He loves being right un the lovely Circle Scarf serving dual duty as wall decor. 

Since we are here, why don't I give you a little tour of the place that makes me so happy.

When you walk into the room, my scrap space is just to your left.

I use an old oak dining room table that seats 8 for my scrap table.

It's perfect for having friends over to scrap or

when I want to really really spread out myself !

In this picture you can see my inspiration station with projects and magazines,

my cutting station with Cricut and Cuttlebug stuff, cricut cart storage and ribbon storage.

If you scan around to the right, you will see my Stamp Station,

my Paper Station and My Small Embellishment Stations.

Here's a few close up shots and explanations method to my madness...

I store all my patterned paper sorted by manufacturer and kits

in 12X12 plastic sleeves in assorted baskets.

This makes it so easy to find just what I want.

I keep all my most current scrap buys in a 12X12 rolling hanging file bin under the scrap table.

All my small embellies I store in jars on this shelf.

Buttons, brads, fabric brads, metal tags, decorative pins, etc.

And hanging on hooks form the bottom is my extensive

Flower collection sorted by color in hanging bags on binder rings.

Here is how I store my large ribbon collection.

As you can see, I have sorted my ribbon by color, type or theme by attaching

each piece on a safety pin hung on a large binder ring. 

Each large binder ring of ribbon is then suspended from a smaller ring on the rod.

The rod is just threaded through the shelf brackets above.

This system works great for me...I just unhook the large binder ring from the smaller ring

of the colors I want to try with my project, snip off what I want and then hang

back up on the smaller ring.  This system cost me about $5 total.

Here is my stamping station. All my inks, glimmer mist, 

Paint Daubers, Acrylic Paints and stamps are stored here.

I have a nice hard wood shelf that DH extended for me so

I have plenty of room to stamp and clean up here too.

Most of my stamps are acrylic so I store in CD cases.

Here is how I store all my many Cricut Cartridges.

These are large size Snapware containers with two tiers each.

   I just expanded into my third Snapware container system for my Cricut Cartridges. 

I love this system but I changed it up a bit from other's I have seen posted. 

The top tier holds the booklets divided by alpha.

I have plenty of room to add more to this A-F Set.

For now, I am storing my E2 & Imagine carts separately

from my regular Cricut Carts.

On the bottom tier, I have placed 4 drawer dividers I bought at the $ store.

I used plastic needlepoint canvas to make a few dividers I slid between slots.

This gives me room to put 5 carts in each section and they don't fall over

when I take them out of their spot and makes it easier to replace them.

As you can see I have about 34 carts in this bin so far and

room to expand to up to 60 if needed.

On the tall shelf, starting at the top:

 1) my extra trimmers and MS Scoring board and misc blank albums

2) Stacked boxes to hold my bling, all my Thickers in big box

3) Small Sterlite bins hold my journaling cards and epherma, twine,

 doilies, gaffer tape, etc. I have my heat gun and ribbon iron on top.

4) Small Sterlite bins hold envelops, tags, bingo cards. 

Large bins hold Rub Ons, Large Bling sheets,

 Metals, Stickers, Mini Alpha Sheets 

Rest of that shelf unit

5) All my cardstock, sorted by type and color

6) Specific Scrap Items sorted by Holidays in 12X12 Bins

  And last but not least is our BIG SCREEN TV...woohooo....I can scrap and watch chick flicks too !!!

I do share this very large bonus room with my DH. His geneology area is on the right of the room when you walk in but it is just a big desk with a wall of shelves with boxes and boxes and boxes of Geneology stuff in them so not really worth showing you.

Now do you can see why I am "ScrapHappyDeb", right? LOL  I love all my yummy scrap stuff and spend
most of my free time in this room creating.  Hope something you see in my room inspires you !

Take a Peek at My Scrap Oasis

As most crafters know, your scrap space needs to inspire you AND most of all be user friendly.  After several incarnations of my space in various locations over the years, after trying many ways of organizing all the tools of my scrappy craft and after many purging and buying of organizers, I think I may have finally become comfortable with my latest Scrap Oasis. It is certainly not cutesy like I had in the past (mainly cause I share the space with DH and he doesn't 'do' cutesy) and I have recylced many items from other craft spaces or from around the house so it is a hodge podge but I love it and feel comfortable in there.
Take a peek and let me know what you think.

Here is my Scrap Oasis.  It is in the large bonus room I share with DH.  My part of the room is 10 1/2 ft X 11 ft.  The table is an old oak kitchen table which seats 4 to 5 scrapper friends comfortably.  The Burgundy and Gold curtains in the back ground hide a small storage area in this room for miscellaneous stuff...There is also a large 50" screen tv to the left in this picture for tv and movie watching.  The globe you see in the foreground is sitting on DH's desk where he does his hobby, Geneology Research.  We love spending time together in this room.

My Scrap Oasis is divided into stations.  These cabinets are my "CREATIVE INSPIRATION"station.  The cabinets on the bottom hold my craft magazines and books, my punches, my cuttlebug & folders, my xyron machines. On top I have a bunch of different project and storage holders.

Continuing around to the right of the previous cabinets, is my "CRICUT/RIBBON" station. On the shelf is the snapware container that holds all my cricut carts (I recently switched to this storage...just not enough room to display all my cart boxes) and so far I like it. And I LOVE hanging all my ribbon on the shelf underneath.  I will post more about my handmade ribbon system in another post. Above the shelf are three 12X12 clip boards were I post some of my LO's.

To the right of my cricut station is my "Get Messy" station.  I have all my inks, glimmer mist and paints  and acrylic stamps here.  My hubby made me a great extra large flat shelf area to give me plenty of room.  Ihave a large craft mat and my stamping pad there.  The blue cd holders have cd cases with all my acrylic stamps.  The light blue tin bucket holds my various acrylic blocks. And the little tin buckets on top of the cd holders have my copics, distress ink applicators, paint brushes, etc.  The big wooden tower was reclaimed from a neighbor's trash and I use it to hold all my paint daubers, glimmer mist, speciality paints, paper towels, stickles and cats eye ink containers. At the very top I have displayed the projects I made at CE last year.

Underneath the "Get Messy" Station is my "Paper & Kits" Station.  I have everything sorted into various baskets that hold 12X12 Generations plastic paper storage holders.  Some baskets are sorted by MFG, some by THEME, some by KIT CLUB and some by PROJECT KITS I made myself.  This makes it really easy for me to find things.  The Generations holders are slightly expandable which I love. I can add not only paper but also embellishments that I bought to use with that paper or for a particular project.

                                       

The shelves next to the "GET MESSY" Station is my "MISC STATION.  Starting from the top shelf...it holds large paper trimmers, MS Scoreboard,and some extra albums. The shelf below has containers of all my various bling, my thickers and rub ons. The next shelf holds containers with different kinds of journaling blocks and pieces of epherma like tickets, images, etc. I also have my heat gun and ribbon iron here.  After that are containers that hold large embellishments, small trim pieces, gaffer tape,doilies, etc.  You can see my cardstock on the next shelf.  I have it sorted by type and colors using cropper hopper paper holders turned on their side for easy access. There are also two containers of rolled ribbon and trims.  The final shelf has 12X12 boxes that contain holiday theme items...Valentine/Love, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving/Fall, Christmas, etc.  

                                           

Around to the right of the shelves is a walkway and then a 1/2 wall.  On this wall I have my "SMALL EMBELLISHMENT" station.  The shelves hold jars of buttons,brads, pins, snaps eyelets, clips, etc.  You name any small embellishment and I can find it in this section. Underneath the shelf I have bagged all my Prima Flowers and hung them on rings by type/colors on hooks I mounted on the wall.  It works great and makes it easy to find just the flower(s) I need to add that perfect touch to my projects.  This area is just right behind that chair I sit in while crafting so it is very handy.

And I am sure you spotted my IPOD player on the top shelf...I MUST have Scrappy Music to get in the creative mood :)

Well, I could go on and on and show you more hidden storage I have in there but will save that for another post.  Hope you enjoyed the little mini tour of where I spend my creative time.