Can you remember when......

[Ruth Ann Landry]

You could put ALL of your scrap supplies in one totebag? When I first started this I bought a Crop in Style Jr, navy blue nylon shoulder bag...I thought it was HUGE! I could keep everything I owned (scrapbook-wise) in that one large tote bag. Today...and how many thousands of dollars later (yes, I said thousands...I'm sure of it!) I am almost at a loss as to where to put more stuff ....and I have a whole room.... more storage bins than I have in my cellar...drawers, shelving...orange crates....and even under the bed! AND ALL THIS SINCE THE SUMMER OF 05!!!!!!!!!!!

[southernpeach35]

Yup! I used to store all of my scrap stuff in a 12x12x3 clear plastic box! That was the summer of 05, for me as well! Now I have half our office, an entire closet, an iris cart, file cabinet and a few other smaller storage cases. What a hoot!

[azemigh]

That's a good one!

[pbp908]

I remember when everything I owned fit in a dress box. Then I bought a CM tote and man was I ever organized! LOL. Next came the XXL, then the huge Crop In Style paper holder. Now I can't find enough places to put it and have to have two work surfaces.

Pam

[nchoney]

I remember when I had a few rolling drawer thingies..... and Mike put up 3 shelves on a wall.... and I was so proud of how organized it all looked.... here are the pics:

http://www.nchoney.net/scrapbook/lgrpho ... =scraproom

Oh... and if you think that second shelf looks like it's going to fall? It did.... there were too many rubber stamps on it....

And... that little shelf with my punches on it has grown to 3 of the old Crop-in-Style Punch Pal things hung on the door to that room.... it's so heavy now that we can't move it to another door unless I take them all off.... PLUS .... I still have a zillion more punches that aren't in that rack...

Here's a photo I found online.. of two of those racks hooked together... I've got 3... so the door is full... sorta like a punch trophy case... LMAO

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/pho ... 4861GHxWPl

BUT.... now I have TONS more stuff... it's not even in that same room... but completely takes over another bedroom in the house...

And... I agree with the "thousands of dollars" .... but ya know? I do my best scrapping when I just get back to basics and grab paper, adhesive, and photos.

So.... need to work on more organizing today.... pulling some photos and grabbing paper and embellishments to go with them... and then setting myself up to do some serious scrapping SOON!!!

[ChristyB]

Honestly I can't.
I have had more craft supplies than I ever needed since I was a kid. Guess that is what happens when you come from a crafting family. Supplies & books that's where my money has always gone. Now I do remember when my stuff only took up one room. Now though I "spread out"

[Luanne]

No. I have no recollection of that at all. Do I remember when it took up one room, no I dont remember that either. Do I remember when it was housed at one location....that I remember.

ps- Thank's mom for letting me store my 'extras' at your place!

[ChrisR]

Yup. I remember when I placed my first order with CM, I also ordered one of the shoulder bags to store stuff in it. I NEVER imagined that I would get the stash that I have today.

[dehlers43]

When I got my first tote I thought I was sooooo cool....LOL
All of my tools, inks, pens and most of my paper fit in one of those old rolling tote boxes from Fiskars....
I don't even want to talk about now......LOL

[jfugina]

Good topic! Yes, I do recall when everything I owned fit into one tote - and mine was also a Crop in Style Jr. I worked my way up to an XXL, which now sits empty under one of my crafting tables. I can't bring myself to give it away, because of how expensive it was, but selling it online seems like it wouldn't be worth it because of the shipping.

Now I have an entire room (as small room, but at least it's all mine) dedicated to my supplies. I've told myself that I'm not allowed to outgrow this space. Continued optimization of storage is allowed, but not growing beyond the room! LOL.

Oh, and yes Ruth Ann - I'm well into the thousands as well. I have 12 Sizzix alphabet die sets. Each one was purchased on sale, but even so, that one collection put me in the 4-figure mark all on its own. Add a year of CS shipments that ran over $100 each, and well, it's not hard to get that "s" on the thousand.

[Monica]

I remember arguing with my mom about scrapbooking... I was a diehard stamper and I was NOT gonna take up another hobby! She convinced me to try it, and I made sure to use stamps on the first pages I did (of my cats, so I used a paws stamp across each page). That was back when 12 X 12 was practically unheard of, and the coolest thing going was HOTP books with their themed papers. lol! I still have a few of those... love the vellum and Disney ones. My stamping stuff took up most of the space in my two 9 drawer plastic carts from Costco, and the scrapping stuff was carefully segregated into its very own drawer or 2. I have vague memories of only having 6 ink pads to choose from, instead of the {gulp!} hundreds I'm sure I have now. I remember taking all the scrapping stuff up to my mom's for a visit, and I had so much room left in the bag that I tossed in some cardmaking supplies too. No way could I do that now! It takes me 3 totes (4 if I bring the Cricut) and another bag for the odds and ends to go to a crop, and I still always forget something.

Monica

[Lynn K]

It is like when we use to buy computer with XXX memory thinking how are we EVER going to fill that space. Well now our computers are 5 times that size and we still fill that space. That is how it is with scrapbooking. I once also had 1 plastic drawer rolly thing, and a XXL tote, and yep it went to crops and people laughed because I had sooo much stuff! NOW, I prefer not to go to crop because I have too much CRAP!!

[scrappin nurse]

My son and I were talking about this the other day while looking through pictures and it is pretty amazing how much my stash has grown in just the time that we have lived here in Germany. Just starting out when we moved here and then I found CS and a bunch of enablers and well the rest is history!!!!

[ErinW-N]

I'm pretty sure my stash has quintupled since I joined CS in 2/07!

Before that I had a couple of Walmart kits, some ebay stuff, and a pegboard with paper racks. Now I take up 2/3 of a 10x14 office space! 4 bakers racks, a desk and more!

[lbeier]

In May of 2000, my now DH bought me an XXL. With that and one CM bag I toted basicaly everything I owned back and forth from my apartment to my mom's house every weekend.

Now, like Luanne - my stash is stowed in multiple places. 3 large crates in a storage closet at the library which I estimated at 6K (for insurance purposes). This is mainly my Sizzix stuff, various punches, etc. that are too heavy to lug back adn forth, but people expect to have at that crop! Then half the closet/office room is filled with my stuff - filled so full I can't scrapbook in there and Kurt constantly complains and lastly, my trunk is 80% full of stuff that never seems to get brought back in the house!

Oh, and that XXL - it is scraped and bruised and the the wheels have been replaced, but it is full of paper and way too freaking heavy to lift up into my car, so it sits in the garage - why the garage? I don't know, it is just that is the farthest it got one day!