Craft room

[nchoney]

I'm going to post some photos of progress in the craft room... I took a few last night of paper and cardstock... sadly, all the paper is not in those racks... still have some to sort through and to purge or divide up.. and give away. I have a few options of people/groups to donate to, so that's making it easier!!

The cardstock doesn't include the Club Scrap stuff... that will, most likely, take up space in plastic totes and annoy me so that I'll be nudged to using it more!! The sooner I use it, the sooner the totes can be removed from the room!! Once most of a kit gets used, the rest will go into the cardstock storage area for general use.

Top photo is the bulk of the cardstock.... still need to sort by color grouping. the 8.5x11 are in those magazine racks... the 12x12s will also go into those and be sorted by colors

2nd photo is just more 8.5x11 - they're either bulk packages of a color or some of those Michaels color group packages... so leaving packages together for now

3rd photo is the 12x12 patterned paper in the racks Mike built for me ages ago. Got them mounted to the wall so I'll be able to put other things under them. I have another tote of patterned paper to sort through... and not much more space in the rack... so apparently more is going to be purged because if it doesn't fit in its designated home, then I need to move it out of the room... There are a few spaces left on the far right where I have a couple binders stuck in there... but after that, something will have to go if I want to keep something else.

Once I get some more organizing done, I'll post some more photos.

[nchoney]

there are also some Iris boxes with some specific papers in them... that aren't in these photos.... Christmas, Wedding, Dog, Beach, Halloween.

[jfugina]

Wow! That's a lot of paper. I thought I had a lot of paper, but my collection pales by comparison. I love that you have so much of your paper up on sturdy shelving. Most of mine is randomly scattered throughout the craft room, because I don't have one single area that would neatly fit it all. I wish I had enough room (or maybe just the right arrangement of space) to be able to have it all in one place.

Great progress!

[pamcook]

Julie I just need to go through one hurricane with the flooding and you stop storing on the floor.

Debi, I’m impressed with how much you’ve accomplished!

[nchoney]

the crazy part is.... that big section of cardstock with the magazine holders.... is at floor level. BUT... in the event I'm prepping for a hurricane, I can grab those dividers and set them on top of that cabinet unit. That's my plan anyway... and in contrast to the pricing of most of our other supplies, plain cardstock is the least expensive... so it goes on a lower shelf.

the reason I have SO much freakin' cardstock is because of all the hurricane prep in the past... I've filled and stacked big totes full of supplies. And then it's been months or years before I was able to get back into the room to even peek in the totes. So - I would need to buy more. Then the subfloor in the scrapbook room gave way... the floor was falling. So I couldn't go in there to do much. I was working on things out in the living room and so I bought more and kept it out there. One thing just kept leading to another and now there's more paper than any one person should have on hand. I think everyone on my Christmas list will get a stack of cards this year. LOL

I lost several years' worth of Club Scrap kits in Irene... so what survived stayed packed in totes up on a table-top in a bedroom we weren't using. So - it's time to be using that paper, too.

Life would be so much easier if I had a two-story house. Or if my house was raised up... maybe some decade.

[nchoney]

I'm also going to see if those photo boxes that look sort of like shoe boxes... will fit up on top of the paper racks that are mounted on the wall. Just saw that in someone's photos of their room. I have a step-stool so the height won't be bad. And moving those boxes (once I label them in big numbers) will free up a couple sections in the cabinets!! going to try that tonight.

And thanks, Pam... it's been a ton of work but now that everything is in a container or a compartment, Chevie isn't overwhelmed when she walks in there.. so she sometimes lies down and just lets me keep doing things. I can finally scrap in my room again. Yay!!!

[jfugina]

Julie I just need to go through one hurricane with the flooding and you stop storing on the floor.

It doesn't take a hurricane - trust me. My craft room is in the basement, and the basement has flooded four-ish times since it's been finished - none of it due to weather. I say ish, because twice (at least) has been water problems in unfinished space that only got dangerously close to drywall and flooring. But we've had three major incidents of flooding in the finished space, and the most recent one (November of 2019) came dangerously close to my craft room. The restoration company kept a moisture monitor on my laminate floor for two weeks to make sure nothing had seeped under it. We had half the basement torn up for 6 months. The other times were when the fish tank (65 gallon salt water tank) spilled out due to negligence. Rob finally admitted defeat and disassembled it a few years ago and we finally got most of that drywall repaired with this most recent restoration.

Anyway, there is very little on the floor in the craft room that isn't either plastic, or on wheels. This room is pretty safe from weather, but there will always be a next time when a sink or washer or something in a bathroom on an upper level floods and puts water where it shouldn't be.

[pamcook]

Oh gosh Julie! Yes, you get it!

[Keitha]

Way to go Debi; it feels good to make progress, doesn't it? I've been watching a YT series where the gal is breaking down paper pads. She starts by ripping the covers off each pad and then going through piece by piece, being honest about whether or not it's something she'd reach for and if it's a paper she does like, how many sheets she needs to keep - which is usually only 1. One pad she went through had 5 sheets of each paper; even for double-page layouts, I can't see needing 5 of each. It seems like she just keeps her papers in big piles but does make page kits out of them; not my system, but whatever works, right? She does seem to be a prolific scrapper.
Since I've been watching I've become a bit more judicious about the papers I'm keeping; while I don't have 12x12 paper pads anymore, I have found myself passing on some duplicates that I'd previously kept, especially if they're older.

[Debbie AZ]

Holy ton of paper, Batgirl! You win, I pale in comparison!

[Monica]

Good job on getting your papers organized, Debi! When I redid my paper storage last year I vowed to keep it to what fit there... and I've filled up all the loose space there was, so every time I bring something in, I take something out... if I remember. I'm trying to make an effort to be good in spite of myself!

[pbp908]

I went through all of my pads and broke them down. It was amazing how much I got rid of and the amount of space that i cleared out by doing that. I think SOMEONE here was the lucky person who got most of my Shimelle paper.

[nchoney]

I went through the last (I hope) tote of patterned paper. Found a bunch of cool textured papers that I thought were gone. Sorted and pulled out a good stack to donate. I know I won't have room in the rack for what I saved. Yet. I have some more culling I can do of the papers that are up there. Then this paper should fit. Yay!!

Plumbing leaks are no fun either. It's amazing how much damage a few inches of water can do to paper crafting supplies.

[nchoney]

got the 12x12 cardstock into those magazine holder thingies.... didn't have as many loose sheets as I thought... so loose ones are in the holders... and then one stack of the packages of multiple pages... eventually, I'll put them in color order but, for right now, it's good to have them in accessible holders...

this weekend will be more sorting through things that are in a jumble in the other room.. and hopefully, I'll be able to bring the library cart into this room and get the stamp and die containers on it. It's one of these double-sided carts on wheels... 3.5 feet tall and wide... holds lots of stamps and dies... the ones I use least will be up against the wall. This, of course, means I'll be sorting through stamps and dies as I put the containers on it. yay... more sorting!! (and purging)

[Keitha]

Debi, what a great idea to use a library cart for bins of stamps and dies. I wish they weren't so expensive to purchase.