Get Your Scrap Space Organized

Have you put away your Christmas tree and decorations yet? I love putting up holiday decorations but I always feel a little lighter when they are taken down and put away for another year. While I am doing this I feel ready to tackle all sorts of other aspects of home organization. And right now, my scrapbook area needs a lot of help! The projects I was working on before Christmas got shoved into cupboards just to get them out of the way. Scraps and paper need to find their home. Punches, tools and stamps ended up in a big bin waiting to be sorted. But now it's time and I'm ready! How about you? Could you use a little push to clear some scrap-supply clutter?

Here's the plan - during the month of January I'll be posting ideas and tips to help both you and I get our scrap spaces organized. We can do it together! And because we'd rather use our time to actually scrapbook than organize, let's keep it manageable - say 15 or 20 minutes per session, OK?

To get you in the mood for this, spend a few minutes checking out these inspiring links to great scrap rooms. Then come back here for the first task to get you started!

Celebrity Scrap Rooms

Storage solutions and dream scrap spaces at Scrapbooks ETC.

Scrap Rooms featured on Scrapbook.com

See something you like? I know I did! OK, well, let's get started on creating our own dream scrapbooking space!

Here's our first task: Purge Your Paper. Most scrappers and paper crafters have inordinate amounts of paper - in all colors, patterns and textures. To make it worse, we have multiple sizes of paper - 12 x 12, 8.5 x 11, smaller squares and lots of scraps. When I got serious about organizing my scrap supplies, the paper was the hardest part. Let's go through and purge the papers that you aren't going to use (don't worry, we'll purge first and then sort and store it all later!)

Set aside some time to gather all (yes, I said ALL!) your papers in one spot - a big table, a bed or even on the floor. You'll also need two boxes or containers - one for recycling and one to put papers that you just don't like or want anymore. 

Start by first sorting by size...make piles of all your 12 x 12, 8.5 x 11, scraps and so on. Don't worry about colors, etc, just quickly sort by size.

As you are sorting, toss any small scraps into the recycling box - my general rule of thumb is that anything smaller than a 2" x 2" square is probably recyclable!

Any larger or whole pieces that you just don't like or don't think you can use will be put into the other box. This paper is still useful - just not to you! Here are some ideas what to do with it:

• Donate it to a children's group (think church, pre/playschool, daycare or a Boy Scout or Girl Guide unit)
• Have a swap with your girlfriends
• Search out a charity or facility in your area that is in need of supplies - a hospital, care centre or support group (my local children's hospital has a scrap therapy program that is always looking for supplies)
• If you have a blog, host a free giveaway or two (or several!)
• Make cards to send to sick kids (check out Jennifer McGuire's Cards for Kids Campaign)
• Use it to wrap presents
• Shred it for bag stuffing
• Give it to your kids to punch, cut, paste and draw with
• If all else fails, it always can be recycled!

But the caveat here is to make sure you have a plan for it...DO NOT keep the boxes in your scrap space! Carry them out the recycling bin or put it them your car to drop off at your donation point in the next day or two. That way you know the paper you no longer will use is out of your scrap room for good!

This has probably taken you about 15 - 20 minutes (or maybe a little more if had a TONNE of paper!) so you may want to stop here for today. If you are really on a roll, then take the time to sort each pile of paper into similar colors. You'll be ahead of the game for our next task!

I'll post our 2nd task in a few days. Make sure you subscribe to this blog so you don't miss out (see that little box at the bottom of this post? Just hover over it with your mouse and then enter your email address so you'll always know when new content has been added to our blog)!

Now go sort that paper and let me know how it goes!

Next up: Organizing Your Paper - Part Deux!