How do you organize your paper?

[labdogs42]

I can't take it any more. My scrapbooking stash is a MESS! I need a new system. Do you organize by color? Theme? Patterns with solids or separate? What about scraps? Oh yeah, how about those "stacks" Keep them in the stack, or separate into colors?

I bought one of those rolling Sterilite carts with 7 12x12 cases in it yesterday, thinking I would use that to organize my paper and then I became paralyzed when I brought it home and looked at my paper! I have those cropper hopper clear things that make the paper stand up, but I hate them. I think these bins will be much better, but I can't decide how to do it! HELP!!

ETA, this is the cart i got:
http://www.target.com/Sterilite-7-D...x&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k:craft&page=1

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Cardstock is grouped in ROY G BIV, patterned paper is the same. I have separate categories for holiday, seasons, boy, girl, disney, metallics, bling, and vellum.
If there is more then one color I do a quick look and file it with the first thing I see. Like I have one that is bright stripes, I put it with birthday, it looked festive.
Paper lines are kept together, like Basic Grey's Lily Kate is together. CM papers are together cardstock and lines. The lines are in the deco files.

Sometimes I separate the stacks especially if they have cardstock with the patterned paper. It depends on the theme.

I use the cropper hoppers because they work in my bookcase but they are all duct taped together because they are so full they don't lock anymore.

Scraps are sorted by color in binders and page protectors. I'm not nuts about this system but it works for now.

 

[hopemax]

I sort all different ways.

Cardstock is ROY-G-BIV. I have my Bling in its own container, not mixed in with the regular cardstock. I don't mix cardstock either. Most of what I have is Bazzill, but I have a Cropper Hopper with non-Bazzill paper that I use for paper piecings.

Patterned Paper...first I have my themes: Disney, Christmas, Halloween, Cruise, Travel, Pets etc. Then I have some paper lines that I bought to coordinate together, and I keep them together: Basic Gray, Imaginese, etc. I like to use my stack papers together, so I keep my stacks together. Everything else, I sort by pattern: Stripes, Dots, Flowers, and what I call my French papers (they have a lot of scrollwork, fleur de lis type stuff). It's primarily organized by theme though.

I hope horizontal storage works out better for you than it did me. I tried it first, with the 12x12 Sterelite drawers. But what I found was that every time I wanted to look for a piece of paper, I would have to page threw it, and the edges would get warped, from trying to lift half a pile of paper to see what sheet was underneath.

Most of what I have is in Cropper Hoppers. The big ones get the cardstock, the little ones, the patterned paper. I also have 2 Jetmax cubes with the shelves. Those hold my stacks, and I also have a couple slots sorted by Manufacturer. I bought a lot of AC paper at Tuesday Morning, so they get their own shelf. And the Basic Grey that I bought the packages of, they have their own shelf. Scraps are in page protectors in binders, labeled with the Bazzill color if the color is still current.

 

[JandJ]

My craft room is pretty well organized because I cannot stand to have stuff "out" so everything has a "home" I know this does not work for everyone, but it works great for me! I don't worry about mixing paper lines, but I can see how that would be another storage issue if you don't want to mix it up.

I keep my paper in these carts from Ikea:

That gives me 12 drawers that hold 2 stacks of 12x12 next to each other in each drawer, but usually I have 12x12 on the left side and 8x8 or 8.5x11 and scraps on the right side. I keep the scraps in CM organizer sheets (the kind they used to sell with the Memory Mate bags and binders). I keep patterned paper and plain together. If the pattern is majorly purple, for example, it goes in the purple drawer. (Is majorly a word?). I've memorized what's in what drawer and I'm very happy with this system!

Left cart:
Top drawer: Disney
Second drawer: left side - Floral; right side - Stripes/Patterns that have no distinctive color palette
Third drawer: left side - themes like birthday, family, travel, wedding, etc.; right side - holidays including Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.
Fourth drawer: Purple
Fifth drawer: Red
Sixth drawer: Green

Right cart:
Top drawer: Glossies, Golds, Silvers, Glittered, Vellum, etc.
Second drawer: Black & White
Third drawer: Yellow & Orange
Fourth drawer: Tan & Brown
Fifth drawer: Pink & Peach
Sixth drawer: Blue

I keep most of my stacks in the stack, but have been known to separate them once the binding lets go. Good luck with your organizing! Everyone is different, but having the paper lying down works for me and I hope it will work for you, too, now that you have that cool cart!

 

[weheartdisney]

My paper is also housed in cropper hoppers on a shelf. The large hoppers get my cardstock, and the smaller ones contain the themes: Boys, Summer, Disney, Christmas, Halloween, Stripes, Polka dots, Die cut 12x12 papers, Flocked & Bling, Sports, etc.. I try to keep paper lines (Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, Best Creations, Maya Road, etc.) together and then sort by the main theme.

I do use sterlite drawers to keep my 3-D stickers, Thickers, flowers, stamps & stamp pads,and all embellishments. Each drawer contains a theme: Christmas, Halloween, Bling, Girls, Family, Animals, Boys, Sports, Summer, Disney, etc.. I also have the larger Sterlite drawers for keeping my Cricut carts and mats, another for punches, kid's crafts, etc..

I used my Dymo and labeled each cropper hopper and also each drawer. Although not perfect, I do love my system and it makes it so easy to scrapbook at home....or get everything together to take to a crop.

Edited to add: I do not have a scrap room. My scrapbook stuff is all located in the closet of our Guest Room. Hoping one day to have a room just to scrap in.

HTH

 

[party of 3]

Cardstock is ROY-G-BIV........

Ok I may be missing something but what is this???

Please and thank you.

 

[hopemax]

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

 

[Lisa]

Also known as the colors of the rainbow.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

White, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, teal, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Brown, grey, Black.

But yeah, Roy G Biv
it's all due to the fact that I worked at Shoe Carnival for a few years and our shoes had to go up the aisle by color, lightest to darkest in the summer and darkest to lightest in the winter.

 

[party of 3]

Boy I feel pretty dumb. I would have never gotten that !!!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Pish Posh, you are not dumb!!

 

[labdogs42]

My craft room is pretty well organized because I cannot stand to have stuff "out" so everything has a "home" I know this does not work for everyone, but it works great for me! I don't worry about mixing paper lines, but I can see how that would be another storage issue if you don't want to mix it up.

I keep my paper in these carts from Ikea:

That gives me 12 drawers that hold 2 stacks of 12x12 next to each other in each drawer, but usually I have 12x12 on the left side and 8x8 or 8.5x11 and scraps on the right side. I keep the scraps in CM organizer sheets (the kind they used to sell with the Memory Mate bags and binders). I keep patterned paper and plain together. If the pattern is majorly purple, for example, it goes in the purple drawer. (Is majorly a word?). I've memorized what's in what drawer and I'm very happy with this system!

Left cart:
Top drawer: Disney
Second drawer: left side - Floral; right side - Stripes/Patterns that have no distinctive color palette
Third drawer: left side - themes like birthday, family, travel, wedding, etc.; right side - holidays including Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.
Fourth drawer: Purple
Fifth drawer: Red
Sixth drawer: Green

Right cart:
Top drawer: Glossies, Golds, Silvers, Glittered, Vellum, etc.
Second drawer: Black & White
Third drawer: Yellow & Orange
Fourth drawer: Tan & Brown
Fifth drawer: Pink & Peach
Sixth drawer: Blue

I keep most of my stacks in the stack, but have been known to separate them once the binding lets go. Good luck with your organizing! Everyone is different, but having the paper lying down works for me and I hope it will work for you, too, now that you have that cool cart!

That is awesome! Do you know the name of those Ikea drawers? They are SO cool! (although not very portable for crops!)

 

[party of 3]

J & J I just wanted to tell you that your room looks
so beautiful.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

That is awesome! Do you know the name of those Ikea drawers? They are SO cool! (although not very portable for crops!)

Alex is the name
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30104322

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Alex is a great name.

I have my paper grouped according to color family with solids and patterns in one section. I have my holiday, specialty papers, florals {cause I have a ton for some reseason} and stripes in another.

My DH made me these

They have adjustable shelves and I now have three units. Stuffed full.

My stacks are stacked on a book case in no particular order.

Organized is not in my vocabulary.

 

[party of 3]

Those are awesome Ann!!
I'd love for my dh to make me some of those !!

 

[JandJ]

That is awesome! Do you know the name of those Ikea drawers? They are SO cool! (although not very portable for crops!)

J & J I just wanted to tell you that your room looks so beautiful.

Thank you! I love my room. As Buffy said they're called Alex. They're on casters, but no, not at all portable for crops

 

[morgansmom2000]

Ohhh, I want those Alex drawers for my room! Of course, I need a room first. I will have one at some point in my life, I will!

I would need several dozen of anything, I have waaaaaaaaay too much paper. I heart paper!

 

[pjlla]

You have gotten many good replies and lots of ideas. Not sure you need to hear more, but I feel like sharing!!

Solid paper/cardstock..... I keep up right in Priority mail boxes (like the Cropper Hopper boxes) right next to my workspace. I don't mind mixing brands, as I am not particularly brand loyal. Mine are also arranged ROYGBIV with black/gray/white together and brown/tan/cream together at the end.

I keep my patterned papers in 12 x 12 drawers. I agree with a PP who stated that it doesn't always work real well because you end up damaging the edges of the pages as you sift through the box to find the stuff at the bottom. For that reason I try to not keep much in each drawer... and I have a very good memory, so I usually know if that I want is in the drawer, so not a lot of unnecessary shuffling. If I really need to sift through a drawer, I dump it on my worktable and fan it out.

I sort my patterned paper two ways.... first by category, if it seems that specific.... Fall/Halloween, Winter/Christmas/Valentine's day, Spring/Easter, Summer/Vacation, Travel, Vintage/Heritage, Disney, Floral/Garden. If it doesn't fit any of these categories (stripes, dots, etc) then I sort by main color.

If a stack is new I keep it together because it is easier to find coordinating papers. If I have used quite a bit of it, then I pull it apart and sort what is left into the appropriate drawer.

I have recently "updated and improved" my scraps. It has become MUCH easier to actually USE scraps now. I have a large drawer (12 x 24 x 6) that holds all of my patterned paper scraps. Each particular pattern has all of its pieces paperclipped or binder clipped together. (Binder clips work better because they don't really get caught on each other). I still have to sort through the drawer, but I know instantly if I have enough of a particular pattern left for the intended project.

Plain paper/cardstock is sorted ROYGBIV, plus a drawer for black/white/grey and a drawer for brown/tan/cream into stackable 12 x 12 Sterilite drawer (they are fairly shallow). If I have a LOT of a particular type, I will try to keep it together, either in a binder clip or in an envelope or page protector.

I do have drawer space for "overflow" of both cardstock and patterned paper. This is sort of my "hiding" space for new purchases that I cannot fit into their intended space!!

Good luck...........P

 

[MazdaUK]

I love the idea of binder clips - I must get a bundle to use for my patterned scraps (though I don't have a nice big drawer to put them in)