Organizing Your Scrapbooking Area

When it comes to thousands of different types of scrapbooking papers and other accessories you will find that it can be overwhelming at the craft or scrapbooking shop.  Since you do have so many options, you will find that it can be difficult for a person to scrapbook when they only have a small craft area or don't have a dedicated craft room, but you can get organized and keep things looking good and clean and that will help you to be able to scrapbook more efficiently.

Getting your papers organized will take up the most space and time when it comes to . A good option for this is a desk topper and suspension files. You can use manilla folders to sort the papers and label the suspension files into colours or categories. This will help you to categorize your papers. If you find that you do not have enough room in a desk topper, you might also find it useful to invest in a filing cabinet or one of the sets of drawers made especially for scrap booking. You can purchase these in any of the local craft stores or you can go online as well, but check out garage sales, eBay and craft shops first, you may pick up a bargain.

Once you own a tool for organization, the next step is to decide how you want to categorize your supplies. You will find that colour is most often used, but you can make it into a theme like a certain day or holiday. You may also want to think about making patterns like stripes. You can also use this system to organize flat embellishments, such as die cuts or stickers.

You also need a place to store your tools and embellishments that are not easily filed. You will find that one good way is to use baskets and a shelving system to help you store and organize your tools and embellishments. Storing cutting tools in one basket, glues in another, markers and paint in a third, and so on is a good way of approaching the art of organization. By buying baskets in bulk from your local $2 shop you will save more money than if you use photo boxes, and the display will be uniform and attractive. Make sure that you label your baskets or shelving so that you can find everything quickly.

If you need to save space, however, a basket and shelving system may not work for you. You will want to make a kit of some of your most often used tools and supplies so that you can keep them close and you won’t have to dig or look around.  That way when you only have time to do a quick page or two, you can use your kit to complete it and then quickly clean up. Or you can pull out the supplies and scrapbook until you complete an album.

Keep your scrapbooking area clean and dusted so your pages and photos stay clean. And remember to put things back where they came from when you finish using them and your scrapbooking area and tools will always be ready for when you have five minutes to work on a layout.