I remember when I first started stamping back in 1996. I was so excited when I showed my friend, Carol, the Rubbermaid container that I bought to store my stamps. She laughed.
She knew what was about to come. One Rubbermaid container could not possibly store everything that I would continue to buy as my love of the hobby started to grow. One rubber stamp led to another rubber stamp, and so on, and so on, and so on....
I moved on to a 6-drawer container, and stored it in my dining room (because the table was where I did most of my stamping). When we were selling our house the realtor said, "That has to go!" Haha If she could see me now...
One little container over the years has turned into a stamping room - larger with every house. When we bought our house in Connecticut it was essential that I would have a space to call my own to store all my stuff!
So we bought this house and I promptly plopped my stuff in a basement room. And there it stayed... getting more cluttered over the years. The collection grew but it was never being organized, as I moved from party... to class... to work... etc.
Finally, last year, when I really had trouble walking, I came to the conclusion that I would probably kill myself tripping over something that was in the middle of the floor!
And so began the organization of my stamp room....
I see all of these cute, organized craft rooms on the Internet (or at Kathy's house ). How I long to be that neat! But I've resigned myself to the fact that it's never going to happen, and I'm okay with it. My room is so much better now. Although it's not 100% organized, I am able to walk across the floor without tripping and I can easily find everything when I need it.
I wanted to share pictures for those who had seen the mess before, and to see that there is hope - even for a "clutterbug" like me!
I am also posting simply to give inspiration for some storage ideas.
One of my favorite organizers is the rack upon which I store my 12 x 12 paper. I saw this idea on Pinterest (of course). It was so easy to make and inexpensive! You take a wire cube-shelving unit ( I bought mine at Aldi's when they had items for back-to-school - I guess college kids use them in dorms?) Anyway, instead of making the six cubes like you are supposed to, you make three and take the extra pieces to make racks. My husband secured them with zip ties, which he trimmed later. Instant scrapbook store!
Here is another one of these wire cube-shelving systems put together the way it is supposed to be...
See that stamp shelf on the wall? That is one of my prized possessions! My husband made this for me about 13 years ago as a Christmas present. Each shelf is wide enough to hold stamps 3 wood-stamps deep. Not only that, but each shelf is adjustable in case I have taller stamps! There is a space to the left where I can store ribbon or other small items. Isn't it awesome? I use it for my non-SU stamps.
On the right side of the room is where I do my stamping. I use a 6-foot piece of kitchen counter that the previous house-owner used for sewing. (How lucky am I?) Inks, paper and ribbon are all within reach.
The paper rack I've had forever. I bought it at Staples and I love it! I have all of my card stock organized by color families!
The ribbon rack my husband made for me. Isn't he handy? It's a repurposed CD rack! Who knew?
I have one table where I do all of my cutting. It's on the left-hand side of the room. With my Carl Cutter I can cut up to 10 pieces of card stock at once! I have my Big Shot on the same table, as well as all of my dies, framelits and embossing folders. (PS: Nancy S. - this chair is still here waiting for your return...)
So where are my stamps? You've seen all of the supplies in their storage.. You see, before we moved in this unfinished room was used as a storage area for canned goods, so it had all of these built in shelves. My husband (otherwise known as Bob the Builder) turned the stationary shelves into sliding drawers for me so I would have easier access to stamps that were stored behind the first row.
And let us not forget that I still scrapbook from time to time... We had this entertainment center that we weren't using but didn't want to get rid of. I happily moved it into my stamp room and now it discreetly stores all of my scrapbooking materials: empty albums, embellishments, tools, pictures, etc.
You can see that I still have some clutter but it's a much happier place to be these days! I don't think I'm a candidate for any craft magazine shoots, but it's my mess and I love it!
No comments:
Post a Comment