Scrap Room Progress

This is the first of many posts (to come) regarding this subject here at Scrappin’ Through Life With Kat. There are endless topics on this subject and yet many, if not most of us, feel lost in our never ending quest for organization of our scrapbooking supplies and rooms/areas in general. I know because I am one of the worst, I am sure! It is so bad I can’t even make myself take pictures. Boxes here, boxes there, nothing is even in the same room, I’m so lost I can’t find my starting place.

I’ve seen every picture of other people’s scrapbooking rooms on the internet I can find, I have read every magazine, blog, internet article, book, etc. that I can find with regard to this topic. Even with all this new found knowledge, I’m no further than I was before (well maybe in a few TINY areas, but not enough to even count!).

For me, organization is an endless task for a couple of reasons.

• Reason Number 1: I LOVE to be organized!
• Reason Number 2: I have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) which can be a double edged sword.
• Reason Number 3: I am a perfectionist – personality trait I learned from my father. Another double edged sword.

But getting organized and STAYING organized are two different things. For people like me who are obsessive compulsive about these things, I can organize something and then change my mind, again, and again, again..you get the picture. The result? I have one or two things very organized but the rest of room/house is a disaster!

I try to think ahead, for instance, when trying to decide which method to use to organize my supplies (by color, theme, manufacturer, project, etc.), I changed my mind several times. I ended choosing different options for different supplies. In addition to this, the size of your space and budget does play a huge role in how easy or difficult this task will be. In my opinion, no matter what anyone says, if you have a lot of supplies, a small or an oddly shaped space, and little or no extra money, it’s going to be a challenge, especially if you are a perfectionist like me. I want everything to match and look pretty as well as being easy to access and keep up. Not an easy task, but I am determined, whether it takes me a month, a year or even longer, I will not give up until I have found what works best for me. Patience and baby steps…(a recurring issue in my life!)

Have I got the answers? Not exactly (lol) BUT I’m a work in progress which is why I’m sharing with you 🙂 Together, with your feedback, I am determined to find a way to create an organized, workable space that is fun to be in. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion, based on my circumstances (which are not the same as what you will find in a magazine) and I welcome your questions, comments, suggestions, etc. I’m sure that your feedback will be helpful not just for me but for other scrapbookers out there who are working on their own scrap space.

My way of dealing with a problem area is to make a list of the problems and then try to find solutions one by one or even in small pieces (I’m very visual). You may want to make a list of your own. I call mine “My top “issues” that make it difficult for me to organize my space”.

Issues:

1. A small, oddly shaped space. I have a long kitchen/eat in area and because I don’t cook and we don’t eat in the dining area, I am using that space for my scrap room. There are no windows, one heater vent for the entire room (including the kitchen), and a back door. The only lighting in the room is the ceiling fan light in the middle of the room.
2. Limited/non-existent budget – I’m sure many of you can relate to this one!
3. Lack of “muscle” and “know-how” – Being single with no big strong man around to do the heavy lifting, etc. (lol), and because of my disability, I am not able to physically do things I need to be able to do to get my room built.
4. Speaking of disability, because I have a chronic illness (CFS) – This means I’m fatigued and in pain a lot of the time, in fact I can be literally bed bound for months at a time. This issue is probably not something that affects most of you but there are others who deal with this so I’ll include it here. Your issue may be working full time, a long daily commute, traveling, whatever can make it difficult for you to actually have the time or ability to work on this task of organization. I have to try to figure out a way to be able to take some of my scrapbooking supplies into my room during the times when I’m ill, otherwise, I can’t scrap and that is just a crime! Also, in my scrap space, I need to make sure that I have easy access to everything and that I’m comfortable wherever I am in the room.

Things I am trying to remember:

I have learned a few things and will keep this topic updated as things progress and as always, I welcome your feedback! Here is what I’ve learned so far!

1. Realize and accept the fact that I CANNOT do this overnight, in fact it may take a lot longer than I’d like. I’m the type of person who, once I know what I want to do, I want to DO it already! I have a tendency to get obsessed with a project and focus on it too much. I know now that I cannot do this quickly and am having to learn to let go and not stress about it too much. When it starts to become a source of stress, it’s no longer a fun hobby, so I am TRYING to just do what I can, when I can and not freak out that it’s not all done yet. This is MUCH harder than it sounds (for me).

   Now this may not be the case for you but if you are reading this, it probably is (lol). If you have a large space of your own and enough money to plan out your room and buy everything you need then the articles in most magazines or other websites will work well for you, but for the rest of us, with extenuating circumstances, this is something we must learn if we want to make our lives happier and easier and keep this hobby fun.

2. Remember not to get overwhelmed. (Again, because of my personality traits, I can get overwhelmed easily and my typical ADD tendencies have half finished projects everywhere). Tell myself the world will not end if I don’t organize that drawer TODAY. If I can’t get to something, there is always tomorrow (and if not, it won’t matter! LOL)
3. Life is not a magazine, heck it’s not even close! Stop expecting to have everything perfect or “just like I saw it online or elsewhere”. This is MY scrap room, in MY house, with MY budget, etc. I don’t have to have everything someone else has, my circumstances may be different, and that’s OKAY!

Okay so there are my “issues”, let’s talk solutions! (This is where you come in LOL)

Solutions

hmmm….solutions… I must admit I keep coming up short in this section. I’ve been stuck in bed since March 19th and am not able to walk or stand or even sit in one position for very long. I have no idea how long this will last but each day I keep hoping that tomorrow I will wake up and feel better again. So in the meantime, I have to work on small, individual projects that can be done from my bed. This is how I realized that it may take awhile to get this done, which is extremely frustrating because I can’t scrap right now. So I blog and I plan!

So far this is what I’ve been able to do from bed:

Brads, Eyelets, Snaps, Etc.

All of my brads, eyelets, snaps, etc are organized by size, color and shape in Darice Bead Storage Containers. I have two sizes but because I have to have each color, size and shape separate, they all fit into the smaller containers. I have six boxes of these little containers (there are three in the picture) plus the big ones below but only four of those are filled up.A

Ribbon

All of my ribbon (Yes, ALL!) is wrapped on Cropper Hopper Ribbon Cards and organized by size, color, type into three different sizes of Cropper Hopper Shelf-It Series Boxes. I haven’t taken pictures (can’t get to that stuff right now) but click here for pics of the products.

Buttons

I was actually able to force myself to mix shades of certain colors together believe it or not! It wasn’t easy but I am storing my buttons in Ikea’s Rajtan Spice Jars. They are sitting on my Making Memories Embellishment Center that I posted about awhile back…I did paint it black but it’s not perfect yet so I haven’t taken a picture of it; I will soon 🙂

Stickers

I have so many stickers that I feel like I’m swimming in them! I made a Homemade version of the Clip It Up and filled it to capacity and still have enough to fill another. They aren’t really organized yet because I haven’t figured which method(s) to use yet. That’s something I have to work on.

Things that I can work on from bed include stickers and possibly paper…I have so much and I’d have to make the kids bring the paper trays and paper in here and of course, make room for it which is unfathomable right now but it can be done. Maybe I’ll make those two things priorities. They could take weeks though!

How do you organize your stickers and paper? Color, Theme, etc.? I’d love to hear from you so please leave me a comment and be sure to leave your blog address so I can visit okay?

More—coming soon 🙂

Have a Scrappy Day!