The Scrappy Chick

Storing my Unity Wooden Cassettes & a Layout

  Does anyone remember Patterr'spost last week that linked HERE...and showed you how to make your own Clip-it-Up??  (You haven't been???  well you just need to boogie on over and check it out!)  Pretty cool and great directions!!  Well, I kinda made the idea waaaaay easier.  I bought this Baker's rack a while back and had intentions of hooking stuff to it.  Well, guess what?  The side of the unit is the PERFECT place to hange all of my Unity stamps that are mounted on the thin wooden cassettes!!  I'll show you another day what I've done with all of my un-mounted ones.  (What I will do as the collection grows, which it IS doing...no idea!!)

But anywho, Is this cool or what?  Cost >>>less than $5!!  All I bought was a box of jumbo paperclips.  I split them open right above the loop with the wire cutter on my needle nose pliers that came in my SU! tool kit (did anyone know it had a wire cutter??  It took my 12 year old daughter to show me that...DUH!!)  Then they hang right on the loop!!  Here is the closeup:  

 Kinda cool, huh??  I am so stinkin proud of myself for figuring this out!! The space was already there and it is perfect...they are still almost in reach and better yet...in VIEW!!  Thanks Patter for leading me to that blog!! 

The original reason I got this rack is I was running out of room...yes, on the huge wall of built ins!!  still not enough storage!  The punch situation has driven me bonkers!!  BUT I finally have a solution I like :)  They are stored on this unit, right near my island (you can view my stamp island in THIS POST) and right beside my Wall Units (you can see those HERE).  Its just the extra room I needed!!  Here is one shelf of the large punches:

The rack is actually 6 feet tall so it gives me lots more shelves and storage!!  I'll share some more storage ideas this week and/or next :)

BUT, on to the page for the day!!  This page came together pretty quick.  I was looking at piles of pattern paper that I had sorted out from kits...wanting to just USE them and not re-file them to be lost again forever.  so I decided to make a pile that I would MAKE myself use this month!!  <<I'll let you know how that goes, bwaaahaha>>.  The paper for this one is a couple of fun sheets from Scenic Route that Ive had around forever.

The fun stamps are from Unity (am I in love with this company or what???)...Brooke just posted a fun page over at the Unity blogthis week using the same stamp from the same set (Best Friends).  Its a really fun set that I got from one of Angela's wild Random specials...they are so awesome!!   The pics are some of Perry...he is really hard to get a shot of anymore.  He would way rather be on the other end of the camera.  In fact he takes incredible shots...but I want just one or two of him once in a while!  But this is how you will normally find him at any point during the day...tucked behind his laptop :)

Thats it for today!  I have some more H&M for you tomorrow and my Scrappy sketch will be back on Sunday!  I have a new scrapper designing with us...can you guess who she is?  I'll let you know in 2 more days!

Thanks for stopping by!    -Cyndi

• Supplies:
• Stamps: Best Friends, Amazing Me (Unity)
• Paper: Not Quite Navy (SU!), White (Papertrey), Metropolis PP (Scenic Route)
• Ink: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive (SU!)
• Accessories: Not Quite Navy & Old Olive markers, black journaling marker (SU!), buttons (Basic Gray),

Come Visit my Island

Here are a few of the photos of the scrapbook room that I promised you.  Some may be just like the ones I posted almost a year ago, but my reading audience has changed and grown since then, and parts of the space have changed.  I'll do a series of photos over a few days for you all.

Today, I will start with my island.  My biggest struggle since I went to the island has been to be able to access all the stuff that I use every day, keeping it organized, within reach, and off my work area.  Thats hard to do with out things hanging on walls and off of shelves.  But I also don't want to clutter the streamlined look of my shelving on the walls either.

So, my biggest gripe has been my punches...over 30 of the whale tale style...yikes...do I have an addiction problem or what?  I have tried about 3 different storage ideas since last May...urgh!  I think I fianlly got it to work.  First up is the top of the island...and NO its not always this clean!

I have lots of room to work, shove stuff to the side, and even share the space with a friend.  I ended up with a nesting of 3 cubbies on top and my SU! stamp pad carousel.  Besides the 48 colors, 6 in colors, and all the basic neutrals I also keep last years in color on top.  (The top of the island itself is about 4x5' I think?)  On the first cubby that faces me are the things that I use the most.  starting from the top: in the pencil cups I keep my scissors, exacto, coluzzle blade,pens,brushes,handheld punches,bone folder,etc.

I also have the button collection.  This was very hard for me to throw them all (well, not all...the SU! and Doodlebug are still separate) in one container.  I liked the color combos in the bags they were in, but ever since I saw Amy's huge jar, I though maybe I'd use them more if they were right here, instead of behind me.

****Note I recommend re-evaluating your stash every few months.  I seems the things that I couldn't live without 6 months ago are now stored behind me on the wall of shelves that I'll show you another day, yet things that were stuffed in baskets are now a priority to have within reach***

Inside the first cubby set I have all of my markers, which is a fav right now.  I ahve all the SU! colors along with blenders, journalers, and retired colors in an expanded box..(Its actually the inside of the marker case that has been rubber-banded to another half of my old marker case).  There are also my copic markers (and room for new ones), glitter pens, glaze pens, gel pens, etc.

Other items: acrylic blocks, stickles, cleaning pad, adhesive caddy, cuttlebug plates, CTMH and Palette pads, and my small SU! punches.  Most of my larger SU! punches are in or on the next cubby to the left.  The last cubby is behind this one and holds the rest of the SU! punches (mainly retired ones) as well as other brands.  The cuttlebug itself is here, and I may set up the sewing machine there too? Also, you may notice a small blue basket...that is where I throw my itty bitty scraps of pattern paper scraps and small ribbon scraps.

Another day I'll move on to other storage areas and items.  Hope this helps!  TFL!  -Cyndi

Awesome Organization Ideas!

Here is a link to Nancy Riley's Blog, iStamp.  She has a fabulous pegboard system behind her stamping desk.  All of her punches are hooked on a curtain rod for easy access...very cool.  This is the bane of my stamp room right now, I don't know how to store my punches on my island!!  ANyway, she has a few neat tips for those like me always looking to improve upon  organization, or lack-there-of!

More of the Scrapbook Room

Here's a couple more shots of my space.  I broke down and ordered the ink pad caddy from Stampin' Up!  (actually I got it FREE with my points).  It works great if you have a big desktop space, which I now do!!  My punches I have struggled with for  a while.  I couldn't figure out a way to get them on the shelves like I like them, and I wanted quick access to them...so, voila!  I took one of the wire cube outlines from my old cardstock storage system.  And the punches fit perfectly on the end.  I had to add some stuff inside and on the cube to weigh it down though, those punches are so darn heavy!! 

And then there's the marker issue.  What to do when you have duplicates, neutrals, old colors, journalers?  I took apart my marker cases (one old, one newer) and added 2 rows from one onto the end of the other.  Then they are rubberbanded together to stay put..not as nice looking as the whole case with the cover and all, but hey, it works!

The last pictures are of my ribbon colection, well not all of it of course, just a FEW of the jars that contain only the small pieces.  Anything not on a roll that is at least 1 foot long is rolled on one of these cute old-fashioned wooden clothespins (found at Hobby Lobby).  Also in the jars are little scraps.  I love the way the colors look on the shelves (see older posts)

My space

I am finally uploading more photos from my scraproom!  It is so very cool, but still not enough storage sace!  I've spent quite a bit on matching baskets and bins so it will look more put together than my old hodgepodge of containers and shelves.  I know I still need to get more and change a few more things around, but for now it'll work.  In the middle of my work end of the room is my island.  This so totally rocks!! Its built at counter height since I always end up standing when I'm working.  It was a tough decision to make, but I'm so glad I went with this!!  I have a spot on both sides (actually all 4) so I can sit at my barstool if I want.  Within reach I have shelves with slideout baskets.  This is the part I want to streamline so it looks all neat and pretty like the shelves behind it.  For now though, I have all of my basic tools that I use every day in a basket on the top shelf.  It can slide out like a drawer or I can sit it on the countertop.  My trimmer, rulers, wheel guides, etc are stored beside it on the shelf.  To the shelf beside that I have other tools that I don't as fequently.  Alsoon my working side of the island is a basket for ribbon rolls, a whole shelf dedicated to scrap storage, a basket of stickers and die cut stuff, and drawers with other color goodies like wc pencils, wc crayons, reinkers, sponges, daubers,etc

The ribbon rolls are my non-SU full or almost full rolls, plus the ribbon original cards from SU fit perfectly to the side.  MY SY  ribbon are in the ribbon keepers that we sell, located temporarily on ashelf, but I don't like them there.  Ribbon scraps as well as yardage I bought are stored in jars on the shelf.  The big pieces (1 yard+ cuts) are rolled on old fashioned clothespins.   My scraps are stored all together now woohoo!! on a handy shelf.  If the piece is less than cardfront size it goes into the black box on the bottom (not show but it has dividers for every color).  The neutral scraps go in the other black box on top.  Anything that is bigger than card size but smaller than a full sheet gets stored in the magazine holders on the right of the picture.  They are sorted by color as well, but not divided.  More pics and info later ;)

New Scrapbook Room Teaser

We are in the new house finally!  Well, actually we've been moved in a few weeks now. I felt obligated to unpack the rest of the house before I started to organize my space.  I have actually done a couple of clubs and a couple of shows since the move, but I still haven't been able to simply sit in my new space and stamp just for me!  I'm uploading a couple of pics of the room as a teaser, and I'll have to take some more before I can upload them.

I have a HUGE room.  One end is open for nothing but tables for classes.  The other end is my office space.  I have 8 feet of shelves on one wall (floor to ceiling) and 4 feet on another wall.  The smaller unit houses my completed scrapbooks and mini albums, magazines, old catalogs and idea books, and photo overflow.  I still want to reorganize it a bit so it looks a little neater.

The other wall holds almost everything else, LOL.  Actually its just my consumables now.  I have changed it a bit since this pic, I'll send through the updated one later.  I'll also tell you then how its all sorted and stored.