Workspace Wednesday - The Wall

It's confession time - I love playing with all that pretty paper and those embellishments.  But I think I love sorting and organizing them even more.  And I've come up with some pretty awesome and inexpensive storage options.

Everybody needs to come up with the storage plan that works for them.  And there are really three factors to consider.

1. How much space do you have?  I'm lucky enough to have a great husband who, with minimal complaining, gave up our dining room so that I could have my own scrap room right in the middle of the house.  (If it wasn't in the middle of things, the odds of me using it were greatly reduced.) And this means I can have "permanent" storage instead of having to put everything in a closet when I am done with it.
2. How do you scrap?  - I tend to scrap by color so I sort my supplies (paper, inks, die cuts, trim) by color whenever possible.  But if you scrap by collection, your storage should be by collection.  And if you scrap by theme, store your supplies by theme.
3. Do you like everything put away or do you need to see it to use it?  I definitely fall in the second group.  Anything I can see is 100% more likely to end up on a layout.  If it is put away in a drawer or a cupboard, I won't find it til I do a big purge.  (But it needs to be organized and I try hard to keep my desktop clear.)

So when my inks, washi tape and some other embellishments were piling up, I decided to use a simple pegboard.  My husband helped me get it hung up and I am in love!  It is my new favorite thing.

 First hint:  Don't by a fancy pegboard at the craft store.  Instead go to the hardware store and by the inexpensive pegboard that your husband would use in the garage.  You can cut it to fit your space and paint it white.  And the hooks are super inexpensive.

 My pegboard is basically divided into thirds.  The first third holds shipping tags (sorted on to big rings by color), my silkscreens and some random embellishments.  I had no idea how many shipping tags I had bought until I sorted them this way - now I won't buy more unless I need them.  And remember to think about binder clips to hang things that don't seem to be hangable.

The middle has some simple shelves.  The brackets are just 6 inch pegs.  The shelves are boards my husband cut for me.  And that little basket holds my glue dots, tiny attacher, and misc adhesives.  Plus there is room to show off some pretty things -- like that Ashley Goldberg print and that beautiful card I received in a happy mail exchange at Studio Calico.

 

And the last third is for washi tape.  I am using 12 dowels cut into 12 inch lengths and simple hooks.  The dowels are long enough to hold quite a few rolls of tape and short enough to be easy to use.  And I know that it is a lot of washi tape - but I don't think I ever finish a roll.

If you have a good storage tip, I hope you will share it in the comments.  I am always ready to reorganize!

Giveaway alert:  If you haven't commented yet, don't forget my blog rebirth giveaway.  It's open til Sunday, November 16th.

Thanks for stopping by.