Scrap Happy: Organize Traditional Scrapbook Supplies (File Under Boost Energy)

This series occurs on Mondays and is my account of my Scrap Happy project inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun.

Organize Traditional Scrapbook Supplies
Oh, traditional scrapbook supplies. You are so pretty. Must buy more. The piles of supplies are lovely unless you actually want to get any scrapbooking completed. My organization system is a work in progress because I moved a couple of months ago and am adapting to my new space.

Paper

I use Advantus Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Holder, Frost, 12-Inch-by-12-Inch, Advantus Cropper Hopper Dividers 3-Pack, Frost, 12-Inch-by-12-Inch, and Advantus Cropper Hopper Sticker Envelope, 3-Pack, Frost, 12-Inch-by-12-Inch to store my paper. You can buy an Advantus Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Holder Value Pack, Frost, 12-Inch-by-12-Inch valuepack and I did purchase a valuepack to get started but find buying them individually gets me exactly what I need. All of my paper is stored this way. I have my cardstock sorted by color, size (I have so few 8.5×11 sheets that I store them with my 12×12 sheets), and style (textured, untextured, bling, and colorcore). My pattern paper is transitioning from a storage system that was kind of random to one that is based on brand and theme. The only themes I store separately from brand are seasons, holidays, pet, travel, and baby. I store scraps of paper by color in the sticker envelopes.

Stickers
I use Advantus Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Holder Value Pack, Frost, 12-Inch-by-12-Inch to store letter stickers by color. Other types of stickers are stored by brand, color, or in a pile of stickers I just don’t know what to do with. Like I said, my system is a work in progress.

Clear Shoe Boxes

I use the clear 13×7.5×4.25 shoe boxes from The Container Store. To get started I bought the case of 20. Since then, I have bought eight more. I use them to organize embellishments by color and I use them to organize some of my smaller tools by type (inks, abc stamps, other stamps, basic punches, border punches, etc.).

Old-Fashioned Canning Jars

I use old-fashioned canning jars to store ribbon. I used to store my ribbon in the clear shoe boxes with embellishments of the same color, but my stash of ribbons outgrew this location. I lucked out and got these canning jars from my Grandma. A couple of the lids are missing, so I am on the lookout for more of these types of jars.

Get Organized!
Organizing your traditional scrapbook supplies does not have to be expensive or intimidating. You just have to figure out a system that makes sense to you. Organizing by color, theme, and type of product makes sense to me. Clear storage also makes sense because you can easily see what you have. I store all the above items on built-in bookshelves (they came with the house). I used to store my supplies on a bookshelf I had bought from Wal-Mart. Easy and inexpensive.

Getting organized can be a daunting task but the rewards are well worth it. Once you are organized, it is so much easier to actually scrapbook because you do not have spend time clearing a space to scrapbook or finding your materials. Start small. I did. I started with the embellishments and it took me a few months to gather all the storage materials for the embellishments and paper. Good luck boosting your energy by organizing your traditional scrapbooking supplies!

*I do earn a small commission on purchases made through the Amazon links. I do not earn any commission on The Container Store link.