Balzer Designs

Balzer Designs & The Crafter's Workshop CHA-Winter 2012

I'm trying to think if I can even explain what it feels like to open the box of brand new stencils when they arrive. 

When I sit down to design the stencils it's a lot of theoretical work.  I use a combination of hand drawn sketches, Photoshop, and Illustrator.  And it's a lot of guess work as to what will translate into an awesome physical stencil.  Will the line be fat enough?  Too fat?  Will the design work in 6x6 and 12x12?  Does it appeal to a mass market?  Lots of hard questions.

Then the stencils arrive.

And I find there's always a bit of a learning curve on how to use them.  Lots of times what worked in my head doesn't work in real life.  And giving up that ghost of an idea can be difficult.  But the experimenting is so much fun!  And once I get past my preconceptions I discover that the stencils are totally different than I thought they were.  And that's magical.

I'm releasing TWENTY-ONE new designs at CHA.  Here's a peek at a bit of the magic I've been discovering with just a few of those brand new stencils:

FLOWER GARDEN

I think of this stencil as a kind of coloring book stencil.  Spray or ink or trace those lines and then get to coloring!

I have big plans to make gorgeous patterned paper, wrapping paper, all sorts of things!  As I mentioned before, it's hard to know what the physical stencil is going to be like when you actually use it.  This one is just as I envisioned it!

CURSIVE ALPHABET

Jaime (the owner of TCW) and I went back and forth on this stencil a number of times.  She wondered if we shouldn't include the inside loops of the letters.  I felt very strongly that we shouldn't.  I wanted this to feel like a shadow of letters. I used it on a pair of somewhat matching layouts: one about my brother and one about me.

(Do you see the little peacock feather buried under layers of gesso and spray ink?)

I LOVE the way the Cursive Alphabet Stencil looks!  It is definitely poised to become one of my all time faves and a "go to" for me.  I'm actually finding it tough to stay away from using it during all of this sample making!

PEACOCK FEATHERS

I always like to show people that you can use just a portion of a stencil.  You don't have to use the whole thing.  That stencil is not the boss of you.  You are the boss of the stencil.

This is another one that looks great with some coloring.

And here it is in full technicolor on a layout:

This was one of the first stencils I designed.  It came together rather magically and I'm so pleased with it.  I can see this graphic on t-shirts and tote bags (next on my "to-do" list) and so much more!

There are just three different stencils represented in these projects.  That means there are EIGHTEEN that you haven't even seen -- though I have been sneaking some peeks on my Twitter feed and my Facebook page, like these art journal pages:

To see all of the stencils TCW is releasing, click here.  And I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me a comment and let me know which of the stencils I've designed looks exciting to you.  I'd love to know what appeals to you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Studio Calico February 2012 Sneaks

It has been a long time since I posted kit club sneak peeks.  I was on a kit club design team (Serendipity Scrapbooks, My Kits & Pieces, Label Tulip, and then Kenner Road) continuously for more than three years.  And that was a wonderful thing because I love kit clubs.  I know that the big selling point of kit clubs is that everything is coordinated, but that's not the draw for me.  I love kit clubs for 3 major reasons:

1. The community.  Most kit clubs have message boards and a community that chats about their crafty lives.
2. The latest and the greatest.  I like getting a package full of the cool new products that everyone is talking about.
3. I receive things that I wouldn't naturally buy for myself.  This is always a good thing.  It forces me to use my creativity to its fullest.  And I often surprise myself by liking things I didn't think I would!

I'm the February guest designer at Studio Calico and if you're not familiar with kit clubs, every month the design team shares a few sneak peeks of what they've been working on.  The sneak peeks allow the subscribers to get a look at the products they'll be finding in their boxes.  Anticipation is half of the pleasure, after all!

Today I'm going to share a few peeks at what I've been working on:

Working with a kit full of so many great patterned papers and embellishments has meant a bit of a change in my scrapbooking style.  I think you'll be surprised (pleasantly, I hope) by my layouts.  They're cleaner and less painty than usual.  More in the style of scrapbooking that I used to do.  It wasn't a conscious decision.  It just sort of happened and I fought it at first, but then I figured, it is what it is and let it go.

I think it's dangerous to get into a creative rut and so I welcome the change.  I'm always seeking to explore new ideas and experiment with new techniques.  I like what I'm making very much, I'm just sort of surprised by it.  Of course, it's not like I've abandoned paint all together....

Nonetheless, some different kinds of ideas are brewing.  And that's a wonderful thing, don't you think?

Finally, I wanted to mention that Studio Calico will be hosting a live online chat with me on Saturday, January 28 at 6:30pm PST.  You don't have to be subscriber to the kit club, but you do have to register for a FREE user account in order to get to it.  During the chat you can ask me questions, share your thoughts, or just listen in.  It's a neat online chat room, everyone just types and talks.  It's a lot like the Ustream chat room, if you're familiar with that.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp Carving 101 Starts TODAY!

Class starts today and I've gotten a bunch of questions, so I thought I'd share some of the answers:

Q: I don't quite understand how the class works (or any of the online classes).  When I sign up and pay for the Carving 101 class can I watch it on other days - not only on the days you will be teaching? 

A: Yes.  A new video lesson is released every Monday and Thursday for five weeks.  You can watch them any time after that.

Q: How long will I have access to the class?

A: Forever (which essentially means until I die or stop paying for a Typepad account).  So don't worry about keeping up or getting it done right now.  You have plenty of time!

Q: How much Speedy-Carve do I need to buy?  It's more expensive than I thought!

A: You will need a lot if you carve all the stamps in the class.  The alphabet, in particular, really eats up rubber.  However, if you're nervous about the expense -- after all, what if you don't like carving your own stamps -- you can buy one big sheet (6x12 or larger) and see how it goes.  I suspect you'll be addicted pretty quickly!

Another option is to use erasers.  If you want to start out with small stamps, you can buy rubber erasers from the office supply store or the Dollar store and use those.  You can also carve linoleum tiles from Home Depot.  There is some prep work involved in that.  Google it if you're interested.

I noticed that it's on sale at Jerry's Artarama.  A 6x12 sheet is $10.90 and a 4x6 sheet is $3.63.

Q: What are the actual stamp designs we're going to be carving?  I want to make sure I like the designs before I commit to the class.

A: I have arranged the class to take you through the various skills you need to make any stamp your heart desires.  Each lesson provides a new skill.  You don't have to carve the images I do.  After each lesson I share why that image works for the skill we're learning.  If you want to carve something else, you are welcome to.  In any case, here are just a few of the many stamps we will be carving:

If you'd like to read more about the class, you can do so here.  You can also read lots of testimonials from past students.

The cost is just $30.

Within 24 hours of your purchase you will receive an e-mail from me with a password and username.

Let me know if you have any other questions!  Thanks for stopping by!

Organization Week: Specific Solutions (Part 2)

Welcome to Day Seven of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. 

Has this been a whirlwind week or what?  Today is our final day of the organization madness!  We're wrapping up with some more specific solutions and a bit of parting advice. 

I've got two storage solutions that I want to share with you today.  Both are systems I came to after a lot of trial and error with a number of failed systems. 

I keep all (well...most) of my pens in a drawer filled with plastic cups.

I keep them by type -- all of my colored pencils, all of my Moonlight pens, all of my Sharpies, and so on.  I like this system because I can take a whole cup (or two) out of the drawer and put it on my desk.  Then when I'm done, clean up is simple and quick!

My alphabet stickers have been an ongoing nightmare.  I've tried many, many, many systems and this is the one that I keep coming back to:

This is a rolling file folder cart.  I like that it rolls because I can bring it inside of my primary work space and then push it out when I don't need it.  (The drawers hold my adhesive and some secondary level tools.)

I have my alphas filed by color.

Each color gets its own folder (two for black).  I do have a folder for "multi-colored" letter packs as well.  I find that this system works for me because I can find what I'm looking for, put things away easily, often stumble upon a great coordinating solution, and the wheels make it super convenient!

And now Sally Lynn and Terrie are here to offer you some more storage suggestions!

Sally Lynn MacDonald is back with her alphabet storage solution!

No More Alphabet Soup

Letter-ary Mess

Do you feel overwhelmed by the alphabet?  I did!  I had so many chipboard alphabets, monogram stamps, grungeboard alphabets, letter charms, etc. but flung all over my studio.  So one day, I decided to conquer the alphabet soup that was taking over my studio.

The first thing that struck me was the wealth of letters that I had.  I had packages of this and that everywhere – but I don’t normally use my letters all in one style.  For example, I made a piece the other day, and this was how I titled it.

So if this is my style, there is no reason for me to keep things in the packaging they came in.  Instead I decided to abandon all of the original packaging and break everything apart into more usable single-letter bins.

Consonant Containment

Looking around my studio, I had one kitchen cabinet in a corner that was just filled with odds and ends catalogs, magazines and even books that I’d wanted to read at some point.  But is this necessary to have in my studio?  I normally read in the family room (while my husband is watching Ghost Hunters - shhhh!)  So I purged a lot of that material and moved the rest into a shelving unit in my family room.

I measured the space and figured out what size I could accommodate for the full alphabet.  Then off to the store!  I verified the dimensions to make sure that my kitchen cabinet could hold enough boxes for each letter on the shelves and that my largest individual letters would fit in the containers I found.  I ended up purchasing Kassett boxes from IKEA, for $3.99/pair.  They are inexpensive, and roomy enough to hold a lot of pieces or varying sizes.

I took over the kitchen table and started sorting everything that was greater than an inch in size and put it into the boxes.  I broke apart sets, discarded packaging and filled them with glee.

You wouldn’t believe how much great alphabet stuff gets overlooked when it’s kept in it’s original packaging.  The adage, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – is very true.  Look at all this treasure...

...and it’s only the letter "V!"  I began to have images of that vampire on Sesame Street who would say the alphabet letter of the day….

Metal, chipboard, cardstock stickers, even individually packaged monogram-sized alphabet stamps go into the boxes.

Shaped Up and Punctual

Once I started breaking up the alphabets, I found numbers, punctuation and generic shapes could also become a part of this new organization.  Three more boxes were purchased and everything still fit nicely.

I stuck an identifying sticker onto the label holder on the front of the boxes and put them on the shelf.

Containers labeled and ready to use.

Little Letters

As I mentioned before, I use the boxes for anything about an inch or larger.  I figured that really tiny letters would get lost in that cavernous space and be hard to see.  So for the little things, such as scrabble tiles, letter beads and letter eyelets and brads I needed a different solution.

I chose to put these into my ScrapRack, using the embellishment storage pages.

Each letter occupies a little Ziploc bag inside of the pocket.

So I can easily see the tiny contents inside.  In this scenario, I made a pocket not only for each letter, but each number got one as well.

And now I have an organized, and very usable collection.  No more alphabet soup!

So the result is an inexpensive solution that is easy to reach, easy to access (and keep organized) and attractive.

So why not get on your crafting apron and shout out, “No Soup For You!” to your studio?  You’ll be so happy you did.

Terrie Purkey shares her system for organizing paper.

What wasn’t working about my old system:

I only started collaging less than a year ago and wasn’t sure how I’d like it, so much of my paper accumulation was unorganized and ended up in stacks here and there in my workroom. 

I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to find anything without a system, so purchased the pocket file folders thinking that they would hold all the little scraps and bits I was gathering.  Since I have a bin for just about everything, I stacked the folders in a bin. 

As they filled, they slid down and instead of being able to just drop in a new magazine clipping, I had to push and struggle to be able to file any of my clippings.  If I wanted to save a whole page, it didn’t easily slide into or out of the pocket folder.  I’d get frustrated trying to just access the papers I wanted.  About the same time I dramatically increased my scrapbooking papers for card making and collage. 

I purchased a pretty decorated box to store my papers and spent a fair amount of time sorting all the papers into color families since that’s how I tend to look for a paper. 

I felt so satisfied and accomplished at both the pretty and, I thought, efficient storage method. Wrong.  With all the papers stacked on top of each other, I couldn’t see what I had or find the color that I needed very easily at all.  But, it WAS pretty.

I used numbered arrows to point out my particular areas that had issues:

1. Hundreds of pages of scrapbook paper stacked flat so I couldn’t see what I had; roughly color sorted but a mess after each project.
2. A bin to collect my random pieces of magazine clippings, junk mail, etc. for collages.  I initially started with the pocket file folders but quickly discovered they didn’t fit my needs.  They slumped over in the bin, and though they held the small pieces in place, they didn’t expand readily enough for easy access.  Small watercolor experiments, random catalogs, everything ended up smushed in this bin and I couldn’t find anything.
3. My junk mail collection box – overflowing.
4. Stacks of catalogs and miscellaneous cardboard, etc. on the floor.

As others who work in paper crafts (collage, scrapbooking, card making, ATC/tag making, etc) can surely attest, if you can’t access the paper you want, the process of creating becomes tiresome, frustrating and time consuming.  The other big discovery I made is that paper breeds exponentially!  I had to exert some control!

The new system works:

As I contemplated my problem, I realized in dealing with paper, filing is the answer for me.  I purchased a pair of cardboard banker storage boxes (to be decorated later) for only $6 (lots less than bins!).  I already had the pendaflex folders so I was quickly on my way.

For the scrapbooking box, I determined the color family breakdowns I wanted and made a folder for each. 

I love that they poke up over the top of the box so I can easily see the colors and prints available.  The other box became my magazine/junk mail collection file.  I already had some categories from the pocket folders, but found that some of the categories needed more definition.  I started with color separations, again because that’s often how I work and some magazine pages I clip specifically because of their color.

When I keep a page or flyer because of a specific image, it’s filed by category.  My categories are things like: text, numbers, people, animals, flowers, symbols/graphs, tickets, maps, architecture, etc.  If you happen to like to add people into most of your collages your “people” category might be more defined by male, female, faces, etc.

How the new system helps:

Easy, easy, easy.  I love that the papers are all more readily visible, much more easily accessible and because I can just drop a clipping into a file folder instead of having to pry open a pocket folder, keeping up with the filing is a breeze.  Or it will be if I stay on top of it!  This filing system is not particularly innovative and doesn’t use any revolutionary new products.  But, you know, sometimes a basic system and supplies are all that’s needed to create a more efficient work space.  For me, getting all this paper in a manageable and accessible place is freeing.  Now I can focus on what I want to make instead of where the things are to make it!

Q: Once you get organized, what's next?

A: Maintenance, baby!

This is what my desk looks like today:

What a mess!  Don't despair, it always looks like that when I'm in the midst of making things.  The trick to keeping your studio organized and functional is to clean up after you're done with a particular project.  I don't clean up every day, but I do clean up after every project.  For instance, I'm currently working on CHA samples for The Crafter's Workshop.  And my desk will remain at this level of disaster until (a) I've finished my samples or (b) I can't find anything -- whichever comes FIRST. 

Cleaning up after every project may sound like a pain, but it's important.  And it's a great barometer for when it's time to purge again.  For instance, on Monday I talked about the cardboard box that I keep on the floor of my studio.  It's stuff that I want to give away.  I have a personal rule for myself and that box: If I'm not willing to take the time to put an item where it goes, then it goes into the donation box.  Because not being willing to take the time to put it away means that I don't care that much about it.  That said, there's comes a time when I don't want to put things away because they don't fit.  That means it's time to purge.  And like I said, I purge 3-4 times a year.  Remember: It's not the value of the the stuff, it's the value of the stuff to you. 

I hope that you have enjoyed "Organization Week!"  I want to thank all of my guests for imparting their wisdom!  Here are my big "take aways" from the week:

• Throw it away: this is a studio, not a storage room.
• Put your stuff where you can see it.  Neat and clean does not equal organized.
• Label it.
• Organize the way your brain works.  Your systems should reflect who you are now and will evolve over time.
• Store finished artwork outside of your studio or on the wall. 
• Keep your ten-must-have-supplies within arms reach.
• Find the "right" storage containers.
• Like-with-like.
• Make it easy to put away or the maintenance will never happen.

Finally, I wanted to share how I was inspired by Organization Week!

On Wednesday I shared a photo of my loaf pan where I stash all my tags and little bits:

At the time I mentioned that it was overstuffed and needed to be cleaned out.  Well, I sat down to do it yesterday and as I was putting stuff back I heard my own advice echoing in my head and decided that the pan was becoming too much of a catch-all. So I customized it!

I threw away a bunch of stuff, removed finished art tags, and put away a number of items.  Then I ran artists tape across my loaf pan (both ways) to create sections.

Then I put like-with-like: tags, journaling cards, small embellishments, and for my tiniest tags and embellishments...well, they were always getting lost, even in this little loaf pan.  So I grouped them into two clear bags.  One for loose tags and bits and one for tags and journaling spots in packaging. In order to make the "putting away" easier, I marked the bags with tape...

...so that I could see the edges of the bags more easily.  Because they're clear, it's easy to stick something in the wrong bag.  But with my taped edges (white with gold letter and orange with text) I can clearly see where each bag starts and stops.

It's the little things that make such a difference in whether or not an organizational system works, don't you think?  And I hope my loaf pan is a good reminder to you that you don't have to do a huge room overhaul to be inspired by "Organization Week."  My little loaf pan has already made me a happier creator!

If you've been inspired by "Organization Week" in any way at all, I hope you'll blog about it and leave a link so that we can all be inspired by your inspiration! 

Thanks for stopping by!

About the Contributors:

Sally Lynn MacDonald has been an avid mixed-media artist since 1998, when her first child was born. Subsequently, after the birth of twins, she quit her high-tech career at IBM to be home with her growing family. "This is when random acts of creativity became a survival skill!" she says.

She has been a professional instructor for several years, specializing in techniques and multi-surface applications. She travels extensively, teaching workshops at stores and events throughout the United States and Canada.

Her most recent assignment was with the C-Thru Ruler company, makers of the brands Déjà Views, Little Yellow Bicycle and ART-C Mixed Media products as the Creative Director for the Art-C brand.

She is a member of the Copic Marker Design Team and was on the certification instructor team for the past two years. She does sample and catalog work for several companies, including Faber Castell. In addition she has been a certified and/or endorsed instructor for 7 Gypsies, Art-C, Clear Scraps, Graphic 45, Little Yellow Bicycle, Prima, Ranger, Tattered Angels and US Art Quest.

Her prior design team and guest blogger experiences include such wonderful companies as Cosmo Cricket, Hero Arts, Prima, Spellbinders and Tattered Angels.

You may have seen her on a couple of nationally televised segments on HGTV’s popular craft series, ‘That’s Clever!’.

She is developing self-paced, video and instructor-led workshops online, to be live in 2012.

Sally Lynn and her husband Neil have been married for nearly twenty-five years and live in Connecticut

with their three children, Brianna and the "Twinkies," Cameron and Courtney.

Keep up with her colorful adventures on her blog and on Facebook.

 

Terrie Purkey

I am a long-time crafter and have tried many avenues of creativity over the years.  Currently living in Seattle and stretching my artistic wings, I’m exploring collage and mixed media, love working in an art journal for the first time in my life and am exploring the world of Zentangles.  I find so much inspiration and support in the art blogging community that I’m encouraged to try new techniques and styles all the time.  You can follow my exploratory journey at www.creative-explorer.blogspot.com.   I also am a photographer and my ETSY store has some great inspirational photos.

Organization Week: Specific Solutions (Part 1)

Welcome to Day Six of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog. 

For our final two days of "Organization Week," we're going to talk about some specific storage solutions.  Remember, you can't organize the way anybody else does unless your brain works the same way.  So steal what works for you, and leave the rest!

I'm going to share two ideas with you today that both involve repurposing storage I bought for another purpose.

In my studio there is a "hallway" that was created by the placement of the desk.

I didn't want to lose that wall space, so I invented some very flat storage for it.

You can see that along the bottom of the wall I hung a bunch of wire grids.  I have my embellishments grouped by type (that's the way my brain works) on book rings, hanging from these wire grids.

Each grouping is clearly labeled:

 

I can take the book rings down and bring them to my desk.  I can look up and be inspired by something I see hanging there. And this is a solution that works for my style of creating (I don't use a ton of embellishments, so they're out of my main area).

 

My wire grids are the detritis from cheap wire grid cube storage I used to use, that fell apart when we moved.  But I was in The Container Store the other day and I saw this display:

So brilliant!  I want those baskets!  They'd be so perfect for storing so many things!

My second repurposed item is this:

It's a Clip It Up.  I originally thought I'd put all of my alpha stickers and embellishments on it, but it turned out to be a bit too unstable and didn't hold as much as I thought.  So I ended up putting all of my fat quarters on it.  I have them arranged by color and now it really works for me!  On the top tier I have all my fabric-related mixed media stuff: rubbing plates, Angelina fibers, etc.  Like-with-like and it's all out in the open where I can see it and use it!

And now Kim, Sally Lynn, and Katje are going to share their ideas (remember steal what works for you, and leave the rest)!

Kim Faucher is back to share her two favorite storage ideas.

There are many storage possibilites out there. I chose ones that reflected my personality and supported the way I create. I have eclectic tastes, and wanted to mix both function and fashion for practically no money, since I would rather spend money on the supplies than the storage.  Yard sales, salvation army stores, Big Lots, dollar stores, friends and families garages are great starts to gathering a mix of containers.

Two areas that were over crowded and cluttering up my space was my huge selection of punches. I had seen tons of ideas where they were in hanging shoe organizers, filed in boxes etc. I knew I would never use my punches if they I had to pull them out or they were hidden. I found these great metal bins in the garden section of Walmart.

I was also able to put some of the larger punches in a couple old Easter baskets that I cut the handles off of. This keeps them neat and tidy, but still a quick grab. 

Another area of frustration for many crafters is clear stamps. With the rise of acrylic stamps out there, everyone's inventories are growing and its impossible to use them or know what you have unless they are organized in the way you create. I like to use large three ring binders, page protectors and slip transparencies right into them). 

There are several examples of this on the internet and many companies even sell acrylic stamp storage.  I also use old CD cases. I had a ton of CD covers/cases that I don’t use for music or software. I use the blank case and add temporary adhesive to the stamp and store them right inside the case.

Then all my cases stack in these CD stack boxes:

I even use one storage box for ink pads. This also makes them portable so I can stamp in other rooms!

Thanks so much for letting me share my storage ideas. Hopefully this will inspire you to find storage containers that allow you to spend more time creating, add some personality to your room and be able to clean up!

Sally Lynn MacDonald has some fantastic organizational ideas.

COPIC MARKERS

There are a LOT of them, right?  346 is the current color collection, with a dozen or more being added on semi-yearly.  The majority of the systems I've encountered for organizing them are desktop units, wall units and totes that are too 'bucket-ish' for me.  I wanted something in-between the lovely labeled store displays and a simple marker stand - but on the wall.  I want it labeled, so when something is out of place or missing, it will be obvious.  There is little worse when you are coloring with Copics to reach up for a marker that suits your needs, and it isn't there.

Here is my solution, made from CD holders:

Three units covers the entire collection of 346, extra shelf for a few spare blender pens, my glitter pens and a big, honkin' bottle of blender solution.  Essentially there is room to grow.  So if Copic decides to release more pen colors in the future (or the end of this month!), I'll have that magical number twelve covered.

To read all about how to put together this amazing storage unit from CD holders, read this post on Sally Lynn's blog.

STAMP ORGANIZATION

I have a ginormous collection of stamps.  The never-ending problem is knowing what you have, and being able to find it. 

In the beginning, you have a few images. Typically, it doesn't take much to have an inventory in your head. And if you can physically see them all – aren’t you lucky! But that is like buying the small tote when you are a scrapbooker. What are you thinking? It's a nirvana that doesn't last. Sooner or later, your collection grows and you find yourself buying duplicate themes, without realizing it. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- but if it is because you aren't organized -- it is time to fix that problem.

I’ve been growing this collection for thirteen years.  After much trial and error I have a system that is both foolproof and second nature to me now.

Physical Storage –
Bins, Boxes and Binders – oh my!

Lots of people discuss mounted vs. unmounted, clear vs. rubber, but essentially if you love a stamp image, you will buy it no matter how it’s mounted and the result is you will have a mixed bag of every style.   The problem of how to organize, store and catalog them will creep up on you quickly.  This is how I handle my stamp collection.

• First, I either *unmount my stamps from their wooden block, or take my purchased unmounted stamps and mount them on EZMount. I use regular EZMount for unmounted red rubber, and EZMount Thin for those that have been unmounted from the wood blocks and already have cushion.  Clear stamps don't need any help in that department.
  
  *The only wood stamps that typically avoid this block carnage are the big background stamps, or alphabets that in my opinion can really use the good support of a permanent mount (or I’m just too lazy to take those suckers apart!)
  
  
• I put the stamps into a  Sterilite Show-Offs CD container for storage. These are labeled with a number.  I used to buy a smaller container for these which you will see in my pictures, but once I found the Sterlite containers, I continued on with them.  They hold more and I don’t want a lid, since not all stamps will fit inside a lidded container.
  • Larger stamp sets that can’t be easily cut down to fit inside this system, such as big honkin’ alphabet stamps go into page protectors and get filed into my ScrapRack.

 Stamp Bins – mostly Sterlite Containers:

Monogram Stamps/Alpha Chipboard, etc. storage (more on this later):

ScrapRack/3-Ring Binder Storage (more on this later):

Digital Storage -
It’s Time to Catalog Your Collection

Once the stamps are physically ready to be used and stored away it's time to add them to the "inventory" system. Gosh, that sounds so official! But it is really accessible and easy to use. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements Organizer software to catalog my stamps.  If you have Photoshop CSx you can use the Bridge program for this portion.

• Take a low-resolution picture with your camera or scan the stamp index or find a picture on the manufacturer’s website.  You only need a 72dpi image.  Grainy is fine, because all you need is a teeny thumbnail and it’s best to keep it small rather than take up a bunch of space on your computer with these.
• Categorize the image. 
  • As your collection grows you will quickly discover that you cannot physically store stamps by category. It’s an unnecessary burden.  So build that into your system from the beginning. This way, when Container 1 gets full, you move on to Container 2. You don't think, 'Winter is full, do I need to buy another container for Winter?' No! If you know what you have, you don't need to containerize by theme – your computer is going to do the categorizing for you.
• Place the physical stamp into a container and make note of the container number in your digital file.

Here is a screen capture of the Organizer tool. 

I then create Keyword Sub-Categories as I see fit for cataloguing the stamps. The first category shown here is Stamps and the sub-categories are shown collapsed below. You could go as detailed as creating categories for wood-mounted, cling-mounted and clear; if you wanted to. I don't go that far with mine. But I do start with basics such as SOLID and LINE DRAWING. And then I cross-categorize them as much as possible.  I also created a main category for Manufacturer.

Here is a screen shot of the keyword part of the screen.

I’ve opened up all the keyword subcategories under the Animal keyword so you can see how little or how much detail you can add.  I even have a category for "Stuffed" – not the taxidermy ones, mind you.  I mean teddy bears and sock monkeys!  But I guess if you hunt – to each his own.  This can be added to at any time and cross categorized.  So flexible!

Let me share an example:

This stamp is categorized by keywords:

• Manufacturer (Red Lead)
• Birds
• ATC-Sized
• Collage
• Nest
• Line Drawing
• Nature
• Realistic
• Sentiments

So I can find it by clicking on any or all of these categories.

So now I’m going to go searching, because that wasn’t the bird stamp that I wanted for my project.  So I’m going to click on Animals > Birds and on Music.  And this is the result. 

Two stamps come up.  One individual stamp and one is a set with two stamps in it that fit the bill.  How easy is that?

Finally, I use the captioning mechanism to store the kind of details you might need if you intend to submit to a publication, or sell your stamps (I know, shocking idea!) at any time.

Let me show you an example:

This stamp says, in its caption: BG-15 Big Pompano Fred B. Mullett $21.50

Find That Stamp!
Digital Album = Physical Container

Now how do I take this great categorization and actually go find those stamps in my studio?  I create Albums for each of my Bins that I store the stamps in.  Each album is a physical container.

I have BINS by number (these are the Sterlite containers).  I have MONOGRAM BINS (these are the cardboard boxes that I keep my larger alphabet letters in, be it chipboard, metal or individual large monogram-sized stamps.  And I have the Scraprack.

I simply drag the stamp image into the appropriate container (both physically and digitally!) and that’s where I can find it in the future.  I can also know exactly where to put a stamp when I’m done using it.

And if I’ve loaned out a stamp to a friend – yep, they get an album with their name on it.  I know where my stamps are at all times, missy!

Makes things simpler, doesn't it? No big clunky image binder or rolodex to keep up-to-date. Easy to reorganize and add on to at any time. I have to say, I decided to do this a long time ago and as long as I keep my discipline in the maintaining of it – I cannot fathom a better way to organize my stamp collection.

I can provide my keyword list if you feel that will help you to get started.  It isn't importable or anything like that.  But if you'd like me to send it to you just send an e-mail (sally DOT lynn DOT macdonald AT gmail DOT com) and I’ll send you the keywords as a little cheat sheet to get started in creating your own system.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Katje Lehrman is here to share a great tip on making your embossing powders easy to find.

Like most craft-a-holics, I am a collector. When I find a product I like I pretty much buy it in every color, shape, and style. And like many artists I am visually organized -- I gotta see it!

Well, I love embossing powder. As you know it usually comes in clear cylindrical jars with plain white tops -- great when displayed on wire racks in the store. But I don't have wire racks at home.  I keep them in these Iris plastic scrapbook storage boxes.

The problem with storing them upright in boxes or bins is you can only see the white tops. I realized I could apply embossing ink directly to the white tops and that I could find the right jar more easily. 

Someday, I will have a dedicated craft space with customized storage that allows easy access to my supplies. But for today (and probably a while after that) my supplies are relegated to boxes. Knowing and seeing what is inside each box helps me to craft outside the box (literally).

I have done the same thing that Katje did with her embossing powders with my paints...

...and mists...

...and ink pads.

Not only does it make it easy to find what you're looking for, but you can see the true colors of your supplies as well.  And you'll remember that Sally Lynn also color labeled all of her Copics.  Visuals are important to using what you have.  Labels are very important.  I like to use little tags to label all of my drawers:

 

This helps me remember exactly where things go.  It truly makes the "putting away" aspect of organized storage so easy.

 

Today, your assignment is to label.  Label what you're storing where.  Label your products so they're easy to find.  Here are some labeling tips:

• Office supply stores are great sources for labels and tags.
• Go through your supply of scrapbooking embellishments.  You may find some cute labels and journaling spots that can be converted to labels.
• Grab letter stickers and rub-ons if you hate your handwriting.
• Consider numbering your boxes if you're using a computerized system like Sally Lynn.
• Labeling your paint collection is as easy as a dirty finger and ten minutes of time.  Simply unscrew your paints and add a dab of that color to the cap.
• Some labels will need a bit of extra adhesive.  The ones on the tops of my mists each have a glue dot underneath them.
• Label your space so that a friend could come and put away your stuff for you.
• If it's too hard to write the label to describe what's in that drawer/container/bin, then it probably shouldn't be stored together.

Thanks for stopping by!  And happy labeling!

About the Contributors:

Hi everyone. My name is Kim Faucher. Many know me as kimosabescraps online. I have been scrapbooking, stamping and crafting for over 10 years. I am married, a  mother of two kids and one puppy, two fish and a snail. Recently I enrolled at Rhode Island School of Design to get a certificate in drawing and painting. I love exploring all types of art, crafts and photography. I have served on several design teams and currently design for Donna Salazar Designs. I have been fortunate to have been published in Cards, Scrapbook Trends and appear regularly in ScrapStreet ezine. I love spending time in my studio, drinking coffee, mingling with friends on Facebook, listening to music and being outside in nature.
I always look forward to sharing tips and techniques with online friends and talking about art with others. Thanks for letting me share my studio organization tips with you.

• Blog: Inside My Head
• Etsy: Kimosabe Scraps

Sally Lynn MacDonald has been an avid mixed-media artist since 1998, when her first child was born. Subsequently, after the birth of twins, she quit her high-tech career at IBM to be home with her growing family. "This is when random acts of creativity became a survival skill!" she says.

She has been a professional instructor for several years, specializing in techniques and multi-surface applications. She travels extensively, teaching workshops at stores and events throughout the United States and Canada.

Her most recent assignment was with the C-Thru Ruler company, makers of the brands Déjà Views, Little Yellow Bicycle and ART-C Mixed Media products as the Creative Director for the Art-C brand.

She is a member of the Copic Marker Design Team and was on the certification instructor team for the past two years. She does sample and catalog work for several companies, including Faber Castell. In addition she has been a certified and/or endorsed instructor for 7 Gypsies, Art-C, Clear Scraps, Graphic 45, Little Yellow Bicycle, Prima, Ranger, Tattered Angels and US Art Quest.

Her prior design team and guest blogger experiences include such wonderful companies as Cosmo Cricket, Hero Arts, Prima, Spellbinders and Tattered Angels.

You may have seen her on a couple of nationally televised segments on HGTV’s popular craft series, ‘That’s Clever!’.

She is developing self-paced, video and instructor-led workshops online, to be live in 2012.

Sally Lynn and her husband Neil have been married for nearly twenty-five years and live in Connecticut with their three children, Brianna and the "Twinkies," Cameron and Courtney.

Keep up with her colorful adventures on her blog and on Facebook.

Katje Lehrman

I have been the artsy-craftsy type as long as I can remember. I would imagine that I learned how to walk just so I could get to the paper. I saved candy wrappers, ribbon scraps, yarn, catalog photos, and other enchanted things as a small child. And I always fixed my coloring books by drawing elaborate backgrounds and additional characters to the pages.  I was lucky to attend a high school that had several art classes before going to art school.  After art school I became an elementary school teacher...or art director to a group of horizontally challenged people. 

I am a craft-a-holic who draws, paints, knits, crochets, sews, beads, stamps, folds, cuts, binds, collages, up-cycles, and makes paper with the left-overs.  Wow! You would never know that I can tweet with characters to spare...wouldja?

My blog is http://katjewave.blogspot.com

 

Organization Week: The Art We Make

Welcome to Day Five of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog.

One of the things that clogs up a lot of people's studios is their finished or half-finished artwork.  About a month ago I wrote about how I helped my friend Nat organize her studio.  She had a lot of finished artwork sitting around: scrapbook layouts that needed to be put into albums, canvases, 3-D art, lots of stuff.  Some of it was piled up and some of it was displayed.  But the pieces that were displayed were placed so that they blocked access to the supplies behind them.

It can look very pretty (and a canvas can hide a ton of mess behind it), but access is one of the most important things about a working studio.  

Think of it this way:

You are a chef.

You open your refrigerator and in order to get out the eggs and the milk, you have to take out a wedding cake.  And then put it back.  And then take it out so you can put the eggs and milk away.  And then put it back.

Bad planning, right? 

If you want to have your artwork around you, I suggest a gallery wall, like the one we created for Nat:

It's a great way to be inspired and yet keep your studio functional.  If you don't have the wall space (I don't) for a gallery like that, just try a single piece or two hanging up.  And simply rotate new pieces in and old pieces out.

As for those pesky unfinished projects, Noell Hyman has some fantastic ideas to share!

 A couple of years ago I decided to embrace that fact that I always have a lot of unfinished projects.

Instead of making it a goal to get my projects finished, I decided to reorganize my space to accommodate my madness. As a result I found that...

• There is a way to feel calm and happy, even with lots of unfinished projects.
• Having a number of unfinished projects has huge benefits!

There is an important difference between various unfinished projects . . .

• Projects you’ve lost interest in (give them up, steal components, and throw away the rest). Store away any projects you've lost interest in, but can't manage to throw out. Store them out of sight in plastic bins or drawers in a closet or out of your way.

• Projects on hold – Some projects are just waiting for the right size book binding rings, or for one last printed picture. Create a shelf (mine is in my closet) for those projects to sit on so they're visible.  Projects that have a lot of parts and pieces, embellishments, papers, etc, go in the white boxes on the two lower shelves.

• Intentionally on-going projects (these projects need a permanent home).

You can read more about the benefits of starting and not finishing, plus my system for storing unfinished projects at Paperclipping.com, in this article: 

How to Be Organized When You Have 29 Unfinished Projects

It's time to create a system for all of that finished and unfinished artwork.  Here's your assignment:

• Divide your unfinished artwork into the three categories that Noell presented above (lost interest, missing something, ongoing).  Keeping your master plan in mind, find a home for the projects in the last two categories.
• I would suggest that you put a sticky note on any unfinished projects in the "missing something" category that states exactly what they're missing.  That way when you have some time to pick the project up, you don't have to remember what you have to do to get it done!
• If you've got scrapbook layouts that need to go into albums, box them up, order the albums and page protectors, and put the box aside.
• If you've got albums galore taking up valuable real estate, consider moving them to a book shelf elsewhere in your home.  Perhaps where someone might take them out and look at them?
• If you have the space to hang your artwork (in your studio, or elsewhere) grab a hammer and some nails and put it up today!  Don't wait.  You can do it!
• As for the rest of your artwork, invest in some bags, boxes, and/or shelves.  Like any museum, wrap the art that can't be put on display and put it away (preferably outside of your studio).

You'll notice that I keep telling you to store your artwork outside of your studio.  This is because I think it's vitally important that your crafty space (whether it's an abandoned factory or a corner of the living room) be a working space and not a storage space.

I took some open shelves we had in our living room and covered them with inexpensive lace curtain panels:

It looks neat enough until you pull back the curtain and see the canvases, albums, mini books, and boxes of supplies:

I can't imagine what I would do if I had all those albums and canvases filling my studio.  There'd be no room to make anything new!

Thanks for stopping by!

About today's contributor, Noell Hyman:

Bio: Noell is the host of Paperclipping.com where she teaches scrapbooking through video tutorials.  She also hosts the popular talk show called, the Paperclipping Roundtable with well-loved regular guests like Stacy Julian, Ali Edwards, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, and many others.

Blog: http://www.paperclipping.com

Art Journal Every Day: Seven Journal Prompts

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here.  Please read this post first.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.

 Because of "Organization Week" there will be not be a big Art Journal Every Day post today.  Instead, I'm going to leave you with seven quick journal prompts (one for each day of the week) that will take less than ten minutes each to complete. 

1. Use an unfamiliar object to write with -- like a twig or a screw.
2. Play for ten minutes with only what's on your desk.
3. Go into your kitchen and use something you find there to create with in your journal.
4. Paint your whole page black.
5. Use a color you have been avoiding.
6. Trace your hand.
7. Use 25 strips of tape on one journal page.

If you have an art journal spread to share, please use the linky list to leave a link.  And please link to a specific post (rather than your general blog url) or a specific photo (rather than your general flickr stream).

There will be a new "Organization Week" post around 4:30am EST.

Thanks for stopping by!

Organization Week: At Your Fingertips

Welcome to Day Four of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog.

Today it's time to put together the heart of your studio: Your desk area.  Personally, I think it's vitally important that everything from your list of "ten supplies you must have" be within arms length of your main desk area.  You shouldn't have to get up to access any of it.  Bend over, turn around, reach -- okay.  But try to keep all of it very very near. 

Why?

When I'm cooking I usually take out all of the ingredients before I begin, grab a pot that I need, grab the recipe, and get to work.  When I make art I also like to have all of my ingredients out in front me.  Here's my best example:

It's a a jar filled with water.  It sits on my desk and it is always filled with water.  This allows me to grab a paintbrush at any moment, use it, and then dump it in the jar and move on to what's next.  If it wasn't on my desk I'd have to:

1. find my jar
2. fill it with water
3. bring it back to the desk

It doesn't sound like a lot.  But it's the kind of thing that might stop me from grabbing that paintbrush.  Arranging the supplies you love so that they're out and accessible can make creating quicker and lower stress.  It also allows you to pick up a project for a few stolen minutes.

But there is a second lesson in the-tale-of-Julie's-water-jar: setting up your main workspace for mess is important.  You wouldn't put a tablesaw on top of a carpet, would you?  So skip the heirloom desk.  Have a craft mat or sheets of newspaper handy.  Cover your floor as necessary.  Fill your room with garbage cans.  Create a situation where you can make a mess and not feel constrained when you sit down to create.

And if you don't have a dedicated space, then grab a couple of vinyl tablecloths to cover the dining room table and floor.  Raid the recycling bin for newspaper and take a few minutes to get your space ready.

Pam, Susan, and Hedwig are here today to take you through how they have arranged everything they need at their fingertips and prepared their spaces for spontaneous creative play!

Pam Fairchild is back to share how she has organized her desk area.

My craft table is an old computer table that is very sturdy and a great size for my room. 

It measures 28 x 55 inches and is laminated so I don’t worry about spilling stuff or scratching the surface.  I do have an Inkssentials 15x18 heat resistant mat in the middle to help with inking and such.

On the right of the work area I have a footed candy dish minus the lid that I use to hold my glue dots and tape...

...also my 1.5” Xyron sticker maker is there also.  Further to the right is the area where the printer should go that is where I use my Lazy Susan tool caddy. 

I like it at that level, I can spin it and reach anything off it without getting up.  Under this shelf is space that I have found a basket that fits, in it I keep receipts for the tax year and anything I need for the business side until I can gather them monthly.  In front of that I have a condiment server I picked up at Pier 1 on mark down years ago.  It’s just right to hold my tape runners, pencil sharpener, extra blades for my craft knife, extra staples and a little miscellaneous.  Beside that secured to the corner of my desk is a cup holder with attached waste bag, under that sits a large trash can.

To the left of me I have a pottery bowl with ink pens, highlighters and a few of my favorite pens to journal with.

Next to it is an Ott Lite that pops up when I need it, which is more & more it seems!   In the left corner is a stack of 2 cake plates with a compote on top.

I've reorganized the cake plates since that other photo was taken.  Here it is as it looks now:

The bottom plate is 10” in diameter and it now holds inks, Stickles and Glimmer Mists.  The middle plate is 6” in diameter it also hold inks, re-inkers, Alcohol Ink, crackle paint, and some clear finish glues.  The top item is a glass compote, 5” in diameter, in it I house my individual chalks.

I have spent the last 15 years developing a studio for myself in this home.  This is the third and final room my studio has been in and I finally have a space that works for me. 

I have to have tools, paper, everything where I can see it.  I don’t mean a cluttered look but when you’re working it helps to look up and there just may be an ink or embellishment or ribbon or stamp or glitter that fits perfectly with that project.  I can easily peruse my room when I’m stuck as to where to go next.  Taking a quick inventory may bring you to that fabulous level we all want rather than the “it’s fine level” that we settle for sometimes. 

I feel like most paper crafting is done in layers.  Your basic tools, like paper trimmers, etc. need to be close.  The next layer is the pictures, the paper, the journaling, and then you finish it off with the embellishments -- all the little extras.  I know if I can keep my basics at my fingertips and my embellishments nearby, when I bring that project to the table with just paper & picture I am ready to start creating.

Susan Wymer shows off her room and talks about how she organized her main desk area.

Q: How did you choose what to put in this area?

A: After my youngest left home for college I had more time to discover what I liked about scrapbooking and photography. I also moved from a small corner in the basement upstairs to a room dedicated to my scrapbooking. I realized that while I love memory keeping I wanted my pages to be more artistic and reflective of who I am. Many classes later I somehow happened upon Julie's blog and knew I had found what I was looking for. I started keeping an art journal and took Julie's mixed media sewing class (It's Sew Easy) which I loved. During this time I also started following a group of ladies on UStream. I have learned so much from this group of talented women particularly Dede of Coffee and Art in the Morning, Barb Owen of Barb Owen Designs, RachO113 and Paula Philips (Journal Artista). After watching numerous streams and trying to create in a very cluttered room, I moved my stash from a cramped space to my son's former bedroom. This allowed for fewer excursions under my desk or into the closet to find supplies. While rabbit trails can be fun and I like finding things I forgot about, "getting off the tour bus" of a project can waste a lot of time.

My desk area is still very cluttered but it is a clutter that I can effectively work in. Currently, I am in negotiations with my husband to design a larger room in our basement -:)

Q: How has your desk area changed/developed over time?

A: This last move allowed me to really think about how I wanted everything organized. After several false starts I settled upon a u-shaped main area where I could have what I used most often right at my finger-tips. I do not like wasting time searching for supplies I know I have and I dislike buying duplicates even more. I was also able to recycle some furniture that we were not using at the time. 

Q: What's your favorite storage tip from your desk area?

A: After making a U shaped area out of my old childhood desk and an IKEA desk, I labeled all the drawers.

On top of the IKEA desk I took two small totes and made cardboard inserts for them to keep my pens flat and handy and my pencils grouped by color (thanks to Dede for this one)!

I also keep my adhesives handy although I keep matte medium and gesso out of this area. I use both a lot but have had major spills. I keep all my journaling supplies and my watercolors (still learning how to use them) in my childhood desk.

This desk is my center. The drawers still smell of the scented stationary that my grandmother bought me and they once held my secret diaries. 

Q: How has your organization system changed your artwork and/or artistic process?

A: As a result of this reorganization I am more productive.  I clean up after each project - well most of the time so that I can quickly get back to creating.  I often start my time with a journal page or warm up with a tag. I have to turn my heat gun on at least once to feel the creative juices flowing. My goal with this room is to continue to keep it organized and to use my stash instead of purchasing new items all the times. And most importantly learn how to use what I have! I just have to figure out how to manage work, dieting, exercising and creating! But that would be time management not space management-:)

And now we're off to the Netherlands where Hedwig Schlotjes-Belle takes us through not only what's at her fingertips, but how to personalize your shelving!

Recently the attic of our house was redone and made bigger. Now I have a small studio, it measures 2.50 meters by 2.20 meters, but one wall is longer: 3.60m).  What makes it work for me? Easy access and a home for everything are my keywords. I'll explain a little:

everything on hand = easy access

My workspace is small but very nice for working in because you have most everything on hand. Things I use most, are closest.  I want my storage "ready to use" so no lids or too much stuff stacked on top. Everything is in clear plastic boxes so i can see what is in it. I hate it to have to dig in to closet, too big boxes, deep drawers before I have access to my stuff.

I have art stuff I need every day on a "Lazy Susan."

I sit in between two Ikea Expedit shelving units which I customized with extra shelves (eays peasy, cheap and all the way you want it, I will explain in a minute).  I have stored in the Expedits my Neocolors 2, my Pan Pastels, my oil pastels, my stencils (lots of Crafters Workshop), a selection of my cling stamps, babywipes, and washi tapes.

Making an Expedit Tailor-Made

As I mentioned, I have two (left and right) Expedits that fit under my work table. You can buy drawers for the Expedit, but I wanted to store more in it. So I made shelves for it.

Step 1: go to construction store and look for multiplex wooden plates and wood carriers and ask if they can cut it for you in the correct size (measure yourself to be sure!).  Also buy montage kit.

Step 2: Place what you want to store in the expedit to see at what level the shelves need to be. Saves a lot of measuring (I also keep losing the measurements, so this works excellent for me).

Step 3: Glue carriers 3 and 4 onto the expedit. 1 and 2 are there just for reference. Keep everything this way until fully dried. (Otherwise your shelves can go downwards). Carrier 4 is for not tilting when you pull out a shelf).

Easy Access = More Use

Previously lots of my crafting things were "somewhere." Now that I have what I use most on hand, and the rest in its own place, I even more like being a mixed media girl and use more different materials. And because it is so easy, I am more willing to keep it organized!

Time to get your desk in order!!  Gather together the piles from your "ten supplies you must have" list and sort them into two piles: every day and secondary.  Every day is your very favorite and most often used.  Secondary is the stuff you're going to keep, but use less frequently.  Now find homes for both your every day and secondary "ten supplies you must have."

An example from my room: Stamps and ink are on my "ten supplies you must have" list.  But I don't keep all of my stamps and ink in my desk area.  I have a box on my desk with my most used stamps (mostly alphas, and a few design stamps - in CD cases), a black ink pad, and a small and a large acrylic block. 

All of my other stamps, inks, and embossing powders are kept separately, ouside of my main area in these drawers, sorted by category (hand carved, alpha, pattern, etc):

Or on this little clippy unit, which sits on top of the drawers:

I keep my every day collection of stamps at my fingertips, and my secondary stash of stamps outside of my main work area.

If you don't have a whole room to yourself, this system will still work.  Keep your most used supplies in a tool kit or caddy close at hand, and then put those secondary supplies into neatly labeled storage elsewhere.  I think you'll find that by not overwhelming yourself with supplies, you'll be more productive!  You can always rotate what's in the most used section with what's in storage every few months.

Thanks for stopping by!

About the Contributors...

Pam Fairchild
St. Joseph, Missouri
Pansy Cottage Creations

Hi, my name is Pam Fairchild a.k.a. Pansy Cottage Creations.  I come from a long line of creative women on both sides of my family and luckily that gene continued with me.  I’ve created and taught everything from embroidery, crochet and quilting to scrapbooking & card making. If I live long enough to deplete my fabric and paper stash I should be a ripe old age!  I started scrapbooking in 2000 and was hooked very quickly thanks to a friend who I still crop with monthly.  In 2010 I was introduced to rubber stamping, discovered Twitter and the world of Altered Art.  I have “met” so many talented people through these mediums and I follow so many blogs I can’t keep up.  I am so inspired by their art that I feel a need to be in my studio at least for a few minutes a day.  I am very lucky to have the largest room in our home as my studio and love that I can start a project, leave it and come back to work without having to start all over again each time.  I hope my organization ideas help you in your journey to carve out a place of your own.

• Twitter
• Blog: Pansy Cottage Creations
• Facebook
• Etsy: Pansy Cottage Designs

Susan Wymer

Hi, My name is Susan and I live in Upstate NY, although I grew up in the Boston area. That makes me a Red Sox fan living in Yankees territory - not fun during October! I am a nurse and epidemiologist and work as an analyst in quality improvement for healthcare. I am married to my very best friend and we have three children - one in college, one in medical school, and one all grown up! I homeschooled them for 11 years and during this time my love for art and creating was rekindled after being lost for a while to science and math. I started scrapbooking in 2001. Eventually I took a semester long class in black and white photography which opened up a whole new world of creativity for me. Two of my photographs were shown in a student exhibit and I won a studio art achievement award - a total shock to me: a science nerd!

• Flickr
• Twitter: LoveRibbons01

Hedwig Schlotjes-Belle

Hi this is Hedwig from the Netherlands. I am an avid crafter: I art journal and make cards. I LOVE to use new techniques and ALL sorts of materials. Paint is my fav (acrylics, watercolor) and i have a soft spot for stamps and inks. That said i also am in love with inktense blocks, flexmarkers, spraypaints, stencils, tapes....  As an impatient person I could not live without my Ranger heat tool. The internet is another fave of mine, for online classes and peeking at blogs.

• Blog: Belle2Create
• Twitter: belle2create
• Hedwig's studio before & after

 

Organization Week: Storage Containers

Welcome to Day Three of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog.

Today we're going to talk about storage containers.  If you're an organizing geek like me, a trip to The Container Store is as good as one to Disneyland! 

It's pretty obvious why storage containers are important, right?  What's less obvious is that using the wrong storage containers can be disastrous!  I'll give you an example:

You're all excited about being organized!  So you head out and buy all these big beautiful storage boxes.  Maybe some of those big deep plastic bins with a lid?  Very sensible choice.  And then you head home and put your entire fabric collection into that bin (like-with-like).  You carefully label the outside and admire how beautifully neat and clean it looks all closed up in there.  Repeat with several other supplies and stack.

Fast forward a few days and you need a piece of fabric.

Well, first you need to lift the other boxes off of the fabric box.  Oy.  Then you need to open the fabric box.  Now you need to root around inside the box to find the fabric you're looking for.  Keep going.  Boy, that container sure is deep!  Ah, found it!  So put back all of the fabric you went rooting through.  Put the lid back on.  Now restack those other boxes.  Phew.  Only took you fifteen minutes to find the piece of fabric you wanted...oh, wait!  You wanted the one with blue stars...!

Doesn't sound fun, does it?  So what's the trick to finding the right containers? 

As always, they need to be the right ones for you.  But here's a quick rule of thumb: Your supplies should be easy to see and easy to put away.

Easy to See:

• Open Storage
• Clear Containers
• Labeled Containers
• Drawers, esp. shallow drawers
• Open shelving

Easy to Put Away:

• Try not to stack boxes on top of each other
• Open Storage
• Drawers
• Labeled Containers - so you know where everything goes
• Grouped like-with-like

And remember, pretty storage containers are a wonderful bonus, but don't make them your focus.  Functionality is King in an organized studio.  And it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.  Today we're going to talk about low cost storage containers -- free, repurposed, and thrifted.

Way back in January 2010 I wrote a post about my favorite kind of storage: USPS boxes turned into storage containers.

The red part is the section of the box I cut away.  I am a utilitarian and leave the boxes "as is..."

...but you could certainly paint them or cover them with pretty paper.  These open boxes (in any of the three styles) are such functional storage.  With my paper collection above I can see what I have, poke through it as needed, bring it to my desk, and easily return unused paper to storage.  Part of the reason that this system works is that my boxes are not overstuffed.  I do a paper purge every 3-4 months and get rid of cardstock and patterned paper that doesn't suit me right now. 

 Another of my very favorite containers are these $1 buckets from Michaels:

I simply painted them up to be a bit more "Julie."  (Read the full post here.)  And now they sit on my desk holding my most used tools and my most used pens:

You can see that I also repurposed a mug and a prettily labeled tin can for storage.  This is easy open storage.  I can grab one of the containers and bring it down to my work desk or simply toss my tools back into the bucket when I'm done with them.

A recent favorite storage item is this loaf pan pilfered from the kitchen.

It holds all of my journaling cards, tags, and little bits and pieces.  It is stuffed to the brim and really needs a good purging.  (BTW: The chevron tag was made using a stamp we're carving in Stamp Carving 101, and the poppy and text is one of my new TCW stencils!)  Once again, it is open storage that I can drop things into and pull stuff out of without having to move think about it. 

And now, here are three other great ideas for repurposed or inexpensive storage containers!

Leslie Sowden shares her tips on using desk drawer divider trays.

My storage container for small items is a desk drawer divider tray. You can sometimes get them at the dollar store, and the big discount stores often have a variety of types to choose from. I also always save every small box I come across - jewelry gift boxes, the plastic trays from a box of chocolates, even cardboard or styrofoam egg crates with the top cut off would work.

With the variety of sizes, I make a jigsaw puzzle from them, fitting them into the drawer or box that I want to store my goodies in.

During the years I crazy quilted, I collected tons of buttons, charms, beads - all kinds of small items that I wanted to keep sorted and be able to find easily. Dumping everything in a jar may look pretty on the shelf, but it's terribly inefficient when you're actually trying to find something.  

This system works because the tray and boxes are shallow, so everything is visible.

You can layer the trays, depending on the depth of your drawer, but they're still easy to lift out and be able to see everything at a glance.

My drawer currently has only the one tray in it, plus an assortment of jewelry boxes, candy box dividers, and other small containers, but I've had them many layers deep in other furniture and it's a system I'm always happy with.

Q: How has this storage system changed your art work and/or creative process?

A: It has eliminated the frustration of knowing I had something that I wanted to use, but being unable to find it. That's huge for me because I get frustrated easily by that sort of thing.   

Pam Fairchild shares her crafty Lazy Susan.

I tried to look up the definition of a Lazy Susan but got sidetracked by all the available kinds and sizes when you Google it.  I did notice one of the suggestions at the bottom was a Motorized Lazy Susan, I guess that’s for the very lazy person! LOL

This above all else is my favorite “tool” on my work table.  I got the idea for it from seeing another crafter's version but she had used a smaller one with tin cans she had covered in paper. 

This is a glass Lazy Susan I had originally purchased to use on our dining room table.  Needless to say that lasted about one meal with 2 pre-teen boys in the house.  The top is tempered glass and it is 15” in diameter.  On top of it I cut standard rubber shelf liner I purchased from the dollar store -- don’t want those glass containers flying off when I spin it! 

I love that all the containers are clear so I can see exactly what I have!

Lorri Flint shares some homemade boxes.

This past year, my business partner and I both got map drawers.  

While I was thrilled with the storage opportunities, I didn't know how I would find inexpensive, shallow storage boxes in a variety of sizes to organize all my art supplies.  So I decided to make them!

I had a bunch of 1/4" foamcore board and with a little trial and error, I designed a nifty box that I make in custom sizes to fit my supplies AND fit any drawer height and width.  The cuts to create the sides of the box don't go all the way through, I just fold up the sides and use white duct tape for the corners.  The resulting box is quite sturdy, simple to make, customized and inexpensive (visit Lorri's blog for a tutorial on how to make the boxes).

I'm making more art now that my supplies are organized and accessible!

For me, being organized enables me to make more art and actually enjoy being in my studio!

You may have noticed that Leslie, Pam, and Lorri's solutions are all about making your supplies visible.  I love what Leslie wrote: "Dumping everything in a jar may look pretty on the shelf, but it's terribly inefficient when you're actually trying to find something."  The question is how do you corral those little things?  Leslie uses divided containers and Lorri has made her own little containers.  I keep mine in tiny labeled drawers:

These are from the hardware section.  Meant for screws and bolts, I'm sure.

And that leads us into today's assignment.  It's an easy one today: find as many storage containers as you can.  Look all over your home, figure out what you have that you could turn into storage.  Here are some places to look:

• The kitchen.  One of the most functional rooms in your home.  
  • baking pans
  • dish racks
  • jars
  • vases
  • tupperware
  • Lazy Susan
  • glasses and cups
  • lunch boxes
  • candy boxes
  • tin cans
• The garage.
  • tiny drawers
  • bins and buckets
  • peg board
  • tackle boxes or tool boxes
• The basement.
  • boxes
  • baskets
  • old furniture like dressers, bookshelves, tables, or desks
• The bathroom.
  • repurpose empty tissue boxes
  • paper cups
  • toilet paper tubes (stick a bunch of them, on end, in a shoebox and you've got pen storage)
  • bandaid tins

And I'm sure you can think of many more!  In fact, if you've blogged about any repurposed storage, please leave us a link to your blog post (please leave a link to the post itself, rather than a link to your general blog):

Thanks for stopping by!

About The Contributors:

Leslie Sowden

I turn 60 in January of 2012 and have been doing something or other crafty pretty much my entire life. My mom was a good painter, oils and acrylics, doing a lot of consignment work as I was growing up. I did not inherit even a smidgen of the painting gene, however, so I moved on to quilting, then through macrame, crocheting, knitting, spinning, crazy quilting, and finally, to various paper arts and mixed media. I like to work to prompts, such as challenges or themed swaps, more than I do just thinking up things myself. I'm sporadically active on Swapbot and ATCsForAll, and am in a 3-person mail art group which I really enjoy. I do a bit of art journaling, but enjoy making the journals more than actually writing in them. I live in Northern California with my husband, a goofy dog and a mean little parrot.

Blog: One Woman's Hands

Pam Fairchild
St. Joseph, Missouri
Pansy Cottage Creations

Hi, my name is Pam Fairchild a.k.a. Pansy Cottage Creations.  I come from a long line of creative women on both sides of my family and luckily that gene continued with me.  I’ve created and taught everything from embroidery, crochet and quilting to scrapbooking & card making. If I live long enough to deplete my fabric and paper stash I should be a ripe old age!  I started scrapbooking in 2000 and was hooked very quickly thanks to a friend who I still crop with monthly.  In 2010 I was introduced to rubber stamping, discovered Twitter and the world of Altered Art.  I have “met” so many talented people through these mediums and I follow so many blogs I can’t keep up.  I am so inspired by their art that I feel a need to be in my studio at least for a few minutes a day.  I am very lucky to have the largest room in our home as my studio and love that I can start a project, leave it and come back to work without having to start all over again each time.  I hope my organization ideas help you in your journey to carve out a place of your own.

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• Etsy: Pansy Cottage Designs

Lorri Flint is a textile artist, working with fabric, dye, thread and embellishments to create one of a kind art quilts. She has studied with numerous nationally and internationally recognized contemporary textile artists. Her award winning work has been juried into many local and regional shows and includes realistic as well as abstract themes.

Lorri is also a Jill-of-all-trades, with an accounting degree, an interest in website design and home remodeling. She LOVES her sewing machine (and her husband and her two sons in college) and has been sewing, knitting and making art as far back as she can remember!  She's always looking for ways to organize and manage her stuff.  Her favorite ending to the day is to snuggle with a good book.

Having fun and learning something new is her goal for every class she teaches at Art Camp for Women. She provides detailed handouts with step-by-step instructions so that her students feel comfortable trying new techniques and can go home and experiment more. Her students frequently comment on how patient she is...something her husband might not agree with! The best art advice she has received is to "do what the piece requires" which means that she has been known to sewn 10,000+ beads onto one piece.

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Organization Week: How Does Your Brain Work?

Welcome to Day Two of Organization Week!  Links to all of the "Organization Week" posts are available by clicking on the "Organization Week" image in the far right column of my blog.

Have you ever been to a woodworking studio?  Maybe you have one in your garage?  Woodworking studios are very functional places.  Rarely "cute."  And all the tools are out and ready to use: lots of open storage, maybe a peg board on the wall, and labeled bins. 

How about your kitchen?  It's super functional too.  I'll bet all of the forks are together in one drawer and you know exactly where that drawer is.  Can you imagine if you had to search every cabinet and drawer in your kitchen to find a fork?  That would be silly.  In a kitchen everything has its place. 

I want you to start thinking of your crafty space (be it an enormous room or a corner of the living room) as a functional space.  Your tools and supplies need to be out and accessible and everything needs to have a home.

I have two guests today who are going to share how they figured out systems that worked for them. 

• Kim's studio went from looking neat and clean to looking like a tornado had gone through the room.  But as she explains, she is more organized and gets more done in the messier looking room.  The key here is remembering that there are two kinds of messes: organized messes and disorganized messes.  An organized mess is one in which you know exactly what is in each of those piles.  A disorganized mess is one that is a great mystery and oppresses you.
• Nan has everything organized using her like-with-like philosophy.  This is the forks analogy I used above.  Nan knows exactly where to go to find her Distress Ink or her Sharpies.  And since time is an issue for all of us, wouldn't it be nice to spend your creative time creating instead of hunting for supplies?

You'll notice that both of these women talk about the fact that their studios are continually evolving (because, of course, we continually evolve in the way we work) and about the importance of creating a system that functions for how you create.  Two very important things to keep in mind as you create your master plan for your creative space.

Kim Faucher is going to talk about organizing around the way you create :

My studio is continually evolving. 

When we remodeled our kitchen we decided to turn our 3-season screened-in porch into a small mud room/art studio.  The studio looked very clean, organized and neat. But once I started using the space I discovered that I wasn’t able to sit and create because stuff was spread out and hidden.  So I reorganized the studio to make sense to ME and the way that I create. 

I create one thing at a time. My process of creating is to stand or sit in one place and use whatever is around me. That thought was the basis of the new plan for my studio: I decided to create “areas” within the room.  You can get an idea of the size of the room and layout in this sketch:

And this is what my studio looks like now:

It may not look pretty, but it is organized and functional.

For example, when I am sewing, I can sit in the sewing corner (above), grab fabrics, use my machine (in the photo it's covered with plastic), find a stick pin, scissors, etc. in my baskets -- everything to do with sewing is contained in that little area.

My main work space is usually a clutter of random scraps of paper, embellishments and kits. Ribbons, alphabet letters, writing tools...

...clear stamps, wood stamps, punches, flower accents, buttons, etc. all have their own little homes right around this area so I can grab what I need.

This is my paint corner:


Paints and brushes together!

And this is my punch station:


As time goes on and I add to my stash, my studio can still grow and change.

Most importantly, by organizing in the system of how I create, I can still operate functionally, even when my studio is a mess.  This system allows me to stay focused on the particular task I am doing, rather than hunting for supplies.

Happy organizing and celebrating the way you create!

Nan Robkin has some great advice on organizing based on how/when you use stuff:

First off, I have to confess that I am (constantly) in the process of sorting and revising and planning my art-making spaces, so what I say now may be different a year, or even a week, from now. Art Requires Inventory, and I have a lot of inventory to deal with.

Like with Like is the organizing principle (the corollary is: Put It Back). I determine what goes into each category by choosing the most useful (to me) characteristic. For instance, I could put all my pens under the rubric “PENS,” but I have all kinds of pens, and if I put them all together I would be rooting though a mountain to find the one I want. So I have a drawer for alcohol-based pens like Sharpies and Bic and Tūl (but not Copic—they are a class unto themselves).

I have another drawer for drawing pens, like Pigma Micron and Faber-Castell and Copic technical pens.  I have a drawer for gel pens, and I put my Spica pens in with them as I would use them for the same purpose.

Labeling storage places is essential.

And the same rules hold true for every supply I own.  I have special cases for my Ranger Adirondack Paint Daubers, a plastic box for my Ranger Crackle Paint, a plastic tackle box for my Distress Ink Pads...

...a wooden box for my Adirondack Color Wash...

...and another for Ranger Distress Daubers. I keep a couple of Perfect Pearl misters in the color wash box (spray with spray), some small containers of  Glossy Accents and Claudine Helmuth’s Matte Medium, and a couple of empty spray bottles. Because I use them all together.  Like with like.

Paper is always a problem. I make books, so I need lots of different kinds of paper, in lots of sizes. Parent sheets and half sheets are grouped on skirt hangers, the plastic kind with two clips, and hang over a door.

There is a whole room of racks that hold 8-1/2 x 11 paper, ream upon ream in the basement.

My husband made the racks from pegboard and dowels, and they sort of manage to do the job of holding boxes of paper. I try to keep each kind of paper labeled. So “Like with Like” doesn’t always work, what with cardstock and text weight and glossy and different colors. So I make sure the labels, at least, are visible.

Rubber stamps, both wood mounted and unmounted, are right now kept in cardboard boxes, sorted by manufacturer - like with like (there are, however, several boxes menacingly labeled “To Sort”).  Acrylic stamps are in binders and boxes.

And the list of stuff just goes on.

In planning, take stock of what you have, put and keep things that have a similar use together. When I started out to get things under control, I wrote out a Master Plan: I made a list of categories and then listed what I would keep in each category, and then decided where each category would go. It wasn’t engraved in stone, and I do keep revising it, but at least it gave me a good place to begin.

I could go on and on—but I won’t. I will say that putting Like with Like won’t work for very long if you don’t Put it Back. That’s my biggest downfall—I gather things into a bag to do a particular project  at ArtWorks, for instance, and when I bring the bag home I just set it down and procrastinate putting things back. Don’t follow that example, please—it means you can’t find something when you want to use it. And being able to use it is the whole idea!

Visit Nan's blog for more detailed information on the organization of her studio.

Nan and Kim have presented two very good organizational notions that I happen to agree with:

1. Organize in stations based on how you create.
2. Put like with like.

So how do we put these concepts into play?  Well, you need to figure out how your brain works.  Take my little quiz:

Q: When you need a piece of paper do you think of it...

1. by brand name (manufacturer)
2. by color
3. by purpose/use
4. by theme (ex. trees, animals, flowers)

Don't think too hard.  What's your first impulse answer?

Q: If you were trapped in your studio and could only use ten supplies, what would they be?

Note: You can use general large categories like stamps, pens, paint.  You don't have to name an actual specific supply.

Q: What are the restraints of your space?

Ex: I have to be able to hide everything when company comes. 

Q: What kinds of activities do you do in your studio?

Ex. I have a lot of computer work that needs to get done, I need a space to cut fabric, I have a typewriter that needs to be out, etc.

Write the answers down.  This is going to form the basis of your plan.

If you watch the video below you'll see how I used my answers to these questions to create a plan for my studio space.

Grab a piece of paper and start figuring out the basic overview of your creative space!

Don't have a room all to yourself?  You can still do the same kind of planning.  Let's say you have to keep everything in a rolling tote and work on your kitchen table.  No worries.  Divide the tote into stations.  All the paint supplies are in one section.  All the paper is in another.  And so forth.  Whatever the limitations of your space, you can still put "like with like" and organize the way your brain works.  Unless you have too much stuff.  If you have too much stuff, it becomes very difficult to organize.  So go back to day one and purge, purge, purge!  And repeat this mantra to yourself: This is a studio, not a storage room.

Thanks for stopping by!

 ---

P.S. Back in 2007 I wrote an "Organization Manifesto."  The principles are still very sound and I continue to live by them today:

1. Organize The Way Your Brain Works
2. Create A Situation Where You Can See What You Have
3. Make It Easy To Put Away

P.P.S. A little bit of fun news here.

P.P.P.S. What an amazing response to the Sakura giveaway!  More than 300 comments.  I wish I had enough pens to give away to each of you.  Sadly, there can be only one winner...and the winner of the Sakura giveaway from Thursday is...

Congratulations Theresa!  E-mail me (balzerdesigns AT gmail DOT com) and I'll get your pens out to you!

About the Contributors:

Hi everyone. My name is Kim Faucher. Many know me as kimosabescraps online. I have been scrapbooking, stamping and crafting for over 10 years. I am married, a  mother of two kids and one puppy, two fish and a snail. Recently I enrolled at Rhode Island School of Design to get a certificate in drawing and painting. I love exploring all types of art, crafts and photography. I have served on several design teams and currently design for Donna Salazar Designs. I have been fortunate to have been published in Cards, Scrapbook Trends and appear regularly in ScrapStreet ezine. I love spending time in my studio, drinking coffee, mingling with friends on Facebook, listening to music and being outside in nature.
I always look forward to sharing tips and techniques with online friends and talking about art with others. Thanks for letting me share my studio organization tips with you.

• Blog: Inside My Head
• Etsy: Kimosabe Scraps

My Name is Nan Robkin and I am an Artist

I am a Navy Brat, born during the Great Depression, and living through an amazing amount of history. It’s been an interesting journey, and I have had a good time travelling to the place I am now. I was in Honolulu on December 7, 1941. I spent the war years in Berkeley, California, and in 1946 sailed off to Guam for 2-1/2 years. I was in China for two weeks just before the Communist takeover—my father had temporary duty there. I have always played with art, in one form or another, collecting lots of supplies. As a child, I was always drawing something, and as I grew up, I still drew and doodled a lot. In college (Adelphi University) I took a few art classes, though I was a Speech and Drama major, and was Art Editor of several campus publications. One of my paintings was hung in a student show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I studied architecture for a year at UC Berkeley, but couldn’t keep up with the math  involved. However, one of my watercolors was deemed worthy of keeping in the school’s archives. In another attempt at higher education, I studied Drama and Language Arts at San Francisco State University, and earned a general secondary teaching credential and a Master of Arts degree. At SF State I worked many shows as a stage lighting designer, which gave me a good understanding of how color works—especially the CYMK process colors that behave similarly to colors of light.

I am married—just passed 49 years—to a retired university professor, and have three grown children and two grandchildren. When my husband came to teach at the University of Washington in Seattle, I went back to school and earned my PhD in Drama Arts. My emphasis was on Classical Greek drama, and I spent two lovely summers in Greece researching my dissertation. I was an instructor in Art History at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle for several years. I am a certified Master Porcelain Artist, and have won many blue ribbons. These days I mostly do art journaling and  make artist books and chapbooks of my poetry. At present I am a teacher at ArtWorks in Edmonds, and try to make some art, either practical or digital, every day.

Thank you, Julie, for the opportunity to share my ideas and my art with your blog readers!

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• Blog: Aunt Nan's Eclectic Ink and Blabula