Scrap tote

 These are very old and terrible photos but I'm going to post them anyway. This is a tote I made for myself back when the Cropper Hopper totes came out and it seemed like everyone had one but they were $$$. I would see the ads in the magazines and people would post about them. So I came up with one using a cardboard box as a sturdy insert and some fabric. There's one more outside pocket on the back side not pictured. I had way less supplies back then!

I still have the scissors and the tote. LOL A new box inside and I store page kits I've made  in ziploc bags in the tote.

 

 

Side note: This was my daughter's room and I painted the striped walls by hand. Painted a border and used foam stamps and craft paint.
 

 

 

Birthday card holder

 I used some double sided paper which I folded up 4 inches and then folded in half. 

Punch holes on the open side for looseleaf rings. I chose to just use paper clips to add the project life cards for writing down names and birthdays, I didn't want to make them permanent in case I later needed to change them or something. (Though I wrote in pencil.)

Super easy and simple - you don't even need to glue! The rings will keep the cards in the side that's open.

My scrap room

Ok, over a year and a half later I'm finally uploading the pics of my room. These are how it originally looked, there's been some small changes since. I may do an updated room post this fall. It's in desperate need of a clean up which is a bit of a challenge right now. This was my daughter's room and I took it over after her first year of college since at least 7 1/2 months of the year it wasn't really being used. During her time at home she uses an air mattress on the floor. The small closet is still all hers and she still has her bookshelf in a corner of the room you can't see. (you can just barely see a corner of it in the last pic next to the window.)

The photos start with an overall view and then go around the room counter clockwise. I painted all the white pieces to 'match'. I kept my sewing table original and painted the small bookshelf brown. I think having the few dark pieces helps ground it all. (my daughter's bookshelf was already painted brown, I got the same color to do mine.)  The big pink unicorn helps keep the cat from jumping up on top of those baskets up there.

You can see the post about my paper storage acquisition here: http://kaleidoscopecreations.blogspot.com/2018/03/paper-storage.html  My hutch was created from an old dresser and old bookshelf painted to go together and match the other pieces.

Paper storage

This post is way long overdue since I did this nearly 2 years ago but I'm finally going to post the pics. I need to post the ones of my room sometime, too.

I got this small entertainment center at Goodwill. It was marked for $10 but it happened to have a blue price sticker and it was blue tag week so I got it for $5. SCORE!! It's all wood - not particle board junk - and that was the other selling point. I wouldn't have wanted it otherwise. (Personally, I think particle board and MDF should be outlawed! :p ) I'm not sure, but this might actually be a handmade item.

I knew the size and depth would be perfect for storing 12x12 paper. I just needed to do some tweaks to it and give it a paint job. This is the before, with my cat checking it all out.

During my remodeling process. The decorative front on the bottom that is also a bit of the feet was damaged. One was just about broken off. Plus, I figured if I removed it I could also fit a couple of plastic cases under there. I also needed to move the top shelf down and decided the decorative piece on the front of it would be better at the top of the unit.

I also removed the backing piece at the bottom with the hole cut out. I replaced it with another larger piece (I had plenty left from another piece of furniture) that went from top to almost the floor. This would give it a solid back and would also help stabilize the whole structure. Here's the after - though I didn't have the knobs on the bottom doors yet.

Just add washi....

I did this a while ago but kept forgetting to add it to the blog.

Since most of this little storage unit is hidden, I didn't feel the need to concern myself with the rest of it. The top can be seen but it doesn't really bother me. And I can't see it when sitting. The unit is not seen from the sides as it's located between 2 small cabinets on my desk with no space on either side.

I used washi over all the wide areas on the front.  I didn't have to spend the money on or mess with paint. And it can easily be removed or changed.

trash to treasure

I had thought for quite some time that the style of this tampon box was pretty cool. So today I finally covered the box over. It will fit A2 sized cards so you can keep cards in it or blanks for making cards. Unfortunately, it is sized to only fit cards and not envelopes which are a bit larger.
(side note: this was a brand new box I removed the contents from. No 'dirty' hands touched this box. LOL)
*Click the image to view larger.*  Sorry for the bad photo, I was losing daylight at the end.

Spinning ribbon rack storage

A couple of quick pictures on what else you can use the Cropper Hopper spinning ribbon rack for - besides ribbon!
If you use binder clips you can hang little baggies of things like eyelets or buttons. You can also make little boxes and use binder clips to hang them from the rods. (note: the mini ones won't fit the rods but the small binder clips do) The top two tiers will hold 3 x 5 inch boxes. These are 3/4 in on the sides but may accommodate up to 2 inches I think.The bottom is lower and only fits 1 1/2 inch tall boxes (you can see a clear one in the second picture below.)

You could also hang toilet paper rolls from the rods and use them to hold pens and markers. I don't use mine this way but I thought I'd take a picture to show. That tube holds 7 Marvy Le Plume markers.

Toadstool Twine Holders

I recently came across a picture of some cute little toadstools with twine wrapped around the stem. Apparently the blogger actually bought them on Etsy. They appear to be made from little wood spools and a wooden half ball. I thought these are so cute and I had been thinking of changing up my twine storage. But of course, I always see what I can do with what I have on hand. And it's things like this as to why I save a lot of 'crap'. LOL  Click photos to enlarge.

Here's what I started with. Mini dowels - I have no idea how I ended up with these but I've had a little package of them for quite awhile. Mini Christmas ornaments. These harken all the way back to when I was 14 years old and bought a mini tree and ornaments for my family. I stopped using them for any decorating years ago but held onto them. They're styrofoam so all I had to do was pull the silky thread covering off and cut the in half. I cut the mini dowels in half and inserted the cut end into the flat side of the styrofoam.  I poked the hole first with the dowel, took it back and put some hot glue in the hole before reinserting the dowel. There was a hole on the top of the ball so I filled it in with some hot glue.

 

Then I painted the underside and stems a cream color and the tops different colors for my twine. I didn't worry about an exact match though some are pretty close. Wrapped the twine around the stem leaving a bit of space at the bottom.

Then I found this old piece of wood in the shed. I cut it to length and drilled holes for my stems. The spacing was measured first and since I was covering it, it didn't matter about any pencil lines or marks and I didn't concern myself with sanding it.

 

 I covered it with pretty paper, trimmed the side out with wide ribbon that wrapped under the bottom edge, and glued a piece of watercolor paper over the bottom. (I didn't have a large enough piece of chipboard.)

Voila! A cute little twin holder and some repurposed memorabilia!

DIY easel (presentation) binder

I recently dowloaded a sketch book from Scrapbook Generation and the printout is in landscape form. Someone showed me a presentation binder online which would make it easy to look at my sketches without having to remove them from the binder (or have to turn the binder). So I thought, I bet I can make one myself! And this is what I came up with.

And voila! Here it is! Super simple, you can use a binder you already have. And if you need to move onto a bigger binder or a new one because it's falling apart, you can simply move your 'easel' part to a new one!

All you need is a couple of binder clips and a small piece of ribbon or yarn. Tie it to the binder clips and clip the edges of your binder like this. You simply flip the top of your binder back so it's 'inside out' before you clip both sides.

Or you can dress it up a little bit with some buttons or something.

And then when you need to close the binder, just unclip the back one and clip it onto the cover.

Command hooks for organizing/storage

These hooks are a great invention. They hold well yet they're removable. The ones I'm using in my scrap space are called wire hooks. (I think they are size small.)

I have one for a mini trash can and a place to hang my scissors. Best thing - I'm never losing my scissors in a mess on my desk.

I have one on the inside of each door of this little cabinet - holds my Martha Stewart large circle cutter and my ring of embossing folder samples.
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I also have one on the wall at the side of my desk which hold my cricut mats. And another one next to my sewing desk that holds my self-healing rotary cutting mats and ruler.

Spellbinders simple storage

Here is how I store my Spellbinders dies. I don't have a huge collection and I don't have any grand or border dies so this works quite well. I keep them inside the instructional folder using a small magnetic sheet I've adhered to the inside.

 

 I've trimmed my folders down just a little bit to fit my drawer. Most of them fit fully inside the folder, which protects them front and back and keeps the instructions handy, but there's one or two that stick out just a very little bit from the top. (I keep blank cards and other supplies in this drawer also.)
I don't have enough clearance for dividers but I do sort them into shape groups - rectangles, circles, ovals, tags.

Simple 6 x 6 paper storage

I made this little box for my 6 x 6 papers using some leftover foam core I had laying around.. I simply measured and cut my pieces and glued them together with a hot glue gun. Then I reinforced all the outside edges with masking tape. Covered with paper and added a picture from an old, small calendar to the front. I also made dividers by cutting the backing from paper stacks/pads down to size. The tabs are made from 2" strips, folded in half, then cut to 1 1/2 inches wide. Punch corners with corner rounder.
The box is a bit wider than intended because I ended up gluing the sides to the sides of the bottom piece instead of on top of it. I have plenty of room in it so I stuck an additional piece of foam core inside to partition it (though it's not glued) and my embossing folder samples I keep on a ring is behind the paper.

storage for paper strips

I needed something to hold and organize my paper strips in. I cut my background papers for layouts to 11 3/4 x 11 3/4. Old scrapbook papers weren't always true 12 x 12 so this made my pages uniform in size and it was also easier to slip them into page protectors that had a tighter fit. I save the strips that are left over and they certainly add up!
I first spotted a knitting needle storage case similar to this but at the time I didn't check the inside dimension because I wasn't getting it right then. I thought I had seen it at Michaels, too, but maybe I was mistaken. They didn't have any when I was there anyway so I looked in the paintbrush section to see if they might have anything to offer and I found this case by Artbin. It's for holding pencils and is divided into 3 long compartments. It has a piece of foam stuck at the end of each one to protect pencil tips. If you remove it, it's just long enough to hold 12 inches of paper strips or borders. I will be picking up a second one to sort my strips better. I saved the little foam pieces (just stuck them to the inside top) in case some day down the road I might want them back for some other use. Sorry, no before picture. LOL
Retail at Michaels is $6.49. I'll be waiting for another 50% off coupon to come around.

scrap area v.4.0

hahaha. It's probably beyond that version! Definitely if you count way back to the beginning before I even had a desk.
So here's my current setup with my new (used) cabinet added! It's funny how the more stuff I've added, the LESS cluttered its looking. And as Martha would say, that's a good thing! I thought after the last item I added I was pretty much out of room. And yet, I manage to work in more. LOL

Scrap area - version 3

Or something like that. Anyway, thought I'd show what my scrap area has currently looked like after I had rearranged it from the time before. Only now it's being rearranged from this to accomodate my new little cabinet. Is there a such thing as too much storage??  I thought I was about maxed out the last time I added something, but I think this is definitely it. Well, unless the item were to be rather small. LOL As it is, I have to step on my chair to reach some of this stuff.

more storage

My MIL picked up this little gem for me from her sister who removed it from her new house. Needs to be cleaned but it's a nice little wall cabinet. The only thing is, I'm out of space and I don't know where I'm going to put it. LOL It has a shelf inside that's adjustable.

Stamp storage how-to

I had a blog reader ask what adhesive laminate I used for my clear stamp storage. I used C-line 3 mil cleer-adheer adhesive laminate but I don't know if they make the 3 mil anymore so you could try 2 mil or another brand to get the 3 mil. You don't want anything too flimsy for this method because the stamp sheets will be standing to flip through like files. She had a couple of other questions so I thought the best thing would be to do a sort of tutorial with pics to show how I made my sheets. Sorry, I don't do videos. LOL I kind of explained it the clear stamp storage post but this would probably be more helpful. I prefer to split up my stamps and arrange by themes, rather than keep stamps together because they came that way. I also like to put my word/phrase ones on one sheet and the images on another, though occasionally sometimes words and images end up together to fill a sheet. Of course, you can arrange however you like. :) It's a good idea to read through at least the first few steps before you start. You will need to cut an index card or piece of cardstock the size you want your finished sheet to be. It's your size template. Keep in mind, your laminate will need to be bigger than the finished sheet size. I had made my stamp sheets to fit a certain small container when I had a lot less stamps. So my stamp sheets are only 4 x 5 1/8 inches. With this small size, it worked out that I could cut my laminate sheets into quarters as the laminate was 9 x 12 and a quarter sheet was still half an inch or so around larger than my finished sheet. This is important that you have your laminate sheets cut at least half an inch larger all the way around than your index card/finished size will be. If you're not so good at eyeballing, you may want to allow yourself even an extra inch on each side. Still with me now? First, remove your stamps from the backing. This serves 2 purposes: 1. it's easier to cut around your image and 2. when you need to peel the stamps off later, it will be easier especially if they are new. They tend to be difficult to peel off the backing they came on. Then cut closely around each image on the backing. (I had the camera in my other hand til I wised up for later pics where I needed 2 hands. LOL) After you cut around your images, put them back on your stamps. For one, it makes it easier because the stamps will keep the images from sliding around on your index card template. And two, the images will be raised so you won't end up sticking your laminate to the index card. Now arrange your stamps image-side-up on the index card template until you are happy with it. Try to leave a little space between them if you can and definitely at least a quarter inch in from the edge of your template. Your two laminate sides will need to stick to each other. Here are my stamps all arranged ready to be laminated. Now, remove the backing from your laminate you've cut to size and try to keep your fingers on the edges and carefully apply your laminate to the top of the stamps, sticky side down of course. Bend the laminate so it will touch the middle first and then work it down from the inside out. Here is my laminate applied to the top. Notice how the laminate is larger than the index card. With caution, flip over your laminate with the stamps stuck to it. Don't worry about the index card now. It won't matter again until later when you cut your sheet. I just left it in the pics. Carefully pull off your stamps. You may need to get tweezers unless you have a long fingernail to hold the image backing to the laminate while you peel off the stamps because if the stamps are holding to the image backing well, you'll end up pulling the image up. Once you've removed all the stamps, carefully apply another sheet of laminate on top like you did the first time. Don't rush yourself because now the two sticky sides are coming together. Once applied, rub the laminate all over well. You can even run a fingernail or stylus around each of the image pieces. Put your laminated images back on top of the index card template. You're going to want to stick some tape on the back of the index card for this so you can stick it to your laminate sheet. Center your cluster of images from the edges like they were when you arranged them on the index card the first time. Now you can trim your sheets to the right size. Line up the edge of your index card that doesn't have the tape with the cutting groove (or edge of your trimmer if you have a guillotine style). Trim and repeat on the opposite side. Remove the tape and put it on the trimmed sides to hold your template to your laminate sheet and cut the other 2 sides. Now you can stick your stamps onto the back sides of your new laminate stamp sheets. Take a piece of your laminate backing and trim to the finished size. You can do that just by measuring, you don't need your template. And voila! Here is the finished stamp sheet. The laminate backing keeps the stamps from sticking to the next sheet of stamps behind it.