let's get organized {part 2}

I'm still in my purge and organize mood and here's another project that I have been working on in my home studio. This photo is what one corner of my office looks like this morning after a few hours of organizing on the weekend.

I have soooo many scrapbooking supplies in my office and in the basement (where most of my supplies are kept) ... and although I like to think that I know where everything is ... I really don't. I spend way too much time looking through storage boxes that I have so neatly arranged on ikea shelving units in the basement. I'll be honest, I do label the boxes and everything appears to be really neat and orderly ... but I still seem to spend hours looking for "something" just right. 

I've seen lots of ideas for organizing supplies in magazines and on the internet but I wanted to use some things I already had on hand and didn't have to go out and invest more money ...especially after I started working out the math on how much I've spent on scrapbooking materials!

So I converted a metal jewellery stand that I purchased at Pier One Imports a few years ago into fixture to hold some of my scrapbooking elements in my studio.

... here's a close up of the jewellery stand ...

... I used three different sizes of clear zip lock bags to do this ... you can buy these at lots of places ... I got many of mine at the dollar store. Some of my bags had a hole at the top but if they didn't I simply added a hole with my crop-i-dile (but a regular hole punch will work too).

... then I used small binder rings to put the bags into small groups of similar things or items that went together. After that it was easy to organize and hang the bags on the jewellery stand. Now I do have to confess that I did have to go out and purchase additional binder rings ... I had a couple of dozen of them to start but I had way too many supplies to organize!

Here's how my new fixture looks in my studio office. I set it on top of a table that my Dad made for me years ago. Now I do have to admit that this is not all of my scrapbooking materials on this one little fixture ... I have a couple (couple ... who am I kidding, a bunch) of boxes of more ziplock bags on binder rings waiting for a "home". I think that I am going to work on converting one of my ikea shelves so that it will hold more of my supplies this way ... but that will be another project to work on!

I also reorganized the wire tiered basket in my studio ... it sits beside my new fixture and was looking a little messy. It still holds some of my completed mini albums in the top but the bottom is now full of blank albums and a couple of antique glass jars filled with additional supplies.

I have to remember to keep my eyes out for more of these metal jewellery stands and wire tiered baskets .... this is a great time of year to find things like this on sale.

One more thing that I did in my studio office is to use my antique suitcases to better organize my "basic tools". I now keep my most used tools and supplies in the small and large suitcase. The large suitcase is perfect for storing my paper cutter, glass and self healing mats and other cutting tools. The smaller suitcase is great for gel mediums, adhesives, pens, brushes, distress inks, etc. Now when I go to Scrapbook Queens to work on a project or teach a class I don't have to take much time getting ready, I just have to grab these two suitcases. I use the medium size suitcase when I am packing for a class to organize my class "kits" and any additional tools or materials that I will need for that specific class.

Next project to tackle ... my computer fonts and contact information!