Organization: Or how to rubber stamp and not lose your mind : )

When I stamp, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, ends up right in front of me. Markers, adhesive, all sorts of paper, glitter, glitter pens, water brushes, Niji paints, chalks, personal trimmer, oh, and stamps, usually lots of stamps. So how does one organize all that "stuff" to make it easier to not only find, use, but to also put away?

Tonight we are going to travel to the world of organization. Now, organizing doesn't have to be hard, and once you get organized, if you put things away you will stay organized. What are some of the finer points of organizing your crafting supplies?

First of all you want to end up with a room or area that has areas for your supplies, specific areas. Your stamps should be in one place, your paper in another, chalks, paints, brushes, markers, all stored together separately.

So, what do you do if you have a craft room or stamping area that is just a mess. Start by doing ONE thing to organize. That one thing might be to just gather all the paper together, and then you go onto the next thing, maybe piling all of your stamps in one place. Continue to do this until you have all of your supplies grouped in piles. Don't think you have to do this all in one day, take your time, each day tackle one element, and then do something else the next day.

After you have sorted out your supplies, start to envision what you use the most. I use my scissors, adhesive, personal trimmer, paper, stamps, certain ink pads (Versa Mark, Staz On, some SU the most), glitter pen, Bic Mark Its, regular markers, twinkling h20's, chalks, colored pencils, gamsol, and a few other things. These things are stored so I can easily reach for them when stamping, and they can quickly be put away.

Figure out what things you use the most, and store those nearest to you, because they will end up there anyway : )

For storage, be creative! Today I bought a basket at the dollar store to store my regular markers. I separated the markers into groups of colors, put them in plastic cups, then put the cups in the basket, which is on my work area where I can get to it without leaving my chair.

Also, don't forget that your walls can be GREAT storage, I bought some metal CD holders, nailed them to the wall, and put my ink pads, unmounted stamps (stored in CD cases) and a few other things in them, they are easily accessed when I am stamping, and when I am done it is very easy, and quick, to put the things back.

Here are some really neat links about organization and craft storage. Remember that it takes time to figure out what method will work for you, and what works for me may not work for you.

• Love To Know: Check out how they turned a CD cabinet into stamping storage! And there are some other really good tips at this link as well.

• Scrapjazz: Even though this is a scrapbook themed link, you are going to love how much information you will find here, and though this is only a preview of the complete book (which you can purchase online) you will still find a few things to help you get organized.

• Resources to Organize your Craft Room: A whole group of links here for you to read and study, how to organize your craft room/area, storage ideas and more.

• Confessions of a Ribbon Addict: WOW, she has a whole room with tons of storage ideas, I am a deep shade of green right now : )

• Orgainized Scrapbooks: Great site with tons of ideas for storage and organization.

• Crafty Storage: (Also on the "best of lists" to the left) The granddaddy of all links for organizing your craft areas. Check out all of her GREAT links to organizing, I love her site and have spent literally hours on her site, clicking her links and drooling over all the great craft rooms.

Hopefully these links will help you get started with your organizing. And remember, you don't have to do it all at one time! Make an action plan, and above all at least try to do one organizational thing a day and before you know it your craft area will be award winning!

Have a great rest of the evening, and an even better Thursday.