I was sharing on my Facebook page last week the utter scariness of my craft room after I decided that I needed to rearrange my furniture…again… and get a new bookcase to hold my stamps.  I did not expect this project to take over my craft room floor so completely!  Yikes!

See, it all started when I was putting away my new stamps and supplies from convention this year and I started getting frustrated with my stamp storage.  I had been using a bookcase to hold my stamps and trying to put all my clear mount stamps on a shelf that was at eye-level when I was sitting at my desk.  That way, when I turned around, I could easily see what I had.  But I had too many stamps for one shelf (more like 3+) and so for the rest of my stamps, they were pushed to the back of the shelf which meant they were really hard to see a lot of time time.

So, I decided I wanted a bookcase that was less deep, and I remembered my good friend, Ikea, had just what I needed.  And so off to shop I went.  A week later, I finally had everything back sorted and put together and am really happy with how it turned out!

Take a Tour of my Crafting Space!

I often get asked how I store my different crafting supplies, so I thought I would give you a little tour of what my craft room is like today.  If you have any questions, just let me know!  I will say my craft room is almost entirely made up of storage solutions from either Ikea or Stampin’ Up! and I am really happy with how it is working for me!

Take a walk behind my craft desk

So the most important thing for me, as I’ve been constantly tweaking my crafting space layout, is to have my most important/most used items very close at hand.  So most things are out on a shelf and within reach while sitting or something I can see clearly when I’m sitting down and then I just have to take a step to grab what I want.

I’ve also learned that I’m very visual when it comes to crafting.  So, if I have embellishments, stamps, ribbon, etc behind a closed door or in a drawer, I tend to not remember what I have and I don’t use nearly the supplies that I have.  So for example, I have all my buttons, brads, embellishments, etc in those Stack and Store spinners on top of my bookcase.

As part of this, I recently decided to move almost all of my woodmount stamps from the older “clamshell” cases to the new DVD style woodmount cases from Stampin’ Up!  With the template from Stampin’ Up! so that I can create my own case label, I can see all of my stamps at a glance and they fit so much more efficiently than before.  Plus, with my new half-depth shelf, I can actually SEE all my stamps too!

One question, I get asked is “How do you organize your stamps?”  I have heard of all kinds of solutions from:

• Alphabetical
• Seasonal (all the holidays together, all the birthday together, etc)
• By sets
• Breaking up the sets and storing them by type (all the flowers together, all the sentiments together, etc)
• Current vs Retired

I’ve tried a few different methods but found that for me, I have a terrible time keeping them organized as I use them and put them away (or as my 3 yr old grabs them and “puts them away”).  So, I have all my clear together and all my wood together, and rely on the new cases to allow me to have the pictures of all the stamps in the set on the spine of the box so I can just scan across the stamp sets to see what fits my mood.  I do have my retired stamps clumped together and labeled with a “retired” sticker, just so I can quickly make decisions when preparing for a workshop or class.

Under my stamp shelves, I have more close at hand items including my markers, boxes for embossing folders and framelits, spare tools, and ribbon!

Ribbon has been one of the hardest things for me to figure out how to store in my craft room.  I have A LOT of ribbon, this picture isn’t even all of my ribbon.  I have rack on my wall plus jars with scrap ribbon around my room.  But most of what I use is in these tubs.  I found that I hate having my ribbon on dowels.  I need to be able to pull out a spool and run the ribbon across my project to decide if it works or not; and I don’t want to have to pull out other rolls just to get to the color I want.  Turns out, being able to pull out a tub with lots of ribbon in view at one time is working well for me!

To the right of my stamp bookcase, I have a HUGE, ugly circuit breaker box that I have to keep accessible.  It is a big piece of grey metal and so I decided to use it as a magnet board.  So, here I display inspiration and accomplishments to give me something to smile and feel proud of when I’m feeling frustrated or down.

I have one other bookcase in view of my craft desk.  This used to be behind my desk and held my papers, stamps, and punches, but with the stamps moved, it is slightly repurposed.

I still hold my papers in this bookcase and I still love having magazine holders laying on their side (so the part of the magazine holder that normally would be the tall back, make that be the bottom).  So, I can quickly see what colors of cardstock I have.  Then in the green crates on the bottom, I have my designer paper and scrapbooking kits.  I keep them all in 12×12 ziploc bags so that I can keep scraps of paper with the full size pieces.  That way if I’m working on a project and need just a little more, I can easily find what I need instead of digging through a big box or pile of scraps.

Also on this bookcase is my set of slimline punches.  This is where you will also start seeing my love of the Bygel rails and baskets from Ikea!  I found these baskets are a perfect fit for the slimline punches and not only does it keep them nice and organized, but if I want to pull some to my craft table, I can grab a basket instead of having to pull them one at a time.

Then mounted above that bookcase are more Bygel rails and racks to hold my black handled, whale tail punches and then a basket for my embossing folders and one for my glitters.

I was also given a cool little caddy that was meant to hold glitter glues and so it is perfect for me to put my Dazzling Details, stickles, and Crystal Effects in an upside/down so they are ready to go when I need them!

So, all that is around my desk, but how about what I have at my desk?  I got a basic table from, you guessed it, Ikea! and I loved the surface, but I still wanted to have things like inks, my Big Shot, and other tools close at hand.  So, I got a few drawer systems to go on each end.

On the left are my “Alex” drawers that give me space for my inks, scissors, and basic tools on top.  Then in my top drawer are all my adhesives… quick and close at hand.  Below that are drawers filled with piercing templates, sponges, sponge daubers, Stampin’ Scrub pads, etc.  Also, check out how awesome Washi Tape rolls fit in the top of a Stampin’ Up! color caddy!

The other side, I have my file cabinet which sits my Big Shot on top and then has a drawer for my trimmers and extra cutting pads and rulers.  Then there is the big second drawer that fits file folders.  This is where I store my cardstock scraps!

Every color of cardstock has it’s own 8.5”x11” page protector (so Crushed Curry vs Daffodil Delight vs So Saffron, etc).  Then those page protectors get put in a file folder based on rainbow order.  That way, I can quickly decide which yellow I want and then pull out the scraps that are all that specific color.

But, I’ve been hoarding craft supplies for years, so that isn’t all I have. Across the room, I have another cupboard filled with my extra (and less used) crafting supplies and tools.  This is where I have my 12×12 cardstock stored, using the same method as my smaller cardstock.  In magazine holders on their backs.

I store my extra page protectors for scrapbooks, stamp supplies that I plan to sell, envelopes, and alterable items in these shelves.  I love having shoebox tubs from Costco and my label maker so I can stash everything away but still have an idea what I have.

My other area I’ve taken over is this set of shelves that my husband got as a desk for him in a previous house and decided it wasn’t as comfy as he had hoped, so when we moved here, I took it over.  The lower shelves are perfect for my 12×12 scrapbooks, the upper shelves fit my card boxes (all those boxes in the center shelf contain finished cards and card fronts!), and I have a space to post ideas and inspiration.

So there you have it… my little slice of crafting heaven.  I’m sure it will continue to be rearranged and adjusted; but for now, it is working great for me!  Hope it helped give you some ideas for organizing your crafting space too.