It's not hopeless!!!

I DID IT!!!

Today, I set a timer for 30 minutes and worked on organizing the closet in my craft room. After 30 minutes, I took a break for 30 minutes before returning to work on the closet for another 30 minutes. I repeated this process until I was satisfied with the organization of my storage area.

Here's what I learned: - I realized I had too many paper shopping bags, so I only kept 2. - I had too many reusable shopping bags, so I kept 1 large and 4 mediums for traveling craft supplies and giving away items. - I also learned that you can have too many storage containers. Instead of giving them away, I stored the extra containers on a shelf in my basement until I find a purpose for them, or another crafter wants them. - I ended up with one plastic crate of items to give away and another crate for items to sell. Here's a before and after photo:

                                    Before                                                                    After

 

                                           Before                                                       After

Before

After

                                                                                        

After

Craft Room Mess (a work in progress)

 What's in a craft room? You would think craft related items.

For me my goal is to again find the joy in my craft room.  

I hope you join me on my journey to uncover all the that belong and don't belong.

It seems that many things accumulate in my craft that simply don't belong.  I hope you'll join me as I answer the question What belongs in my craft room?

Remember the things I purchased didn't happen overnight.  They were gradually added over time.  Also, there were many false starts where I purchased many things that didn't work at all.  I now have what I believe I need but I have to face the realization that the reason it becomes messy and out of control, dare I say it, I have to many things.  I have to make choices to let go of yesterday's unrealized projects so that I can clear the way for today's joy and new adventures.

I suspect I'm not alone in this situation and am looking forward to learning from each of you and hopefully adding some value to your efforts as well. Any suggestions anyone can offer are much appreciated.

Items used in pics below:

• IKEA Kallax Shelf Units 
• IKEA Kallax Doors
• IKEA Kallax Shelves
• Stamp N Storage Ink and Punch storage units
• Lexington 3 Tier cart from Michaels Arts and Crafts

   

The door to my craft room.                                                Entrance shows half of the L shaped closet.

Top shelf of closet beginning organization.                        Looking into the back corner of closet.

Containers with shelf labels for quick ID.

  

The other half of the L shaped closet is my 12 X 12      To the left of the entrance. First IKEA

Paper rack and a floor that very much needs to               Kallax unit.

be organized.

  

Coming in the door to the left is the first of 3 IKEA        One of two Lexington 3 tier carts from

Kallax units. Stamp N Storage units hold my Stampin     Michaels. I added a topper to provide

UP! punches, ink pads, markers and refill inks.  Also,     more storage to one of them.

on top is my Brother Scan and Cut.                            

Later I will continue with the rest of the room.

Thanks for looking and please offer suggestions and come back soon.

Cleaning your clear blocks, trimmer & glass mat

 Hello Everyone,

It is great to be back crafting and organizing again.  Today I would like to share a tip from Patty Bennett, at www.pattystamps.com.  The video can be found by following this link How to Clean your Stampin' UP! Clear Blocks, Trimmer & Glass Mat (youtube.com).

Soon I will be sharing photos of my currently very messy craft room and more ways to get things organized.

Thank you and happy stamping.

How to get clear mount stamps to stick to blocks

My intention has been to post this great tip I learned while attending my three-day crafting weekend in July.  As you can see, I am a little behind.  If you aren't already familiar with this tip, then you will be glad you checked in. 

This is the BEST TIP for clear mount stamps and it works like a charm.  Apply a light layer of Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm on your clear block and your stamps will stay on the block until you are finished stamping! 

Many of us do not add the image to the back of the clear mount stamp because it does not cling well.  Now, you can add the image because the lip balm holds the stamp in place through multiple stampings!

There are several ways to clean your stamps and blocks after using Burt's Bees.  One way, is to rub a few drops of hand sanitizer on the clear block and wipe with a clean cloth.  Another option is to clean with Dawn dish detergent.  To clean the back of  your clear mount stamp, use a light spray of Stampin' Mist and wipe with a clean cloth. 

Who would have thought that Burt's Bees would find a permanent home in my craft room?

Happy Stamping!

Clear Mount Case Ink and Marker Inserts

These printable paper inserts are courtesy of Kelly Kent SU demonstrator from the UK.  These inserts are made to pair with your clear mount stamp cases to organize your SU markers and ink refills.  Click Storage Inserts to be taken to Kelly's blog where you will find links to current and past SU ink colors.

Lynn Schiefelbein made some modifications to Kelly's files to make the files fit a little better, although I didn't have any problems with Kelly's.  Click Here for Lynn Schifelbein's inserts.

Thanks for checking out the Organized Stamper blog.

Have an inky finger kind of day.

Embossing Folder Storage Solution

Today's post is on making your own embossing folder storage.  Sam Hammond from the UK created this decorative storage solution.  You can visit the You Tube video here.  You can also visit Sam's Blog by clicking Thin Embossing Folder for another storage solution.

In addition to storage search You Tube for Pootles where you will find tutorials on just about any box you care to create.

Thanks for following me, I really appreciate it and hope you share my blog with your friends.

Happy Creating,

The Organized Stamper

Labeling Ink Pads

Here is a great idea on marking your ink pads so everyone knows what color the ink pad is when it's open.  Check out this link from Angie at My Chicken Scratch. 

Click here for the link to this idea to keep you and maybe your customers from inking stamps in the wrong color and possibly cross contaminating ink pads.  I don't want to ink my Tempting Turquoise ink pad with a stamp that's been inked in Old Olive and ruin an ink pad.

Happy Organized Stamping and I hope you get a chance to put some ink to paper this weekend.