My family was gone over the weekend, leaving me free to do some long-overdue scrapbooking.On Friday, my friend, Sharon, and I had been talking about organizing dimensional embellishments by color. (I teach an organization class in which we often discuss the merits of such a system. I had just never taken the plunge.) Well, Sharon and I decided to try it over the weekend, and we are both thrilled with the results.
CAUTION: Don't look at these pictures too closely....you'll see some REALLY old (and somewhat scary) stuff that surfaced during the organization process! All stuff I'd forgotten I had!
Moving my embellishments from their old containers to their new home didn't take much time at all, in part because I don't have a huge amount of dimensional embellishments. (People who know me are laughing right now: One package of embellishments lasts a lifetime at my house!) I used three small, three-drawer containers (available at Target or Walgreen's) which I had previously used for adhesive and odds and ends. They ended up being just the right size for this new system. I have the following color drawers: red/pink, orange/yellow, green, blue, violet, brown/white, two for black, and metallic. To keep everything from mixing together, I used plastic and metal lids from various containers to separate items. So far, I have not added my small ribbon cards to the drawers because I haven't found a good way to contain them.
Changing to this system enabled me to re-purpose the four larger containers I'd previously used for storing all of this stuff. Combining it in the smaller drawers saved a surprising amount of space. Plus, I love the way it looks. I keep opening the drawers just to peek inside. (I know, I'm easily amused.)
Since I was scrapbooking this weekend, I had the chance to try out the new system right away. I was amazed at how useful it turned out to be as I was working on pages. I used some things on pages that I'd forgotten I had. Since I'm a person who tends to think of color first when scrapbooking, I just know that this change is going to help me use up my stash.
Looks great, Janet!
ReplyDeleteSharon says:
ReplyDeleteMy embellishments were in four rectangular boxes in a tackle box and were arranged by type of embellishment. I arranged the same four boxes by these colors: red/pink; yellow, orange and purple; blue and green; white and metallic. My brown/black are in one smaller box. I was amazed at the amounts of some colors and the lack of other colors that I have. It is much easier to see and to use these embellishements now. I also put cat eye ink pads with each color. Because I DO have lots of embellishments, it took me longer to organize. Some will be put in a garage sale.
I just love it! I really need to do something with mine. When I get the time finally. great job!
ReplyDelete