Organization: Paper and Cardstock

Oh...my...goodness! You would be so proud of me! I organized my 12x12 patterned paper and my new Stampin' Up! cardstock! Remember the post where I showed some ways to organize paper and cardstock? Well, I did it! I love it! I am so impressed with the great way it functions. I solved several problems with this organization: cardstock, cardstock scraps, patterned paper or designer series paper (DSP), and DSP scraps. (Henceforth--wait does anyone even say henceforth anymore? What am I? Some maiden from the 16th century?) Henceforth, I shall not speak of patterned paper rather thou will have to endure me referring to it as DSP, henceforth. Besides DSP is much nicer than PP. LOL!

So here's what I did. I prepared a 16 shelf 12 x 12 paper rack from a Wire 4 cube shelf system. Instructions are here. It was really easy. Just be sure to point all the "knots" of the cable ties down so you don't scratch yourself or the cardstock. I have a big scratch from one. Ouch! Also, this will only make sense once you open the box of the wire cube shelf system, make sure you use the large square holed pieces as the outside sides and save the small square holed pieces for the shelves. It will give you 16 shelves that way, plus the paper slides more easily on the small square pieces.

After I made it, which took maybe 30 minutes, I began to separate the DSP into colors, which took 2.5 hours. It was hard. You know how DSP has several colors usually? Well, I had to decide which was the dominant color in the piece. Some it was easy; mostly pink or mostly aqua, etc. Some there was no dominant color at all, which is why I have a category named Multicolored and Other. My categories are Light pink, dark pink, red and orange, yellow, bright green, green, light blue, dark blue and aqua, purple, black and white, multicolor and other (such as brown, animal print, cream wedding papers, etc.), and Christmas. then I have shelves where I put my DCWV Stacks that I do not separate and divide by color. I have Pets, Baby Girl, Baby Boy, The Green Stack (LOVE IT!), Stack #6 (which has 100 sheets of thin DSP sampled from several series), and All Dressed Up. You can see them at the bottom of the photo.

Hot Tip: JoAnn.com has DCWV paper stacks (the paper is actually thick cardstock and most of it is textured or glittered) on sale very frequently for $9.99 for a pack of 48 sheets. It averages to about 20 cents per page.

Then I took my labelmaker and made labels for each shelf to wrap around the wire. For some reason the label maker tape did not want to stay curled around, so I added a piece of scotch tape over top. On top of the stack of DSP is a regular manilla file folder that holds scrap DSP of that color. For example, the green stack has a folder with green scraps in it as shown at left--remember the papers are "mostly" one color. Seriously, my multicolored stack is very small. I love how the scraps are right there with the DSP. I had thought about using another file box, but this is so easy. I check the folder first, then dive into the stack.

Then I tackled my 8.5 x 11" cardstock. I had some cardstock of a few colors already then I got my order from Stampin' Up! which had those assorted packs for every color family and the In Colors. So I ended up with around 60 colors not counting my old cardstock. I decided to put all my old cardstock in hanging files in a file box. I "gave" it to my youngest daughter, who loves to craft too, saying I still get to use it if I want to.

I purchased one of those heavy duty rolling hanging file carts (don't remember where I got mine, but I paid $39 for it). I also purchased two packs of regular boring color hanging files and one box of the multicolor hanging files. As you can see I used one hanging file for each color. I punched a 1 1/4" square from each color and stapled this to the hanging file tab. I then made a label on my label maker and trimmed it down and placed it on the tab as well. I arranged the colors by color family as they appear in the SU! catalog. Inside each hanging file is a file folder that holds scraps of that color cardstock. The whole sheets are behind the file folder. If I have 1/2 sheets of cardstock I put it in front of the file folder for easy access, plus I won't have to measure it. You can see this example in the photo. This system is so great. Everything is there with easy access. The cart rolls up to my work table too, which is nice. On the bottom shelf you can see the 12x12 cardstock that I have, which is not much, and the two 12x12 DCWV cardstock stacks. On top of them there is a file folder with scraps of those papers in it.

The only thing I didn't have an organization plan for was my Cricut scraps. I trim up the pieces of paper that I cut out of, so I am talking about the pieces that I cut out that are too small or too big for the project I was going to use them on. I decied to put them all in a folder until I decided what to do with them. Later I found a expandable file folder with dividers inside that was plastic and was about 4.5" tall. It was perfect. I put letters in a section, large, medium, and small elements in others. It works great so far.

I am very proud of the accomplishment I have made. It is only one tiny corner of my room, but it is organized. Next up: ink pads and ribbon. I don't even know what I want to do with my ribbon. I like the jars idea, because it gives color to my space, but I just don't know. I have a lot that is off spools and a lot that is on spools. I tried dowels hanging horizontally. I know for sure I do not want the ribbon on dowels, horizontal or vertical. It was too hard to remove a roll and turning one roll would turn at least 2 more rolls.

Check back soon for updates on my room, projects I have made, and other organization ideas.
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