erin terrell clarkson [etc]

Scrapbook Storage & Office Space

My work space is not too exciting, so I've been hesitant to post about it. My last scrapbook room was featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So - how do you beat that? You don't. ;o) Besides, I don't scrapbook much anymore, so I don't need much space for it or for my supplies. This is a very scaled down studio compared to the last one. It also changes from time to time when I feel like moving things around.

Here is a shot of my desk, which is made from two file cabinets and an under-cabinet drawer from Pottery Barn. I painted a piece of plywood black to connect them and serve as my desktop. My computer is an absolute must, so it has prime placement on my desk. My Dahle paper trimmer is the same one I've had since I began this type of work, and it still works just as great as it ever did. That's probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. In fact, I should probably go add it to my "must-have" section right now (*note to self*). On the right side of my desk, I have an old mail-sorter that is used for storing miscellaneous items. My inspiration board is posted above so I always have something pretty to look at.

Here is a wider shot, so you can see where Daisy gets creative. She has her own little desk and she sits on the floor to work. This space is never this clean, by the way - it was tidied up for this shot. She has her own paper trimmer (Making Memories) and all of her own supplies. 

Here is a better shot of some of the items on her desktop. Most of these jars are from The Container Store. I like keeping buttons and ribbons on display because they are so pretty and colorful. 

Back to my desk...

The middle drawer stores all of the essentials: craft knife, adhesives, scissors, etc. The side drawers store all of my embellishments, rub-ons, stickers, and also my tax paperwork (gotta keep it somewhere!). Below is a shot of what one of the embellishment drawers looks like. Can you tell I used to work for Making Memories?:

Here is a shot of another drawer. This one holds alphabet stickers and rub-ons. I sort them all by color, and I have chipboard tabs to separate each section. It probably isn't the neatest drawer in my desk, but it is one of the most frequently used:

Well, there you have it! A tour of my studio. That didn't take long, did it? Truthfully, I do have more storage space - I just haven't photographed the rest of it. I have a section for cardstock and patterned paper storage, and yet another area for more "stuff" (the extras - like punches, chipboard, mini albums, etc.).

Let me know if you have any questions! 

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Organization:

I have a method to the madness when I organize my papers, stickers, and embellishments (although it may be difficult to ascertain that method at first glance).

Paper:

    Cardstock is sorted by color.

    Patterned paper is sorted by most-frequently used themes first:

• Christmas
• Halloween
• Easter
• Valentines/Love
• Birthday
• Baby
• Pets
• School
• Girl
• Boy

The remaining patterned papers, I try to sort by manufacturer. Since so many of these papers are released as matching collections, it just doesn't make sense to separate them. For example, I'll keep all of my BasicGrey papers together, the Fancy Pants Designs papers together, the K&Co papers together, etc.

Finally, any remaining patterned papers are sorted and stored by color. Pink floral, plaid, striped and dotted paper together, Purple floral, plaid, striped and dotted paper together, (then blue, then green--you get the idea). I usually have one section for multicolored patterned paper, too.

Stickers and Embellishment:

    These are sorted by theme, then color if they don't fit into a particular theme.

Rub-ons:

    I store all rub-ons by color, no matter what the theme.

Occasionally, I like to keep an entire line of papers, embellishments, stickers, and rub-ons together. Usually my reason for doing so is because I create samples for that particular manufacturer (Pink Paislee, for example). When I work for a specific company, I am usually asked to create samples using only their product. In that case, it is best to store everything together for easy access to matching collections. I like to use clear paper sorter bins for this type of storage.

Here is a shot of the 365 Degrees line from Pink Paislee I mentioned using recently:

 

Mini paper pads, decorative brads, ribbon, chipboard stickers...it's a rather bulky collection, right? Here's how I solve the dilemma of organizing so many oddly shaped items that I need to keep together:

That's the Bayberry Cottage line above, but I have a clear storage container for each particular collection from Pink Paislee. I label the outside so I can see at a glance what is contained within each plastic bin. Very handy and it's the best method I've found so far!!

Here's one type of storage bin that holds quite a bit (from Art Bin):

Art Bin - Super Satchel - Box - One Compartment with Tab Dividers

Scrapbook.com

Let me know if you've found a better way or something that works better for your particular needs, but this method has been working really well for me lately!

Inspiration Board

Here is a peek at my inspiration board. I had to put it on the floor by the window so I could get better lighting. This is an altered window frame I created for one of the Making Memories idea books. 

I add photos, clothing tags (obviously Roxy inspires me), note-cards, quotes, and all kinds of random  items. That round blue tag is something I posted about just the other day, when I mentioned my daughter likes to leave notes on (or utilizing) my scrapbook supplies.

 

I have lots of summery items added to it right now, because I'm ready for beach weather.

Most of the items on here are cut from magazines because I want to remember the color schemes. Then, I added a photo of the coast, just because it makes me happy to see it.

That's pretty much it for now. The other side has a quote from when it originally appeared in the Making Memories book:

 

The quote reads:

"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing" ~Charles Schaefer

It was a perfect quote, because the project initially had photos of Daisy and her friend Becca playing at the park. That's before I turned it into a catch-all for my random pieces of inspiration. 

Share yours with me, if you have one! I love to see what inspires others.

And Margot, if you are reading this--I miss you and Becca!

Organization: My Old Scrapbook Studio (Miscellaneous Storage)

Here are a few miscellaneous storage photos from my old scrapbook room.

 

I use glass containers from The Container Store to hold many of my embellishments. I group them by like items: bookplates, flowers, buttons, etc. I had these stacked on a shoe rack on top of the desk.

The containers below are from the Pottery Barn. I used them to store smaller stickers and rub-ons. I stored them by theme within the containers.

 

Next to my desk, I used Making Memories MOD storage on the wall. This is where I kept frequently used items such as brads and colored chipboard. I like that it was magnetized and I could pull off the section I needed to place on my desk, then easily replace it when I was finished.

Organization: My Old Scrapbook Studio (The Paper Rack)

OK, this is the part everyone loves about the scrapbook room: the paper rack.

 

It does fit a LOT of paper. I'm a paper fanatic, though, so paper storage has always been important to me. The builder I used constructed the main portion from 3/4" plywood and the shelves were made from 1/4" plywood. Plywood is not the safest choice for storing paper, but I thought it was economical. IN RETROSPECT (because all of these posts are made in hindsight), I would have purchased quite a few portable paper storage containers from The Container Store. The storage above wasn't very cost-effective when all was said and done.

So that leads to an important question for my Type A personality: what is the best way to store paper? I love having it organized and easily accessible. I have always stored my cardstock together, grouped by color. I also store holiday themed papers together. I have the following categories: Christmas, Valentines, Halloween, and Easter. I also have categories for a few other themes I like to keep separate: School, Baby Boy, and Baby Girl.

Other than that, I store papers according to my favorite manufacturers, or by color if I don't know who made it. I do admit that I have quite a paper collection. After all, it's my job to scrapbook and it has been for the past 11 or 12 years. That's quite a bit of time to collect paper. I'm still collecting it, but I try to only purchase something if I have a specific use in mind for it.

Anyone have any great tips for storing paper?

Organization: My Old Scrapbook Studio (Daisy's Work Area)

Here is a photo of Daisy working in her little area of my old scrapbook studio, so you can get a better perspective of it:

 

She's just like her mommy: she likes to work standing up. Her desktop was a glossy white painted plywood surface (like mine, discussed here). The coolest thing about her work space was the hinged cubbyhole in the surface of the desk. She could work on a project, then slide it into the storage area to keep her work surface clean (not that she ever DID that, of course). If you look on the photo above, the hinged storage is in the desk, just to the left of where she is standing -- not to be confused with the storage cabinet directly above it. 

Anyway, that was an awesome idea in theory, because kids love having places to hide things. Most of the time it was so stuffed full of junk it wouldn't even shut. ;o)

I kept a bulletin board to the left of her desk so she could rotate her artwork and keep it on display. Just above her head there was a rolling paper dispenser with a never-ending supply of white paper. She could tear pieces off and use as much as she wanted (so she wouldn't use up all of my scrapbook paper!).

All of her tools and supplies were stored in baskets. I love using baskets for kids, because it means easy cleanup. She could just toss her scissors into one basket, crayons and pens in another, and glue in yet another. "Toss and Tuck", I'd say (as in, "tuck away").

It's difficult to see in the photo, but the white cubes on the right side of the photo are paper storage cubes (you can only see the sides of them). I stored cardstock and patterned papers in them. I tried to put items I didn't mind sharing in those cubes, because any item within Daisy's immediate sight tended to be put towards a creative use. What can I say...she is an imaginative little girl.

Organization: My Old Scrapbook Studio (an Overview and the Desktop)

I'm updating my blog and wanted to add photos of my original scrapbook studio. I still receive questions about it on the Scrapbooks etc. website. You can find many of the photos and details at this link:

Designer Erin Clarkson's Scrapbook Room

The room was built into empty attic space, so I was able to design it with scrapbooking in mind. Here is an overall view of the scrapbooking area:

 

The desktop is built-in over air conditioning ductwork. The ductwork was low, and I didn't want to close off the entire wall, so I added the desk above it with a small kickspace below. I tried to utilize as much space as possible.

The dark space behind the desk is an opening in the wall that looks over the living room (it was dark when I took the photo). When I had the room built, my daughter was about 4 years old so I wanted to be able to keep an eye on her while I was working. It was also convenient for TV watching, since the TV was in the living room.

Here is a closer shot of the desk:

It's painted a glossy white, because I thought that would be easy to clean up. In retrospect, it wasn't so great, because inks and markers stained it. I could lightly sand the stains out, but then the areas were dull compared to the rest of the table. If I could have done it all over again, I would have used Corian or some other easy-to-clean surface.

The drawer pulls were from a cute little boutique in town that has since gone out of business. The drawer to the left was filled with embellishments. The middle drawer had tools and adhesive. The drawer on the right was filled with inks. I did it that way on purpose, because I'm right-handed and I worked at the space on the left. The drawer with the tools was in easy reach and could also be utilized by anyone scrapbooking with me at the space on the right.

Here is a view of the wall to the left of the desk:

 

The area painted green is another window overlooking what was my daughter's bedroom, so she could be in there and I could keep an eye on her. The desk space shown above was designed for Daisy, because I wanted her to have her own little area to be creative. That desk is also built over air conditioning ductwork. The ceiling there was very sloped, so it wasn't a very usable space -- but it worked just fine for a child.

I'll be back with more photos and details about the space in the next post.

Tech Tuesday: Dropbox

I wanted to discuss online storage options today. I mentioned in this post that I am pretty good about backing up my computer files. My photos are so important to me: I would hate to ever lose them. Because of that, I  back them up to an external hard drive, but I also back them up online. It's nice to know if I ever lost my photo albums (aka: scrapbook pages), I'd still have a backup I could access online.

I've used Flickr for years, but I have so many photos I have to pay for a Pro Account there. Recently I was searching for additional storage options and my pal Laura sent me to Dropbox. (Laura is a wealth of information!) I signed up for an account, and I'm now using it religiously to back up more and more stuff.

Other than the secure feeling of having my photos and documents backed up, I love how easy it is to share photos with family through online photo storage.. I am a slow scrapbooker, so by the time I finish a page about an event it may be weeks, months, or years later! I don't scrapbook in any particular order -- just whenever the mood strikes. My family appreciates when I share photos online so they don't have to wait forever to see what we've been up to.

Here is an example of one of the photos I just uploaded (Daisy with one of her favorite birthday presents):

She is quite the little poser. That's a makeup kit and we had just exited ULTA -- where she experimented with every type of lip gloss and eyeshadow in the store (or so it seemed).

Organization and Storage: Pottery Barn Style

I love Pottery Barn.

Love is probably an understatement to describe my feelings for the place, to tell the truth. The furniture, the colors, the picture frames, the accessories...it all equals love, love, love. I received the Fall 2009 catalog in the mail this week and was instantly drawn to this storage cubby:

PHOTO CRED:  www.PotteryBarn.com

Do you know how many scrapbook supplies I could fit into that cubby? That is what I love about Pottery Barn. Want perfect storage options that also look unique, yet functional? WISH GRANTED:

 

PHOTO CRED:  www.PotteryBarn.com

By the way, what other company can take a rubber band ball and turn it into a fabulous accessory? I love every detail in the photo above. Pottery Barn stylists are very good at details, and I'm very into details, so we are a good mix. Me + Pottery Barn = Match Made In Heaven.

If it ever goes on sale, somebody be sure to let me know asap!! Thanks, much love (just tryin' to see how many times I can use that word in one post) ~erin