Chick Chatter

Do It Yourself Work Table

Many of you have asked for the information on how I built my work table and shelves in my scrap room.  I already owned the two base cabinets I used. They are 24" wide and have 3 drawers. They are standard  counter top height, about 36" high. I purchased them over 10 years ago and painted them white.

For the counter top, we found white laminate shelving components. I have two counter top pieces, each 3/4" thick by 2 feet by 6 feet. This makes the total counter top 4 feet by 6 feet.  We purchased the table "legs" at the home improvement store. They are actually for use in staircases, but worked great here. We cut them to height and used brackets to secure them to the counter tops. We also connected the counter tops to each other, and secured them to the cabinets so that everything would be sturdy. I painted the unfinisehed edges of the counter tops to give it a finished look, and we were done.

Because I already owned the cabinets, the table cost about $100.  I love to craft on it!

Get Organized Challenge: My Scrap Room

First, I want to you to know that am thankful to have a scrapbook room. I know that many of you would love to have a room and desperately want one. I am very blessed, and I know it! My room is in the basement, and it is a playroom/scrapbook room. The entire room is approximately 25 feet by 15 feet. My area of the room is about 15' by 12'. When we (Brent and I) put this together last summer, we spent a total of $250.  We did this very inexpensivelyPlease post any questions you have in the comments. I am happy to answer any questions you have. I want to pay it forward!

This shot shows the room from the door.

This is the opposite side of the room. The door is to the right of the large brown cabinet.

Before we moved a year and a half ago, this cabinet was my scrapbook space. It was in our crowded family room, and there was not any room to spread out. Brent would get frustrated because my stuff was everywhere whenever I tried to scrapbook, and I would get frustrated because there was not any room. Now, this cabinet is mainly empty, with the exception for the flip down desk area. Zach works here with all of his supplies, and I am always grateful that I can close the desk!

This chair has been well loved! It was in my house as a child, and I had it recovered in the patchwork pattern when I graduated from college. I love to sit here and read...but with a 3 year old and 6 year old, it it rarely possible. Once I walk into my scrap room, the boys think it's time for them to scrapbook. They love to cut paper, so I have finally set up containers of supplies for them.  I made the quilt several years ago and love that it is filled with happy colors!

These were shelves from when I was a kid. I painted them lime green so the room would have a splash of color. The shelves hold my red teacup planter  filled with die cuts.  Flowers and soft embellishments are in the grey organizer (from Home Depot). Ribbon on the spool is in the dark pink bins, and loose ribbon is in the white bin.  They also have plenty of room for unused albums, books, and binders. The blank spot on the bottom left is where my sewing machine goes. Again, I had everything and just reorganized and re-purposed.

The coat rack used to be in Zach's room. I will eventually paint it lime green, but there's no rush! The lime green plastic crates are stacked because I had two. I am using the top crate to hold any new purchases and any items that need to be sorted and put away. This way I can come home from the store and put all the new items in an assigned place.  I am going to make a habit of putting things that need a home in here. This way I can keep up the organization. My rolling tote sits here as well...and it's empty!

This shot of my worktable and the back wall gives you an idea of where things are.

Here is a look at the counter behind my work area. It is 8 feet long and 24 inches deep. I got the countertop 12 years ago (also when I graduated from college...my craft room was a project I'd put on hold until I was done). I bought it at a damaged freight store for $75 and it has been fabulous! You can find something similar at most home improvement stores. They frequently have countertops that are seconds or were ordered incorrectly, and you can get them at a great deal.  Brent and I built the shelves beneath the counter. I wanted something deep enough to hold the We R Memory Keepers 12 by 12 albums, and they work perfectly. They have plenty of room for all of my stuff, with quite a bit of space left over.  I will do a separate blog post about how we built the shelves and the center island.

I painted the shelf below the window lime green (again, I already had it). The clips that hold the layouts on the wall were from the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. The blue baskets holding ribbon were in our nursery when the boys were babies. They fit the color scheme so I used them.  The lamp is from Hobby Lobby. For info on the embellishment organizer in the center, read this post.

The penguin belonged to our dog Buster, who Drew says "is in the heaben".  He put it up on the counter. At one point, Drew (age 3) thought that "the heaben" was our attic. Out of the mouths of babes!

The shelves under the counter are divided into 3 sections. The far left section holds my paper on top. Details on how I organize my paper are in this blog post. The bottom holds albums and photo storage binders. I normally keep my most recent albums upstairs in the living room. I am working on finding shelves to hold them upstairs.

The center shelves hold my cardstock on the top. The "Zach" paper holder is full of supplies he can use. The boy is not happy if he doesn't have his own stash! The paper holders on the bottom are mostly extra. One holds my niece Madelyn's supplies. The two organizers in the center are two of my favorite Creative Memories products for taking to crops.  The silver bucket holds my sketch collection.  I will tell you more about them soon! The pink crate holds all of my flat embellishments. The post about how I sort them is here.

Ahhh...photos. The requirement for every scrapbook is one of the hardest things for me to organize. I have not sorted my photos yet. That project is coming, and I promise to tell you all about it. For now, these assorted drawers, boxes, & bins hold photos from a few decades that need to be organized.

This is the center worktable. I will be posting details about how we built it next.  I will tell you that I already owned the drawer bases, and used them as the bases for my island. I keep my tools on the island in baskets from Hobby Lobby. My tool organization info is here.

Whew! That was a long post. Please post any questions or comments here. I am happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks for taking a tour of my room!

Christie

Get Organized Step 6: Embellishments

We are nearing the end of our organizational challenge! It is finally time to organize your embellishments. There are many ways to do this. Here are a few options.

Sort embellishments:

• By color
• By category (buttons, brads, charms, chipboard etc.)
• By manufacturer or by collections
• By type (metal, plastic, paper, ribbon)
• By theme

Over the years, I have tried sorting my embellishments many different ways.  I have had giant jars: one for flowers, one for buttons, another for brads and metal embellishments. After a while, I got tired of having to dig through the jar to find what I wanted.  Finally I decided I would sort things by color.  I went to Home Depot and bought an inexpensive organizer with drawers and used it to hold all of my embellishments.  I sorted bling, buttons, metals, and other "hard" embellishments by color and kept each color in a separate drawer. Here is a link to see the actual item, and a photo from the Home Depot website.

It's not cute and pink or red, but it cost me about $15 and does the trick. If you want a scrappy version, check out the option below.

Art Bin - Store-in-Drawer Cabinet - Nine Drawers
Scrapbook.com

The scrappy version is prettier, but it is a bit smaller and costs around $25.

These both work well...but I believe that I have the ultimate organizer now! I saw this when I was watching an episode of Cool Tools on the DIY network and immediately put it on my Christmas list. It is called Rotavision, and it is available at Menards.  If you don't have a Menards, you can order it online.

Isn't it pretty and fun? It has 24 cups that lock into the base. They hold quite a bit, so I use it for my buttons, bling, and brads.  You can order them here if you think you need one too! They are about $25.  It is meant to be mounted on the wall, but I think I will leave mine loose so that I can move it around.

I am still using my old organizer for flowers and other soft embellishments. It works well and is something I already have. Besides, with only boys, flowers are not usually a huge factor on my scrapbook pages. :)

For my ribbon, I had planned to use some clear jars.  I thought about larger Mason Jars or the clear storage jars, but every time I went to buy them they were out of stock. I started looking online and realized that I would probably prefer to have a more portable storage solution for my ribbon.

I took the heavier cardboard (chipboard) that usually comes with my online orders and cut it into 3" by 12" strips.  I sorted the ribbon by color and wound it onto the cardboard pieces. I can either store the ribbon this way in a drawer, hold the cards on a binder ring and hang them somewhere, or put them in a box or bin somewhere. 

I am excited to see how the ribbon organization works for me. I think it will be great.  On the Two Chicks Designs facebook page, one person noted that I would always have to iron my ribbon now. She's right, but that also gives me a reason to purchase this:

Imaginisce - I-Magicut - Ribbon Cutter
Scrapbook.com

I get frustrated with ribbon when it unravels.  My favorite "ribbon" is actually ric rac, which really unravels a lot. The new Imaginisce tool will actually cut and seal the ribbon, so it won't unravel.  It's one of the things I will be rewarding myself with once I finish organizing!

Do you have any more questions about organization? Leave me a comment here. Be sure to join me tomorrow night on USTREAM. We will have a live chat and discuss different solutions to all your organizational challenges! Click here to join us! We will be live at 8:30 pm Central time (9:30 pm Eastern, 7:30 pm Mountain, and 6:30 pm Pacific).

 

Get Organized Step 5: Flat Embellishments

It's time to organize one of my favorite things: embellishments! We will be doing this in two steps.  First we will organize the flat embellishments, and then we will organize the loose embellishments.

I am including the following items in this step:

• Alphabet stickers (a favorite of mine...I am not a cricut girl)
• Die cuts (either individual or sheets of die cuts)
• Rub Ons
• Transparencies

Personally, this has been one of the most difficult items for me to keep organized over the years.  I finally developed a great system that worked very well a few years ago, but then we moved!  Here is a picture...it's not completely organized in the photo because it was a "before" photo from when I challenged our fans to get organized in 2009!

I was fortunate enough to have a legal sized file drawer next to my work space.  I simply used hanging legal files to organize everything (just the hanging files, not legal sized file folders).  I don't use a cricut, so I have lots of alpha stickers and Thickers.  I sorted these by color, and then had folders for the different themes of embellishments I needed to store.  At this point, my work area was in our living room.  Our house was small and there wasn't a spot for me, so I had to keep things picked up and neat or Mr. Chick would be grouchy.

Here is an after photo:

I finally figured out that I could use an inexpensive plastic crate to do this in my scrapbook space now, so I will be organizing this way again and I am very excited!

There are many different ways you can sort flat embellishments:

• Color
• Manufacturer (or by manufacturer collection)
• Theme
• Type (alpha stickers, journaling stickers, accent stickers, etc.)
• Size (one note...I can put the full size alphabet sticker sheets in the legal files by cutting them in half)

Because I sort my patterned paper primarily by brand, I store some of the embellishments with the patterned paper.  For example, I put all the following items in one page planner pocket.

The pocket holds the papers from the Tradition collection by Fancy Pants Designs. I also keep the transparencies, stickers, die cuts, glitter cuts, and journaling notebook in the same pocket.  This way, when I am ready to scrapbook using this collection, all I need to do is gather my photos and some coordinating cardstock.

Once I am done using a collection, I will break it up. To sort all my flat embellishments, I am using an inexpensive plastic file crate that I already owned.  (I have not spent a dime on any of the items I am using to organize in this challenge).  Then I am using the legal sized hanging file folders that I used in my old system.  I will keep the folders in the crate, and it will be on shelves behind my work area so that I can pull it out to use whenever I need it.  Note: if you are going to do this, you just need a crate and hanging legal size file folders.  You don't need actual legal size folders.

The alpha stickers will be sorted in my folders according to color. I sort the remaining flat embellishments according to the following themes.  You should tweak the list to whatever you think you need!

My categories:

• Boy
• School
• Sports
• Christmas
• Borders
• Labels
• Family
• Travel
• Girl
• Birthday

This is my folder for blue alphabet stickers.

I will admit that I have two sheets of several of the stickers in the piles, but I arranged them so you couldn't see! I keep the stickers by color because that is how I decide what stickers to use.  I don't have a cricut, so I use alpha stickers all the time.

My theme folders contain items that were a part of collections. Once I finish using the collection as a whole, I move the items to the theme folders.

I include any themed die cuts, rub ons, stickers, etc in this file.  These are my "boy" items!

For die cuts and journaling cards that don't go with a specific category or line, I use a cute planter mug.  Guess what? I purchased it on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I know that those of you who have been following the challenge are shocked. :)

Now that my flat embellishments are sorted, purged, and organized, I can move on the the fun embellishments.  Buttons, bling, brads, metals, chipboard, ribbon, and flowers are next!

If you have any questions, please comment here or email me. I am happy to help a fellow scrapbooker out! Remember that you CAN do this!

Christie

Get Organized Step 4 Tools

Tools are a necessity in scrapbooking, but they are not necessarily easy to organize.  I have learned over the years that there are certain tools I always want to have nearby, but other tools are used much less frequently. If I am attending a crop, I use a tool tote. Totes are the easiest way to organize tools in a small amount of space.

r

Advantus - All My Memories - Tote-Ally Cool Tote 6 - Carry All
Scrapbook.com

When I am at home, I sometimes like to scrapbook in areas other than my scrap space.  Because of this, I like to keep my essential tools in a cute red basket I found at Hobby Lobby last year.  If I am wanting to scrapbook in our upstairs family room, I can easily grab my tool basket, some photos, and a page planner filled with the collection I want to use. This makes it easy to keep everything from taking over the family room.  *Note: I have no problem with taking over the family room but Mr. Chick tends to frown upon that*

The basket holds all of the items I consider essential.  Here is a view of everything outside of the basket so you can actually tell what I have! :)

You can visit this post for specific information about the tools I use.  Christie's Basic Tool Guide

I have two smaller baskets that I use for my less essential but equally important tools. They were also on clearance from Hobby Lobby, and I bought several (10) cute red buckets to use to store things in the baskets.  

Basket 1 (left)

• Scissors
• Punches
• Additional corner rounders (not in a bucket)
• Pens, pencils, markers
• Sew Easy tool and floss

Basket 2 (right)

• Baker's Twine (it's not a tool, but it is essential to me, so I keep it here!)
• Inks
• Glue dots on the roll (this is until I run out...I am switching to the sheets because I think they stay sticky longer)
• Other Adhesive sheets
• Adhesive refills
• Another ATG gun (I know, I know...it is ridiculous that I have 3, but I used to scrapbook at my office and at home, so I needed one for both places, and I threw an extra in just in case!)

I like my basket system because I can always easily move the baskets out of the way.  I tried just using buckets, but it's much easier to move two baskets than 10 buckets.  I also like that the baskets keep everything more contained.

I keep other tools that are less frequently used in the drawers that are underneath the counter.  I honestly don't have nearly as many tools as other scrapbookers.  In the past I have had lots of stamps, a cricut, a pazzles, and all kinds of other stuff.  The one item I have never really gotten in to is punches, and of course that is the one thing I wish I had more of.

For more organization ideas, click here. I have several boards on Pinterest geared towards organizing your craft supplies!

I will be back soon to show you how to organize stickers and other flat embellishments!

Christie

Christie's Basic Tools

 

Here is detailed information about the tools I use and why I prefer them!  I have linked to scrapbook.com so that you can see exactly what I use.

The paper trimmer I use has a line that shows you where you are cutting.  I have used it for 2 years and don't have anything negative to say about it! It does the job well!

Fiskars - 12 Inch Premium Cut-Line Portable Trimmer - Blade Style I
Scrapbook.com

I switched to using an ATG gun for adhesive about a year and a half ago.  I was going through adhesive like crazy and felt like I was spending a fortune on it.  I use this gun when I am doing typical pages or anything needing the thinner, 1/4" adhesive.

 

Scotch ATG - Adhesive Applicator Gun - Pink - Uses One Fourth Inch Adhesive
Scrapbook.com

I also have the gold ATG gun.  It holds 1/2 inch adhesive, which I use quite a bit of. With 2 little boys who love to look at their scrapbooks, I learned quickly that I needed to make sure everything on my pages was permanently adhered.  This gun does the trick very well!

 

Scotch ATG 700 - Adhesive Applicator Gun - Uses One Half Inch OR Three Fourth Inch Adhesive (Purchase Separately)
Scrapbook.com

I keep the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher in my basket, but I also frequently use a normal stapler. I like to staple ribbon on my layouts, or paper that I cut to look like ribbon.  The tiny attacher is tiny, which is nice, and it uses cute little staples.

Advantus - Tim Holtz - Idea-ology - Tiny Attacher with 100 Tiny Staples
Scrapbook.com

Anyone who has seen my pages knows I have an addiction to popping items.  I just feel like a page isn't complete if I don't have something adhered with a pop dot.  A few years ago American Crafts came out with this perfect little container of adhesive circles. I love that there are all the sizes I need in one package!

American Crafts - Adhesive Foam Tabs - Permanent - Circles
Scrapbook.com

For items that I don't need to pop, but I want to stick really well, I use glue dots.  I love my glue dots. I use the glue dot sheets because I think they stay sticky longer when they are in the sealed plastic bag.  I think this may have something to do with the fact that my glue dots are occasionally (3 to 4 times a year) left in a hot or cold vehicle for 24+ hours.

Glue Dots - Memory Book Glue Dot Sheets
Scrapbook.com

For whole punching I use the first edition of the Crop-a-dile.  I never upgraded to the big bite or the other fancier versions.  This works well for me...I don't really feel the need to punch holes in the center of my pages. I also frequently use it for craft projects with my kids, or other random things that I need to punch holes in.  My three year old has also been known to steal it for his own tool belt.

We R Memory Keepers - Crop-A-Dile - Eyelet and Snap Punch Tool
Scrapbook.com

For detail on my other favorites, click the image below. I linked everything in the photo there.

Tool Basket essentials
by Twochicks
Scrapbook.com

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or if there are important tools you think I am missing.  Tomorrow's post will show you how I organize my tools.  We scrappers must stick together when it comes to tools and adhesive! :)

Paper organization wrap up!

I have had a few questions on our facebook page from people wanting more specifics regarding the way I organized my paper.  Here is some more info!

First, I thought I would show you a before photo. I want you to know that my stuff was not at all organized! :)

It is a mess before, and a large percentage of my paper was not in the organizers.

On Saturday, I was done with all my sorting except for the dreaded cardstock pile.  I had avoided this for quite a while (over a week...isn't that ridiculous?) but finally tackled it Saturday in about 20 minutes.

My two helpers cheered me on.  They also made more of a mess of the area, but they picked up when they were done.  The cabinet behind them is Zach's scrapbook spot.  I don't know if I will be tackling that area organization wise or not. He always turns everything into a mess so I may just let it go!

This is my favorite pile.  Can anyone guess the brand?  It's October Afternoon.  Be still my heart.  I refuse to purge any of it...I even save the scraps, and I never save scraps.  I put each collection into it's own protector so that everything matches when I want to use it.

Here is my paper after I have it sorted.  I separated almost everything by brand and then by individual collection.  For example, I have a protector full of October Afternoon Thrift Shop, one with Fly A Kite, another with Sidewalks, and so on.  In the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that I have 13 protectors full of October Afternoon.  That is 3 1/2 inches of pure scrap happiness!

Ok, back to organizing. I did keep some kits separate.  I have a folder with Halloween products, a folder of Travel products, a section of Christmas stuff (this is only brands or collections I don't have much of) and a Boy section.  The boy section really needs some new life injected into it. Notice that I left myself some room for new purchases...don't tell Mr. Chick!

I intentionally stored my cardstock in the smaller Cropper Hopper containers because I wanted to be able to move it onto my work space for choosing colors.  The black dividers are not as mobile so I usually leave them in place.  I also have two containers for my little scrapbookers.  Zach has one and my niece Madelyn has the other.  She will label hers next time she visits.  This way they have their own supplies and I am not constantly cringing when they choose a special paper that I cannot possibly part with!  Maddy is a speed scrapper, so I am going to have to load up her organizer.

If you want information on the organizers and where to buy them, refer to this post

Get Organized Step 3-Paper!

I will be back tomorrow with tool organization!  I have told myself that I can't make any new purchases until I finish organizing, so I really am in a hurry!

This is serious business...I really need this before it sells out!

Christie

Organization ideas and a SALE!

Hopefully you have already had a chance to spend some quality time organizing your scrapbook paper.  I was able to spend about 2 hours working in my room on Saturday, and I made a big dent in my piles of paper, but I still have a lot to sort through!

I wanted to show you some other options for storing your patterned paper.  There are not a ton of possibilities, but I have created a category on Pinterest with different ideas for paper organizing. Click here to see the different ideas.  If you are not already on Pinterest and need an invitation to join, email me  twochicksdesigns @ gmail.com and I will invite you.  I also have a Pinterest board with Organizational Ideas and lots of craft room photos to drool over. Click here to see that one!

Finally, as a Valentine's Day treat for you, we have a big t-shirt sale on the website! Visit Two Chicks Designs and save over 50% off regular t-shirts.  It's a great time to stock up on some new designs.

I hope you have a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Christie

 

 

Get Organized Challenge! Step 3 Paper!

Are you ready?

It's time to tackle those piles of scrapbook paper! We all have paper.  Most of us love it and can't get enough.  This makes it difficult to keep our paper organized and orderly! 

First, I want to show you several of the items I personally use to organize my paper.  I have used both of these items for several years. I first purchased the Cropper Hopper Paper Holders 6 years ago, and they are still my favorite way to organize paper.

Cropper Hopper Paper Holder - 12x12
Scrapbook.com

These are currently $6.65 at Scrapbook.com.  They hold lots of paper--at least 200 sheets, and they also hold another of my go-to items for scrapbook organization.  I use these to assemble page kits, and to hold all the coordinating products that come with a paper collection. I also love this holder because I can grab a few of these and put them into my rolling tote for crops.

Cropper Hopper - Page Planner - 3 Pack
Scrapbook.com

I have lots of these great holders, and I use them over and over and over.  They protect your paper and supplies well when going to crops or traveling with your supplies, and they are quite sturdy. They are great! They are also perfect for dividing your paper if you are sorting it by brand.  They are under $6 for three.

I don't have this cute organizer yet, but I hope to soon! I think it would be perfect for storing recent purchases before they make their way into my permanent organization.  Isn't it cute?

Advantus - Cropper Hopper - Projections - 12 x 12 Paper Holder
Scrapbook.com

And finally, these are great because they each hold tons of paper at an affordable price. I have several of these and love how easy it is to take the paper in and out.  They are great for both cardstock and patterned paper.

Advantus - Cropper Hopper - Easy Access Paper Holder
Scrapbook.com

I will tell you that they can be tricky to assemble, but it's well worth it once they are done!

Now, it's time to actually organize your paper.  You can organize many different ways.  I personally organize my paper by brand, and then by the individual collections of each brand.  Many of you probably have no idea what brands of paper you use, and that is fine too! You can organize by color, by theme, or by a combination of all the methods.

If you are having a hard time deciding how to organize your paper, ask yourself the following questions:

• How do you scrapbook? Do you prefer to use themed supplies (Birthday paper for birthday layouts) or do you like to match the colors in your photos?
• Do you normally use several papers from the same brand on one layout, or do you use a variety of brands?
• Do you use many themed papers?
• What categories make the most sense to you?

Once you have determined how you want to organize, separate your papers in one of the following ways:

• By Brand
• By color (you can either combine cardstock with patterned paper or sort the two categories separately)
• By theme
• A combination of these

The bottom line is that you need to organize your paper and supplies in a way that works best for YOU! My goal in this challenge is to help you make some sense out of your supplies so that you can actually spend more time scrapbooking than you do looking for supplies.  Imagine how great it will be to walk into an organized space (or to open up an organized closet or container that you store your supplies in) and actually scrapbook!

I'll be back soom with the next step.  For now, happy sorting!

Christie

Get Organized Challenge! Step 2

Hopefully by now you have had a chance to begin sorting your scrapbook supplies for our Get Organized Challenge.  If you haven’t done any sorting yet, click here to go back to the post prior to this and then work on Step 2 once you are done! 

Step Two of our process is purging supplies. You probably did some purging as you sorted, but you should be able to do a little more.  It is usually the hardest thing for many scrapbookers because we tend to have an emotional attachment to our supplies! 

As you purge, ask yourself:

• Do I love this?
• Do I use this?
• Will I ever use this? (Be honest here...maybe someday is not an acceptable answer!)
• Does this make me happy or is it in the way?

If there are items that you think you might want to purge but still can’t pull the trigger, have a bin marked storage and put all those items in there.  If you do need or want it later on, you can go back and get it out.  In a few months, you can go back to your “storage” container and purge the items you didn’t use. 

Place purged items in one of the following piles or bins:

• Trash
• Donate
• Sell
• Storage

Remember that you probably still have tons of supplies you are keeping.  This is difficult, but you can do it.  I promise that you will be able to spend much more time scrapbooking.  You can also complete this step in 15 to 20 minute increments.  Work longer if you want to, but take a break frequently and look at this as a fun project rather than a chore!

Finally, remember that if I can do this, you can too!

Christie

If you want more info about the Get Organized Challenge from Two Chicks Designs, visit us on Facebook.