Paper Book System

If you are like me and purchase your scrapbook paper by the booklet, you end up with, well, a lot of books! Therefore we need to find a good way to store them so they are easily accessible! I will show you my “before” which is probably the 10th way I’ve tried and the after. I find that, keeping like with like, is extremely helpful and taking the little bit of time to sort out your books into piles will also help. Who knows you may even find something that inspires you to create!

BEFORE

As I told you I would show you the before. Everything is nicely put away, but what is missing is being able to tell what anything is! I would have to pull out all the books to even guess what they were. Then I had a mess and would have to figure out how I got them so perfectly in this thing to begin with. Another big flaw to my plan was assuming I wouldn’t buy more…. I’m a crafter, we buy more. I had no room for expansion and that is a big no no and the best way to become disorganized fast.

The Plan

I would encourage you to approach your organizing, decorating and cleaning with a plan for the end game in mind. Not just what you want to toss but how you want to work with items you are organizing. For organizing something like scrapbook paper books, it isn’t really about removing what I don’t love. It’s about making items accessible and easy to use. Why, because if its difficult or messy, I am just not inspired to get out that craft and try it. It seems to be it’s too much work.

Take Them All Out

The first thing I did was take out all of my paper books and sort them by type and size. I don’t personally have an extensive collection, because I have not gotten really into paper crafting yet! (I’m trying). So I want to come up with a really good plan that is expandable and easy to use.

Sort by Type & Size

Once they are all sorted out, I can see what I have and what types of bins, boxes or piles I may want. I prefer items to be upright so they are easily sorted through but still in their place. I also want to room to expand, especially on the smaller sized items, since my understanding is those prints are better for card making.

Contain Them

With all this in mind I found the bins I wanted to use, they are from the Container Store. The Brick System is easily expandable and something I use in other places in my house. The clear bin is my favorite way to store vinyl (here) and also works great for 12″ x 12″ paper! The key to using these with paper is to not overload them, they get heavy quickly. Now I love the container store and buying new bins, it makes me happy. And I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to do so. HOWEVER, you do NOT have to do this. You can accomplish the same thing with a shoe box, a photo box, an amazon box, whatever container you have around that works. Maybe some Tupperware that isn’t great anymore or doesn’t have lids? Those are great items for projects like this. Don’t let your lack of finances keep you from getting organized, especially if this is something that will help you get into good financial health. I will show you how to make this happen with things I already have too!

Final Product

Here is my final product. It took 2 treks to the Container Store (oopsy!), and a total of about 45 minutes. That isn’t bad seeing as now I can easily pull out my card making items and get to work! I really want to add beautifully done cards to the list of items I offer my customers. And for me that means having my tools organized. In this case, my tools are my scrapbook booklets.

Alternative Ideas

OK don’t despair I promised I would show you cheaper, less expensive ways to do this. So here is many of the same books in alternative spaces. These are all things I already had in my home, and would guess most people did as well. None of them are specialty or beyond a few dollars.

I realize I am spoiled by having 2 Container Stores within 30 minutes but I am working on spending less overall and find sometimes the alternatives are prettier and easier than I imagined! Now that I have my scrapbook booklets organized, what card should I learn to make?