project life: how i organize my stash

we all have the same problem…how to keep our scrap stash organized. you know you do! especially us project lifers who keep scraps and are using our own stash along with the core kit supplies.

i was getting tired of one box for my becky higgins stuff, another box for my tall stickers sheets, sifting though my crate o’ cardstock for half sheets and sticker sheets and half cut-out pages. oh and then there were all the small scraps and the full pages of other alpha stickers.

yeah…it got crazy.

and now…it’s amazing!

so i started thinking…how would i want my stuff organized if i could have it all in one spot? i’d want it open and accessible and condensed. of course, i browsed pinterest and found this:

via

i immediately ran out to the garage, knowing i’d have a flat box of some sort from the warehouse store we frequent. you know how they give you boxes to put in your trunk so your stuff doesn’t roll around? well in our case, we happened to have a bbq sauce box since i clearly wasn’t going to have a cool drawer like this.

i started stacking my stuff in, figuring out what should go where and how much room i needed for what i had on hand.

i happened to still have the cardboard backing from becky higgins’ cardstock pack and just started measuring, cutting and taping the dividers together. i simply placed and taped both sides together for strength and stability, until i had small sections.

smaller pieces of stash needed shorter dividers so that i could still see them and maneuver them around.

i just placed them where they were needed.

since i didn’t plan much of this out…i made the outside last. i measured the height of the box and cut two strips of cardstock. glued them together and then to the box. i secured the ends that wrapped partly around the sides with masking tape…cause that’s cool and totally acceptable.

then i used random embellishments to decorate the front. that ‘enjoy’ is another custom silhouette cut from kristy at kristymakes.

and there it is.

a closer look shows all the smash pads and becky higgins product on the left. in the next column is all the 4×6 cards from becky and from myself. (i pre-cut several 4×6 pieces of cardstock that i use often). in front of that are smaller remnants that aren’t 4×6 or 3×4 but can be used for strips or whatever else. then i have a small mason jar filled with teeny tiny embellishments. most of them are from kristy. she super hooked me up when she got her silhouette!

next over, in the very back are the 6×6 cardstock packs and in front of them are two columns with 3×4 cards on the left and taller items on the right. the embellishments get smaller in the front obviously. =)

on the very right are bigger items and the famous lilybee stickers that make so many appearances in my pages. i think i need to reinforce the back of this far right column since most of the items back there are tall and will eventually start to fall backward. if i do this, i think i will be able to put ALL my tall letter sheets here which would eliminate yet another box. yay!

pretty cool right? i used it all weekend and has been the easiest process for seeing all my products and having them easy to get to.

so next time i will show you how i organize my tapes, pens, stamps and glue. see ya!