The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (or cleaning the Scrap Cave).

BEFORE: I had no space on my scrap desk. Things were everywhere. I had bins filled with items that need to be put back. Stuff was avalaching off the shelf above me. Under the desk was so cluttered I had to straddle the trash can just to pull the chair in close enough to reach the desk. Things were buried under other things...it was NOT a peaceful environment to scrap in...at all.

AFTER: A day and a half later...and it is so clean and organized. I just want to sit in there. Just to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet (but that would mean I would have to get rid of the kids first!).
Let me give you a tour....
I rearrange some things. I move the CD holders that house my clear stamps (ran out of the skinny tape for my label maker)...this time going horizontal. It created two shelves that I can now display my wooden stamps and some of the ink pads I use most often...also gave me a place for my 7gypsies stacked stamps (purchased from Flowers to Flourishes) and my MM magnetic stamps. A shelf with little hooks holds my bigger stamp sets and some that are still in the original packaging (some need to be sorted into CD cases and some will stay as is due to their size). The shelf also holds the three circle punches I use with my brad maker, a regular stapler and my new love the Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz. This thing is awesome. Hopefully if you are reading this you are also playing my 31 Days of March Contest for a chance to win one!!!
I move one of my peg boards to the side wall. I now have a corner for all the other items I use...I tried to hang them in groups of sameness..ie: rub-ons, stickers, alphabets, bling etc..
Next I reorganized my MM desk carousel (thank you CropChocolate). Grouped those items too. I also labeled as much as possible. Above my desk I have two boxes with alterable items in them and a box that has wedding items for the album that I will finish someday. I got them pretty cheap at WalMart. In the clear containers are my unfinished wedding album, all my MME paper (I have a ton!), the 2008 album I am working on in a Simple Stories fashion and the kits I got through Club Scrap. Next are some shoe boxes from Michael's. These contain extra adhesive, blank envelopes and cards, items for my little Janome sewing machine and stamping supplies (like acrylic blocks and cleaning stuff). Moving around the corner I have a box with dies in it for my Epic 6 and my Epic 6. Next comes all my chipboard items. On the shelves below that I have canning jars with buttons, flowers and loose bling. All my ribbon has finally been sorted by color...I had a HUGE bucket of still to be sorted ribbon...it is now all sorted!!! Not shown is my cart of drawers with all my paper (separated by manufacturer). Then I used those in/out boxes for all my scraps. Hanging on the door to my CAVE are all my collections that I have matching embellies and what not. They are in big plastic envelopes (purchased at WalMart) and clipped to skirt hangers. I find this very helpful.

Thanks for taking a tour. We'll see what happens to my space once I start working on something. I am really bad at putting things away!!