Scraprack and organizing question

[need2scrap]

As alot of you already know, I have my own 'scraprack' that I made from a magazine holder.  It has 18 spines and is FULL ( of mostly stickers, felt, chipboard, cardstock embellies, anything mostly flat)  And then I have all of my other embellies separately contained in clear boxes.

Problem:  I hate taking out 10 containers to see if there is something in them that I might use for the pages I want to work on, so I generally spend a lot of time trying to find stuff to match my pages.  Long story short I watched all of the Scraprack videos and now want to expand mine, hoping that sorting my stash differently will allow me to see what I have all at once, therefore actually using my stuff.  

So here are my questions:
Do you have a scraprack and do you like it?
If you have one, what don't you put in it and why?
Regardless of if you have one - do you store your stash by color?
And any other advice for this massive transition?

TIA!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  My pages in the rack are 8 1/2 x 11 and the transition will also include moving to mainly 12 x 12.

[karensay]

I do not organize by color.
Good Luck reorganizing

[joannie]

I do organize by color. I have 2 iris carts. That holds thickers, older embellies, ribbons...

But, I mainly use my snap-n-stack boxes for the embellishments that I use most often. I like to be able to carry them to crops. & I organize them by type of embellies. 

bling dots
bling swirls
embellishments (misc)
jute/twine
inks/chalks
adhesive
sequins/enamel dots
wood
brads/buttons/embellies (misc)
chipboard
clips
washi

here is a pic!

[need2scrap]

I do organize by color. I have 2 iris carts. That holds thickers, older embellies, ribbons...

But, I mainly use my snap-n-stack boxes for the embellishments that I use most often. I like to be able to carry them to crops. & I organize them by type of embellies. 

bling dots
bling swirls
embellishments (misc)
jute/twine
inks/chalks
adhesive
sequins/enamel dots
wood
brads/buttons/embellies (misc)
chipboard
clips
washi

here is a pic!

 

Thanks Joanie, your stuff looks nice!

This is more like what I have.  Everything by type, and in containers that can easily be tossed in the vehicle....  But mine are not on a table, they are under it and not all together...  making it hard to see what I have, and I don't really have a place in eyesight to put them so I tend to not remember what I have and don't use much other than paper.  I feel like I'm bringing the house when I go to crops with all my stacks of bins.  

[joannie]

Christi, I know what you mean about packing the "whole" house when you go to a crop!  Next weekend I'm going to a 3 day crop so I'll be taking A LOT of "my house" with me!!! LOL!!

[christinec68]

I don't have a scrap rack or any formal organization system...some things are sorted by color (older die cuts, buttons, brads/eyelets, thickers/letter stickers).  Every thing else is stored by size and stored together in various sized containers. I work off the table formerly known as the dining table so there's lots of surface area...I use those 3 drawer steralite containers for some things and photo boxes for others. 

If I were going to start a massive reorganization of my room, I would think about how I look for things to add to my project.  I know I like to look flip through things like stickers and chipboard pieces, but things like buttons or brads I know what color I need.  Sort everything accordingly, pulling out anything I know I don't want anymore.  Then find containers or storage solutions that will work with how I look for things and that will fit in my space.  

I have always read rave reviews about the scraprack system and that if it's used for everything, it makes it easier to find what you need.   

Good luck...it's such a big task!! 

[christinec68]

I do organize by color. I have 2 iris carts. That holds thickers, older embellies, ribbons...

But, I mainly use my snap-n-stack boxes for the embellishments that I use most often. I like to be able to carry them to crops. & I organize them by type of embellies. 

bling dots
bling swirls
embellishments (misc)
jute/twine
inks/chalks
adhesive
sequins/enamel dots
wood
brads/buttons/embellies (misc)
chipboard
clips
washi

here is a pic!


 

Thanks Joanie, your stuff looks nice!

This is more like what I have.  Everything by type, and in containers that can easily be tossed in the vehicle....  But mine are not on a table, they are under it and not all together...  making it hard to see what I have, and I don't really have a place in eyesight to put them so I tend to not remember what I have and don't use much other than paper.  I feel like I'm bringing the house when I go to crops with all my stacks of bins.  

Can you put shelves or something above your work space so you can see what you have?  I know that is key for me.

 

[Niki]

Do you have a scraprack and do you like it? Yes I have a scraprack and I love it!

If you have one, what don't you put in it and why? I don't put paper in it because you can only see one at a time any way and it gets to bulky when you have more then one sheet in a sleeve. Also I don't put any heavy embellishments (brads, metals etc.)  in it because again too bulky. When the sleeves get to bulky it weighs down the pages and the holes tear. (I know they have the heavy weight storage sleeves for paper but they take up to much space)

Regardless of if you have one - do you store your stash by color? In my scrap rack I sort be theme. Also have a section for journal cards and mics, I took sticky file folder dividers and put them on some sleeves to identify the themes. It works really well and I can easily flip to what every theme I want.  (yes I know they have dividers but this way it doesn't take up extra space on my rings... everything you put on there takes up space and then the more rings you need. The stuff that I don't have in my scraprack are my bling dots but I have a 3 ring binder with trading card pages in it. I organize by color in these binders. I also use this same idea for some metals and brads. (Sorry can't take any pictures of anything right now it is mostly packed away because we are moving.)

And any other advice for this massive transition? No matter what storage pages you buy you will end up needed more of one kind or another. If you can try and figure out what you need before hand you can then order one bulk and some individual page packs. I bought the small bulk one and then had to buy extra of some. The ones I most commonly found I used were the Triple Play page, Perfect Six and Fabulous Four. There are a few more sizes that I think look useful  that I going to buy because they didn't have them when I ordered a couple of years ago these are Vertical Four and Straight eight. Unless you have a lot of 12x12 items you want to put in don't get the super-size singles. I have a ton of them I don't use. (In fact if you want some of these I can send them to you. Let me know.) Also I recently saw the scraprack at Joann's so if you have one of them near you, might see what the pricing is there and if you can save some. I didn't compare the prices so I am not really sure, but you will not have to pay shipping. (And make sure you have the scraprack on a solid surface that doesn't move... it gets heavy and sometimes the weight can make an unsteady table off balance.)

Good luck
 

[writerlady]

I don't have an answer for you, but I sure would love to see your scraprack and find out how you made it.

[need2scrap]

I do organize by color. I have 2 iris carts. That holds thickers, older embellies, ribbons...

But, I mainly use my snap-n-stack boxes for the embellishments that I use most often. I like to be able to carry them to crops. & I organize them by type of embellies. 

bling dots
bling swirls
embellishments (misc)
jute/twine
inks/chalks
adhesive
sequins/enamel dots
wood
brads/buttons/embellies (misc)
chipboard
clips
washi

here is a pic!



 

Thanks Joanie, your stuff looks nice!

This is more like what I have.  Everything by type, and in containers that can easily be tossed in the vehicle....  But mine are not on a table, they are under it and not all together...  making it hard to see what I have, and I don't really have a place in eyesight to put them so I tend to not remember what I have and don't use much other than paper.  I feel like I'm bringing the house when I go to crops with all my stacks of bins.  

Can you put shelves or something above your work space so you can see what you have?  I know that is key for me.


 

I think a shelf above my table would be very helpful.  My room is an unfinished bedroom in my downstairs and the tables are banquet tables, so not very deep...  My biggest problem is that I always need to keep it portable.  So the cute glass jars and open shelves/racks would work, but I would still need to keep containers to pack and transport and unpack.  That is such a huge job.  Sadly - I get most of my work done when I am at a weekend crop, and that's only a few times a year. 

[need2scrap]

Do you have a scraprack and do you like it? Yes I have a scraprack and I love it!

If you have one, what don't you put in it and why? I don't put paper in it because you can only see one at a time any way and it gets to bulky when you have more then one sheet in a sleeve. Also I don't put any heavy embellishments (brads, metals etc.)  in it because again too bulky. When the sleeves get to bulky it weighs down the pages and the holes tear. (I know they have the heavy weight storage sleeves for paper but they take up to much space)

Regardless of if you have one - do you store your stash by color? In my scrap rack I sort be theme. Also have a section for journal cards and mics, I took sticky file folder dividers and put them on some sleeves to identify the themes. It works really well and I can easily flip to what every theme I want.  (yes I know they have dividers but this way it doesn't take up extra space on my rings... everything you put on there takes up space and then the more rings you need. The stuff that I don't have in my scraprack are my bling dots but I have a 3 ring binder with trading card pages in it. I organize by color in these binders. I also use this same idea for some metals and brads. (Sorry can't take any pictures of anything right now it is mostly packed away because we are moving.)

And any other advice for this massive transition? No matter what storage pages you buy you will end up needed more of one kind or another. If you can try and figure out what you need before hand you can then order one bulk and some individual page packs. I bought the small bulk one and then had to buy extra of some. The ones I most commonly found I used were the Triple Play page, Perfect Six and Fabulous Four. There are a few more sizes that I think look useful  that I going to buy because they didn't have them when I ordered a couple of years ago these are Vertical Four and Straight eight. Unless you have a lot of 12x12 items you want to put in don't get the super-size singles. I have a ton of them I don't use. (In fact if you want some of these I can send them to you. Let me know.) Also I recently saw the scraprack at Joann's so if you have one of them near you, might see what the pricing is there and if you can save some. I didn't compare the prices so I am not really sure, but you will not have to pay shipping. (And make sure you have the scraprack on a solid surface that doesn't move... it gets heavy and sometimes the weight can make an unsteady table off balance.)

Good luck

 

Thanks for the info.  I wasn't planning on putting my paper in the rack either, I have that really organized to match my current rack.  I just don't seem to use things that aren't in with the stuff in my current rack, or part of my paper, and so my supplies are getting huge and when I look through them, I see things I wanted to use on a certain type of layout that I just completed, and didn't use any of those items....  (OMG run-on sentence-sorry)  I guess I'm feeling compartmentalized. 

I am using some of my cheaper project life pages that I don't need for some of the pages in my new rack.  I ordered a few sets of pages after I went through my Christmas section ( I know out of order, but that is a very big section) just to see what page types I would need.  I know I didn't order any of the Triple Play, or the Super Size Singles.  I wasn't sure what I would put in them?  And how important is it to have their pages with the little flaps?  I don't have any like that now and it really hasn't been a problem, even when I pull off a few spines to take with to crops.

I am going to try to put my brads in the pages.  I will see how that works.  My goal is to eliminate all of my containers except for my stickles, stamp blocks/stamp cleaning stuff, pens/markers, Inks, Cricut carts, punches and still debating on the washi tape.  I will see how much room I have in the rack, and how I like the having binders for the stamp sets.

A really big change for me will be that I am going from 8 1/2 x 11 pages to the 12 x 12's.  I should be able to cut out a bunch of pages from the spines by expanding (I hope).

Thanks for the info - when I finish my conversion - I will post some pics!

[need2scrap]

I don't have an answer for you, but I sure would love to see your scraprack and find out how you made it.
 

I will post pics once I've finished - moving to a scrap rack is a huge job and according to the site, you should tackle a step a week - and i think there are 8 weeks to get it completed.  I do have some things already done, like the images of all of my stamps and an inventory of my inks.  This will just be a matter of printing, cutting an taping down on the references sheets.

[beachlover]

I still need more shelving and a much better way of organizing...  Joannie, I LOVE your organization!!!

[need2scrap]

I still need more shelving and a much better way of organizing...  Joannie, I LOVE your organization!!!
 

I have everything organized - but I just don't use my stash.  I feel that putting all of my stuff in the rack is turning my scrappy thought process completely around.  I hope it works!

[sdwhru]

Do you have a scraprack and do you like it? =12.8px I LOVE my scraprack!!!  I can find what so quickly & effortlessly.
 
If you have one, what don't you put in it and why?  =12.8pxI don't put the majority of my paper or my DOG section or my Disney Trip stuff.  The reason being on the Dog/Disney stuff is it would take up about a whole rack just by itself so that would be kinda stupid to do.  I pretty much have all the other stuff categorized by the "Tiffany" system.  

Regardless of if you have one - do you store your stash by color?  Yes, I do the by color and like it, too.

And any other advice for this massive transition?  =12.8pxDon't RUSH; be prepared for it to take time.  It really is a good thing, but it is very time consuming to set up.  But is sounds like you have already done some of the work.

FYI - I have pictures of my scraprack in my photos on here.  Any questions, please ask away!  (I'm at work - so this is a little short)  

[need2scrap]

Do you have a scraprack and do you like it? =12.8px I LOVE my scraprack!!!  I can find what so quickly & effortlessly.
 
If you have one, what don't you put in it and why?  =12.8pxI don't put the majority of my paper or my DOG section or my Disney Trip stuff.  The reason being on the Dog/Disney stuff is it would take up about a whole rack just by itself so that would be kinda stupid to do.  I pretty much have all the other stuff categorized by the "Tiffany" system.  

Regardless of if you have one - do you store your stash by color?  Yes, I do the by color and like it, too.

And any other advice for this massive transition?  =12.8pxDon't RUSH; be prepared for it to take time.  It really is a good thing, but it is very time consuming to set up.  But is sounds like you have already done some of the work.

FYI - I have pictures of my scraprack in my photos on here.  Any questions, please ask away!  (I'm at work - so this is a little short)  
 

Thanks Becca.  I wasn't planning on putting my paper in either.  I just haven't thought far enough ahead to see if there are themes that I should keep out....due to the volume.  I will keep that in mind also. 
I will look for your pics, I thought the pics I seen were yours but i will double check.

[Indy Scrapper]

I do not have one and always felt it would be a hindrance in how I like to organize.  I have 5 iris carts each with 6 drawers.  All my embellishments are sorted in my carts by theme.  Other drawers contain chipboard shapes, page protectors, templates, kits and the like.  Because I organize by theme, it is easier for me to work on say a Christmas album or a vacation album.  I have a memory like an elephant and know where things are stored.  So if I am just working on a family album (no theme) and want a balloon, I know what drawer balloon embellishments are located.