Organization, again or is it still?

Hi friends!  I don’t have any creations to share today because I have been busy condensing and, once again, reorganizing.

As a somewhat experienced card maker, but newer scrapbooker, I struggle with how to organize all of my supplies.  For me, these two hobbies, while similar with many of the supplies, are very different.  So, what works for one hobby, doesn’t necessarily lend itself well to the other.  So, I am forever on a quest to find an organizational system that encompasses both.

I was on Two Peas which lead me to this thread about organizing by color.  The question being about if you organize by color, do you organize everything by color.   Well, as is the way of the internet, one thing led to another and I found myself at Stacy Julian's site and her videos about organizing by color.

It all made sense to me!  I have always organized by product.  Ink pads here.  Markers there.  Stickles here.  Reinkers over there.  Colored pencils someplace else.  And, honestly, I thought it worked well for me.  Until I decided to redo those pesky scrapbooks. Then it just wasn't working nearly as well.  I was always looking for this or that for that perfect finishing touch.

So, I began reorganizing my supplies by color. 

Now, I will admit that my bins are not nearly as large as Stacy's.  But then, I don't have the supplies she does either.   Also, where she has open bins filled with goodies, I have tins with lids. (they are on sale at Michael's right now for $2.99 (regular about $6.00).  Dimensions on mine are 7" L x  9.5" W x 3.5" H).  My tins are very similar to this, except mine are plain silver.   This is for a variety of reasons, but mostly to keep my sweet little terrorist kitty out of my goodies.  Right now my tins have embellishments (like pearls, jewels, and other goodies), alphas, Bic markers, stickles, brads, eyelets, some ribbon, large ink pads (my little cubes are in another system for not because I fear the lid will get bumped off and make a huge mess).  I am planning on adding my SU markers, copics, colored pencils, reinkers, dew drops and buttons but right now I have spent hours working on this system and successfully avoiding the laundry.  Unfortunately, you know how demanding kids can be and they seem to DEMAND clean clothes!

As I am going through this process, I see myself eliminating lots of systems and lots more stuff.  Not because it doesn't fit in Stacy's system, but because I literally have to touch every supply and honestly some of the stuff I have been holding onto is just holding me back.

So, how do organize?  By color?  By product?  By some other system that works for you?  Help me out ladies... some days all of this stuff is just weighing me down and draining my mojo!

Once I get this system in place and see how it works I will update all of you.

Thanks for stopping by!  I am off to meet the demands of my kids and their need for clean clothes!  (What's up with that anyway?)  ;)


Michelle