Contain Yourself

Confession time - that is my favorite slogan of all time. I love containers and organization. I used to say all the time "A place for everything and everything in it's place." Then I had to share my space with other people. People who did not share that philosophy - children! I love systems and procedures. It really does make my day. You would never know it though by the way my craft space has looked for at least the last year. Some days you could not walk from the door to the computer. Today you can.
In keeping with my theme of "Contain Yourself" I thought I would share with you some of my containment ~ excitement. I used a ton of those little plastic shoe boxes for my shelves because they contain all the little parts in categories. They had to be uniform boxes - look exactly alike. The bonus to that is that they stack so nicely 3 tall 3 across on my shelves. They are clear so I can see exactly what category is contained in them. One end of the desk has more of the tools to alter things like embossing powder, beeswax, glitter, metal - you know those things you wouldn't dare use in a hurry. The other side of the desk has more of the typical scrappers embellishments. Flowers, buttons, chipboard..... I even have foam stamps in a box and unmounted rubber stamps in a box. After asked to borrow Christmas stamps this year I thought to even sort those. I store my acrylic stamps by category on acrylic display boards. They stack so nicely. I do need a shelf space for them, but that's another day. All tools are sorted and stashed in large bins on a side of the desk. I'm still trying to figure out who has a large bin full of adhesive. I know I do, but why?!?!?!?!? It could be that I'm an adhesive snob and like certain ones for certain projects.
Now to keep it neat and tidy. I have a few tips I'm trying to implement this year. Tip number one - touch it once. Either use it or put it away. No setting it off to the side saying "Oh I'll use that after I do...". That is one of my biggest down falls. There are a few odds and ends on top of my desk that still need that rule applied. I did make a box of valentines stuff because I'm going to be focusing on that day next with my cards.
Another thing I tried at the crop yesterday and was very successful with. Create a layout. Anything that's left becomes a card. All those little bits and pieces of scrap paper or stickers or what ever they go on a card. Last night I got 14 layouts and 8 cards completed. The cards were mad completely from scraps. I have a few Superman cards and several rocket ship cards. I was fussy cutting Basic Grey's Oh Baby! Boy line and used the rockets that were hanging off the page to make the cards out of. I still have a good 12x3 inch strip of rockets to work with. A little ink and a few pop dots they look like they took hours to make. Something I wish I had done ahead of time is precut the card bases. I'll probably work on that while watching TV or something later this week.
Something I haven't done in 2010, but I do like to do. I'll take a sheet of cardstock and stamp the whole thing full of an image that I plan to use. The images are readyfor use. Many times I'll go through and color them as I watch TV as well. All I need to do from there is cut and adhere for a card. Probably do some fussy cutting too while watching TV ;)
For those who like to mass produce cards - one of the peas from the crop, Ginger, used all of her scraps and punched basic shapes from them so that she has flowers and things ready to use at a moments notice. She stored the shapes in these cylinder containers that held them perfectly stacked - less digging that way as well.
Nathan's been working on containing himself as well and cleaned his office. It is a wonderful thing! Now to get the kids on board......
If you have any tips or tricks please post them. I would love to know. I really needed to put photos with this post, but I was so busy cleaning that I didn't get a chance. Maybe it will free me up to do more instructional videos for the Share Croppers group. Who knows what all this organization will lead to!