Typically, a craft room is the one part of the house that can be left to a relatively disarray, at any given time. A crafter can just close the door to the room to hide any on-going projects they are working on. Yet sometimes it does help to be organised in the craft room, to be able to find supplies and have a clean workspace to work.

Organising the craft room can help you avoid losing crafting tools and wasting money, by the duplication of tools and supplies that cannot be found on hand. A craft room that is well organised will cultivate a crafter’s creativity, as opposed to suppressing inspiration, usually brought on by the frustration of working in a messy crafting room.

It is also safer to craft in a clean environment. In a clean crafting room, crafting supplies are not potential weapons ready to stick a crafter and  crafting scraps are not turned into tripping hazards. 

A good approach to starting the organisation of a craft room is to not only organise the contents, but give the room a once over cleaning. Take a cleaning tote and load it down with a sponge, paper towels, a garbage bag and a multi-purposed surface cleaner to clean the craft room. As the organisation of the room begins, clean surfaces as they are uncovered. Gather all similar craft supplies together and place them in a box or plastic bin. Continue this pattern until all supplies and materials are with in their assigned categories of likewise crafts. Any unusable craft supplies and scraps can go directly into a plastic garbage bag. When all items are in the bins and boxes, the room will have been cleaned and cleared of scraps and debris.

Make sure you label your different storage areas before placing your craft items, tools and supplies back into their assigned areas. Labeling these storage areas will assist you in keeping your craft room neat and tidy in the months ahead. Everything will have a place and nothing can be left out and lost, or inadvertently thrown away. All your tools should be placed according to function and how often they are used. Scissors, cutters, pattern marking tools and pliers can be safely stored together in a shallow plastic bin on the shelf. Paint brushes should be stored bristles up in jars and paints should be stored nearby and out of direct sunlight. Markers, pens and gel pens, glitter and glues should be stored near the paper supply.

Make sure your scrapbooking papers are stored neatly and in a way that won’t bend the corners. How you organise your papers is up to you. Personally, I like to organise by colour but many scrappers prefer to arrange them based on the manufacturer. Keep your cardstock nearby to make it easy for you to mix and match when you sit down to scrap.

How you arrange to rest of your supplies may be dependent on how many you actually have. For example, if you only have a few stickers, brads and ribbons and shallow drawer or two may be all you need. But, if you’re like me, you have lots of different embellishments to store.

Personally, I keep my ribbons in little plastic bags in drawers, my brads and eyelets in mini jars and my stickers and rub-ons in folders so I can easily flip through them.

No matter how you decide to organise your supplies, the main idea is to gather all the similar items together in one area where they are readily accessible when they are needed for your crafty project.

For the final touch, take the glass cleaner and wipe down the windows. Natural light is important to work by, especially with crafts.

Related Posts:

• Scrapbooking Ribbon
• Heritage Scrapbooking

The Original Post is Located Here: Tips for Organising Your Craft Room

Scrapbooking with ribbon is a great way to add texture and pizzazz to your scrapbooking layouts but if you haven’t used scrapbooking ribbon before, the process can be a little daunting. One of the biggest problems I am always asked about is how to attach ribbon to your page so that it stays in place. So, I thought I would put this guide on adhering ribbon together for you.

I warn you though, once you start using ribbon, you will be addicted!

Methods Of Adhering Ribbon

1. Liquid glue such as KI Memories Gloo ensures your ribbon stays permanently attached to your page. However, it is often messy and takes time to dry. This makes it difficult to finish your page in one sitting as you have to wait for the glue to dry before moving on to the next step. Personally, I do use KI Memories Gloo, but when other methods are not appropriate.

2. Brads eliminate the need for an adhesive. To attach them, position the ribbon on your page and poke a small hole through the ribbon right though to the back of the page. Feed the brad through the hole and flatten the arms of the brad on the back of your page. This is a very useful method of attachment if you want your ribbon to lie flat but not glued all the way along. Also keep in mind that a brad is three-dimensional and will stand out from your page a little.

3. Xyron Create-A-Sticker is my favourite way to adhere ribbon to a page. It is the perfect tool when you want your ribbon to lie completely flat and be glued all the way along. To use a Xyron, simply feed your ribbon in the top and pull it out the bottom. As the ribbon passes through this nifty little gadget, adhesive is attached to the bottom of the ribbon, turning it into a sticker.

4. Stitching is a time-consuming technique, but if you do take the time to do it, the effects can be stunning. Either by hand or with a sewing machine, stitch along both edges of the ribbon. Alternatively, place a handful of stitches in a few strategic positions along the ribbon to hold it in place. Another popular method is to cut a small piece of ribbon (perhaps 5cm long) and place a few stitches in the middle of the ribbon so that it is securely attached to your page while leaving the ends free for you to tie a bow or a knot.

5. Threaded effects can also look wonderful. To achieve this, cut your paper with either a craft knife or a small hole punch and thread the ribbon through the holes. This allows you secure your ribbon exactly where you want it. For example, you could cut a series of slits in a row and thread the ribbon through to create a weaved effect. Alternatively, punch two small holes, thread your ribbon through and tie a knot. To avoid tearing your paper, be careful not place your cuts too closely together and only use strong paper or cardstock.

Employing a combination of the techniques listed above on your scrapbooking pages will have you creating page after page with scrapbooking ribbon while still keeping your layouts looking fresh and original.

I’d love to hear your ideas for using scrapbooking ribbon. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

Click Here For More Scrapbooking Ideas

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• Heritage Scrapbooking

The Original Post is Located Here: Scrapbooking Ribbon

When creating your heritage scrapbook, there are some things you should consider:

1. How much of your family tree (and your partner’s family tree) do you actually know? Write it out. Don’t forget to include dates and places of births, deaths and marriages. If there are gaps in your knowledge, ask other family members for help or consult family history websites.

2. How much to you know about your family members, both of this generation and previous generations? How many photos and other things of interest do you have? Collect everything together and organise them. If you feel you do not have enough, ask other family members if they have anything they could contribute.

Archival Quality

Before we go any further it is vital to stress the importance of only using archival materials in your heritage scrapbook.

Many old photos have already succumbed to aging and have probably come into contact with materials containing acid and lignin. I highly recommend you have copies made of all your heritage photos and use these in your albums. You will be able to protect them, plus you won’t have to worry about cutting up the originals. If you do decide to use originals, use photo corners in case you need to remove them later.

Keep in mind that newspaper clippings, magazine ads, certificates and other memorabilia are not photo safe. If you wish to include them in your scrapbook too, either use copies, spray them with archival mist or use memorabilia pockets to keep them and your photos safe.

Of course, all heritage scrapbooking materials at Stickers ‘N’ Fun are photo safe.

Click Here To View Our Range Of Heritage Scrapbooking Stickers

The Size Of Your Album

You will also have to decide how big and extensive you wish your heritage scrapbooking album to be. A small album may include just your immediate family or one generation. This is perfect for short projects and mini albums.

Alternatively you could create an enormous album featuring everything you have and everything you know about everyone. Keep in mind that this is quite an undertaking. Do you really have time for this? Perhaps there is someone who can help you.

Most likely, you will choose somewhere in between.

Themes

Now that you have decided the size of the heritage scrapbooking project you wish to take on, it’s time to go about choosing the photos and the memorabilia you would like to include. One way to do this is to choose a theme.

Possible themes include:

 Births and Baptisms
 21st Birthday Parties
 Family Members in Sport / Art / Dance or any other activity
 Family Members in Military Service
 Occupations – How did everyone earn a living?
 Weddings
 Holidays
 Famous Family Members
 Deaths, Grave Stones and Eulogies
 School Days
 Family Reunions
 Family Traditions
 Family Pets

Another way to organise your scrapbook is by time. For example, you could focus on your family in the 1950s or the 19th century.

Title Pages

Your title page sets the scene for the rest of your album. It could include your family tree with a heading and if space permits, either an indication of what part of the family tree is featured in the album or a statement of the theme.

Also, make sure you include your own name on the title page (Eg Compile/Created by…) and the date. After all, you are an important part of your family’s heritage too.

Journaling

Journaling is an important part of heritage scrapbooking. It is important to record who is featured in the photos so future decorations have a record. Also include their relationship to you. For example, “Aunt Mary, Mum’s eldest sister.”

Where possible, try to not only identify the person in the photo, but also include something about them. For example:

 Pop was a practical joker.
 Pop loved gardening.
 Nana said it was love at first sight when she and Pop met.
 Aunt Mary loved animals and had 13 cats and 6 dogs.
 When I knew him, Fred has a 1932 Ford pick-up truck.
 Grandma made the best cakes in the world.
 Aunty Phyllis had a cabinet full of tennis trophies.

Colours

You may decide your colours with each new page or you might decide to use a consistent colour scheme throughout your album.

Heritage colours are usually browns, greens, an occasional deep red and an occasional deep blue, but it’s up to you which colours you want to use. You may like to include soft pinks or blues and browns on baby heritage pages.

To keep in sync with the heritage feel of your album, try having your old photos re-printed in sepia for that old-time feel.

Heritage Scrapbooking Ideas

There are many scrapbooking techniques that work well with heritage layouts. Collages can be particularly effective for creating that vintage feel, as seen in the layout below.

Materials Used: Marah Johnson Canvas Wash paper for the background, brown Paper Garden cardstock for the photo mats, scraps of Hot of the Press Lace paper and KI Sand Linen paper and Karen Foster Heritage stickers.

Other techniques include:

1. Distressing your papers by scratching the surface with a nail file or sand paper

2. Age your papers by smudging brown or black inks around the edges or across the surface.

3. Scrunching up your papers and then flattening them again to give an old, used effect.

4. Creating your own backgrounds by scanning some of your memorabilia. Fabrics, old letters and postcards work particularly well for this.

Now it’s time to select your supplies and get started!

Click Here To View Our Range Of Heritage Scrapbooking Stickers

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for heritage scrapbooking. Please leave a comment in the comments box below.

Related Posts:

• Tips for Organising Your Craft Room
• Grandparents Stickers
• Scrapbooking Ribbon
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The Original Post is Located Here: Heritage Scrapbooking