Dear Scrapping Friends,

Don’t miss all the other great features on our board including the Photo Fun Spot, The On-Line Class Spot, and the New Stuff Spot.

Our awesome TSS Kit Club will feature two choices – the crammed-full-of-goodies “Hits the Spot Kit” and the just-the-right-size “Perfect Spot Kit.”

We can’t wait to show you what we’ve put together for our first two kits (hint: look for sneak peaks in this newsletter!).

Hits the Spot Kits will be $22.50 and The Perfect Spot will be $16.50 (shipping rates are still in the works, we’ll let you know soon). Kits will only be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, with no subscription required. Add-ons, for those of you who just can’t get enough, will also be offered monthly.

Don’t forget our posting contest! The person with the most posts from September 1 thru September 30 will receive an RAK with their October kit!

Come join us on the message board, The Spot

We hope to spot YOU there soon!

Scrapping in a Small Space
by Laurie Evans

I used to dream of having the perfect scrapping space. It’s a bright, airy room with big windows, a Pottery Barn trestle table, cabinets with little drawers for my embellishments and the perfect paper storage system. My extensive counter space would have plenty of room for my (future) Cricut, my paper cutters, my photo printer and my laptop. And, of course, there will be plenty of room for my friends to come and scrap with me.

Then I woke up.

In reality, my paper was spilling out of my ancient Cropper Hopper, giant Ziploc bags store the kits I swore I was going to use tomorrow, stacks of embellies spilled off my tiny desk and alphabets filled a basket on the floor.

 
I scrap in a small space. It’s a dormer off my bedroom that is just 40 inches wide and 9 feet long. I love this space because it’s lit by a big window and it keeps my scrapping stuff all in one place instead of spreading out all over the house.

It has its limitations, though, and until I got it organized it was very hard to work in.

I am lucky enough to have a good friend, Sandy, who started a business a few years ago as a professional organizer. She was interested in learning how to help people organize their hobby spaces and thought I would be a good guinea pig to practice on.

Sandy started her work by touring my space and asking me what I was looking for and what my budget was. We talked about several different options for increasing my storage and workspace.

After our initial meeting Sandy went shopping! When she returned she unloaded about a dozen storage carts and containers for organizing everything from tiny eyelets to rubber stamps, scissors, glue and hanging file folders. We tried out several carts and found two that fit my space and my needs perfectly. Sandy is the queen of bargain hunting! Those carts she bought were half the price of the ones I’d been eyeing in catalogs and she found me a rolling office chair for just $15.

Then Sandy made me pull out all my scrapbooking stuff and we went through it, categorizing them in piles. Items I need to be within hands reach while I work went into one pile, while things that could be just within arms reach went into another. We weeded out the trash and all the things that had crept into my space from other rooms (how did those Mardi Gras beads get in here?). Photos were moved out of bulging shoe boxes and into sturdy, labeled plastic photo boxes.

Tools that need to be in hand’s reach are organized in a basket I found at a yard sale that is made for holding silverware and napkins. Adhesives, my circle cutter and cutting mats go in the top drawer of my desk.

Then Sandy pulled out her tool box and installed a 4 foot wide, 12 inch deep shelf at desk height, just perfect for my laptop and printer. Rolling carts fit just under the shelf and hold stickers, stamps, punches, and other embellishments. Her husband Mike built a wonderful wall board with attached clothes pins to hold my unfinished layouts and new embellishments using a photo Sandy had found in a design book for inspiration.

After just two afternoons of work Sandy and I transformed my scrapbook disaster area (think tornado in a paper factory) into a professional-looking and incredibly efficient scrapbook studio. Not only is it more inviting to me but it keeps the bedroom from looking cluttered and messy.

I have plans to improve my space over time (have you seen that Pottery Barn bulletin board with the speakers for your MP3 player?) but now it is functional and tidy so I’m in no hurry.

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Bonus Sketch: