Ahhhh paper, the scrapbooker’s drug of choice. We collect it, or hoard it, depending on your viewpoint. It makes us happy to have such a wide variety of colors and patterns to choose from. Until it doesn’t. This usually happens when there is too much or we can’t find what we’re looking for so the ways in which we organize it truly are unique to our stash and our way process.
Jen’s Way
When I did my big office reorganization one of my biggest issues were the piles of paper. I had a love affair for a time with the paper pad, particularly the DCWV pads. It had gotten so out of control that when I started to go through what I had there were many duplicates. You can see the amount of paper that I gave away when I did the big purge here.
I still have way too much paper but I decided to work towards fitting all of my paper within two of the IKEA Effectiv shelving units that I have in my office. Each shelf fits 10 of the Cropper Hopper paper files and that would leave space for 40 containers. I wanted to be able to easily find the correct file holder that I was looking for and found this great chalkboard tape by 3M. It is fantastic in that it comes with a paper backing, is easily repositionable and removable and works well withe the American Crafts permanent chalk markers.
Nearly all of my paper is 12×12. I chose to organize by color first as I do with most of my supplies. This included any solids and loose patterns that were more color driven than themed. From there I organized by theme, some more loose than others. I did have some 8×8 Bazzill cardstock which I left in it’s own file holder and the few 6×6 pads I own,were themed so those were filed with the appropriate theme. 
When I look at my paper stash now it makes me happy because I can find what I need fairly quickly and put it away easily too. I am also well aware that I could scrapbook until I die and never need another piece of paper, but what fun would that be?
Jennifer’s Way
Earlier this year I did a big purge of a lot of my paper, and I still have a TON of it! I have my patterned paper and solid colored card stock stored vertically on a shelf directly behind my craft table. I love this placement because I don’t even have to move to look for paper. I simply just turn around.
The majority of my paper is 12×12. I do have some 8.5×11, but not much. From left to right I have: 12×12 card stock sorted by color, then 12×12 patterned paper sorted by most prominent color. To decide where it should be placed I looked at both sides, decided which side I liked best, then decided what the most predominant color was. Each color section is divided by a Cropper Hopper divider, and at the far right end I have a section for the 8.5×11 card stock.
To the right of the patterned paper are sets of papers in Cropper Hopper containers. I have them divided out in a variety of ways: by child (papers that I know I want to use for layouts about a particular child), by “girl” or “boy,” and by designer or collection. I LOVE Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine products, so all those papers are together in their own sections.
The labels for some of these containers have fallen off. I need to relabel all of these containers. Jen recently showed me what she used for her labels and I love it. I had to copy her, so I bought the same. Now I need to schedule time to get it done.
Directly below the shelf of 12×12 paper is a double door cabinet with pull out drawers. One of the drawers holds my 6×6 (and other sizes) paper pads. I have several of those too! There is no particular order here. It’s easy enough to flip through the pads to choose one I want to use.
The only downside of this is “out of sight, out of mind.” I often forget about these because they are not out within my line of sight. That being said, I can’t have everything out on a shelf. There’s no room and it would look even more cluttered.
Do you have a lot of patterned paper and card stock? How do you store it? Here are some additional ideas on our Pinterest site.
Is there another type of crafting supply that you need to get organized? Let us know in the comments! We’re always open for suggestions of what you’d like to see us tackle and organize.
