Storing Leftover Pattern Paper and Cardstock

Since the New Year, how many of us have been busy 'decluttering'? I know I have been and I must say that I've been really pleased with how much 'clutter' I have removed from our home! My large linen cupboard has so much more room now, so much so that I'm moving the scrapping supplies I had in our study, into there!

One of the tasks I've been working on recently has been sorting through all my leftover pattern paper and cardstock and putting it into a new storage system!

I used to store all my scraps - 12 x 12 zip lock bags and as you can see, some of them were stuffed quite full - especially the blue, brown and green bags which are colours I tend to use quite a lot! I also had a bag for yellow, orange, red/pink, purple, black, white and gold/silver. So, 10 bags in total and as you can imagine, they were not to easy to store, let along trying to find something in them that might be suitable to use! Totally, NOT inspiring!

I still wanted a system that I could store my leftover pattern paper and cardstock by colour BUT it needed to be easier to store on my shelves AND be condensed in quantity a great deal too!!

So, I tipped out each bag and sorted through all the pieces, firstly keeping all those pattern papers and cardstock pieces that I knew I could use again, either on cards or pages. Then I went through and took out all the pieces that I thought the boys might be able to use and added them to their paper box. The rest? Well, it went into the circular file as they say - the recycling bin! Yes, it may have been a bit ruthless BUT at least I know I have kept pieces that will be used! You'd be surprised how old AND small some of those leftover pieces were!!

So - what have I done with the all the pieces I intend to keep - and more importanly - use?!

Well - I picked up these functional clear storage wallets in Safeway, which are just perfect because they stack relatively flat because of the simple, but effective, slit closure!

So - I still have a few bags to sort through, which is on my 'To Do List' for later today, but at least I know that I will indeed be able to use all the pieces that are in these wallets! Before it was just a pain to work out how and where to store all those 12 x 12 zip lock bags - these new ones just stack perfectly on my shelf and being clear, I can easily see which colour I want to use!

I'm going to set myself a mini goal though - I need to start using up more of my blue, brown and green leftover pattern paper and cardstock - even after all the sorting and culling, their wallets are still bulging a little - *grin*

Until next time - have a wonderfully creative week!!

Shirley