Stampin' & Scrappin' with Donna

LAST DAY OF HOLIDAY HELPER EMAILS

Today the last of my twelve HOLIDAY HELPER emails has been sent out to everyone who subscribes to my newsletters.

I hope you have enjoyed receiving all of these holiday projects as much as I've enjoyed sending them out to you, and I hope your family's holiday season includes some time to craft together!

If you've been waiting for my monthly Samples newsletter, never fear ... I decided to hold it back until the HH emails had run their course. Look for November's Samples newsletter to arrive in your inbox on Saturday, Nov. 29th!

Happy Holidays!

A NEW STAMP STUDIO & A NEW FRUGAL APPROACH TO CRAFTING

HELLO STAMPERS!!!! I AM SOOOOO PUMPED!!!! (Can you tell?)

The saga of my new stampin' studio has come to the final chapter at last ... yep, as of Friday February 20, 2009 I have officially moved into my very own craft room! WAHOO!!!

Is it 100% finished? Of course not, but we're so close that I just HAD to start moving my stuff downstairs. My heart  was set on holding my first ever scrapbook crop in my New Studio and with my dear hubby's help, we pulled it off just in time for yesterday's event!

And can I just say, what a GLORIOUS luxury it is to have everything in one place and organized so that I can just reach for the exact item I need without hunting through box after box. [Insert Sigh of Contentment here]

In fact, I now firmly believe that having a dedicated & organized craft space is THE KEY to being able to create anything! It doesn't matter whether you have a whole room or just a crafty closet, as long as you can call it your own and you don't have to pack it all away when it's time to set the table for dinner, lol.

Here's my proof: As many of you know I haven't worked on my kids' school scrapbooks in more than six years ... well, yesterday I finished 3 grades in my daughter's album and 2 grades in my son's, for a total of FIFTEEN PAGES! The layouts just seemed to fly together BECAUSE I didn't have to spend time hauling it all out & searching for embellishments or adhesives or photos.

 Also, during the move downstairs I've discovered (duhh) that I own TONS of stuff - WAAAAY more than one person needs (even someone as passionate about paper crafts as I am!GRIN) By unpacking and organizing it all so that I can see it at a glance, I've discovered that I no longer have the urge to buy and horde new supplies ... instead, I'm excited about actually using up what I already have! Go figure.

So here's my FRUGAL STAMPER tip of the day: find a place to call your own, and organize/display all your crafting goodies ... it'll save you money and time in the long run, and your hobby will become much more enjoyable ... believe me!

How do you organize your stamps?

If you've been to a class at my Stampin' Pad, you know how I store my stamps - I have a wall of wooden cube-style shelves; each one is labeled with a different category of stamps: alphabets, backgrounds, word sets, Christmas, nature, kids' stuff, flowers, around the world, all four seasons, other holidays, nostalgia and friendly greetings. The categories are loosely based on the sections of Stampin' Up!'s Idea Book & Catalogue, but tweaked a little to suit my way of thinking. <grin>

I like to keep my SU stamps in their original containers & sets, and they stack nicely on these wooden cubes that I found at one of those warehouse clearance stores. Trouble is, I like to use stamps from several sets on one project, and as my collection grows, it's getting harder & harder to find a certain stamp among all the stacks.

Before I launch myself into a huge reorganizing of my stamp collection, I thought I'd throw the question out there - how do YOU store/organize YOUR stamps?

Please post a reply here or email me privately - I really want to know! In fact, everyone who replies will be entered into a draw for a Level 1 Hostess Gift, to be drawn on April 1st!

cheers,
Donna

PS - you can see part of my wall of stamp sets behind me in the photo to the left.