31 Days #24: How to Organize Scrapbooking Embellishments

by Lain Ehmann on July 24, 2012

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Day 24 already? Only a week left? Boohoo! But never fear – I have enough questions to keep me going for some time. Today’s is a common struggle for scrapbookers and crafters when organizing their scrapbooking supplies:

How do I store and organize my embellishments?

There are a couple of ways, and I tell all in today’s video:

Resources and Links to Help You:

Aby Garvey’s Scrapbook Organization classes from

True Scrap 1 (Scrapbook Supply Organization YOUR Way) (scroll down until you see Aby!)

and True Scrap 2 (Get Organized to Make the Most of Your Scrapbooking Space)

Stacy Julian’s scrapbook by color video

simple scrapbooking layouts
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000220062703 Kelli Panique

    Such a great tip.  You can organize so many different ways (and I have) but if you don’t organize the way you look for it, you won’t find it or you will forget you have it because it never occurred to you to look for where you stored it. 

  • Kimmc77

    I have tried to sort by color , just doesn’t seem to work for me :( Thanks for giving me another option! Love the blog, videos and podcast too :) . When do you sleep???

  • http://twitter.com/HeatherDubarry Heather Dubarry

    This is the most important thing to remember about organizing! All the cute storage containers in the world won’t work, unless you put your stuff away in such a way that you can find it again.
    Love it :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/BridgetJGreenwood Bridget Greenwood

    I try to organize by theme such as Christmas, Travel etc.   and then if it is something not theme related I group by type, I have an open letter slot organizer that works really well

  • Scrapstreams

      I scrap & thereby sort my embellishments & PAPERS by THEME FIRST, THEN COLOR.  When I look at an item, no matter what it is, if I immediately think “baby”, “family/heritage”, “weddings/love/romance/prom”, etc., then I store them by theme.  If I do not immediately think it is a themed item, it is stored by color.  For my colored fibers, ribbons & blank tags, I have baskets for them.  Themed embellishments go into sterlite drawers.  Themed papers are stored in a large rattan trunk (on wheels and stored below one of my crop tables) which is lined & filled with (12″ compatible) file folder frames & file folders labeled alphabetically by theme.  Color papers, both solids & patterns are in paper towers which my hubby made for me.  After 12 years I finally mixed my CTMH papers in with the rest of my colors & patterns haha.  I was originally a CTMH Demonstrator so I had HUNDREDS of CTMH papers.
        Now that I am a hound for 3 BIRDS Scrapbooking & papercrafting kits, they are the only ones that are not mixed into the general/bulk storage of papers or embellishments.  My older 3 Birds kits/embellishments are broken up & sorted by themes or colors, but in their own area, seperate from the other bulk products.  I have  A TON of goodies and am currently (& atleast once a year) purging my stash, selling it at the lss’s yard sale & my own.  This income helps me buy new products or storage for my ‘studio”.  For example, last year we re-framed in my studio, gaining space from our utility & storage room.  This spring I painted that new wall PURPLE!
       I hope that some of my ideas may help someone else.  I know that I am constantly getting new ideas from others.  GENTLE FIBRO HUGS TO ALL, & SCRAP ON!!

  • Danielle Taylor

    This is really handy as i’m setting up my scrapbooking room but I agree it depends how you reach for your embellishments. I have a bin full of flowers and buttons and those are my go to embellishments so I made sure when setting up that this bin was right in my workstation so I don’t have to go far for those must have items. 

  • Gwenevere

    Thank you for teh great series of videos. It really gets me going. I love the layout you showed in one of the videos with white background and  white circles punched with punched hearts on top. In which video wasit or where can I see it in the galery? I love the idea of the tone in tone elements as a background page. Thanks.

  • Lynne

    Perfect advice, Lain. I use a few different ways and sub-ways – depending on how I think about using them.

    That’s the way I organize most of my embellies: by texture/categories. And I do notice that when I get away from using embellishments on my pages that it’s time to purge. Too many around me and I don’t want to even look at them at all.

    I have mine in flat drawers so I can pull the drawer out and put it on my table and rummage thru it. Or little jars I can dump into a tray.. Buttons and brads I have in jars, wide top candle holders and cute wine glasses (look at goodwill, etc.) I like to get my fingers into them and sift. It feels like a vacation… they are sorted by general color – greens, browns, metals, red/pink, orange/yellow (like that). Ribbons are in big jars I found at goodwill by general color.

    My paper I sort in a weird way: all scraps I want to keep are 3×4 or larger and in a tall flat drawer tower. By color – doesn’t matter if pattern or solid. That is near my work desk. My full sheets of solid are across the room. I really have to want to find a color to get up and look. Forces me to use scraps. I cut up most of my patterned paper before using it. Most of it is in my scrap drawers because I rarely use pattern to start with. It was a big “ah-ha” to finally give myself permission to cut it up before knowing how I wanted to use it. But it has made VERY happy. Weird, I know. Paper from a kit I keep together until I have made the project or a page, then I am OK to break it up and cut it up.

    It’s a constant work in progress…

  • LauraZM

    Great topic! So true about needing to think about how you look for items. I actually do a blend of sorting by color and type. Most embelies are sorted by color, but journaling tags, arrows, and washi tape are all in their own separate spots. I found that when I want those things I am really after those specific items. 

  • mj

    can’t wait to see your studio tour lain! :)

  • http://www.scrapbookbliss.net/ Scrapbook Bliss

    Thanks for the great tips on how to organize my embellishments.  Right now they’re just all put into one bag. Thanks for the help!

  • Jennifer

    Check out the free organization webinars on http://www.thescraprack.com/. No pressure to purchase a scraprack, just great ideas on organization of your supplies. I get so much more actual scrapbooking done now and use up the supplies that I have since I got organized with this system.

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