Lets talk about that very large and very hard to store item in our craft rooms, cardstock organization and loose sheet patterned paper organization. We are not going to address all of our lovely paper pads or themed paper kits in this article but will address those in a our next organizational tip.

My 3×4 Kallax unit filled with single color cardstock and single pages of patterned paper.

I know I have enough solid color heavy weight cardstock and loose patterned paper to open at least 2 scrapbook stores and I love it because I can always find the exact shade that I want, but that hasn’t always been the case. Its taken several years to be able to finally come up with the perfect system for me to be able to go right to my shelves and find either the perfect pattern or color shade that works with my craft project. I encourage you to think about how I organize and store my cardstock and adapt it to fit your scrapbooking style and your storage space.

Lets start with the physical organizational supplies that I use for organizing:

• 1 – 3×4 IKEA Kallax Unit
• 9 – IKEA Kvissle letter trays
• No flap clear plastic sleeves for records and I also recycle all 12×12 plastic bags that I receive (I just cut the zip tops off them to use them as sleeves since the zip tops can get in the way)
• Dollar Tree Chopping mats – I normally order a case at a time as I use these EVERYWHERE in my craft room for dividers and labels
• Epson LabelWorks LW-400 label maker
• Black on white tape cartridges
• Colored tape cartridges – Optional but helps me find colors quicker

Now lets talk the process of how I organized all this and just a note that I prefer vertical paper storage for all my paper because I can keep it neatly upright and I don’t have to lift huge heavy stacks of paper to get to what I want:

• First of all, all of my solid color cardstock that was in a paper pad (like the DCVW ones), I have torn the paper pads apart and sorted by color.
• Within each color, I have sections detailing what type of paper is in that section:
  • Solid Color Cardstock is sorted first by my rainbow approach (see this article here for more info on that), then I sort by the following categories to help me get to the correct type of paper:
    • Chalkboard
    • Embossed
    • Glitter
    • Handmade
    • Shimmer
    • Vellum
    • Smooth
    • Textured
  • Within each grouping, if I have multiple pages of the same sheet, I will place them in a plastic sleeve so I don’t have to flip through the same color multiple times and I automatically know that I have more than one sheet of the color so its great for double page layouts
  • Each grouping is divided by a Dollar Tree chopping mat with a colored label (if available) showing the type of paper it is
• For all my loose patterned paper that isn’t assigned to a specific theme in my patterned paper organization (article to come).  These might be left overs from paper pads that I’ve used most of the paper in or it might be papers that I’ve purchased separately through the 20+ years I’ve been scrapbooking.
  • Patterned paper is sorted by the rainbow approach and then subdivided into the following types of paper:
    • Backgrounds
    • Dots
    • Floral
    • Grid or Ledger
    • Patterns (really a miscellaneous grouping that I try to keep small)
    • Plaid
    • Stripes
    • Squared
    • Vintage
  • Within each grouping, if I have multiple pages of the same sheet, I will place them in a plastic sleeve so I don’t have to flip through the same color multiple times
  • Each grouping is divided by a Dollar Tree chopping mat with a colored label (if available) showing the type of paper it is

Here is an example of my red rainbow section of paper and all the categories that are in it – Not all colors have the same categories so I choose only the ones I need for each color:

My rainbow red section of cardstock and loose patterned papers.

Here is what the Kvissle looks like – I actually have 3 of them on top of my Kallax unit which effectively makes it a 4×4 square unit – Perfect use of space to give me a bit more storage in my craft room:

12×12 paper works great in the Kvissle letter trays if you turn the trays backwards and insert the lip toward the back of the unit.

Here is a close up of what my yellow smooth paper section looks like – Notice that the papers all stand upright and you can see the separation that the plastic sleeves give the paper. Its so easy to pull out a section a bit and thumb through it. Its also so easy to slide any unused paper right back in if it isn’t quite the right tone or shade of paper.

A close up of the yellow smooth cardstock organization – note the plastic sleeves that divide groupings of the same paper.

Just a couple of parting thoughts:

• I love the protection from dust and sunlight that both the Kvissle letter trays and the plastic sleeves provide.  I only have one window in these section of my craft area and the blinds are always closed, but I still feel this gives this paper protection.
• Cardstock organization and storage takes quite a bit of room so be sure to plan accordingly in your craft area.
• This article focused and showed examples of my 12×12 cardstock organization and I will do a follow up article on my letter sized paper organization (follows the same principles but different supplies.

I hope this article gives you some tips and ideas for cardstock organization. Stay tuned for articles on patterned paper organization (by theme) and scrap paper organization (by color & type). Check out other organizational ideas here.

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Happy Scrappin!
Angela