I am once again in desperate need of reorganizing my craft space. I wish I could have a whole room for it, as some people do…but we live in a small apartment, so I have to use a portion of the living room for my *studio*.
I’ve organized a few times, but right now it’s all a mess, and needs a thorough re-organization. So, when I was at Michaels last week, I picked up this book. It’s one of the many fine books put out by Memory Makers Magazine.
This is indeed a very thorough guide. It assumes that you have little to know basic knowledge of organizing techniques. So it starts at the very beginning…you go through your entire stash and decide what to keep, what to donate.sell.swap, and what should just be thrown away. Then you go through what you’re keeping to organize it further.
The book also contains valuable information on how to make a floor plan, which is useful whether you have a whole room, or just a portion of one. A floor plan will help you see exactly how much real estate you have with which to work, and you’ll see if everything fits BEFORE you start moving furniture around.
If you have little space and/or money, fear not…there are some doable solutions in this book. These include making use of unused spaces all over your home for storage, as well as using storage items that might be in your home, normally meant for other purposes, for scrapbooking storage. A big tool box from Home Depot is a lot less expensive than a similar item from a scrapbook store, and works just as well. It may not be all pink and pretty, but hey, you’re a scrapper! Use your supplies to decorate it and make it pretty! 
I loved the flea market experiment. Memory Makers editors were given a budget of $100 and sent to a flea market to buy stuff needed to set up a basic, functional scrapbooking area. They came in at around $67.00, and the setup looked really nice. This is a great plan for a beginner who is ready to move away from working on the kitchen/dining room table. Now, you may not find this exact stuff at any one flea market, but it’s a great springboard off of which to work.
So, if you are in dire need of organizational skills, buy this book. If you buy it at Michaels or A.C. Moore with a coupon, it’ll be a little cheaper than the Amazon price. Well worth it, in my opinion!
