scrapbook organization: stickers

Dec 29

happy thursday, friends! although our kids have been out of school for exactly 2 weeks today (!!!), i’ve managed to muster up some energy to work on a few projects. i hope you have been enjoying the holiday season and are gearing up for some fun new year’s plans!
speaking of new years – as most of my family and friends know, i’m not a big fan of new year’s resolutions. i believe that resolutions and goals can be created at any point during the year. not just on January 1st! personally, i think when we set ourselves up for big changes in the new year, and then get tired of doing that “new change” around February 1st…it’s a big let down. and who needs that!? we are capable of being successful with goals…no matter what time of year we start working toward them.
soooo, i don’t have any resolutions this year, but instead have added many new projects to my personal, family, and household goal lists. getting my scrapbooks in order this year is top of that list…among many other things, of course!
today’s project? i am soΒ soooo excited to share with you!
why?
#1 – i think i may have found the best possible way to organize scrapbooking stickers. or any type of sticker you may need help organizing.
#2 – i can actually find all of my stickers…even with one hand behind my back. i know, impressive!
and #3 – now that i have a system for these stickers, i am one step closer to having my scrapbook space completely organized. which means i’ll be doing more scrapbooking. and that is always something i look forward to!
when i cleaned out our office closet during the new shelving install, this org project quickly jumped to the top of my to-do list. i had stickers all over the place and in no particular order. i found stickers here and there and …. well … everywhere. which means i’m not using them to their full potential! here are a few examples of my previous form of storage/organization.
be prepared to laugh.
i had some stuffed into a box from a project i had worked on…oooooohh, about 12 months ago…

i had some more in this great little organization bin…

when i found this bin a few years ago i thought all of my sticker organization issues had been answered…

while the bin did work for a while, i found it to be not very functional. additionally, if you are a scrapbooker you understand that stickers don’t always come in small packages. so cramming stickers into a Β 4″ x 6″ container – wasn’t working for me. i had small stickers in that bin and then put all of my bigger stickers into large plastic scrapbook page baggies like this one…

i have quite a few of these baggies as you can see…

i keep stickers in a few baggies and i keep 12 x 12 cardstock and other die-cuts in more baggies…

that lack of organization is the reason this project quickly jumped to the top of my to-do list. i knew there had to be a better, more functional, way of getting these stickers organized.

once i gathered up my collection, and knew the sticker quantity i was working with, i did a few days of searching on google and pinterest. surprisingly, there weren’t many options out there…or any that appealed to me or my style.

then, i found this little binder…and thought it might work…

 

however, after further review and asking other scrappers i know, i decided i needed a simpler system. i love to keep my life as simple as possible and anything that requires me to stuff little stickers into pockets…and then while scrapping i would have to take stickers out of those pockets = not appealing to me.

fast forward to last week. while browsing the aisles of the container store i stumbled upon these awesome little envelopes

they are available in 2 sizes; the small size is 9.5″ x 7″…

and the large envelope is 13″ x 9.5″….

finally, the organization answer i had been searching for! i bought several of each size and came home excited to work on this project.

first up was going through my assortment of stickers, purging any stickers i would not be using again (pregnancy!), and separating the stickers into categories…

i sorted…

and sorted…

and sorted some more…

until, finally, i was done…

i know – can you believe i had all of these stickers?! shocking!

then i grabbed my label maker…

and a re-purposed bin (remember this one? from my medicine re-org project.)…

then i added each sticker category to an envelope, stuck on a simple label, and placed it into the bin…

fits perfectly!…

remember when i said above that most scrapbooking stickers come in larger sized packaging? like this…

well, those long sheets of stickers fit perfectly into these envelopes…

while sipping on a cup of coffee, i kept going…adding stickers to the envelopes and placing a label on the front…

and here was my bin when i was done…

the last item that needed a home were these oversized 12 x 12 sheets of stickers…

they fit perfectly inside the bin right behind the clear envelopes…

i have plenty of shelving space available in our office closet where this bin will sit, but in the meantime, it’s sitting right here on my work table….

and will serve as inspiration to do more scrapbooking. who knows, maybe 2012 will be the year i am able to get our books up to date! a girl/busy mommy can dream, right?

when it comes to organization, you really should figure out the system that works best for you. it’s ok to try a system that you feel may work…and if it fails, that is ok too! it’s all about finding the way you work best and the system that works best with your lifestyle.

why do i think this will work for me?

#1 – i work on one book at a time and the book usually has a specific theme – like Halloween or newborn baby or baby’s first year. having all of the stickers divided into categories will work in my favor so that i can just grab an envelope and know immediately what i have available to work with.

#2 – the envelopes are clean, simple and clear plastic. even though there is a label on the front, i still enjoy seeing what is inside without having to open it.

#3 – when i am working on a scrapbook or finishing up a book, i can easily put the stickers back inside the envelope in one fell swoop. i won’t have the additional job of separating them into small sticker openings – much like what the binder above would have offered me.

and when the system works the way i work – it’s all good!

if you are a scrapbooker and have been frustrated trying to get your stickers in order, i hope this little idea will help you in a big way. if you have another way of organizing stickers, feel free to share in the comment section! i love to see and hear about new ideas.

 

(i linked up this project with Clean & Scentsible)

comments +

  1. Nadia says:

    Wow! Thank you so much this is amazing!

  2. Nadia, thank you! I'm so glad I could help you!

  3. Claire says:

    Another great solution! I have tried many systems for my stickers, too but I never keep up with them. This seems like something that would suit my crafting style.

    • hi claire! i had tried several sticker solutions too and none of them worked. this is working well for me b/c they are broken down into categories. and as i said in my post, when i am working on a baby book for example, all i have to do is look through the baby envelope. not my entire collection of stickers. it has been a great time saver – esp for me b/c i have loads of stickers! so glad this might be helpful to you!

  4. Stacey says:

    How many did you end up using of each?

    • hi stacey!

      i have 8 large envelopes and 8 small envelopes. i also have 2 extra small envelopes on hand in the event i need them for a new sticker category.

      πŸ™‚

  5. Unknown says:

    Hi Samantha, I just ran across your suggestion and it's wonderful. I am also a "scrapper" and have a bajillion stickers. My latest organizational idea was hanging folders in a letter size plastic box. It works somewhat OK but of course occasionally some of the stickers slide out of the sides. I liked your idea of envelopes from the Container Store but I think I may have too many sticker catagories. How did you break down (minimize) your category subjects? Thanks!

  6. LoriU says:

    I know this is an old blog post, but I just found it and I love this idea. I am going to the Container Store site to order those plastic envelopes. I have that big sticker book you show and you are right…its a pain! I never go in there because of that!

  7. Christina says:

    i love this idea!! Do you know where I could find these envelopes at?

  8. Kelly Thompson says:

    I am not kidding when I say, that I had 2 apple boxes of stickers neatly categorized and labeled UNTIL the movers grabbed them from MY boxes and ever so carefully stuffed them into any other box that they would fit in. Now, I’ve got to do it all over again. Perfect job for a person with OCD? Maybe, but, I need help in knowing what categories to put them all in. The movers even threw away my dividers! HELP!!! What categories would you suggest?

    Thanks,
    Kelly
    matkct@gmail.com

    • Samantha says:

      Oh no!! What a mess! And I can totally relate…after moving many times myself, I’ve had my fair share of unthoughtful, quick, “trying to get it done” packers. Would these envelopes work for you? They are pretty awesome, contained with a snap and low-cost. As far as categories, here is my categories: birthday, baby, sports (some broken down if my kids are really into it like baseball and football), animals, letters, numbers, christmas, winter, spring, summer, fall, halloween, easter, wedding, flowers, friendship, school, vacation, insects / zoo, misc holiday, clubs (think boy scouts), siblings, family, little girl, little boy.

      I hope this helps! You may have other special categories based on what you are involved with – american girl doll, etc. Some that made sense to me are bundled together like spring, easter and flowers.

      Let me know if you have other questions!
      Sam

      • Kelly Thompson says:

        What wonderful ideas for categories. My brain is just fried at this point, trying to organize a house and a new craft room. I really appreciate your help. It frees up one tiny corner of my brain to do other things now. Thanks So Much!!!

  9. Linda Felten says:

    I sorted out all my stickers into categories (travel, tropical, music, butterflies, -whatever suits what you usually scrap) I then took each sticker sheet and used 2 sided tape to tape them to manila folders cut into single pages which I had 3 hole punched. On the tab I wrote what the category was. I put them all in a binder so I can just go to that category and page thru the stickers and pull off the sticker I need-they’re all laid out to see in a book. I have an 8 1/2 x 11 binder and an 11 x 17 type binder for the longer stickers. If I go scrapping I just have to grab the 2 books and all my stickers are in there.

  10. Sanda says:

    I just found those on container store web site a few weeks ago I was so excited to find something that works for all stickers.

  11. Darlene Piche says:

    Thank you SO much for all the research you’ve done! Helped me loads. My granddaughter has been helping me reorganize all my scrapbooking materials and I was stumped on the stickers. BIG HUGS…..

  12. This is a great idea. I have one of those psb binders and the problem is that the pages usually have pockets that are all the same size on a page but I often have stickers in different sizes for a theme. I’m using it for now but I will look for those envelopes. Also, I have a ton of letter and number sticker sets from my days as a Creative Memories distributor. I keep them in hanging folders sorted by font type and size. I also have some socket organizers they sold that are about the size is the smaller envelope. They are divided internally and work well for long stickers (12″). I don’t think you can get them anymore, sadly.

  13. Cassie G. says:

    Hello. Thank you for sharing this, when I originally came across this article back in 2016, I found so much inspiration from it!! Now it is April 2022, I can’t help but ask you, does this sticker storage solution still work for you?? Did you find that you were able to stick with this solution, or like all things with time & use, find a better way that allowed not only functionality but aided you in staying organized and in keeping your environment less chaotic (or at least the material environment that we seem to have more control of)??

    • Samantha says:

      Hi! Yes, what a blast from the past with this post. And yes! I am still organizing my stickers the exact same way. The only difference is that now that are in a magazine file to keep them all upright. I have 2 of them actually. It works sooooo well for me!!!

      xx

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