Laura Vegas

There's a new special issue out from Creating Keepsakes magazine, and it's all about creative spaces. I love getting to peek into other scrappers spaces and to see how they organize their scrapbooking supplies. I'm an organizer at heart, so I eat up every nook and cranny of every photo. You just never know when you might see an idea from someone else that will end up working perfectly for you, your supplies, and your space.

******************************************************************
I was asked to share a little something about organizing or my scrap space today. I really should give an updated look at my space, since it's been a few years since my last share. But it's a true mess right now and needs some loving attention. So I thought I would share an extention of my scrap room … my scrap island.

Some of you might remember when I had my scrap space in our upstairs loft. The piece of furniture I would get asked about the most is my scrap island. It's huge, at 4 feet by 8 feet in size. When I moved my space back to the downstairs bedroom, my scrap island (which is now used for like 10 different purposes) ended up in the playroom (actually the living room/dining room area, which is our "playroom" for my daycare business). It's only about 10 steps away from my scrap room, so I'm always working on the island as well.

For years, I've just had piles of stuff on this island. I try and make it look neat and organized, but it still comes off looking like "piles" and kind of like a random mess. It's such a large island, that it's hard to make it look semi decorative, but still have room to work. A few months ago Sarah decided to get rid of the desk in her room, and this white wooden hutch piece was sitting on top of the desk. I wasn't willing to get rid of it, since it's an old Pottery Barn piece.

I had it sitting on the island until I had time to take it out to the garage, and it finally dawned on me that I could make it work right where it was. I positioned it in the center of the island, pushed further to the back since I don't work on the backside of the island. I added a few decorative greenery pieces to the sides to use up even more space and try and make it look more homey.

The great thing about this hutch piece is that it has two small drawers on each side, and 4 compartments across the center. I had some old metal tins that I got in the dollar section at Target ages ago, that fit perfectly in the compartments. I use those to store extra adhesives and small tools so that when I am working on stuff out on the island, I don't have to drag all the basics out from my scrap space. I shove larger things (like an extra Xyron sticker maker) in the drawers.

I love, love, love that my external hard drives fit in one of the drawers. I was always stuggling to find a good spot to store these, since I do use them constantly and like to have them handy. I have three external hard drives in that bottom drawer. Perfect! I have some extra camera stuff in the top drawer.

This aqua wooden tray was something I found at Hobby Lobby. I have it in two sizes, and this is the larger one. It had been off to the side of the island all along, and when I realized it tucked into the open area in the center of the hutch perfectly, I was thrilled. This tray holds totally random stuff, and it always changing. Usually, I have completed layouts stacked on one side that I add to as I create.

Right now, I have a CD I need to put away, Alyssa's music and academic blocks that she earned at school that need to go into her school album (decided against a letterman's jacket, knowing she wouldn't wear one), copies of scrap magazines, paperwork that needs to be put away, extra photos, etc. Just random stuff. But I like that it looks organized, all because it's in a tray!

And I topped off the hutch with this fun "Happy" sign. Because after years of this scrap island looking like a misplaced piece of massively large furniture, it now looks like it has a purpose. Which makes me HAPPY!