Laura Vegas

Something I've been wanting to do for a while now is to randomly share bits and pieces of my scrap space. I'm always looking for new ways to organize my stash and supplies, and love to switch things up to freshen up the room. Today, I thought I would share how I organize my washi tapes.

Last year, when I was working on my Bella Blvd class that I taught at CKU, I needed a way to organize the tapes for the classes. We were working with ten different tapes, and I knew I would need a set of those ten tapes for every two students to share. I came up with the idea of putting the rolls of tape on large binder rings. This was such an easy way to keep the tapes organized. After finishing up at the last CKU, I was left with this large amount of binder rings. So I figured why not use them to organize my own tapes.

I don't have a huge amount of washi tape. I have a decent amount, but not a huge amount, compared to some collections I've seen out there. I knew I wanted a way to know what manufacturer each roll of tape came from. Most tapes, once out of their package, don't have any markings on them to tell you where they're from. And I'm honestly not that familiar with most of the tapes to remember on my own.

So I sorted out my tapes by manufacturer, and then put them on rings together. Some manufacturers might have just one ring, some might have two to three rings. They're easy to add too, if I get new tapes. And they're easy to take apart, if I want to remove a roll or two for something. To label them, I took out some really old vellum tags, scribbled the manufacturer's name on, and added the tag right to the binder ring.

Then I just toss all of the binder rings into a basket. I'm a "digger". I love to just pull out a basket and dig around to find what I need. Often times, what I end up choosing isn't even what I had in mind starting out.

Now, I do keep my Bella Blvd designer tapes seperate. Partly because there are a lot of them, and partly because I use them more often then the rest of my tapes. I have this old wood tray that I got years ago (from TJ Maxx), and it sits on the corner of my desk for easy access. I have all of my Bella tapes tossed in there, and they're always within arms reach.

I was looking for something to go inside the wood tray to help organize things, and I realized that three of these little metal buckets that I picked up at Target's dollar spot fit perfectly across the tray. I couldn't fit two rows of the buckets, as it was too tight a fit. But I had some small black plastic baskets, also from Target's dollar spot (love that place!), that tucked right in there very nicely.

However, I recently found these divided wood trays at TJ Maxx, and picked up a few, knowing they'd be perfect for my scrap space. If you're a fan of Project Life, and you're lucky enough to find these, I'll let you know that 3×4 cards fit perfectly in these trays. Standing up, of course, in rows. You could fit a TON of 3×4 Project Life cards in one of these trays.

I am most likely going to switch out the old wood tray on the corner of my desk, to the new divided wood tray. I can toss my Bella Blvd designer tapes in a few compartments, and then fill the rest with some of my most used embellishments or supplies. When I get around to making the switch, I'll be sure to share.