Studio or Natural Disaster

First, you must know the following photos where taken on several different occasions, separated by months and months, but each show a different state of hideousness.  The first batch, and most comprehensive of looks at my space were taken back in January, when I initially embarked on the cleaning and purging extravaganza.

Kits, kits and more kits.  Seriously, I have very little other product.  When I got hooked on kits, I stopped buying ala-carte.  Kits held all I every needed to complete a layout.  I live the Apron Strings motto. . .what can I say.

The below is the perpetual horizontal catch-all.  The infamous "cube tops!"

Ah . . . shameless confession, the clear plastic drawers hold completed pages and even in January they were FULL!

I know there is a scanner under there.  Otherwise. . .I don't know.

The cubbies hold all the odds and ends I have left over from kits.  In front of that is a whole lotta crap.

Said crap. . .looks like completed pages and kids' school work.

This is work-work space.

More stuff.

Hanging stuff.

Stuff on top of stuff.

Ah. . .yeah.  This is my scrapbook desk.  This is where brilliance should happen.  Looks like not so much.

This is a separate photo shoot - probably from March/April.  There is clearly, or maybe only clearly to me, some sorting going on.  One of those boxes contains purged papers and goodies going to the Kindergarten.  And I can make out sorted piles on top.

Scanner has been moved to make room for a new printer and the giant pile of crap in front of the cubbies has been replaced by Apron Strings paperwork.

You can ALMOST see the top of the corner of a cube, but the pile is still heinous.

Another view of the same thing in an attempt to distract from whatever is going on on the floor.  Sorting?  Storage?  I don't know.

These are from the most recent photo shoot - just a month or so ago.  This looks from my scrap-table outward toward the kids' area.  See how inspiring it is?

And this mess, of course, in no way hinders my getting to my scrap table, the leg of which you can just make out in the upper left corner of the photo.

Ah-huh. . .you know, I'm a much better housekeeper than these photos would suggest.

Things I have learned:  You're never done cleaning or organizing.  It's not a done and move on kind of thing - on the flip side it shouldn't be all consuming either.  Some systems will work for you and some won't.  And, therefore, there will always be a level of tweaking.  The key is not to get bogged-down into the "I can't work until my space is organized" or fall into the constant work of organizing as a way to avoid actually scrapbooking.  Both are deadly loops that will kill your scrapbooking attempts.

Also, keep in mind, what one person find works for them, may not work for you.  One system that someone swears by, may totally mess you up.  The key is trying different things,paying attention to how you work, and not being afraid of taking bits of one way and pieces from another to make it work for you!  There are no rules.

I know my work flow.  I know what kind of storage works for me (semi-open or sheer containers; it can't be behind closed doors and it can't be completely out of sight).  Knowing these things makes cleaning and purging and organizing much easier.  I highly recommend finding a copy of the Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker.  Working through the workbook sections will really help you discover how you work and how best to set up your space to help you work.

More tomorrow.

Happy Monday.