How to organize paper??

I keep my pads intact, its just easier for me that way. I sort by seasons of the year as I have a lot of holliday paper. I also have files for specific books I am working on (wedding, baby book, etc). I use a Cropper Hopper file cart. I find though that if I'm not careful putting the folders back in, if there is paper hanging out the side, that it can bend the sides or corners.

I sort mine by themes and then color. I try to keep specialty paper separate. Such as glitters etc.
I keep them in 12x12 Plastic boxes labeled.

I don't have too much paper that didn't come from a stack. I love buying stacks since the papers coordinate. Right now I have most of my stacks piled in the bottom drawer of a wide plastic drawer thing. That drawer is massively heavy -- I have to close it with my foot, my arms aren't strong enough to close it lol! I need to reorganize my entire space, with paper being big on the list.

What I started to do was buy the $1 plastic holders that have one snap on the front. They're translucent and I always get them at Michael's. But I'm kind of sick of them as for storing loose paper. Especially the colored ones because the light coming through the plastic distorts the paper colors and I have to pull the paper out to see what it actually looks like.

I really, really need to sort my cardstock. I don't have much of it at all, not sure why...I think I forget how important it is when I'm shopping and keep spending money on other stuff lol. When Hobby Lobby has paper on sale again I'll have to go and spend any money I have on a good variety of colors.

I don't have a system right now for paper scraps, still working on finding one that works well.

But for my 12x12 patterned paper I am going to get the simple vertical standing plastic holders like the OP mentioned. That will just be for loose paper, though. I'm still not sure where to put my stacks.

Sigh paper is my addiction. I limit my self to a pretty scrapbook file. I sort by color. This keeps it all together. Cardstock I keep in a plastic box that lays flat.

I am another one that sorts alphabetically by manufacturer. It really cuts done on the selection process for layouts because most of it's already coordinated. Also, manufacturers tend to have similar colors (such as similar greens)across collections, so it's easy to mix collections from the same manufacturer. Not to mention, you get used to the look and colors from manufacturers, so you can pick other papers to coordinate when you are looking for that perfect extra piece of paper.

I scrap by manufacture so I sort the same way as far as patterned paper. I also have tons and tons of 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 pads since I card make a lot.

My card stock is sorted r/g/b order.

My embellishments are kept in their original packaging for the most part the exception bine brads and buttons.

I've tried all the different ways to "organize" my paper and nothing seems to work - sooo - I just keep adding paper and spend hours looking for just the right paper for each craft. Sigh

Be careful madding. At night when you are watching them, they mulitiply. Cardstock and patterned papers breed like crazy. Completely out of control!

Before you know it you have thousands of patterned and cardstock and then you are forced to find a system that works for you.

For some its by color but too many of my patterned papers have a lot of colors.

Some by brand or manufacturer but I don't have a clue who makes any of mine.

Somes its by theme, which is all that works for me but not for everyone. If I want papers to do a cruise layout, I want to go to the cruise container.

Holy cow ya'll have a ton of paper! No wonder everyone says that this is an expensive hobby.

I have a cardboard 12x14 moving box lid that I stack all my paper in. I have almost all plain cardstock, so it's really not an issue of sorting. Guess I'm still a noob.

ROY G BIV!!

I follow the rainbow and keep my scraps in large accordion folders that are made of clear plastic. I've had them for years and that system has served me well!

I sort my paper by colour and a little by theme. I have blue, green, red, orange, yellow, white/offwhite, black/grey, kraft, separate.
I sort pp by colour if it is predominately one colour.
I also have all my Christmas paper together, Halloween, and a category for misc. themes (like school, trucks, sports etc.) I don't have a lot of any one of those so I put them together on one shelf.
I use the paper shelving that I bought from here...link below
Alison

I have a different approach. I tend to file my alphabetically by manufacturer in Cropper Hopper vertical storage. This works for me in a variety of ways. First, I sort my embellishments the same way so it's easy for me to see if I have embellies that coordinate with my paper (or vice versa).

Second, I often will look at pictures and feel inspired to use a certain manufacturer or line & I know right where to look for it.

I leave any stacks/pads intact & just store them on shelves.

I have become lax in my organization. I have a large shoulder tote that has a cropper hopper holder and I have a mix of manufacturers there, usually some of my newer papers. I like to take a variety to crops without taking "everything" and this works good for that.

Sorting by color or by theme would never work for me, that's why I went this route & love it.

My paper was previously stored in three ring binders in page protectors. I keep several sheets in one page protector. This got to be a little heavy (muscle health issues) so I recently took all my paper and put it in a shopping bag until I can buy the storage box I saw at Hobby Lobby. It's still portable for crops so I'm good. I sort my paper and the rest of my goodies according to how I think and scrap LOL (yeah I gave it crazy names), hold on....wait for it.
Femme: Pinks and purples
Boy: Red and Blues
Sunshine: Yellow and Orange
Earth: Green and Brown
Neutrals: Black, White and Gray
Family: Papers that I bought specifically for some family project or LO
Seasonal papers
Vellums
Transparencies
I sort my multi-colored patterned paper by whatever color I think I will use it for. EX: if I have paper that is pink and green and if it's girly or pink is the dominant color, then it goes with the pink paper. My limited supply of solid colored cardstock is sorted and stored this way also. I love stacks and I keep them intact cause they are already in their own little theme and glued together. I store them vertically on a shelf. I hope you get a system that works for you. It's a fabulous thing when you do.
My Paper Storage (some of it anyway) By Ms. Mom

Here's my paper organiztion system. I keep 2,000-3,000 sheets of paper on hand (patterned) and about 2,000 cardstock. For the cardstock I use the rack that we got when Michaels tossed them in the trach a few years back.

Patterned Paper Bins By Henri Jean

I usually describe what I do but it's difficult for me to type tonight - in hopsital, computer on my lap and IVs running everywhere. Hands are very sore from having IVs moved around but hopefully you can see how it is done in the photo.

I typically don't buy pads, but when I do... well, my cooking stack is still intact, and is on the food and cooking shelf with all my other cooking paper. I haven't taken apart Tattered Time, because most of it wouldn't fit into any other category I already have anyway, and it was already on its own shelf. Not sure why I leave solid-colored cardstock pads intact.

I tear mine apart, mostly. I have not separated the Distress or Kraft Core-dinations pads, partly because they'd be in their own segregated section anyway and partly because while they're still together I can tell what the color names are, as they're printed on the outside of the package. Nor have I separated my new Tropical Travelogue pack yet, partly because it's so new and I love it to bits and actually bought all the matching chipboard and stickers which is something I almost never do. Once I start to use it (I have a couple projects in mind) it will get separated, too.

On the same topic.

Do you take apart you pads and organize them or leave then intact?

I created a digital library of all of my pattern papers…
I took quick photos of all of my pattern papers and stacks. When I buy new stuff I take photos before I put it away and when I use stuff I delete the photos. I keep the photo files on my computer but I also upload them through Itunes to my Iphone, Ipod, and Ipad. I have just a couple basic themes like Christmas. Sometimes I rename files so matching papers that may not have been photographed at the same time are together.
It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn’t. We are talking QUICK photos & upload. And new papers, delete used papers.

When I have a new project I look through my images and narrow the papers I might like to use.
Then I dig out the actual sheets and make my final decision.
This method, for me, is a billion times faster than flipping through ALL of my paper. And because I am looking at the images my actual paper doesn’t get all dog eared and damaged. I also have come up with some great combinations because it was easier to mix and match the images.
Another great feature of this idea is if you have phone/music player that accepts images you can take the images with you while you shop. I cannot tell you how many times I almost bought something but then checked and realized I already had it. (I also have images of my stickers and embellishments.)

… I know this sounds like a lot of work but snapping a bunch of quick images really wasn’t that much work. It is about the same time it would take you to look through your stacks of paper anyway. I was just beating the heck out of my paper every time I was trying to make up my mind on what to use and it was taking me FORever. For anybody who has accumulated a lot of paper, this method using images, really saves time and your paper.
PS I guess I should mention I store my actual paper papers by broad themes like Holidays, vacation, beach, stacks, kits, etc.

as I see it...it's not about "filing" your papers it's about being able to choose from your papers while being able to consider everything you got...for me doing this through images was the solution.

I don't like vertical shelving, takes up too much space for me, I like Cropper Hoppers. Patterned paper by generic theme (holiday, vacation, dots and circles, flowers, lines/stripes/plaids, food/kitchen, photographic textures), plain paper in ROYGBIV, distress/grunge patterned paper also ROYGBIV. One Cropper Hopper for vellum (divided into plain, patterned, colored). And one for packs of paper such as Cryogen White, and stacks I haven't torn apart yet.

I use a vertical rack with 24 shelves - you can see the top of it in the pic below - categorized as follows:

- Solid cardstock stacks
- Black and white papers
- Red and pink papers
- Orange and yellow papers
- Green papers
- Blue papers
- Purple papers
- Brown papers
- Metallic papers
- Specialty papers (leather-texture paper, mulberry paper, etc.)
- Vellum sheets
- Sheets and booklets of ephemera
- Vintage/distressed papers
- Papers about reading, writing, words, and letters
- Currently empty; used to be rabbit papers
- Travel
- Sports
- Christmas
- Miscellaneous papers for specific upcoming projects
- Nature (landscapes, water, trees, animals)
- Hobbies (science, music, computers, photography, video games, movies, sewing); also papers that are pictures of "things" that don't fit into other categories, such as keys and clocks
- Stripes and other patterns
- Food and cooking

Scraproom (January 2011) - Work area By Aquabunny

I want to know how you fellow scrapbookers organize your paper?? what catorgories you put your paper and if you go futher into those catorgies?? I want an easier way to find my paper instead of looking through each bin. Also what you recomment on storage to use for the system??thanks!!