Crime of the Scene Blog Hop

Happy {Inter}National Scrapbook Day {Weekend}!

Don't you just love that we have our very own holiday?!?!

And hopefully you are here because of the Master Forger Blog Hop from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge where we have been celebrating this special day with a CSI theme.

(If you are here direct, why not pop back to the beginning of the hop here. If you are coming to me from Julie, you are heading in the right direction, so enjoy the rest of the hop.)

I haven't played along yet but it looks like a whole lot of fun. So if you want to join in and be in with a chance to enter for the prize draw, courtesy of Little Blue Button Stamps, then you need to head over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and check out the posts from over the weekend (starting here).

So, how do we fit into theme then? By showing you the scene of the crime, of course! Where we plot and plan our scrapbooking crimes. Our scrap spaces, LOL.

I am so very lucky to have a whole room to myself and all my products that are multiplying far too quickly. It's a nice room at the front of the house and I have big plans. So what I am showing you is not how it's going to be forever. Everything is going to be moved around and I am busy collecting ideas. What you see is how I unpacked it 6 months ago. I unpacked and stashed as a priority and now I'm coming up with plans for how to make it work even better. But having tidied it up for these photos today, I can see just how much potential it has and how lucky I am.

So, here it is! I have cut off the side bit of the room which is where my computer is and piles of papers and mess. Not really nice to look at and part of what will change when I move the room around.  True to so many scrapbookers around the world, I use the Ikea Expedit shelves for the bulk of my storage (here left) and love that the cubicles are perfect for scrapbook papers.

Photo boxes are along the very top, books and papers next down and then eye level and below is where I keep my go to products. I am constantly evolving the ideas of what baskets or boxes to keep my stuff in so it is a bit of a mish-mash with lots of non-matching items. A bit of a work in progress.

The horizontal paper storage in the middle there is where I lovingly store and stroke my BG collection. That needs some work as I struggle to find the papers I know I have. Several cubicles are filled with non-scrapbook stuff and I will be resorting and restoring all my items when I go through my redesign. I have a lot less scrapbook stash than it looks like in this photo - honest!

This is where I stand and scrap. I try to keep it clear and clean but I did tidy it up properly for the photo ;-) Several of the drawers here have scrap stash too. Stamps, inks, punches, themed product. See those clear plastic boxes? That will be where all my layouts are sitting, waiting to be put into albums. I haven't put a layout in an album for about three years and all the old post-bound albums got chucked when we moved. That means about 400-500 layouts waiting to be put into new homes. I think they are safe in these boxes for the meantime, but they need to find another place to live as they take up way too much space here.

I keep some of my most recent purchases in the basket to the left of my table which reminds me to use them. But I have to say that most of my scrapping these days comes directly from my Counterfeit kit each month (I currently have 6 kits on the go which is about 2 too many. Watch this space for LOAD productivity which should use up some of those kits.

I got this in the sale one day and love it right next to me where I scrap. All my glues, foam dots etc are in the bottom basket which is perfect. I love having lots of pretty stuff right at hand so newer stuff goes into that second basket and twines and other bits go into the top.

However, as much as I like the photos above where I have tidied up, this photo is really how it is when I'm scrapping. It's usually in the evening, I have my lights on and the music or podcasts are playing on the computer in the background. It's cosy and I'm happy pottering and playing with pretty product.

And just because at the scene of the crime and it's not unusual to hear a confession or two, I feel the need to share some recent purchases. First off is this super cute Ikea trolley that is really popular among our community right now (mine's wobbly so I need to take it apart and try again!). Something I had to have but am not really sure how I will use it long term. And that top basket? It's full of some new stuff. A lot of new stuff. A huge amount of huge stuff to be honest. I'm leaving it there to remind me to use it up and inspire me to be creative.

What do you think? Can you offer me advice on how to optimise my space and make it pretty but functional at the same time. What colour scheme do you think I should use?

Share your ideas (you never know, I might reward the most inspiring idea or suggestion!) and then carry on hopping to check out the rest of the gang (next stop of the ever delightful Lynette) and hear their confessions!

Did you listen to the Paperclipping Round Table this week? Noelle confessed to loving peeking into people's homes when their front doors are open on Halloween night. This hop reminds me of that. I know scrappers just love to see other scrappers creative spaces. I can't wait to see what the others have and to gather some more ideas!

Here's the full list in case you get lot along the way

Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.de/
Bethany  http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Guest Designer: Sherrie http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca

Andrea http://snappingmonsters.blogspot.com/

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Jennifer http://www.jennifergracecreates.com

Julie http://www.hisglorygirl.blogspot.com/

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/