Stickers are one of the most popular scrapbook embellishments, but storage for scrapbook stickers can be a challenge. If you're not careful, your sticker collection can easily take over your entire scrapbook craft room!
Methods of Storage for Scrapbook Stickers
Once you've sorted your stickers, it's time to decide what storage method you wish to use to keep your collection in order. You should base your storage for scrapbook stickers on four factors:
- Your budget
- The amount of space you have available to store your sticker collection
- How fast your sticker collection appears to be growing
- How much time you want to devote to maintaining your system of storage for scrapbook stickers
Repurposed Sticker Storage
If you're on a budget, you can repurpose many household items into great sticker storage. Try these methods:
- Bags - Try labeled Ziploc storage bags with holes punched in the corners and attached to a large plastic ring.
- Envelopes - Use sturdy plastic envelopes, available from the local office supply store.
- Baseball card storage - Store smaller stickers in divider pages inside a pretty three-ring binder.
- Photo storage boxes - Label each box with the category of sticker.
- Desktop letter file - For easy access, use a desktop letter file.
- Magazine files - Store sheets of stickers in magazine files on a shelf in your craft room.
- Peg board - Peg board is great for more than the tool room; use it to store stickers above your craft desk.
Storage Furniture With Space for Stickers
If you're in the market for a new piece of furniture for your scrapbooking room, there are some pieces that are especially useful for storing small items like stickers. Consider the following
- Bookshelf with wicker baskets for stickers
- Desk with shallow shelves or small drawers
- Apothecary cabinet or library card catalog
- Cupboard with baskets on the inside of the door
- Wheeled cart with shallow drawers for stickers
Specialty Scrapbook Sticker Storage Solutions
Several companies make speciality storage items designed for scrapbook stickers. Consider these options:
- Storage Studios Projections Sticker Stadium Storage - This accordion-style organizer offers stadium-style storage for your stickers, letting you put the tallest sheets in back and smaller ones in front. It has four out of five stars on Amazon, where it retails for just under $13.
- Cropper Hopper Vertical Variety Pack - Featuring vertical storage for odd-sized items like full and partial sheets of stickers, this set has a holder and two arrangers with labels to keep your organized. It has a rating of five stars on Scrapbook.com, where it sells for about $20.
- ArtBin Super Semi Satchel - This organizer is perfectly sized for smaller sheets of stickers and gives you the opportunity to use dividers to organize a large collection. It has 4.8 out of five stars at JoAnn, where it retails for about $14.
- Subang 12 Pack of Zipper Pouches - This pack of 12 pouches of various sizes is great for storing a sticker collection with sticker sheets of different dimensions. You can organize the pouches in file folders. They sell for about $11 on Amazon, where users give them 4.5 out of five stars.
Dealing With Leftover Stickers
One of the greatest challenges of scrapbook sticker storage is deciding what to do with leftover stickers. If you're too frugal to throw away stickers left over from your latest scrapbooking project, here are some ideas to put them to good use:
- Use leftover stickers as bits of adhesive when adding wrapping ribbon or fibers around a layout. Since the sticker will be on the back of your page, it won't matter what it looks like.
- Cover leftover alphabet stickers of varying styles with black or brown ink, then mix them together to make a "ransom note" title for your scrapbook layout.
- Create a collage background made with an assortment of cheap stickers, then use the piece as custom background paper for your next layout.
- Use stickers to make bookmarks or handmade greeting cards for friends and family.
- Keep in mind that many schools, churches, and daycare programs accept donations of craft supplies if you can't think of a good use for your leftover stickers.
Tips for Sorting Your Scrapbook Stickers
The first step to developing a sticker storage system is to come up with a method for sorting your stickers. There are a number of different approaches to this task, so feel free to choose the method that best fits your own creative process. Keep these tips in mind:
- If you work on a scrapbook design team or plan to submit your layouts for possible publication in a scrapbook magazine such as Creating Keepsakes, keep in mind that you'll generally be asked to provide the manufacturer and product line information for the supplies you use when creating your pages.
- Sort stickers by color if you find you do a lot of color-themed scrapbook layouts, or by type, such as acid free stickers.
- If you have a collection with various manufacturers, you can also sort them that way. You can even create a section for stickers you print yourself.
- Another great option is to sort by theme, making it easy to created birthday-themed layouts, baby scrapbooks, and more.
Make Scrapbooking More Fun
No matter how you choose to sort and store your scrapbook stickers, you'll be glad you organized these supplies. Scrapbooking is more fun when you have everything you need at your fingertips.
