A Six Foot Tall Stranger Moved In and Helped Me With My Scrapbook Storage Issues!

Scrapbox’s Big Box in New Scrapbook Storage

My absolute favorite scrap booking day this year wasn’t spent creating anything: it was putting ALL my supplies into my new Scrapbox Workbox! If you haven’t heard of it yet, you will, since it’s been causing a stir at scrapbook tradeshows nationwide. I urge you to check it out, because it feels like you have a new store right in your own house!

What a blast! I found stuff I’d forgotten I had, and now it’s stored and labeled where I can actually find it and use it. Today, just about everything I use is hidden in plain sight in a lovely clean-lined piece of furniture no larger than a TV armoire.

The Original Scrapbox is so chock full of cubbies and bags, I had to stretch to fill it up. I gladly chucked the lovely plastic coffee container I was using to store buttons and the hodgepodge of plastic shoeboxes in which I stored glue sticks and tapes. A few favorite magazine issues found a home as well.

I even had room for the children’s art supplies and artwork. In fact, with space for each child’s school folder, too, I can keep all their work in a handy spot OFF the kitchen counter. I hadn’t intended to use the furniture this way, but it’s working out so well

I find it’s more about being available than about storage. When I think of storage, I think of those facilities with door after door, where folks visit a few times a year to access their seasonal things. This Scrapbox Workbox is so much more than mere storage. It’s a working system, a tool that truly functions as a workhorse (a stationary butler of sorts) in our house.

It’s prefab furniture (a pretty massive delivery!), and the website promised it would take 2 or 3 hours to assemble, which proved accurate. It came together just fine, since we were careful to keep everything organized when it came out of the box. It’s heavy, but balanced; the casters work nicely to roll open the front panels, which are where I’m storing glue and paint, so they are not exactly the lightest doors around! And the quality is high; everything lined up perfectly, and the doors were polished and beautiful like good furniture. It’s actually a stylish addition to the room!

By the way, this company also makes a smaller half-height version of the same thing. Called a Minibox, its work surface is 32” x 37” and holds an impressive fifty cubbies and pouches, all within reach. Just like the big one, you can fold it all away and latch it shut, and it looks like a lovely cabinet. Wouldn’t you know, I went whole hog and got the Workbox because I knew I could use ALL 54 cubic feet of storage space!

Abundant Alternative Uses

I’m going to go out on a limb and say, even if you don’t have a hobby of scrap booking, you’d probably get a TON of use out of it.

Here’s a practical application: You pick up a dozen votive candles at your favorite candle store because they are having a $1.00 sale. You bring them home in a nice clean plastic container. Now what? Kitchen cabinet? Under the bed? You know where I’m going with this; with so many drawers and bags, why not keep stuff like that in a beautiful accessible place? You don’t need to be a hobbyist to utilize a piece like this. Think of the napkin rings, mail, box-tops, news clippings, paper plates, board games, etc. that we all have to deal with. Even light bulbs and extension cords could be happy in here.

But of course the hobbyist is who it’s made for. When the Scrapbox designer (the husband of an avid cropper, of course) had his “Eureka” moment in front of the refrigerator one evening, he immediately set out to gather information from people in the know. After plenty of market research and several prototypes, he fine-tuned the design and began to have them made in large quantities for scrap bookers.

As it turns out, quilters and people who work with fibers and fabrics also like this piece for similar reasons. It simply does the job that nothing else on the market can do. Whether it’s buttons and ribbons and yarns, or papers and stamps and paints and glue you collect (or all of the above!) this fold-away super center stands beautifully and guards your precious materials better.

A 'Make and Take' Resource

We croppers love to meet together and crop; maybe you even have a small business like me that centers on scrap booking and takes you and your work out of the home. Besides those dedicated cropping events, most of us have very busy lives. After all, that’s where the real memories are made, you know! So here’s a tip you might employ when you get your workbox or minibox: Always keep one drawer "at-the-ready" for a page in progress.

While I love to sit in my cozy studio where I can really get "in the zone", I can easily switch gears when I already have a page design in mind, and my materials just need to be cut, stamped or glued. That’s the point when I put my needed supplies into one drawer (I use the 3-inch 12X12 box canvas tote) and literally tote it around the house or on errands. For example:

• If my grade school child needs me at the kitchen table while he’s doing homework, I can do some journaling on the page while sitting right beside him.
• If I know I’m going to have an hour to kill between appointments, I just toss my tote in the car that morning and duck into a coffee shop during that hour to finish my pages.
• On the days I work, I can always squeeze in a little taping-down during a lunch break.

These days I literally assemble at least 50% of my pages "on the fly", and I wholeheartedly recommend it. But you must be prepared. Sometimes I actually sketch out a quick layout and a few journaling points I don’t want to forget, and toss that into the box as well. You’d be surprised how much you can have pre-made to assemble "off-sight" as it were. It takes a little experience to be able to "eyeball" your photos and other components while you work, but after a few tries it becomes second nature – and you won’t believe the extra pages you’ll finish in the same amount of time. You’ll use your time at home much more efficiently.

With this mega storage system, it’s easy to toss everything back where it belongs when you get home, since it was designed to quickly access the right space. Additionally, the canvas boxes are really durable, and if you do happen to need another one, they can be purchased separately.

The Peace-Keeper

A word of caution: If you’ve convinced your honey to let you splurge on the Scrapbox Workbox with promises of a neater, clutter-free living space, I suggest you go ahead and close the doors after you use it. If it goes unorganized, an open piece this size (imagine its extendable desk piled high with stuff, and ribbons spilling out the top of a box so packed you can’t jam it back in its place), will hardly convince your friends and family that you’ve turned the corner on living with clutter. Use it well, or you could end up making matters worse!

See for yourself how you like living with an airy, mess-free space for a few weeks and you may find that you live more fully and beautifully in an uncluttered home. Without the scrap booking “backdrop” intruding into your peaceful home, you may enjoy making new memories even more.

Will Something Smaller Do?

Any Complaints?

I personally love this product. It really is a quality piece of furniture. I will note that due to the quality you will want to take your time putting it together. The only other thing is as I mentioned before, don't let it be a clutter collector - use it wisely!

Get Yours Direct From The Manufacturer!

You can order the Original Scrapbox directly from them. They’re the manufacturer and exclusive distributor of this complete scrapbook workstation. TheOriginalScrapbox.com has a selection of finishes, so you can really create a custom look for your home and scrapbook room. I also really appreciate their customer support (five-star, always) and their discounted shipping.

Read More --- > The Ultimate Scrapbooking Armoire

A special "Thank You" to my friend Jen M for writing about her experience for the ScrapbookersInnerCircle.com.