Project Life® and Ikea: How to Organize and Simplify Your Desk Inexpensively

So Ikea opened in town, and hubby and I spent our 22nd Wedding Anniversary there!

With just four Ikea desk organizers,

I was able to declutter, simplify, and organize my kitchen desk! 

Here's how you can do it too!

View of the whole desk! Gray storage ottoman from Target. The only new purchases are the white metal Ikea Desk organizers, called KVISSLE. The box with lid set of four, desk organizer, letter tray, and magazine file set of two. The white vase holding fresh roses is from Ikea as well.

Project Life® is a part of everyday life around here. I love to document our family, and it is a simple and easy way to get that done. Part of paring down, simplifying and decluttering this desk was to only bring back absolutely necessary items into the space. One Project Life® album, the light pink Sugar Paper LA planner as my Project Life® planner, and the Websters Pages Color Crush Planner for Family Planning. You can see details on how I use the Project Life® planner here at BeckyHiggins.com/goodlife . You can cover the Ikea magazine file with your choice of scrapbook paper. Here, I used the Heidi Swapp new Marquee Love paper on a roll, and the Pink Paislee Fancy Free scrapbook paper designed by Paige Evans on the left. 

One pair of scissors, one black American Crafts journaling pen,  We R Memory Keepers Confetti Punch, pencils and a ball point pen. The succulent and planter came from West Elm, purchased last April. 

All the white frames were in my craft room upstairs so they were free right? :) They are from Michael's Arts and Crafts Store Studio Decor line. Had the pegboard from a previous project, so cut it down quickly with a jigsaw to fit inside the white frame. The four box set from Ikea holds post it notes, bill paying essentials and stamps, and rubber bands. 

The letter sorter from Ikea will hold one tray of incoming papers for each family member, and this makes it easy to add ephemera to our Project Life® albums. Think movie tickets and such. The bottom shelf holds the Currently Edition Project Life® Kit!

American Crafts Details gold paperclip magnetic tin fits right there on the side of the letter sorter. Candle from Papersource. It smells like lemon gelato!

These Heidi Swapp Marquee letters are for my name Artful Leigh! Used the new Pink Paislee line by Paige Taylor Evans called Fancy Free!!! Yay!

This itty bitty 8x10 pegboard holds just the essentials! Project Life Currently line flair can be found at www.BeckyHiggins.com

Threw in some foam core board and the adhesive backed cork to make a cheap cork board and the gold washi holds some inspirational Project Life® cards from the Currently Line.

Learn more about simplifying your memory keeping at www.BeckyHiggins.com

and thank you for stopping by!!

Hugs,

Leigh

Craft Room Organization Heidi Swapp Inspired Pegboard

I was inspired by Heidi Swapp's large striped wall 

in her craft room and wanted to paint gold stripes on 

my craft room pegboard. 

The pegboard measures 6 feet wide by 3 feet tall and I am here to encourage you, because I made and installed this all by myself! You probably can too! 

I call it the American Crafts wall! Almost everything on here is under the American Crafts umbrella of companies! Love them! 

STEP 1: Tape off and paint in color of choice. I used Rustoleum Metallic Gold Spray Paint

 STEP 2: PEEL TAPE OFF TO REVEAL CRISP CLEAN EDGES :)

STEP 3 AND 4: Miter your painted frame/molding (number the back as you go for easier placement later) and hang by 1"x2" boards secured to the studs with long wood screws, I used a stud finder to locate them. Tip for easily hanging the 1x2's by yourself---I marked the edge of the boards once I got them level. I found the studs and marked them with a pencil, then drilled through the level 1x2's into the wall with a drill bit same diameter as your wood screws. I then placed a long nail through the hole created with the drill to hold the 1x2's in the wall while I secured them with screws at the other end:) 

STEP 5: Use Liquid Nails or Loc-Tite (construction adhesive of choice) to attach moldings and clamp  with heavy duty clamps until it grabs hold. Then pre drill small holes for the finishing brads and hammer them in through the molding and into the 1"x2" secured boards. Countersink them with a countersink tool so they are less noticeable when covered with caulking. 

STEP 6: NO PIC- APPLY CAULKING TO THE FRAME'S BRAD HOLES AND  CORNERS TO HIDE THE SEAM.

STEP 7: Have fun hanging and organizing your stuff!!!

I added the raw pine boards that I cut with my jig-saw by pegboard shelf hooks.

 Target dollar bins 2/$1 from about six months ago finally have a spot. 

 Planning Station below the pegboard.

 Close up my "Shine Bright" and letters "A" and "L" for Artful Leigh:)

 Wide angle lens used to capture the entire wall.

Here is a short You-Tube video about this project if you would like to watch, thank you for visiting and have fun organizing!!

How I used inexpensive containers to organize my current Project Life monthly kits and Stamps by Artful Leigh Creative.

Want to Organize your most used stamps and monthly kits?

Here's simple organizational tip using the Target Dollar Spot bins that are two for a dollar.

I found that I am more likely to use the stamps and my current monthly kits if they are out on my desk where I can easily flip through them.

Quick and inexpensive storage ideas can be functional and pretty.

I showed the bins and the labels up close in a post a couple of weeks ago, so let's get to it.

Just choose your fav colors 

 These bins are easily accessed from both sides of the craft desk so I put them in the middle.  

Watch the video below for a quick three minute run through of how you can implement this super inexpensive and functional idea.

Click to watch the video.

Thanks for visiting today, and here is the link to my most pinned blog post the "DIY Craft Table Tutorial"

http://www.artfulleighcreative.com/2013/09/diy-craft-table-tutorial.html

Easy Tip for Organization of Project Life Kit Stamps

Super easy and quick today.

Simply label with your label maker of choice. I used an old school Dymo label maker with a fun color tape.

 Then keep in a bin like this one from target 2/$1, and store near or on your work space. 

Add the Add-on kit name on the back for easy identification when posting layouts.

I find I use them more frequently if they aren't buried in the box they came in:)

Thank you,

Artful Leigh Creative

Super Easy Project Life Planner! You Can Journal With Three Supplies!

    This is the way I have been journaling for Project Life going on three years now, and this system works so well for me that I thought I should share it with you!


    Three types of supplies:
1) Pens in different colors
2) A planner with the week on two pages and ample lines to write and journal on
3) Washi tape


    Super Simple right?


   In just a few minutes each night...

    The KEY is to note your pictures in a different COLOR AND to note an I-Phone vs. Photograph, so I circle an "I" for phone pics, and a "P" for DSLR photographs. Switch the letters to whatever works for you, (like P for phone pics and C for camera pics). This is what helps me see how many of each type I have and helps with printing.  I print all my photos at home. I-Phone pics I usually print out at 2.75x 3.75, and DSLR photos out at 4x6. Easy to see at a glance if I can use more space for journaling since typically will print out between 7-11 photos for each week's Project Life spread. My journaling is in pink this year. Photos are in blue.

    Since I have other planners, this one is strictly for photos, stories, and ephemera. By using a larger format planner, you can easily add ephemera to your planner to use in your Project Life pages.


    I hope this simple idea helps anyone who struggles to get the stories along with the photos for your books!!!

5 Easy Steps to Organize Project Life Cards by Color AND Kit!!

    Todays Workspace Wednesday solves an issue I have noticed in the Project Life® Community, and Planner Community. Usually if you divide Project Life® cards by color, the thinking is they will be all smashed together, and you won't know what kit a card comes from, and that gets some people nervous, including me! So to solve this I did some brainstorming and came up with this simple system. 5 Steps to  organize your Project Life® Kits for good. Yay!

    Step one is simple, write down all the kits you want to organize. I usually won't mix creme background and crisp white background kits together, so this is my list. You can totally personalize this to the kits you have and the ways you want to divide your kits. I keep my Studio Calico Kits separate and they are also organized by color.

    Step two is simple as well. Personalize it according to how you design. If you love having black, white gray and brown cards divided, then write it on a Post-it as well.

     In step three, we sort out ONE kit at a time, and this goes pretty quickly, since we have one kit open at a a time.

    Step four is the key to the success of this system. For each color in a kit, write down the color and the kit title as shown above. I used a tab punch from a few years ago, but if you don't have a tab punch, a circle punch works as well! Sorting one kit at  a time ensures you won't get overwhelmed and mix up the titles. Use what you have for the dividers, I had 4x6 index cards, so one cut to divide them in half was all that was needed. You could also use chipboard, cute packaging, etc.

    Step five is where it all starts to come together. Place them in the desired containers. I carried around a 3x4 and 4x6 card in my purse to assure they would fit, and happened to find this container......

        at the Target Dollar Spot, two for a dollar!! And mint color! Swoon.

    Repeat until you are done. I was able to fit SIX core kits in this multi-purpose rolling cart from Michael's. The 3x4 cards on the second shelf, and the 4x6 cards and neutrals in a shoebox from Target on the third shelf. This is WAY easier to search for and mix cards together, than opening the boxes and searching through them one at a time. I could only store three of the core kit boxes on the second shelf and now there are SIX! Double the capacity. You could totally use the top shelf for more cards instead of embellishments, and I might start on organizing the creme background kits next.



    Happy organizing, and tag me on Instagram if you try this out! #organizePLcards or tag me @artfuleigh, thank you.