Organization: Paper Scraps

Like many things I have organized and re-organized, my paper scraps were one of those things that I just couldn't seem to find something that worked for me.  Whenever I would mat a photo or use a sheet of paper for a title I didn't want to just waste the rest and throw it away.  At one point I tried throwing all my scraps in a bin, but quickly grew tired of trying to dig through the pile of paper to find the color I needed.  I then tried drawers, but at that time there were only the smaller sizes and I scrap 12x12 mostly so some of my scraps would be 12" in length and they wouldn't fit in the drawers.

Then came the sterilite 12x12 drawers!

1 set consists of 3 drawers so I bought 2 of them to stack on top of each other.  I then assigned each drawer a specific color

My drawers are divided into these colors:
1. red, yellow, orange
2. green, blue
3. pink, purple, peach
4. white, cream, and gray
5. black, brown
6. metallics, misc., and patterns

Now I can fit even my 12" scraps and whenever I am looking for a certain color I can just go to that drawer.  Before I cut a whole piece of paper I look in my scrap drawers to see if I have something that may work instead.

I did this a long time ago and am too lazy to change things around, but if I were to categorize my colors today I probably would do it a bit differently.  I probably would put reds and pinks together since some of them can overlap in color and some I have a hard time deciding if it's more on the red side or the pink side.

This is the way I store almost all of my cardstock and patterned paper scraps.  The only scraps I don't stick in these drawers is my Stampin' Up cardstock and Papertrey Ink cardstock.  I keep those scraps with my full sheets in a different system.