Week 21 - Pens and Pencils

Did you notice how these are getting shorter and shorter....I guess I don't have very much to organize because a lot of these topics don't apply to me (or apply, but because I have so few of the items, I currently don't have a storage issue with them).  

So...in my pea-sized brain...these should be stored by type.  She does mention by color - but that just seems odd to me, probably because I have so few.  I do, however, have my copics together....AND by color...ha ha!

I have a couple of watercolor pencil sets and they are still in their packages and stored that way (and are currently buried in those iris storage keepers ... and now that I think of it, I also have some markers from Michaels that I bought a long time ago...hmmm...I wonder if they are all dried up - they weren't that special.

The original post about this is here.  She includes links to various ideas on how to store these items.

This is what I do with my copics - I originally had them in unused baby wipe boxes, but they were cumbersome and I wanted something easier to transport.  THEN I put them in the plastic clam-shell boxes that used to hold my Stamping Up stamps (I have them all removed from the wood, so I didn't need any of that any more).  They were fine...BUT I found these fantastic boxes with a lid in the bead aisle at Michaels and I LOVE them!!! 

Since I took that photo - its changed a bit...I bought 1 more container and use 4 of the narrow sections so I have them sorted better (by color) and moved the larger section with the other larger section to put my Stampin Up Ink spots in it.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Week 19 - Chipboard

HA HA HA - this is going to be a S.M.A.L.L post - I don't have ANY chipboard!

The original post about this step is HERE.

She talks about whether you keep them in the form that you buy them in or pop them out of their holder and store based on image or manufacturer.  I just don't "get" organizing anything by manufacturer...probably because I just buy what I like and that goes together, regardless of the "manufacturer".  I know the minute I change and actually care about this, the manufacturer that I like will go out of business and I'll be pi$$ed off.  

I think its obvious that chipboard alphabets need to be on their own/together...and I guess people have full sheets of chipboard too (which, I must confess, I had some, but I used it and they are gone...I couldn't cut them properly on my expression and I just don't have the patience or desire to figure it out)....she suggests to store them like paper...which makes sense to me (not that anyone cares what I think about this, since I don't "have" chipboard).

Her post is really long about this...so please go look there if you want more info about "methods" of storage.

Week 20 - Diecuts

Another quick one for me...now that I have a cricut, I only cut what I need rather than having stashes of die cuts.  I do, however, have a 12x12 paper mailing box (aka, pizza box) full of some that I purchased long before I got a cricut.  There are several duplicates because I bought them from a company that was going bankrupt and thought...heh, if we have a 2nd child, I'd want to have these cute things in both scrapbooks...so, we only have 1 kid, so now I have duplicates - I also have 2 Santa stockings...so they would coordinate if we had the 2nd kid...sigh.  Anyhow, back to the real discussion....the original post about organizing die cuts is here.

Oh, I actually do have a few more die cuts - ones that I made with my cricut.  Last year when we renewed our membership in the circle, they gave you access to ALL of their digital cuts for free for a certain amount of time.  While a nice gesture, it was odd for me because how do I know what color (or size) to cut things out as when I'm not at the point of scrapbooking those particular photos.  I did cut a few more generic things and and I have all of them saved in plastic baggies.

She talks about how you will organize them...which might be the same way as you organize other embellishments...theme, type, color...whatever.    I think I'd put them by theme...unless they weren't theme related, then probably by color.  She, as always, has links to various ideas for storage.

SO...go at them...dig them out, organize them...and if there are some old and nasty ones - get rid of them!!

have a great week!

Scrapbook layout - 2010 Dinosaurs

In 2010 we took a trip the Calgary.  One of our stops was to the zoo - its a lovely zoo!  Part of the zoo has dinosaurs in it.  I had always wanted to try a layout that had a scene in it, but I find them difficult because I have so many pictures that I want to use.  I though this dinosaur one would be a good way to try because even though I had some nice photos of the dinosaurs, they were kind of boring (and not real dinos).

Everything in this layout was done using the dinosaur tracks cartridge - which PC stupidly discontinued - its a great cartridge.  I also used some cuttlebug folders on the dinosaurs, the lava & trees.  I also whipped out my copic markers to do edging around all the die cuts and also used different brown/grey inks on the mountains.  I have everything popped out with pop-dots.  The shortest mountain on the 1st page has 3 layers of pop dots, so sticks out quite far form the page.  Before I glued on the mountains, I crunched the paper a bit to keep it from looking so flat and then when I put ink on, the edges in the scrunches took on the ink very well.  For the large tree, I put a tiny pop-dot under the bottom few parts of the tree trunk and curled out the edge - which doesn't show up in the photo.

I think I may need to get a cloud or something...but I still have to put a journaling spot somewhere. I may go back and try to edge the grey dino with black because he's blending into the mountain.  I also plan to string the title together with string...but I wanted to "finish" it so I could get it into a circleville contest.

Week 18 - Tools and Adhesives

Because everyone has different tools, it could be a hard one to describe on what to do about them.  The original post is HERE.

She talks about methods of organizing them...by size,  frequency of use, or function.  So, do you keep your embossing supplies with the heat gun or keep all tools together.  She suggests that if you go to crops a lot - then have 2 sets of tools you use all the time and keep one in your crop bag.  She has added several links to different storage ideas.

For me, tools that I use a lot are on my workspace OR in my crop bag.  I have 2 paper trimmers - one that stays in my crop bag and one in my work area.  My embossing stuff is with my heat gun.  All my ATG refills are together as are all my zig 2-way glues and my pop dots - so I guess I kind of keep like things together with SOME items duplicated in my crop bag (like I have spare ATG refills and zig 2-way and pop dots in there too).