Week 30 - Enjoy your beautiful and organized new room

TEE HEE we should be done now...ha ha ha  The original post is HERE.

OH MAN...I wish I had a space to decorate!  I'd keep it fairly neutral and then have a few accessories that are, well,...blue...big surprise...blue.  I'd like to have enough space that I'd be able to use some of it to display photos or pretty things, a nice clock...rather than just used for storage.

Enjoy your new, beautiful, organized crafting space - I know I will...IF I EVER GET ONE!  ;)

Week 29 - Albums

This is a new step from last year since I didn't notice it as a separate item in the original girl's posting of organizational steps.

I have no idea how they should be stored...flat...standing up...what?  I have mine flat but it does make it difficult to look at the one on the bottom...so I really don't look at them at all.  They are also different color albums...although the colors kind of make sense - green is pre-baby, light blue is a holiday album, yellow is baby's 1st year albums...you get the idea.

I'd love for them to all be the same with labels on the spines and standing up...like books...but that would take too much work and I don't have the space to have them standing up and displayed and able to be looked at.  All that work and effort and no one can flip through them.

Week 28 - Cards and card making supplies

Another small post for me...see the original post here.

I keep all handmade cards that I receive and they all fit nicely in a photo box from Michaels - and still have lots of room to grow.  I don't make alot of cards - really only for Christmas and one-off thank-you notes - so I pretty much only make the quantity I need - so nothing to store.

The original poster has a lot of ideas - please go look if you have a lot of cards to deal with. 

Week 27 - FONTS

This post (original post is here) is about organizing your computer fonts.

She says to NOT install all fonts (which I started to do already) - it slows down your system.  She suggests if you have thousands of fonts to maybe have folders for the different types - san serif, blah blah.  I don't have thousands (well, I'm not really sure)...and she suggests to get "the font thing" for organizing (which doesn't work with Vista) - which I also have...but I don't think I've used.

She says to unzip any fonts and put all fonts in their one location.  I have all my fonts in 1 location, but I think I've kept them all in their zip file....hmmm.  She says to print them out so you have them in 1 location and can look at them easily and see which ones you want to use.

Remember to back-up your font file - wouldn't it suck if you lost your fonts when/if your hard drive crashed?! I lost my personal printing font because our computer crashed...boo hoo.

Currently I only really use 2 or 3 of my available fonts, so I'm just going to leave it alone.

Week 26 - clean?

HA HA....see the original post here....keeping it neat...baa ha ha ha ha ha.

She suggests that when you purchase new things, they can only go into your workspace if you immediately put it where it belongs - ha ha .. when I get something new, the bag lands on the floor!  I clearly need to get my act together.

She also says that after you finish a project, you can't start another until cleaned up everything from the current project..oopps...I fail on that one too.  I keep all the 'scraps' from the project in a pile...which I add new scraps from the next project and so on until there isn't any room...THEN I put them away.  I guess I'll have to try to stop that.  Have a pristine workspace before you start the next project...BAA HA HA HA!  I barely have room to work on a current project...there's no place for pristine...see, I NEED a scrapbook area!

She also talks about organizing your albums.  If you want to keep them together (I like that), they don't have to be in your craft area.  Gee - I wish that I had a place I could put them that wasn't in my craft area, but I don't.  She changed all her albums so they look identical...DROOL DROOL!  I would love that....but alas, its not a priority....she even has the spine labeled...wow...what a concept...I have to open an album to see what is in it...except those that are obvious from the album cover.  I also have mine stacked, rather than like books - not sure why, but I think its because I didn't want to waste the space that the 12x12 album didn't fill...if I stack them, I can get more in the space.

IF I ever get a scrapbook space...I'm going to try to get all my albums identical...but I dread the thought of the work required to do it...as it is now, I wait until I have an entire album's worth of pages ready before I fill an album - that's one part of scrapbooking I hate - filling the albums.

Week 25 - Negatives

WOO HOO - I have all of my negatives D.O.N.E - Well, I think that I do and I started working on this a long LONG time ago - before I got my digital camera and I had so many negatives and they were driving me crazy, so I bought negative sleeves that fit in a regular binder and spent hours and hours organizing them and labeling them...and the 3" binder is FULL - but it sure is easier to deal with 1 binder than bags and bags of negatives....and...and

See the original post here.

Week 24 - Memorabilia

I always come home from trips with a big envelope FULL of pamphlets, tickets and other memorabilia from trips.  I just recently purchased an accordion file box with a handle, to put these kinds of things in.  I'm going to keep items sorted by trip...I can't think of any reason to do it any other way.  I haven't put all memorabilia in it yet...but as I accumulate new things (like stuff from PJ's school), I'm putting them in.

The original post is here.

Week 23 - Templates

Templates - seems easy enough...sort by type or by theme...done.  I have a few Coluzzles and a few deluxe cut layout templates (which are now discontinued), some lettering templates and I think a few other templates (for folding).  The ones that are letter size, are stored in the same place as my nestabilities (binder) and my Deluxe cut ones & alphabet ones are in a bag near my crop bags (I used to use them a lot, so had them in a really convenient place).

See the original post here when she has links of ideas on how to store these.  I guess I have to figure out if I want to keep them....they don't take up a lot of room, but if I'm not using them...why are they here?

Week 22 - Dies for Die cutting machines

This is yet ANOTHER easy one for me...other than embossing folders, I think I have 3 dies - and they came with the cuttlebug...so I don't really have an issue with this.  I'm SO GLAD that I held off on die cutting systems until the cricut was born...I certainly wouldn't have had room for all of those wooden dies...NOR the cute little metal ones...that, and I like to be able to change the sizes...so dies are so NOT my thing.  Actually, I do have a couple more dies that match with a stamp set...and they are kept together with all my stamps

Having said that...I do, however, have some nestabilities that I have N.E.V.E.R used!  They are stored in pocket pages on magnetic sheets (looks like slide-in photo sleeves) and are in a binder somewhere in the room - and I think there might be a mailing pouch full of unopened ones...somewhere in here...I really need to determine if I'll bother keeping them or not.  I can see they could be useful...but because of my limited space, they are out of sight because they'd be too hard to use (I don't even have room to use my cuttlebug for embossing).

See the original post about this here and she has several links for ideas on storing these bulky items.

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!

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).

Week 17 - Punches

I have very FEW punches.  In fact, whilst I was in my clean-up the scrap area mood back when this all started, I put a bunch of HONKING huge punches in my give-away box...and they are still there.  The original post is HERE.

The orignal poster has, as always, a bunch of links for ideas on how to store punches.  She reminds us that they are really heavy, so something sturdy is best.  She also mentions that if you have them cateloged so that they are easy to find within your system, then you don't really need them out and displayed.  I have mine in a photo box (or 2?) from Michaels. There is 1 punch that didn't fit, so its sitting on top of the photo box.

She provides a link to a punch organization cataloging system (downloadable) which looks very handy.

SO - off you go...organize your punches!

Week 16 - Paint, Glitter & Stickles

SO...this should be another easy one for me.  The original post (which you can see  HERE) says...if you don't have a lot of these items, you can put them in a pretty container and you are done.

I have NO paint whatsoever.  I have a couple sets of MS glitter plus a few larger jars of MS glitter & I have it organized in a box with a handle. 

For Stickles - I also don't have a lot - some of them are in a small baby-slipper container that has a handle and zipper.  Others are upside down in a "stickle" container - which is like this photo - except I didn't get the box or the lid...and I'm not sure I like it because it takes up WAY more room than the stickles did in the 1st place. 

The original blog, as usual, has a bunch of links to storage ideas.  I did, however, find at the scraprack that they had a product that seems to be something that would be better suited to my situation....but since I have so few stickles...and I already wasted $ on that 1st idea, I think I'll hold off on getting this one.  I don't use stickles...I love how they look on people's projects, but when I use it, it always looks lame - is there a trick that everyone knows except me?

Week 15 - Ink, Ink Pads and Embossing

Hmmm - didn't we do this one already - or rather...I already did this one...ha ha.  The original post is HERE.

HA HA HA - at the beginning of her post she says we are 1/2 way done cleaning our room - and we should take a step back and look at all the progress we made.  SO...I step back, trip over the piles and see that I haven't accomplished too much....boo hiss!  I guess I can access my paper, copics, ink and photos way easier - so visually, nothing is accomplished, but accessibility, there IS actually accomplishment - I'll hold onto that! ;)

She includes a lot of links for lots of ideas on how to store inks and ink pads.  I don't have a lot and the few that I have are cheap ones from Michael's and they are stored in a clear iris box 12x12 box.  I do, however, have some Stampin Up ink spots that I have put in a carrying box along with my Tim Holtz Distress ink pads and my cat eye spots (I think that's what they are called).  I like to have these kind of supplies in something that can be carried (its basically the larger sections of the bead-boxes that I'm using for my copics) because its easier if I need it for a crop (and easier to put away in this tiny space of mine).  This is one of the ink containers - the other one just has my Stampin Up spots in it and I didn't take a photo of it.

My embossing powders are also in clear iris 12x12 box - I don't have very many and they are, again, cheap from Michael's.  I don't use them hardly at all (like, never)...so its one area where I may have to purge...since its taking up space (as little space as its taking up, its still space).

Week 14 - Crop Supplies

The original blogger talks about how to organize your scrap stuff when you attend a lot of crops - but she doesn't go into a lot of detail, although she does provide a few links.  The entire post is HERE.

She mentions that it would be a good idea that if you had a 'caddy' for your tools - that you could have it on your desk when at home an then just carry it out to your crop ... and all your tools are available in the same device.  This is great because you don't have to pack/unpack your tools...and end up at the crop without an important one (like I did once...I forgot my paper trimmer...which is odd, because I have THREE!).  If I ever get a proper scrapping room, I think I'll invest in one of those...but as it exists now, I don't have table top space for something like that.

Another key is to NOT bring your entire stash with you.  Plan what you are going to work on and only bring that.  I've been doing this awhile - I pre-plan/design pages to work on...then make all the cricut cuts I need, run small cuts through the xyron and place them all, with the relevant photos and papers I'd like to use and put them in a protective sleeve/tote.  I try to make more then I think I can get through, just in case some of the layouts aren't flowing well, then I'll still have something to work on.  

I think a LOT of people need this advice - it never fails that I see people (and I mean PEOPLE - not just 1 person) at crops with several HUGE storage bins of supplies and it truly looks like enough quantity that she would be able to have EVERYTHING that I have in my stash in those bins.  They maybe pull out  a couple of things out of each bin...and then have to haul it back to their vehicles.  I mean, really, do you need ALL your stamps, ALL your ink, ALL your paper, ALL your embellishments, ALL, ALL, ALL...?  If I'm cropping at a scrapbook store, sometimes I only bring my tools and photos...and purchase paper while I'm there!

Anyhow, I don't "GO" to a lot of crops myself ... anymore.  I used to go to crops every month or so (and they were DOOZIES - we'd start at 5pm and end at 5 am - after already being at work that day from 8am - 4:30pm), but now I'm lucky if I get to go 2 times a year.  It is a HUGE TREAT to get to attend a crop - time away from the crushing routine that is my life.   I mainly have my scrappy friends over to our house.  Having said that, I still "pack" for a crop.  The only time I work on my scrapbook is when I'm with my scrappy friends - so I really leave all my supplies in the bags that I haul down the stairs to our table (or to the car).  I guess, other than having pre-planned pages ready to work on, I'm ready to crop at a moment's notice (ha ha).

Week 13 - Stamps

Here's a big one for some people - I, again, don't have a lot of these since I'm not much of a stamper.  The original post on this...HERE.

I did/do have a few Stampin Up packages, but I've since unmounted all of them (well, maybe most of them, its been awhile) and have them stored in a 3" binder.  BUT, in January, I changed my storage to 2 pretty useful box which is easier to reach.  The binder was up too high for me to reach, so I never bothered to, so now that they are accessible, I hope that I'll actually use them with my scrapbook pages.

She suggests to pull out ALL your stamps and see what you have - maybe some duplicates, maybe some that you now hate and can donate etc.  She lists a bunch of questions that you can answer that might lead you toward the storage method that will work best for your stamping personality.   All the questions seemed like they would help, but since my stamping personality is non-existent, I didn't bother with it.

She does talk about converting all your stamps to cling method - which is what I decided a couple of years ago.  I won't even buy a wood stamp any more.  She includes a TON of links to show storage ideas for each "type" of stamp (foam, wood, acrylic).  

What I do like is that she catelogues all her stamps so she knows what she has...I would LOVE to do this, but I worry that I would tire of the process and not complete it (kinda like I did with the unmounting stamp process).  One day, when I have my perfect (or at least larger) scrapbook area) I will do that!  I promise!

WEEK 12 - Ribbon, Thread & Fiber OH MY

Yet another topic I don't have a lot of...Ribbon, Thread, Fiber - the original post is HERE.

She suggests to remove the products from the original packages and put them on something so they are all the same size and thus, easier to store.  She mentions that you can organize by size or type or color.  I have most of my embellishments sorted by colors...and it includes these items.  They are all still in their original packages...but mainly because I don't have a lot - I would totally want them all wound on their own matching paper bobbin - but its not worth it for the tiny quantity that I have.

She has a T.O.N. of links for storage ideas....please take a look!

WEEK 11 - Non-Alpha stickers & rub-ons

SO, this week is similar to the last one...hmmm.  Anyway...the original post is HERE.

She talks about purging some of your stickers/rub ons...so, if you find stickers from back when stickers first came out for scrapbooking (you know the ones...the Sandy Lion ones that seemed so amazing at the time...until Joelee's etal showed up) you probably won't ever use them (we all want the NEW thing...right)...so give them away or let your kids play with them...but get them OUT!

Organize them by type or manufacturer.  I only have a few stickers and they are all for kids and I have them all in 2 boxes...and they are both unused pizza boxes...so basically, I have nothing to do with this item either.  PHEW!