2012 Resolve to Get Organized Series

Week 4 - Inks, Chalks, Pens and More -February 7, 2012


Step 1 – How will you store your items?


I will probably put everything back in the cassette display. The markers came in their own storage case.



Step 2 – Gather your Products


I had to get all of my stuff down out of the shelf so that I could read the names and make samples of all my colors. I wasn't really happy about this step because I already had my stuff organized the way I wanted them. I figured if I  take them all down, they are going to end up cluttering my coffee table for the next week until I get time to put them back.



Step 3 – Create Color Catalog


Here it is:

 


I dont know why these uploaded upside down, but the pictures options don't give you any way to rotate them, sorry, but you get the idea. When I finally got this all done I was actually glad that I did it after all. I saw which markers exactly matched which ink pads. There was a white pad that I had never even opened and it looked awesome on the black cardstock. I also have a white gel pen that is seriously under-used and under-appreciated. I got it because of Sandy Genovese's You Tube videos. I think she uses that white gel pen on everything. But it looks good, so I wanted one too- now I never even use it.


I did the color tabs on my word program and I wasn't happy that the printer margins cut off my words. I will probably end up using cardstock to fix them, but I need a tab punch so they will look nice. I had to make sure that the front and back cover were cut down too, so the tabs will show. I didn't have enough colors to fill an entire sheet, so I just used half sheets front and back, I have to look at both sides.


I can make photo copies of these pages and stick them into the proper rainbow section of my homemade scraprack.

Step 4 – Create Manufacturer Catalog Sheet


I didn't have to do this step because I only have one type of markers, which are the crayola pipsqueaks. I liked the bright colors (so does does my 4 yr-old). I haven't tried the copic technique yet, but I have enough shades so that I could try it if I want to. I didn't catalog my Sharpies because I only have the black & primary colors anyway. I did have a rainbow assortment of glitter gel pens (Dollar General), but Jordan got them.


I have generic, unheard of brands of ink pads, and actually started out with the ones at staples for office stamps. I am afraid to get into Stampin' Up or any of the other ones because I am such an addict. I usually try to collect one of everything once I get started on it. Those fancier brands have hundreds of shades and are so expensive. Then they come out with new palettes every year. I'm not really into stamping anyway (yet).


Step 5 – Store Products

I fit everything in one 5x7" basket and it is sitting on the kitchen table to be taken back out in the morning. It's too cold outside right now to walk out to the scrapbook room.


So I have pretty much finished my homework for the week. I am really not looking forward to the next challenge... We will be organizing pictures. I hope I can get through it!

Repurposed Packaging

While throwing away mountains of packaging from my embellishments I realized that I could use the clear plastic for shrinky dinks (I'm giving away my age, now). I had googled how to make them a while back because it is so hard to find certain names, my daughter Jordan being one of them. You can use the recyclable type 6 plastic. I cut mine out on the Cricut and welded the letters together to make my own word art. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to ink the letters before I heated the plastic so they would pop. These bake at 350' for about 3 or 4 minutes and worked out really well on the first try. I debated whether to punch a hole in it somewhere for a keyring, but decided I just wanted the word art for a scrapbook layout.

Here are the results:

I had to use red because that is Jordan's favorite color. I thought it turned out pretty good for a first try. Next time I will jazz it up a bit.

I am going to try to make some of those sprockets and old clocks to go with the embossing folders I got for Christmas.



This shrunk down a good bit, I might even guess about 1/3 the size I started out with, so you'd have to keep that in mind.

2012 Resolve to Get Organized Series

Week 3 - Embellishments, A Container at a Time - January 31, 2011-

Epic Fail...

I was so proud that I had managed to save some money on these spinders. I ripped apart some binders that were collecting dust and hot-glued some velcro to the back. Surely this would get me by until I win the Lotto.

Everthing was going great, I even stapled the other velcro side to a 20" x 16" board and could prop that up on a wheeled kitchen chair.

So, I'm making incredible progress putting things away one container at a time.

Zipping along

Feeling Great! Three garbage bags full of packaging and scrounged, re-purposed storage containers. (AKA shoe boxes and plastic mayonnaise jars.)

I am the Scrapping Organizing Bomb

I'm so smart

I saved hundreds of Dollars

Until the damn Velcro came off the spine.

OK, No problem, right? 

Yeah, crazy glue doesn't hold for long either, and that actually rusts the metal.

Sorry, Tiffany, I bow to you... 

If I can find my husband's Gorilla glue I might be able to save my "trailer trash Scraprack", if not, it's back to square one - unless anyone else has any bright ideas.

2012 Resolve to Get Organized Series

Week 2 - Piles of Paper - January 24, 2012 - 

This is self explanatory. This is where we start thinking about how we are going to organize our stuff, or get ourselves mentally prepared to get organized and stay that way. I like the 4 part system because it makes sense.

Alpha/Numberic

Themes A-Z

The Calendar Year

The Rainbow

What else could you possibly need!

So I started sorting my paper first into this system, and it is easier to begin this way because it really sets out how the stuff will be set up. I started with the rainbow and what didn't go in there became either a theme or or holiday etc... I put all those pages in the paper pads that have the pop out tags and letters in the alpha section.

I had my little purge box right there next to my heaps of papers. Even though we were just sorting through papers this week, I ran across a lot of scraps, of course, and die cuts that I had made, and embellishments. It was very easy to slip each thing into the proper section and  subdivision by color or theme and so on.

I am not done with the paper yet, and I think it is supposed to be a work in progress throughout the series. I have taken apart some of my paper pads, but not all of them simply because it is easier to keep some together, where the other ones can be separated and stored in different themes or colors. This is especially true for me with two of my pads that I bought to dedicate to wedding/anniversary albums only. I put them on a paper shelf by themselves.

I haven't really purged much paper - just some scraps that are too small (3x3 or smaller).
I pulled the spines out of 4 of the binders that I used for my college classes and cut some plastic kitchen cutting mats to 12 1/2" x 13" and punched binder holes in them.

I get these at the Dollar Tree. There are 2 of them in a pack for $1. I usually keep these around to make stencils, or use as mats on my desk when I use my craft knife, but I discovered that they are perfect to make the covers and dividers for a "trailer trash scraprack" LOL!


I also cut ribbon cards out of these because they slip right into baseball card holders.


Then I got the crazy idea to make ribbon/fiber boards. I made a template out of cardstock and this is what I came up with:

This measures 8 1/2 x 11 inches

I converted this image into sure cuts alot and made an svg file. I cut one out of the plastic mat, and even though I multi-cut 4 times with a deep cutter blade, that really only gave me the lines to go by to finish it with my craft knife.


Anyways, once it is cut out, it works perfectly. It goes into the binder, holds 11 ribbons or fibers flat! It measures 8 1/2 x 11" so I can still slide it into a page protector. So I made 6 more and ran out of plastic...


On the up-side, The leftover plastic strips were cut into 2" strips, hole punched and I will stick things to them that I can't punch holes in for my binder.


I use plain old garden variety paper clips to hold my ribbons and fibers in place in the wide slits in the middle.






I originally set my binders up with baseball card sleeves, two 8 1/2" x 11" page protectors, a ribbon/fiber card, then a 12" x 12" page protector for each sub-section. Then I ran out of baseball card sleeves and ran to Staples to get more. Did you know that Martha Stewart has a new office product line at Staples? OMG! She has the 4 pocket, 2 pocket and zipper pocket sleeves. (They have the fold over tabs to keep your stuff from sliding out!) OH MARTHA! 10 in a pack for $3.99- sorry Tiffany, that beats the daylights out of your 10 pack for $12.99 plus shipping. I had to give up the 12x12 size for 8 1/2 x 11, but I can live with that!


OK, so now I had to restructure a bit, but I don't feel as cheated out of the whole Scraprack experience, because my stuff is nice and secure now. Don't get me wrong- I still lust for the real Scraprack, and if I had 4 or 500 bucks I'd get online and buy it in a hot minute, but for right now I am "mentally preparing" for the day I will own one! (Just click the imaginary PayPal button to donate to my cause!)

2012 Resolve to Get Organized Series

Week 1 - Get Ready to Get Organized ! January 17, 2012-

Ok, Catch you up on this... We are breaking down our big goals into smaller ones so that they are likely to be more attainable. We are supposed to do this by creating a "Big Benefits" Layout or Board. Something we can put up where we can see it- I guess it will be like going on a diet and putting a picture of a pig on the refrigerator door... Anyway, this is to remind us why we are doing this and what the rewards would be.

So basically My benefits for getting organized are:

1. So I can find all my stuff- because if I can see it, I will use it.
2. So I wont buy duplicates of things I already have.
3. So I can spend my time scrapbooking instead of looking for that thing I thought I had.

My biggest reward is that I can feel great about my scrapbook space again and feel like it is an enjoyable hobby again instead of a mess that I don't want to face! My crafting has really gotten out of hand and I hate that I have to go so far away from the family area to enjoy it. I want to include my family, and what is nice about this system is that I CAN do it at the table near my family. (I can come back inside again!)

These are my before pics of my 10 x 16 storage shed that I commandeered for scrapbooking. I only use one side, and my 4 yr-old daughter has a play area with crayons and other craft things on the other half. I have a 13in TV/DVD combo that she can watch her movies while I scrap. It usually doesn't work that way though, because I have to constantly either change movies for her of take her inside to pee or get ANOTHER drink, or snack, etc...

Sorry about the glare...

The desk is covered with the cutaway scraps from the trimmer that is usually parked there. The bag and baskets on the floor are stuff that I haven't put away since Christmas because the floor was covered with wrapping paper and decorations. The pile on the white cabinet on the left are empty boxes that I wanted the cardboard from for mini albums and stacks of finished and not quite finished layouts.

Above the (glare) window is a cassette holder that I got free at the flea market that I thought I could use to hold ink pads- which is nice except that I really only have about 12 of them, so it ends up being the "stuffing place" for other little do-dads- then I can't remember where they are!

My Cricut <3 is on the paper racks on the right and my wide format printer is on top of the tall brown cabinet. I hide my baskets of unsorted jumble of goodies in there with my re-purposed Priority boxes full of themed paper and a lot of scraps that I can never find when I need them.

This is the "Kraft" wall that I joke about. It is a rack that holds those plastic Kraft mayo jars full of foam shapes that I have been picking up at the dollar store for the past 10 years. I never think to look for anything in there until after they layout is done.













So there it is...The cluttered truth about my scrapbook room. Stay tuned for Week 2!

2011 Get Organized Challenge Group

OK, so I haven't posted in a loooong time. The last few months have been the worst in my life, and although I have been crafting a little here and there, I really haven't accomplished much. First problem is that I am not in the habit of blogging, I just kind of thought that it would motivate me. I see that no one is following me -nothing to follow anyways, so the peer pressure / motivational thing isn't happening.

But I am going to try to get started again, and maybe inspiration will follow.

All that aside, I have joined the 2011 Get Organized Challenge Group on Facebook and signed up for the weekly Webinars. We are in Week 4 now, so I really wish I had restarted blogging sooner, because I have actually had some crazy brainstorms over this and some big Ah-Ha moments!

I will catch all up with pics as I round them up... and from what I see I can backpost too so that everything (hopefully my progress) will be in order.

A word of warning! :( I am going to be brutally honest and show my gruesomely graphic clutter pics, so OCDers beware the mess! I am a recovering OCDer myself, so I understand...

Time Gets Away From Me...

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! It has been a crazy year. I am almost through with my Associates Degree and my unit is gearing up to deploy again, which hasn't really hit me yet. I'm trying not to thing about it.

I got my scrapbook room almost finished- it is a 16'x10' shed that my husband and I bought a few years ago. I had insulated and wired it for my 17 year old's bedroom, but he graduated and moved out last year- and now it's MINE! I finally got some time to scrapbook this past couple of weeks, and can't believe how nice it is to have a space dedicated to my crafts. I can leave layouts that I am working on out on the desk and don't have to clear them away for supper, or hide them from my 3-year-old! It is so liberating! And I actually get to finish them because they are handy to get to! I also enjoy having my materials and tools organized and right where I need them! Who says getting older is bad! The empty nest clears out a personal space for me to do the things I love! Now I can catch up on all those layouts I have been dreaming about and actually see some albums come to life!