Tip of the Month

This month's question is about organization. Do you have any organizational secrets/tips scrapbook related or not that help you carve out a little more scrapbooking time? Share your ideas here!

kathy m from San Jose CA writes...
I\'m a firm beliver in preplanning pages whenever possible. That way when I do have a \"few minutes\" to scrap, I\'m not seaching for the pictures/paper/embellishments/etc. I also think that you\'ll only make time to scrap if you have it scheduled. I don\'t think there is anything wrong with scheduling a date with yourself to scrap. Mark it in your planner and stick to it!

Beverly from NY, NY writes...
Besides preplanning my layouts and putting them in the Generations 12 x 12 clear holders, I\'ve slowly realized that when I\'m looking for an embelishment, I\'m thinking about it from the brand persepctive ... I\'m in the process of reorganizing my embelishments by maker ... all my Making Memories, eyelets, Bazzil, SEI, etc ... together.

Aileen from So. California writes...
I found that having a permanent designated scrapbook area has helped me spend more time on my albums. I always hated having to drag out the Iris cart, paper cutter, magazines, and various plastic storage bins just to work on one layout. I finally set up a card table in the corner of my bedroom and all my SB stuff is there, ready to go at all times. I can now work for a few minutes on a layout and not have to worry about putting everything away before the baby wakes up. Even though it\'s a small area it\'s helped me spend more time on my albums.

Judy in AK writes...
I keep a narrow binder filled with punchies from each of my hundreds of punches, and Sizzix & Quickutz dies. They are grouped according to what the images are, with alphabet fonts each having it\'s own page. I can quickly flip through these pages to decide what might work with a layout in progress.

Jette writes...
When I get my photos, I put both prints in an archival photo album. When I go to scrap an event, I don\'t have to dig through piles of envelopes or boxes of photos. All I have to do is pull out those prints that I want to include. The photos that I don\'t scrap are also chronologically organized and I don\'t feel the pressure to scrap every picture. DD enjoys looking at these albums without having to wait for me to get around to scrapping them.

Maria in Columbus writes...
I have recently reorganized all my embellishments by color. I have them in drawers in a cart. I.e. the red drawer has anything red...slide holders, staples, eyelets, fiber, etc. This helps me find stuff right away and I notice that I use stuff that I may not have originally thought of just by opening the appropriate colored drawer.

Jennifer from Oklahoma writes...
I have a 7 month old, so cropping has been set aside for a while. I\'m just now making some head way on his books. A friend and I try to go out to crop once a month. My stuff is not organized like I\'d like, but I do try to keep most of the stuff I use often in my bag. That way, I can just grab it and my album when our monthly crop rolls around. As for actual layout organization, I try to keep my babies stuff in an expandable. Nothing frustrates me more than finishing a page and then realizing I forgot his hospital bracelets, etc. One final comment that helped a ton when I was working on my 70+ page heritage album. Ziplocs.... tons of ziplocs. The pictures and embellishments were not in them for long so I didn\'t worry about damage. It helped a lot in organizing the hundreds of pictures by theme/page since many of them were not dated.

Barb Foley from PA writes...
I cut up my scrapbook magazines and put them in order in a 3 ring binder. I paste them onto paper on one page/pages. I then put them in how I\'d use them. I put them in order by how many photo\'s are on a page, 1 photo, 2 photo\'s, 3 photo\'s, etc. This way if I am stuck I can go to my idea book and look up something up by how many photo\'s I want to use on a page. I don\'t like putting them in by Christmas or Birthdays, etc. because you can always change them to other things if you need to. That\'s why I use my number system. I also use the 1 photo layouts for my cards. You can reduce them to fit your homemade cards.

jlzmom writes...
I have a lot of rubber stamps so I keep a log of them. Here\'s what I do... I number my stamps and then I either copy a pic from a catalog, or just take a pic of the stamp. Then I put it in a binder. In my binder I write the number right next to the picture. So when I\'m ready to stamp, I thumb through my binder to find what I want to work on... not having to go through all of my stamp drawers. Once I decide, I just go to that stamps number. It took a while to set up, but it was so worth it because it now save so much time!!

Dorthy writes...
I do a \"within arm\'s reach\" type organizing. If I go to something often like my papers, most embellishments, trimmer, chalk, stamps, etc. I keep them within reach of my SB area so I don\'t have to get out of my chair and lose my train of thought. If the items are lesser used like decorative scissors, paints, etc. I put them further from reach. If I haven\'t used something in 2 years, I am trying to either swap, sell, or throw it out. I use baggies to organize most embellishment, including some of the bulkier embellishments. Separate baggies contain words, alphas, flora, fauna, holidays, vacation, hearts and stars, tags and squares, and miscellaneous. I also subdivide within these baggies. I have a 6 drawer Iris cart for punches. Most of the time, I use the geometric shapes and leaf or flower shapes, so those are in the top 2 drawers closest to my reach. The remaiming drawers are organized so: hearts & stars, real shapes, container and odd shapes, and borders & corners. My final suggestion is to clean up your work space after completing something. My biggest problems are having too little open space to work on or trying to find a supply higing other other projects.

DawninNoVa writes...
There are 3 main areas of organization that have greatly helped me. 1. Ditto on the pre-planning of pages. That way I can work at home when I have only a few minutes, or I\'m ready at a moment\'s notice to just grab a Generations folder and a few tools and take them with me to work on while babysitting the nieces and nephews! 2. Ditto on the dedicated scrapbooking area. I do have a scrapbooking room, but if I didn\'t, I think I\'d set up a table somewhere, anywhere -- bedroom, guestroom, dining room, a closet -- so I could leave things out and have the option of working on a layout for just a few minutes, if that\'s all the time I had! I don\'t always have the 30 minute - 2 hour block to finish a complete layout, and sometimes I leave a layout out for days(weeks) \'til an idea hits me. And I have a revolving tool caddy on the work table with the most used tools always at hand. 3. Organization by theme, as much as possible. I do a lot of theme albums, so I usually think in those terms. (I\'m way too far behind to even think of scrapping chronologically, although this would work for chronological scrapping, too.) I have my photos organized by theme in CH Photo Cases -- my patterned papers organized by theme in a CH Class Tote -- my punches by theme in Iris carts -- my stamps by theme in Iris carts -- my embellishments by theme in smaller table top Iris carts (this would include any Jolee\'s, Fresh Cuts, brads and eyelets, die-cuts, stickers, letter stickers, Shotz, ribbon, laser titles, templates, or anything else associated with that theme.) I also have a binder with sample punches, Sizzix die cuts and rubber stamps organized by theme. That way when I\'m ready to scrap, say, a winter layout, I just grab my photos, the winter paper folder, the winter embellishment drawer, and the binder, and I\'m ready to do some brainstorming. Oh, and themes I\'m using (by drawer/folder) are: spring/Easter/floral; summer; autumn/harvest/Thanksgiving; winter; Christmas; nature/leaves/trees; beach/pool; Disney; sports/hobbies/music/games; animals/insects; travel/countries; school/debate; baby/child; love/hearts/Valentines/Wedding; heritage/family/religious; celebrations/birthdays/New Years; patriotic/military/4th July; home/construction. And everything else is also organized by theme in Iris carts or CH Class Totes; i.e., cardstock by color, mulberry paper, adhesives, chalks, stamping inks, scrap paper by color in folders in a jumbo plastic file box, etc.

chrisCA from sacramento writes...
I purchased 6 plastic serving trays from the Dollar Store. When I have a group of photos to scrap, I sort them into the trays by \"theme\" or category or whatever and add the embellishments that might fit. After sorting, I use the trays to set up trial layouts. If I am stopped mid-scrapping, I just stack the trays and they can wait, un-distrubed, until the next session.

Cindy from AL writes...
I was forced ;) to clean up my scrap area (dining room) because we were having a birthday party. I made a storage unit from the wire cubes, 2 tall x 5 wide, including 2 sections for cardstock and 2 more for tools. I just purchased papier mache boxes on sale 1/2 price and will be painting these to complement the others I\'m already using for fibers, embellishments, etc. I have two 12x12x10 Todd Oldham boxes I bought last year at Target, plus various sizes of photo boxes. The acrylic paints and foam stamps work well for decorating the boxes, and then you can store them inside!

Pam from NC writes...
I have found that a computer desk works well for me. I use it solely for scrapbooking. My fiskars rotary cutter stays on the keyboard tray so I just pull it toward me when I need to cut and push it back when I\'m done. The cubbies of the desk are perfect for holding 12x12 paper, page protectors, expandable files that hold letter stickers, templates, etc. If I had to pull out and put away everything I use each time I want to work on my books, I\'d never get anything done!

damagu from Mass writes...
ORGANIZATION........to stay as organized as possible. Just putting my stuff back...so I know where to find it, so when I need it I\'m not spending my scrap time looking for it. And, schedule time to scrap. Just like scheduling my kids stuff and dates with my husband and exercise...I schedule scrap time!

Tami J from Bend, Oregon writes...
I keep everything organized in my CIS XXL, PSB and paper file boxes. Everything gets put back, so that I know exactly where it is and when it is time for our monthly crop, I just have to zip up and go. Ideally, I would love to have a designated space to scrap and spread out a little bit more, but that is not possible at this time.

sosewscrappy from CA writes...
I try to keep my whole home organinzed and working on simplifying that too. I have more time to be creative when I am not knee deep in clutter !

ginger from california writes...
I have no organizational skills when packing up for a crop. I feel that I might need something and it gets packed along with lots of other treats for the day! At home everything has a home.....I have cases/totes for my embellishments, files for my paper, and always seem more for it all. ginger

mamichelle writes...
in my scrapbook armoire and a rolling cart. I file my paper by color in full sheets and then strips and only keep one of each color in my bag. When I need to go to a crop, I don\'t have to empty out any heavy items. I just grab any punches I think I\'ll need and maybe some extra pages and I\'m ready to roll.

Pam from PA writes...
I really like those little rubbermaid or sterlite drawer containers for embellishments and other items. I\'ve found those handy if you sort your scrapbooking supplies by type and label the drawers. When traveling, I can put a big rubber band around the drawers to hold them closed and then put them right on my table at a crop. Examples of how I have them sorted -- journaling; cutting system; punches; scissors; adhesive; etc.

Sue in Grapevine from Grapevine, TX writes...
I use one of those cheap, handled cutlery caddies to organize my commonly-used card making/dry embossing supplies. The side w/the 2 square compartments holds adhesives, styluses (?styli?), q-tips & pom poms for chalk, scissors, pen, glitter, & post-its for jotting down ideas. The long compartment on the opposite side (meant to hold napkins) holds some blank cards, pc of wax paper for rubbing on paper before embossing, my chalk palette, pop dots & best of all, a thin plastic photo album ($.50 on sale @ M\'s) whose sleeves hold all my brass embossing templates making them easy to see/sort through & keeps them from getting bent or tangled.

Awna writes...
I try to be a very organized person and the only thing that seems to help is having a spot for everything. I do know what helps me with the different packaged embellishments are the round rings. I am not sure if that is the name, lol.....they are the circles that you can also put the embrod. floss on....anyways, I put the packages on the ring and have a ring for each brand.

Karen from Texas writes...
I am using 5.25 floppy disc boxes to organize small embellishments like Jolee\'s, etc. and small paper scraps according to color. These boxes have built in dividers so flipping through the sections is EASY. They are stackable so fit nicely on a shelf out of the way until I need them.

Johanna from Washington writes...
I will perplan a bunch of pages all at once and keep them in my 12x12 paper holder until I get time to scrap. That way I not pulling out my paper and my stickers and my embellishments everytime I want to do even a single page. If I only have a little time then I will sort the pics into \"pages\". Then if I have more time I choose the back ground paper and matting paper. Then I iwll choose the embellishments and put this all togather in a slot of my paper holder. So when the kids are in bed I take out one slot, my adhesive and my paper cutter and I am rolling in no time at all:)

luvspaper writes...
Since I work from home, and am in the process of getting more organized, my tip is not only to have everything organized by type, but all to have them within reach of your workspace. I once saw a cooking show that said spices that you use most should be in front. Well, I am trying to do the same with my supplies. My favorite organizational thing to use these days is plastic drawers in all sizes to fit the space...that way all space is used up and there is no empty air space! ruth

Laurie in NY from Hemlock, NY, near Rochester writes...
I had about given up on my PSBs because there was no organization to it. I found it difficult with the style of the pages to keep my stuff organized by theme and it took to long to find what I was looking for. I eventually just stopped using my PSBs until a friend shared her idea. She uses plastic envelopes with velcro closing and holes punched to fit in a binder. She got hers at Target for 99cents each. She just uses a large binder but I am using my PSB, I have the oversized stuff in the PSB sheets and then the smaller stuff in one of the envelopes and have it organized by theme. So now when I want Christmas stuff I can go right to the Christmas pages and envelope. HTH

Jess writes...
Well- I spend more time organizing my supplies then using them lately... Here\'s my system. CM Cutting system and other cutting tools in one CM memory mate case (the small $12 one) All pens and adhesives in another case. All stickers, die cuts, CM shortcuts (don\'t use often, but I seem to have a ton) and sticker letters in a CM accessory binder. I keep other bigger tools in the CM bag (the 50 some dollar one.) Then I have all my solid cardstock in a CIS papertaker and all patterned paper in a CH expandable paper organizer. (Except my SU paper which is separate- just starting getting into stamping.) I use CM natural pages so don\'t use too much cardstock. Plus I now only buy cardstock or patterned paper to go with a specific layout- all my stock of patterns are stuff I just loved and had to have- but I never seem to use them. So I plan on keeping my stash down to fit these two carriers. (If I do sucumb or feel the need to hold more cardstock, then I plan to get the CIS P3.) I put both of these paper holders in the CM Album tote and an album in the center if bringing- I work out of the book . I have the new CM 3 part folders that I store my premade items in, like from swaps. I have most of my photos in a CH photo case and negatives in sheets in a binder. I use the CM power layouts box to plan ahead- although usually only a few pages.

50off_scrapper (aka Tiny) writes...
Here\'s a few. (1) clear school boxes. I just bought some and I like them. They keep things organized. (2) Bought some scraprack organizer pages to put in all my eyelets and small embellishments. Got rid of a tackle box, clear flower eye holder, and a tin with small tins for eyelets. (3) Love my MM tool tin. Everything is setup neatly in there and it looks nice on my scrap desk. (4) The Joann\'s scrapbook companion. I put all my paper in there. I put each color in a generations clear folder. Labeled by color. (5) A tool caddy from the $ store. Great at crops. (6) My p-touch to label everything. (7) My stamp-and-go trays from stampandgo.com. Great for my rubber stamps. (8) Tall thin white cabinets from Home Depot. I can hid everything in there. LOL! Actually keep some of my paper there. (9)I bought a CM box for preplanning layouts. I really like to take it to crops with only what I need.

Chris in CT writes...
I am still working on getting my scrap/craft/sewing room organized, but some of the things that I that I am pleased with are the 12 X 12 wire cubes from Target for paper. I use multi-drawer storage towers from the hardware store to put my punches in. I put a punch-out of the punches that are in the drawer on the front of the drawer so I can see at a glance what punch is in what drawer. I just started using generations clear folders, 1 for each Club Scrap kit (minus the stamps or anything else too bulky) instead of the pizza boxes that took up way too much room.

Jo in Nevada writes...
The one thing that has helped me is the photo boxes. All my pictures are chronologically (sp?) arranged so I can scrap them in order.

Cherie from Texas writes...
I use a pampered chef tool turn about!! IT\"S GREAT. I put my pens. markers, pencils, scissors, rulers, knives, etc. in it and it\'s right there. When I go to a crop. I just pick it up and off we go. It\'s very easy to just turn and find what you need VS. dig through various places for the right tool!! HTH

Mandi from IL writes...
The best thing I ever did was organize my letter stickers into a 3\" binder. I used Page protectors (this works with letters from MM, Susan Branch, etc) and and put dark blue in one, medium blue in another, light blue in another, and etc. If I have matching mini letters, I put them in there too. Now if I need blue letters, I turn to the blues, and match away! I don\'t have to dig, and I only get it out of the Page protectors if I want to use them!

Chrisx2 writes...
Whenever I add new letter stickers to my collection, I take one letter (usually the \"Q\") and stick it on my Master Letter Chart. The Master Letter Chart is a double-sided 8 1/2x11 piece of cardstock, with letter styles sorted by color. IE there is a row of blue letters, red, black, white,green, pink, purple, orange etc and multi-colored primary, pastel etc. So when I want to use letter stickers for a layout I can look at my master chart to see all the colors and what style letters I have, without having to actually look through my binder of letters. Then like a previous tip suggests, I keep the actual sheets of letter stickers sorted by color. So when I decide on the color and style I want I can go right to the blue section and find them.

Marcy in FL from FL writes...
I use photo boxes to chronologically store my photos until I can scrap them. In addition, I use photo boxes and organize my memorabilia by year, so I can find ticket stubs, drawings, etc. that I need for a page. I also keep idea books in binders. This keeps it all organized so I can find it quickly.

Ronni in OH from Ohio writes...
Make everything \"takeable\"... what I mean is.. store your stuff at home the way you would store it if you were mobile... I did this and I can pack up all my stuff in a few minutes to take with me.. YES.. I have two large bags.. P3 for paper and my CM tote and bag on top for embellishments.. but I can pack everything in about 10 minutes and I still know where everything is because it didn\'t change from bag to home... I see so many ladies at crops \"now where did I pack that?\"... I have TWO accessory binders with sticker, embellishements (you know the carded kind). I use floss boxes for fibers (fits in pockets of tote)... watchmakers tins for eyelets and tiny stuff (all labeled with labelmaker so I don\'t have to open them up) and finally I store my tools and adhesives and pens in a flat pack by cropper hopper... zip it up, throw in bag and I\'m on my way... remember the more times you have to pack and unpack and put stuff back.. the less you will get done.

Angie writes...
I bought a large tackle box and it holds 6 of those plastic containers like the floss organizers. I placed fibers in one and labeled, eyelets, buttons and labeled. I even got my date stamp in there. The first time I used it I felt like I was hunting for everything. So I got out one box and the stuff that I seemed to use over and over I put in that box (pencil, ruler, hermie, eyelet punch and setter, eraser, etc). Now I can just pull out that one box. I also seem to spend more time punching out letters - so I bought another floss box and I\'m punching letters out of my scraps ( i mostly use black titles). I have ab in one slot, etc. So I\'m hoping this will speed things up for me.

Angie writes...
I bought a large tackle box and it holds 6 of those plastic containers like the floss organizers. I placed fibers in one and labeled, eyelets, buttons and labeled. I even got my date stamp in there. The first time I used it I felt like I was hunting for everything. So I got out one box and the stuff that I seemed to use over and over I put in that box (pencil, ruler, hermie, eyelet punch and setter, eraser, etc). Now I can just pull out that one box. I also seem to spend more time punching out letters - so I bought another floss box and I\'m punching letters out of my scraps ( i mostly use black titles). I have ab in one slot, etc. So I\'m hoping this will speed things up for me.

Melissa P. from Wisconsin writes...
I store very little on the desktop where I do my scrapping -- just a lamp and a flower pot I got at the dollar store. In the flower pot, I keep my most used items, such as my micro-points, a pencil, my black zig, my eyelet hammer and setter. I like having all the open space to spread out with my scrapbooking and it is easy to clean up, just plop everything back in the flower pot!

Bridget in MD from Maryland writes...
I try to make other types of containers work to hold my SB stuff. I find that storage made specifically for scappers is very expensive, and definately not big enough! (Or maybe I have too much crap! LOL) So whenever I see a container, I bring it home to see if I can get it to work. For example, I bought a HUGE container of bubble gum from BJ\'s. After the gum was gone, I brought the plastic tub up to my SB room and found it was perfect to hold all my scrapworks conchos. Another time, at work, the computer room was getting rid of all thier tape packages. these were little plastic containers, perfect for punchies or small things! When I participate in swaps, I try to send a bunch to the hostess! =)

Joyce from NM writes...
I use a 6 ft. cheapie bookcase to hold clear shoe boxes to store all the odds and ends. I use other clear containers in the shoe boxes to keep eyelets, etc., separate. Love the vertical storage!

SusieInTn from TN writes...
I have a friend save plastic \"diaper wipe\" containers for me (the kind that the top opens completely). When scrubbed and dried, these make perfect holders for embellishments that are packaged, like Jolees and eyelet packages, etc. They then stack neatly on my hutch and bookcase.

Cherie from Texas writes...
I use a tool turn about from Pampered ±Chef. It\'s the best thing I\'ve found yet. I put my pencils on one hole, pens in another, then markers, knives, scissors, rulers, etc. Anything and everything fits into it and I just turn it to find the righ color or tool. When I go to a crop it just sits in my front seat and off I go!

Karrie from Belvidere writes...
I seldom scrap outside my house since I have a dedicated sb area so I bought several Iris carts, went thru all my stuff and sorted everything by theme into the drawers (ie kids, birthday, spring, summer, fall, winter, Easter, halloween.....). Now when I\'m working on a Halloween page, I go to my Halloween drawer and sift thru all the stickers, die cuts, pre-bought items and handmade items that I\'ve rec\'d in various swaps - I find that I use much more of my stash since it is easy to find!

Bookworm Mommy writes...
I\'ve just started preparing specifically for crops I go to. I pull everything out of my bag, but the items I\'m planning on working on. Saves wasted time in searching for specific items. I also just got the Creative Memories Decofile and I put the stickers/small paper/borders I need for that event. Taking a few moments before the crop to do that saves time and also from having to buy something I already have because I forgot it.

Linda (scraparr) from Hampden, ME writes...
I got one of those totes with the handle in the middle (people use them for carrying cleaning supplies). I keep all my \"must haves\" in it: 2 cups with Sakura pigma pens, Slick Writers, Galaxy Markers, pencil, photo marker, red-eye pen, etc.; scissors; deckle edger; corner rounder; Tweezer Bee; chalk; 12 inch ruler; that pointy poker thing from Memory Makers (no idea what it is called, LOL); Post-it notepad; eraser; 12 inch paper trimmer & extra blades; and a bunch of adhesives (Hermie tabs & dots, double-sided tape, photo tape, glue dots, EK success liquid glue). This sits on my desk, so I always have my essentials ready to use. And if I go to a crop, I just grab it & go. With my tote and some cardstock, brads, vellum, letter stickers, and photos, I can go to a crop and do a ton of pages and embellish when I get home yet I don\'t break my back carrying a ton of stuff.

DebL in Co writes...
I hate to throw my scraps and I really wanted them at my finger tips right at my side when I scrap. I bought the thickest 3-ring binder I could find and put 20-30 of 8 x 10 page protectors in it. I labled each with a color category. For example, light pink, medium pink, and bright pink. I really broke down my categories for some of my favorite colors like sage green and white and black have their own protectors. I keep my notebook on its end with the page protectors fanned out right by my side. It makes keeping my area looking tidy because it\'s so easy to clean up quickly. I really LOVE my system!

Nannette from Centennial, CO writes...
I always try to remember that you can do a lot with little steps - every 10-15 minutes here or there can add up to a lot. For example, I might start working on the journaling on the computer, while I\'m watching TV or reading SBA. :) Then another day I might work on printing out the photos I want to use or choosing just the cardstock and paper. I\'m also working on weeding out all of the stuff I don\'t use & selling it on ebay, donating it, or giving it to my kids - that way I just have to look through my favorite items. I\'m learning more about my own personal style and concentrating on that rather than just collecting stuff I\'ll never use.

Michelle from Michelle writes...
I really hated cleaning up all of my scrapbooking stuff everytime I was done scrapping for the night so I bought a Sauder Craft Armoire from Furniture Buzz online for about $300. The armoire is great because it has a fold down table and lots of storage. Even better, when I am done I can close the doors and everything is all put away neat and tidy! I\'d highly recommend this for the serious scrapper!

Stephanie in FoxHill from Virginia writes...
I like to try and preplan pages into an accordian file. This way as I am digging through my supplies if I find more things to go with layouts I am going to do I can easily slide them in without much trouble with the other supplies.