I'll be giving a talk about scrapbooking organization at this week's meeting of the Tampa Bay Scrapbooking Guild. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject of being organized for scrapbooking:
1. In Problems Lie Opportunities: Figure out what is slowing you down and then organize that part of your system.
Years ago when I first started scrapbooking, when I would start scrapbooking, I always had trouble finding the picture I was looking for. I now have a photo storage system and finding pictures are never a problem for me anymore. I can put my hands on just about any photo in my life - from the ones I inhereted from before I was born to the most recent. I've got photo organization under control (thanks in large part to Stacy Julian's Libary of Memories system and her books Big Picture Scrapbooking and Photo Freedom).
Recently, I noticed I was having a problem finding letters for my scrapbook layout titles. I have lots of letter stamps but don't consider myself an expert stamper and my daughter always wants to paint everytime she sees me with the letter stamps, so I stay away from those for titles. I also have QuicKutz and Cricut but somehow I've never completely bonded with either of them, probably because I haven't found an adhesive I love for those letters (any suggestions?) and it seems a bit time consuming for my taste. So my title methold of choice is letter stickers, my problems were that I always seemed to be running out of "e"s and I couldn't always find the right size / color of letter sticker.
My solution? I used to store my letter sticker either in my color drawers or with whatever theme they fit into (like Christmas or kid or vintage). This system just wasn't working for me. So I pulled all of my letter stickers and now keep them together. The 12x12 letter sheets I keep on a 12x12 stacking paper storage unit I bought from a scrapbooking store's going out of business sale; and the smaller sheets - like the American Crafts Thickers - I keep in a bin vertically so I can flip through them. The other part of my solution has been like magic: I went out an stock piled on letter stickers that I love. I happened to find a ton of American Crafts letter stickers at a discount store and I bought multiple packs of letter stickers that I think I will use over and over - letters in white, black and brown I bought a ton of - so that if one pack runs out of "e"s I've got the next pack. And when the alphabet sticker sheets do get low? I challenge myself to make a title using the remaining letters - kind of like scrapbooking scrabble. In fact, one of my scrapbooking pages that Ella Publishing recently used a title that I created based on what letters I had left. It was part of their Cosmo-Cricket / Ella Publishing exchange - can you guess which one it was?
2. Pareto's Law - The 20/80 Rule: You use 20% of your scrapbooking tools and supplies 80% of the time.
Most likely, you've heard about this principle sometime in your life: You use 20% of the stuff 80% of the time. You can apply this principle to what you wear and to the toys your kids play with; you can also apply it to scrapbooking supplies and tools.
I want to focus on tools here because they stick around and take up lots of space. Do I have tools? Oh yeah, I have scrapbooking tools: the Sizzix die cutter and a gazillion dies; the Cricut and all sorts of cartridges; the Revolution and all sorts of Quic Kutz dies - which are small and organized - but still take up space; paper punches (super bulky and space using); foam and wooden and acrylic stamps; paint; adhesives; paper cutters; scissors of every possible kind (but why is it that I can never find a straight scissors - I've got little pixies in my house that swipe them); pens, pencils and Copic Markers; cameras and computers and the list goes on.
Do I use all this stuff? Um, not really. I probably use 20% of my tools 80% of the time. So here's what I do with my tools: I keep one of those crop buddy canvas type organizers on my scrapbooking desk with the tools I use most often - regular scissors (which I have to replace on a very regular basis - someday I'm going to find a stock pile of scissors in one of the kids' rooms - I don't know where they go!); adhesive (my choice is photo splits and a clear scrapbooking liquid glue); several black and brown sharpie thin markers and other scrapbook journaling pens in black; a couple of circle punches; the Marvy Tab Punch; a scalloped border punch; a small paper trimmer (I also have a big giant guilloutine type cutter in a special place in my scrap space - I use this one for most of my cutting - I bought it at Office Depot a million years ago). So really not much stuff.
I keep the other 80% of my tools in bins in the closets in my scrapbooking room and I store like things with like things. So each cutting system has its space; all the paint is in one place; all of the other writing pens (like weird colors I don't use often) are together; I put the acryclic stamps in a notebook; the foam and wood backed stamps are in drawers; all the fancy scissors are together; punches are together in another bin. So that because this stuff isn't getting used on a frequent basis, I keep it close by but not out, so that I can find it if I need it. I find I need this stuff to be very organized and I put things back when I use them, so that if I want to use an odd shaped paper punch, I know where I can find it quickly - if I had to spend a lot of time finding it then I probably would even use it 20% of the time.
The other thing I do with these lesser used tools is that I rotate them so that occasionally I pull out a cutting system and say "this week is quick kutz week" and I try to use that system as much as I can for a time. This varies up my routine and gives that stuff a reason to stay (or to not stay - if I find that I never ever use something - then its time to get rid of that thing - especially if its a big space using tool).
3. Everything In Its Place: Every thing in your scrapbooking space should have a place - and your stuff should fit in your space.
When it comes to organzing, I am a big fan of labels. We've got a Brother P-touch labeler and I love to decide this where I'm going to store paper and then I can label the space and then fill it up. I'll take a bin and label it "Journaling" and then fill it up with journaling blocks etc. I'll label a notebook "Design Ideas" and then put all my notes and magazine clippings about scrapbooking design in that place. Its good to keep like things together and to label the container.
I don't like to spend all of my time organizing but when I was at a point of total chaos with my scrapbooking supplies, I took a week or two to get everything organized in a very picky kind of way - so that the whole space was completely organized. If you need a giant overhaul of your space, I recommend taking a break from scrapbook production and just focusing on the organizing part and give yourself a deadline so you have a sense of urgency to get the task of organzing done so that you can get back to the fun stuff. If you can get your hands on a copy, read Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvy's Book "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker" for big picture organization of your scrapbooking stuff.
4. Visual Stimulation: Give me some eye candy and inspiration.
I do find that if everything is too organized then I don't feel creative. So I do like a bit of a mess on my scrapbooking desk - I like that visual stimulation. I also like that if I'm working on a project or from a scrapbooking kit, I can have it all out and create lots of layouts or projects from what I have out. But at some point, I'll finish the project or tire of kit and I'll need to clear the decks. Then it takes me a short amount of time to put the mess on my desk back to where everything is orderly (the labeled bins in the closets and on the shelves of my scrapbooking room).
Sometimes, I like to tape up magazine clippings to the cabinets in my scrapbooking room - I especially like to do this around Halloween and Christmas time since there are usually lots of theme type things in the magazines. Funny thing about magazines, though, is that I don't get any paper magazines anymore. I now love e-zines like Ella Publishing's e-books and e-magazines. So often times my visual stimulation is dcoming from my computer or even my iphone! I also like to blog-surf sometimes for inspiration - but sometimes this becomes a time trap so I really try to limit where I go and to go to the sites that I know will consistently have new fresh content. I keep a list of blogs on my blog so I can easily jump to those through the links (look to the right on my blog for the link list).
5. Less Is More: Buy, have, and keep less stuff.
For years, I would go to the craft store every Sunday with my 40% off coupon and lots of times I'd come back with more than just one item. I was accumulating scrapbooking supplies faster than I could use them. I've stopped doing that. I go to the stores less often and use what I have. I still like the new things but I'm a bit pickier about what I bring in to my space - I have to love it (new patterned paper) or need it (adhesives).
If I could turn back time, I would have brought in a lot less scrapbooking stuff to my space, because here's the kicker: I know that I have a hard time parting with it. I like to know its going to a good home (in other words - I can't just throw it away). I have been a seller in a scrapbooking yardsale, our local stores host these a few times a year. I do let my kids have almost open access to all of my supplies and they are allowed to use them at will, so the stuff is getting used more quickly. Sometimes I'll make up packs of old stuff and give them away to beginning type scrapbookers or to my kids' school. I even teach my kids' classes to scrapbook (and I provide all of the supplies). I used to teach a class at Scrapbooking In Paradise called "Scrap Your Scraps" where everyone would bring in their scraps and stuff that they were no longer in love with, we'd put all the supplies in the middle of the table and then we'd make 6 layouts in 2 hours using everyone's scraps. I'd come in with 6 layout schemes and we'd go to work. It was fun, I'd like to bring that class back. I also have in the planning stage a series of 2 hour Crops for Charity and I think that I'll be able to use up / give away some of my older stuff at these crops (as in I'd just have some bins that were open for the taking), but I'm still in planning mode there - and could probably use a partner for that project because I'm going to guess that it is proabably more time consuming than I have time for to plan this type of thing - maybe I'll talk to the Tampa Bay Scrapbooking Guild members about their ideas on that project.
Bottom line on the stuff: buy less and keep less. Buy less stuff - try to spend less when you buy and go longer in between times that you do buy scrapbooking supplies. Figure out what you need before you shop because, if you are like me, you'll have an impulse to buy the latest and greatest (which is fine if done in moderation). And for the stuff you already have? If you don't love it, find a way to get rid of it by finding a good home for it.
6. Don't Over-think It: Have an overall plan for organization, execute it, and then get on with scrapbooking.
I guess this is my "Just Do It" and get it over with mentality when it comes to organization. I'm not a person who thinks its fun to have everything hyper-organized and if I am spending too much time organizing then I am not having fun. For me, a big clean sweep overall majore organization is needed in the beginning, but then I like to let things get a little messy while I'm creating and then from time to time - say at the end of every month - or whenever things get too messy, I clear the decks and clean it all up and start over again. I like to have a system for organization so I don't have to think about it - so my thoughts can be focused on the stories I want to tell or the new creations I want to make. I guess my brain works in two modes: organizing and creating. I can't do both at the same time, so I separate these activities and try to have the organizing part be as easy and quick as possible so I can get on with the fun part of creating.
7. Plan Ahead: Think about what's next.
If I have a project or season coming I like to plan ahead and get the supplies ready, so that everything is on hand and I can then just play. I did this recently with the Ali Edwards style "Week in the Life" project - I picked out the papers, the album, the embellishments etc. beforehand so that when the pictures from the week came back, all I had to do was play and put the album together.
I keep all of my Christmas related scrapbooking materials together. Recently, I took the Christmas bins out of my scrapbooking space entirely and I now store then where I store the rest of my Christmas decorations. So I get that stuff out once a year - the Christmas scrapbooking bins will probalby come out earlier and go back later than the rest of my Christmas items, but for the most part, I don't scrapbook about Christmas all year long, I like to do that around Christmas time.
I have albums dedicated to my kids' school years and have all of the school related scrapbooking supplies stored together.
8. Cold Storage: Photos and Memorabilia.
Don't put scrapbooking supplies into cold storage (with the exception of Christmas or other theme-type reoccurring events) if you want to put supplies into storage - better to just part with them.
Photos: I'm not a fan of throwing photos away. I know we have more pictures than ever, but throwing them away? I don't know, it just goes against my grain. I like to put photos in cold storage and revisit them later - this could me much later - like say when my kids are adults and maybe my daughter wants photos to use for her own scrapbooking and telling her own story. I use photo storage boxes that I buy at the craft store and I store the cold storage photos at my office. You could also store them at a relative's house. Sort of a hurricane or other disaster plan. What do I put in cold storage? Duplicates; less than perfect photos; and heritage photos. By getting the photos I'm probalby not going to use soon in my scrapbooking out of my way, I can more easily find the photos I am going to use. Its a good thing and I actually am at a point where I probably need to do this process again. But because I have a system, its not urgent, I can do it when I get in the mood for that type of work.
Memorabilia: School stuff goes into wall lockers that I clean out at Christmas and the end of the year. Then I sort through and purge some of it and then I age the memorabilia I'm saving in a few bins in a closet in my home and as time passes, I am more able to part with that stuff so I'll challenge myself to take these two bins and get rid of enough stuff to fit them into one bin - so its about condensing with the memorabilia (like kid's artwork and brochures etc). I also take photos of the kid's large art that I do not plan to keep. I like to have places where this stuff goes so that on a daily basis I don't have to think about it - I can just drop it in that place / box / bin and then go through it later.
9. Variety is the Spice Of Life: If I get in a rut, then I switch it up.
I make scrapbooking layouts, mini-books and photo album scrapbooks. I tend to be in one of these "modes" for a time and then will switch to another "mode". So for a while I'll make a bunch of layouts, and then at some point, I'll decide to switch to making mini books. Whats nice about making the different products is that the process and the supplies needed are a bit different. So I organize my desk a bit differently depending on which "mode" I'm in at the moment. When I switch the method, I also use the switching time to do a bit of organzing and purging and cleaning up so that I have a clean slate for the next mode.
10. Are You Having Fun?
I think a bit of a mess is ok if you are having fun and creating but is not ok if it starts to just feel like a mess and you are no longer getting pages created quickly and playfully. So when I'm not having fun anymore, it ususally means its time to clean up, take a break (I sometimes take scrapbooking - hiatuses where I don't do any scrapbooking at all), and start over again when you are feeling creative again.
So please help me out before my talk on Tuesday and tell me:
1. What is your best scrapbooking organization solution?
2. How do you get rid of supplies when you have too much stuff?
3. If you could turn back time to when you started scrapbooking - what would you do differently in the organization department?
4. Do you have links or sites for scrapbooking organization? Please share!
5. Anything I missed? What else should I cover on the subject of Scrapbooking & Organization?
Thanks for your help!
Recent Comments