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At least once a week, I go to scrapbook and share some scrapbook ideas with my friends . Sometimes we are scrapping at my home, but often I am at their homes, which means that I must tote my scrapbook supplies around. I have been constantly re-examining the methods that I use to bring my supplies to these scrapbooking get-togethers, but I am fairly content with what I am currently doing, so I thought that I would share my method with all of my readers.
When I first starting scrapbooking at places other than my own home, I tried to assemble all the items I needed for a particular layout -- the paper, stickers, photos, etc -- and place these items in a page protector so that all I would have to do later is assemble everything. Well, I didn't stick with it very long. I found that I was much happier when I had just about all my of tools with me, and I only brought the photos I was currently working on.
My current method may seem odd to some scrappers, but for me it works and I am assuming it would work for some of you too. The first thing you will need to know about is how I organize the individual supplies I own. I have taken a plastic shoebox and in one half of it, I have a square shaped plastic container with a hinged lid.
In this square container, I keep my punches, and anything else that is very small in size. In the other half of this plastic shoebox, I keep all of my scissors. In a shallow container, I keep my pens, pencils and markers. One idea I heard of, but have not tried, is to keep your markers in a recycled baby wipes travel container. At one time, I also kept my smaller scrapbook tools in fishing tacke box, which allowed me to create sections that would fit everything.
The biggest problem I had was sorting my pattern paper that I had purchased. Orginally, I had it organized in file folders, but I didn't find this to be very convenient. What I have done now, is I have categorized all of my paper into sections such as baby, kids, Christmas and winter, and so on. Then I have taken each section and placed it in a side-loading page protector and using a label, I write what the particular protector holds (for example: "Baby").
I then take all of these filled page protectors and I place them all in one large three-ring binder. In this binder, I also have a page protector with die-cuts and also a section with stickers. I have found this new method much easier to use and bring with me.
Someday, I intend to purchase a nice scrapbooking tote, but for now, I have found something that will get everything from here to there, without costing me too much. First, I take a large, rectangle sized duffel bag. In this duffel bag, I have placed an empty copy paper box (minus the lid). I use the copy paper box for stability within the duffel bag. Within this box, I organize the following: magazines or books with ideas, my plastic shoebox container, my pen container, my paper binder, and the current album I am working on.
Outside of the copy box, I occasionally tuck extra items that I decide to take with me. I have found this to work very well, especially because it has handles and even a shoulder strap, and it cost me nothing to put together.
Last month my family took a camping trip to Death Valley, CA. We had a great time, and I was sure to bring my camera and take lots of photos. Another thing I did was I collected different memorabilia from Death Valley - a map, my receipt, a few brochures, a small local newspaper - just to name a few. With every picture I took and every piece of memorabilia I saved, I was already mentally preparing my scrapbook pages!
When we returned home, I sat looking at the various keepsakes that I had brought back home. This was probably the most memorabilia that I had ever collected from a single outing, and I was excited! I just couldn't wait to get my photographs developed and put all of the great stuff on the pages of my scrapbook. But at the same time, I began to realized that I have some memorabilia that I have not done anything with. As a matter of fact, these "piles" are not even located in the same areas of my home - some is in boxes in the garage, while others are filed away. They are just waiting for me to do something with them.
So I have decided that I will be spending this week organizing all these wonderful keepsakes. I have already started with my method of organization for these special items, and I would like to share them with you.
First, think of every place in your home that you might have different memorabilia "stashed". Go to all of these areas and collect everything. Put everything on a table (or even a floor), so that you are ready for the next step.
Not sure what is considered memorabilia? Well, it is anything you consider a treasure. It is very personal, what one person would save, another person may not even look twice at.
Now think about your albums. Do you have one for each child? If so, you may want to keep a file folder or box for each child. Do you have memorabilia that dates back over a few years? Divide each child's folder or box with years so that you can easily find what you are looking for.
Do you have a family album or one devoted to trips? I would recommend sorting the memorabilia by the occasion. For example, all the special keepsakes from our Death Valley trip should be put in a file called, Death Valley. That way I can easily find the Death Valley items when I am ready to work on my scrapbook pages.
I would recommend not filing your memorabilia with your photographs. Nearby is fine, but to avoid any damage to your photos, I would not place them directly together (like in the same file folder).
I hope my scrapbook ideas will help you to organize your scrapbooking.
When I first starting scrapbooking at places other than my own home, I tried to assemble all the items I needed for a particular layout -- the paper, stickers, photos, etc -- and place these items in a page protector so that all I would have to do later is assemble everything. Well, I didn't stick with it very long. I found that I was much happier when I had just about all my of tools with me, and I only brought the photos I was currently working on.
My current method may seem odd to some scrappers, but for me it works and I am assuming it would work for some of you too. The first thing you will need to know about is how I organize the individual supplies I own. I have taken a plastic shoebox and in one half of it, I have a square shaped plastic container with a hinged lid.
In this square container, I keep my punches, and anything else that is very small in size. In the other half of this plastic shoebox, I keep all of my scissors. In a shallow container, I keep my pens, pencils and markers. One idea I heard of, but have not tried, is to keep your markers in a recycled baby wipes travel container. At one time, I also kept my smaller scrapbook tools in fishing tacke box, which allowed me to create sections that would fit everything.
The biggest problem I had was sorting my pattern paper that I had purchased. Orginally, I had it organized in file folders, but I didn't find this to be very convenient. What I have done now, is I have categorized all of my paper into sections such as baby, kids, Christmas and winter, and so on. Then I have taken each section and placed it in a side-loading page protector and using a label, I write what the particular protector holds (for example: "Baby").
I then take all of these filled page protectors and I place them all in one large three-ring binder. In this binder, I also have a page protector with die-cuts and also a section with stickers. I have found this new method much easier to use and bring with me.
Someday, I intend to purchase a nice scrapbooking tote, but for now, I have found something that will get everything from here to there, without costing me too much. First, I take a large, rectangle sized duffel bag. In this duffel bag, I have placed an empty copy paper box (minus the lid). I use the copy paper box for stability within the duffel bag. Within this box, I organize the following: magazines or books with ideas, my plastic shoebox container, my pen container, my paper binder, and the current album I am working on.
Outside of the copy box, I occasionally tuck extra items that I decide to take with me. I have found this to work very well, especially because it has handles and even a shoulder strap, and it cost me nothing to put together.
Last month my family took a camping trip to Death Valley, CA. We had a great time, and I was sure to bring my camera and take lots of photos. Another thing I did was I collected different memorabilia from Death Valley - a map, my receipt, a few brochures, a small local newspaper - just to name a few. With every picture I took and every piece of memorabilia I saved, I was already mentally preparing my scrapbook pages!
When we returned home, I sat looking at the various keepsakes that I had brought back home. This was probably the most memorabilia that I had ever collected from a single outing, and I was excited! I just couldn't wait to get my photographs developed and put all of the great stuff on the pages of my scrapbook. But at the same time, I began to realized that I have some memorabilia that I have not done anything with. As a matter of fact, these "piles" are not even located in the same areas of my home - some is in boxes in the garage, while others are filed away. They are just waiting for me to do something with them.
So I have decided that I will be spending this week organizing all these wonderful keepsakes. I have already started with my method of organization for these special items, and I would like to share them with you.
First, think of every place in your home that you might have different memorabilia "stashed". Go to all of these areas and collect everything. Put everything on a table (or even a floor), so that you are ready for the next step.
Not sure what is considered memorabilia? Well, it is anything you consider a treasure. It is very personal, what one person would save, another person may not even look twice at.
Now think about your albums. Do you have one for each child? If so, you may want to keep a file folder or box for each child. Do you have memorabilia that dates back over a few years? Divide each child's folder or box with years so that you can easily find what you are looking for.
Do you have a family album or one devoted to trips? I would recommend sorting the memorabilia by the occasion. For example, all the special keepsakes from our Death Valley trip should be put in a file called, Death Valley. That way I can easily find the Death Valley items when I am ready to work on my scrapbook pages.
I would recommend not filing your memorabilia with your photographs. Nearby is fine, but to avoid any damage to your photos, I would not place them directly together (like in the same file folder).
I hope my scrapbook ideas will help you to organize your scrapbooking.
