Feeling overwhelmed by so many pictures?

I don't get to scrapbook nearly as much as I'd like to. I'm sure most of you feel the same way. However, it is a rare occasion that I am caught without a camera .... Well duh.... Thanks to smartphones.... Anyway.... I have no problems taking pictures. But then I find that 6 months go by and I still haven't emptied my camera or I have and put all pictures into one folder. And before I know it, a whole year has passed by and I have no scrapbook to show for it. So This school year I made a promise to myself "Jessie... You will take one day a week and scrapbook an event after work". Well every time I attempted this I failed. I realized that scrapbooking one event took longer than I really had time for. So I asked myself how could I do what I loved without having to wait for an entire scrapbook weekend or my annual scrap-a-polooza???? Then it hit me. .... IT IS ALL ABOUT ORGANIZATION!!!! The first thing that needed to be organized was my photos that were on my computer. What I am going to say next is probably not news to anyone because most people organize their photos this way. I have a folder for each year. Within the folder I have sub-folders titled by the event. I title each event by the date first (using numbers). I do this because the folder automatically organizes the sub-folders alphabetically with numbers in order first. That way I can see my events in order as I need to scrap them. Any group of pictures that I want to keep but are not "scrap worthy" go in a file called "misc.". Now that all of my photos are organized on my computer it is time to get even more organized. I started an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my picture (nothing fancy because I'm not an excel wiz). Each year has it's own page. On the page there are 7 columns (date, event, memorabilia, paper, embellishments, printed, scrapped). The first two Columns are self explanitory. Memorabilia is checked if I have any tickets, maps, postcards, etc. that I want to include on the page. Paper/embelishments is if I have already pulled paper/embellishments for that event (more detail on this to follow in the blog). Printed if I have already printed the pictures and scrapped if I have scrapped the event. I print out the spreadsheet and keep it in a folder on my scrap desk. As I update it I do so on the paper. A few times a year or whenever I feel like it, I update it on the computer and then print out the new copy. It sounds like a lot of work but really isn't. At least I don't find it to be a lot of work when it's set up. It has been a life saver. Already pulled paper and embellishments you ask??? Yes, my lasted organizational endeavor. When I sit down to scrap an event it takes so long because you have to decide on paper and what stickers to use and this and that... Yadda yadda yah .... So I skimmed through my photo files on the computer to remember what needed to be scrapbooked then I took an hour and went through my paper and embellishments. When I came across a paper/embellishment that fit the event I pulled it out and placed a sticky note on it with a short description of what I wanted to use that for. The selected paper went in a 12x12 plastic folder and the embellishments went into an 8.5x11 plastic folder and I updated my spreadsheet. I have now saved myself a lot of time when I decide to sit done and scrap that event. Now ... About those millions of photos on your computer. Personally I don't scrapbook in order. Easier if you do but I don't. Sometimes I wanna scrapbook a birthday and other times I'm inspired to work on a girls night event... Maybe I have ADD for scrapbooking. Because of this, I like to have a lot of events printed out so they are at my finger tips. However, all of my events are in separate folders. This was frustrating because all of the online photo sites only allow you to upload one folder at a time. Then once the whole folder was uploaded you had to choose each picture you wanted to print. Most of the time I just got tired of it and ordered the whole event which I ended up throwing a lot of pictures away. What is easier than uploading every event? Only uploading one folder of exactly the pictures you want printed. So... How do you do that? I have solved this case as well. I went through each event and dragged a copy of the pictures I wanted to print into a "to print" folder. This way I can see all the pictures from each event and choose only the ones that would make it into a scrapbook. Sooooooooo much easier than uploading each event and then choosing the ones to print .... Can you stay "headache"? Remember: not every picture is going to make it into the scrapbook. Choose between 5-10 for each event. Anyway, uploading the one "to print" file was simple. I order from cvs ... They offer 10cent prints quite often. Use whatever site you like. I just ordered 858 prints ... Bring on the scrapping! I hope something in my post has been helpful. Happy Organizing!!!!

What am I supposed to do with all these wooden stamps??

I have been on this organizing kick lately and I was struggling with a good way to store my wooden stamps. At the time, my storage method was "all in one large box" .... down fall with that was I had to hunt through the whole box to see what I had. I knew there had to be a better way to organize them without costing an arm and a leg. I searched online for about 2 hours with no luck. Everything I saw was too high, I needed to find a shallow box. That evening I stopped in at Michaels and they were having their 40% off scrapbook storage sale and I found the PERFECT storage idea. The item was called Slim Scrapbook Chest with 3 Removable Scrapbook Cases by Iris.

The ones at Michaels have the white outer case (like the one above) but it comes with a see-through green, purple, and pink removable case. Very pretty! Regular price is about $34.99 but with the 40% it was $20.99. DO NOT pay full price because Michaels ALWAYS has their scrapbook storage 40% off. The removable cases are about 12x12 sized (fits regular 12x12 paper) and they are about 1.5 inches high - PERFECT height for stamps.  

I know a lot of people don't like wooden stamps anymore (give them to me please - you don't want them crying in the closet, feeling neglected) .... most people use the acrylic blocks. These cases are perfect for storing those too. As far as storage for my clear stamps, I use a Crop-N-Style binder (retails anywhere between $23 and $30 - totally worth the money when they are instock). 

I went to Michaels today and bought the only slim case set they had out but they may have more in the back. If you are looking for them at Michaels - look in three places ... the right wall, the left wall (by the baskets) or in an isle to the right (if you are at the California, MD location).

 

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for visiting my blog. I would like to start off by saying I am not an English major. I am MATH teacher of the year and would never claim writing or grammar to be my strong suit so please accept my mistakes and move on to the good stuff!!

Here is the story of how this blog started. Earlier today I went to my friend Jean's house to make cards. While I was there I created a templete for some baby girl/boy cards. In the short time I was there I made 12 boy and 12 girl cards. When I was done I took a picture of one of the cards and uploaded to facebook to share like I always do. After dinner I was still in the mood to play with my scrapbooking stuff and since my boyfriend and I were off of work tomorrow for MLK day I had a brilliant idea (at 10pm) .... let's take some 5 hour energy shots. Well guess what? They worked because it is now 3:56am, Lance is still playing his video game and I created a blog.

So what made me decided to start a blog? Here's the story. I've been jazzed all night thinking of buying a new house and having a huge "creativity center" (as Lance wants to call it). My mind has been thinking of how I want to arrange it and how to orgaize my scrap stuff. Anyone who knows me knows that I love organizing my things almost as much as I like the stuff itself. So while I was playing in my scrap area, hyped up on 5 hour energy, I started labeling all my stamps and making a list of which CTMH (close to my heart) ink pads and markers I had and which ones I needed. After I color coded my list I moved on to my brads. My brad case was full but I had gotten a bunch of duplicate sets while shopping at Hobby Lobby last month (because they were on sale ... couldn't say no). While starring at my brads I thought to myself, How am I going to remember which brads I have duplicates of since I don't have any extra room for them in my brad case? And then it hit me.... little round stickers! A few months ago Lance had given me these little round stickers. I had no idea what to use them for so I threw them in my scrap drawer. Who knew they'd actually be useful. I decided to mark the back of each container that contained brads I had more of. I was so excited about my organizational idea that I wanted to take a picture to share with my fellow scrap friends but I knew if I posted it on facebook 95% of people would have no clue what it was or wouldn't care. So I decided I wanted to have a place to share all my scrapbook ideas, cool finds, layout, etc. That is bascially how this blog began.

I don't know how well this will work because I've never created a blog but I hope you enjoy it!!!

Here is my brad case and the stickers I used to label the containers! This is an awesome brad case from Close To My Heart but they no longer sell it .... BOO!!! :*-(

Here are the cards I made today. I also made cards that are exactly like this but the ribbon says Baby Girl (or Boy). The paper and stamps came from Hobby Lobby and the ribbon is from Joanns (my favorite place for ribbon)