Do you power layout before a crop

[goofymom/pop]

just curious how many of you get your pages all organized with stickers, embellies, paper etc. all ready for a crop?

I did the last crop and wow did I get a lot done.

If you do what methods do you use, any tips?What is the best way you have found to stay organized at a crop away from home?

 

[Spinning]

I don't. I htink you have to be a very organized person to do that. Which needless to say I am not. What I have found to help me get those most out of my crop time is to have my stuff organized by this I mean easy to access at the table.
I also decide before hand what my main pages I plan to do IE school, vacation sports etc...
Then I will pull all of my embellishments that could work for those pictures I just dont' make up the kits.
I found in the past this works well for me. I at least have some direction.

 

[wtpclc]

A lot of time I PowerLayout with just my photos. I need to see how they fi tin pages, but that's enough for me. I try to get a bit of a color scheme and grab that paper, but that varies.

 

[piratesmate]

Do you all journal in your own handwriting? Or do you just wait to add the journaling until you get home from the crop? It's still taking me a long time to do a LO because I have to decide what I want to use on the page, then write the journal & then size the journaling, see if the pix need re-sizing, etc, etc, etc.

So Spinning, please share! How do you organize your stuff at the table? I'm going on Saturday & am still at a loss on how to do this!

And I realized yesterday that my biggest problem is that I use an old Fiskars rotary cutter for my large sheets. It's so big!! I didn't think about this as it isn't really an issue at home...but I feel like it will take up all my space at the crop. And I don't want to have to cut all my paper before I leave - because it takes me forever to power layout....I'd only be set up for about 3 to do all day!

HELP!!!!

 

[Spinning]

I have this little fabric holder thingie...it sits on the table and I can put my pens,adhesive, sissors, odds and ends in.
Then i have a a cup holder with a small trash bag....
I have everything in my xlarge crop in style bag, I also but dont' always bring a small white wire shelf that folds. You can use it to store stuff on top and under it sits on the table.
Bascially I try to mark my territory! LOL! not so much for the other people moving into my space but so I don't move into theirs! I like to spread out!
I also try to get an extra chair if possible to sit my tackle box on. This isn't always possible. and I try really hard to get a seat so I am on a corner and my crop bag is to my left.

 

[becky7953]

I have pics ready and the paper I want to use with them. Then I take all my stickers and such to the crop. I use my own handwriting for the journaling. I do not get a ton of pages done, but I am satisfied with the amount.

 

[piratesmate]

Do you remember where you got your wire shelf? I read somewhere that someone picked up one at Wal-Mart, but don't know where in the store, what brand, etc...so I've had a hard time finding one. I know I'm going to need something, but wanted something that will fold so I can transport it.

DH thinks I should just take the plastic tubs I store stuff in around here but of course they won't fit into the rolling bag!! He just doesn't get why I "want to bother leaving the house with all this stuff!" And I have to confess, right about now I'm not so sure either!

I wish I'd opted for the GO in Q'town instead - then my only worry would be how to keep from spending a lot!

 

[Spinning]

Organized living sells them. But I think you can get them at Target

 

[wtpclc]

Deb -I always journal at home after a crop. Usually it's in my own witing also. I stil cannot journal in a crop environmtan. I typically journal late nights or early mornings when it's quiet.

 

[goofymom/pop]

not of fan of journaling at a crop because there are too many distractions. I do mine at home too. Except for the weekend one, I was in a room with only one roomie, so I just said "journaling" and she would clam up for a moment and then back to yacking.

 

[scraphappy92]

I do page kits to take with me. I include a sketch, pictures, cardstock, pattern paper, any embellishments I might use such as ribbon, metal accents, etc. and any memorabilia. Also if I get a chance before going to the crop I will do my journaling on the computer and print it out to take with me, especially if I am going to do something like use the mat around the picture to also have the journaling on. (If I don't have time then I do the journaling when I come home.)

I pack my tool bag with eyelets, brads, stamp sets, punches, pens, adhesive, scissors and anything else I might need for the layouts I have planned...usually I pull the tools while I am packing the kits. So if I have a layout I know I will use the circle punch for I pull it out, maybe another I plan eyelets so I pull them out plus that tool kit.

I first packed like this about 2 years ago when we went to TN for a whole weekend of scrapbooking in the smokey mountains with friends. I knew if I wasn't organized I would never get anything done. I ended up completing 65 pages in 2.5 days that weekend. Now it has just become habit for me to pack that way when even attending local crops. I actually hope to work on some kits this weekend so I can go cropping next Friday or Monday when I am off.

Happy cropping everyone!

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

A bit of all the above! Which is to say - sometimes I'll do the power layout thing - but as Carrie noted, generally with just the pics (BTW Carrie, can you email me the details on 22nd?).

If I don't do that, at least I know what I want to work on and make sure I have the necessary paper, etc for that. However, my stickers are all in 2 big binders that strap to the pull out handle of my cropper hopper. So I can essentially take them all.

No way can I lug all the paper though and so I generally have to make some decisions there. My big space saver is I rarely take full books. I use post bound top load so I just take the pages and page protectors. That saves a ton of weight and space.

I organize my tools in my hopper and as for journalling sometimes I do it at a crop - especially if it is labeling of people inthe photos,e tc. But a lot of the time it is at home when I can verify who they are with kids, etc.

Deb

 

[wtpclc]

(BTW Carrie, can you email me the details on 22nd?).

Sorry Deb. Finishing new nephew's blanket and visiting him took up all of my free and CM time. Darn him! E-mail with new stuff adn details o its way now. BAsically, same as last time. I'm just so creative!

 

[LindaBabe]

Some times I don't feel like scrapping but maybe I can sort, so when I get a pack of new pictures (usually 100 or more at a time from snapfish), I might divide them up into two page spreads and put each into a page protector, stored in a binder album. I have a very very short attention span, so prefer to chip away at it.

Then I'll go through that on another night and add paper - maybe stickers then, too, if i'm inspired. If a photo needs punched with my big oval or circle, I do that in advance too, so I don't have to lug them. Might make computer titles in advance. Finally embellishments like fibers or whatever.

I might have 100 or more pages in that binder, so for a 6 hour crop, I'll take 20 around the same trip or event or color scheme so that I need only pack the limited brad or button colors or punches required. (More page kits than I think I'll need.)

My basic tool kit is 12 inch paper trimmer, cutterbee scissors, adhesives, big square punch, tiny hole punch for brads, pencil, black, gold and silver pens. My LSS has the BIG paper cutter, die cut machines and some punches, so I don't take duplicates. I journal at home, because easily distracted.

I downsized from a Navigator to the smaller crop in style bag because I couldn't lift it, so my whole goal is to lighten my load (fibromyalgia). I take one recently finished album to show, sometimes. Believe it or not, still bring some stuff home unused. lol

Oh, I also keep a running list of things I need to replenish, so when i'm adding things to my page kits, if I need something to complete that kit, I add it to the list and put a note in the page protector (so I can remember where I was going with it - memory is short too!)

 

[mom2grace]

I just learned about Finished in Five. The overall concept is to have an album (250-300 photos) completed in 5 3-hour sessions. I learned it from a CMC, but I don't think it's "officially endorsed" by CM!

Anyway, I have been scrapping for 8 years. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this new technique. And, I really think anyone can use it, unless you only put 1-3 pictures on a 12x12 page.

First, you crop all of your pictures as either squares or rectangles, with 5% or less as another shape (circle, oval, octogon, silhouette, etc).

Then, you place your photos on the page working from the middle out (this is working on a 2page spread). So, the inside edges on the pages are mostly pictures, but there will be room around the top, far sides, and bottom potentially.


Next, you add a journaling box somewhere on the page.

Then, you decide what type of embellishments, papers, etc to use. And, you have them fit into the open space.

And you are finished.

Now, I love this because there is very little "blank space" showing. I generally do not wallpaper, and this technique is very appealing to the eye.

I recommend you try it once on an event (I did our honeymoon pics from 8 years ago). I was very skeptical, but I am totally sold now. The pictures really pop out at you. I think this is mostly due to the lack or open page/paper.

It's a variation of the power layout technique. They recommend that you crop all of your pictures for an entire album first, but I just do it on an ongoing basis. It is very important to stick to only 1 or 2 or none odd shapes.

Also, if you have memorabilia or embellishments that you want on the page, I suggest that you include them in the picture stage if they are large. This way, they will fit in and you won't be worried about how to fit them in.

Before I go to a crop, I have all of my photos cropped, and stickers, etc organized by event. I take all of my paper, but I don't have a ton of patterned paper.

 

[AZ JazzyJ]

I'm curious, if you drink while you organize do you refer to the place as a "Power Bar"?


Jeff

 

[goofymom/pop]

I think we had one of those at our weekend crop.....oh boy it did make some of the ladies really "power"ful.....lol!!

 

[goofymom/pop]

mom2grace can you post a pic of a layout. Sounds interesting to me. I love to color block a page, no white showing hardly at all. Love the look esp for those pics you want in but do not have enough of. I make a page that is just different shots of our trips. All mixed up but looks really cool! I just wish coloring blocking were a little less time consuming.

 

[mom2grace]

mom2grace can you post a pic of a layout. Sounds interesting to me. I love to color block a page, no white showing hardly at all. Love the look esp for those pics you want in but do not have enough of. I make a page that is just different shots of our trips. All mixed up but looks really cool! I just wish coloring blocking were a little less time consuming.

I will this weekend!

 

[galtscrapper]

I do try to put page kits together, as completely as possible... I got 30 pages done one night doing this. I can't always do this, due to time and sometimes supply constraints before the crop, but when I do, it works GREAT. When it comes to Disney pages, it can be difficult for me, since I don't paper piece, so I have to swap or pif/snag unusual character items... which means sometimes I'm waiting to do pages.

Journaling: A really neat, useful trick I learned is to do your journaling on vellum, which will go on anything with either vellum spray or brads or eyelets, and it looks really classy.

Sarah