Help! I'm going to a crop...

[FantasticDisFamily]

Help! I know some of you scrappers go to crops all the time, or at least fairly regularly. I've done some evenings/afternoons at a couple of friends but never a "formal" crop.

But I'm taking the plunge this Sat at a Crop for Kids fundraiser our PTO is doing. I'm going with one of my buddies and will probably know a couple dozen people or more.

But here is my question. How do you prepare to go? Obviously I can't take the contents of my entire workroom.

I do know I'm going to work on my cruise album and those photos are all arranged by packet (labeled) in a basket. Last night I went through and decided which I wanted to enlarge, etc. So I'll do that Friday.

Is it best to just pull together a wide selection of the papers and cardstock I think I'll use? My stickers/borders/etc are in two big zip binders (cropper hopper brand I think) so taking those is doable.

Or is it better to try and figure out the basic layouts, paper combos, etc. ahead of time so I can simply put the layouts together?

And what carrying methods (short of purchasing one of the big wheelie cropper hoppers) work well?

Any and all thoughts are appreciated! TIA

Deb

 

[chessie]

When I work away from home I sometimes make page kits and take exactly what I am going to use with the photos. Other times I take a group of paper and elements that I think might go with the photos I want to work on. I know, I am not much help. The one thing I do is take more then I think I will get done. I do this because sometimes I start a page and I just can't make the elements work. That way I am not forcing it. I can just go on to something else.

When I go to a big crop, part of the fun is visiting with other ladies and talking about their photos and layouts.

Have fun, Chessie

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Thanks Chessie! I know there will be plenty of visiting going on, since this is a PTO event so there should be lots of people I know.

But I'm hoping to get some pages done too!

Deb

 

[WDWMom]

Deb,

If you have top loading pages you can just put your pics in them and pick out what papers, dies and stickers you want to use and place in there. I do this soemtimes and it helps me out. But I have a cropper hopper on wheels with most of my stuf in there so travel isn't a problem with me. Only my sizzix doesn't fit so I carry it separately.

 

[Spinning]

You are going to have so much fun and wonder why in the world you haven't been going to these all the time!
Any way I am not a planner so not much help!
The only thing I will say...organize your stuff...sort your paper so you know what you...then have an idea what you want to work on. I the page kits are a great idea but I just dont' have the time to do that....or maybe don't want to
I just make sure my stickers/die cuts are together. you know all of disney in one spot, snow stuff in another...
I usually never bring an album but I use top loading. Saves on space. I have space in one of my paper takers and that is what I put my completed pages in.
Anyway just have fun, don't expect to get a lot done....

 

[TeresaNJ]

I've never been to a crop either, and have all the same questions as you. I can't imagine what I would bring, and how I would transport everything. It takes me so long to decide on a page layout, that the crop would be over before I even got there, LOL. I think part of the problem is organization. I don't really have a good setup for my paper, so it takes me forever to search through it all. DH is suppose to be making me drawers or shelves or something, eventually. For now I have everything in folders, boxes, tins, etc. It gets really frustrating. Anyway, if I were going to a crop, I think I would decide what type of pages I wanted to work on, get those pictures together, then decide on the colors and papers, for each layout, and individually bag those together. I guess I would also take my cropper hopper with me filled with my assorted adhesives, punches, trimmer, etc. I don't know. See, I'm getting overwhelmed just thinking about it. What about fibers, beads, buttons, embellishments, stickers, wire..... You can't take it all, can you?? I would want to take it all, but realize you can't. I'm a create as you go kind of scrapper, changing my mind, switching ideas midway through. So I guess the moral of this is, go and have fun, get some ideas, but don't go with the idea that it will be a productive day of creating scrapbook pages.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Oops, sorry, double post, computer is acting crazy today.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I was surprised that there weren't as many people there that I knew as I thought there would be. But then again my kids will both be in High school next year and this was at their old elementary school.

The friend I went with is also my GS troop leader so we also began brainstorming about how this idea for a fund raiser might benefit our troop in our efforts to raise funds for our travel to Europe in 2007!

Anyway, here is what I ended up doing (and Char told me she wasn't bringing the U-Haul so I couldn't bring everything!)

I knew I was going to work on my DCL Cruise book and those photos were all sorted. As I noted in the post that started this thread I had sorted through those and made enlargements, etc ahead of time. These were in a small basket that I also tucked a box of kleenex into - I think that made us the most popular table at the crop!

All of my stickers, etc. are in 2 of the PSB binders so I took those.

My paper is sorted into the acid free plastic envelopes (12 x 12 & 8.5 x 11) from one of the scrapbook supply companies so I loaded those (6 of them) along with several books of papers that might be applicable, some packs of cropping blocks and cropping boarders, and some pads of small papers into one large canvas tote.

A second canvas tote was loaded with packs of page protectors and the base cardstock for the pages, the binder with my templates, my personal cutter, DCL album from the ship which had the official pics and some cruise specific stickers and die cuts in it and the album. I wasn't going to bring it originally but was glad I did because I ended checking back to make sure I wasn't duplicating and doubling checking some name spellings.

Finally I had a tackle box sort of thing that we've used for kids to take various supplies for special classes (art, stagecraft, etc.) to school. In that I loaded my markers, journaling pens, the edging scissors I thought I'd want, my two pair of regular scissors (I have a tiny pair for fine cuts and a larger pair for bigger things) and some punches.

Only took 2 trips from the car to haul it all in.

Guess I took the right stuff because I managed to get 14 pages done! Approx. 1/2 hour per page.

And we both one door prizes/raffle goodies worth more than what we spent on the registration and raffle tickets.

There were about 45 croppers there and the PTO reported profits of about $1200. Not a bad day all in all.

Deb