Never realized how time consuming organizing your scrap space can be. LOL

[maslex]

WOW!!!

I have literally been working on it since Friday night. And it's not that I have a whole scrapbook room or anything, I just have a desk downstairs and some rolling carts to deal with. But it got to the point that I didn't have any room on my desk to even scrap with.

Like most scrapbookers, I am a paper addict. I buy and buy and buy but never like to actually use it. Not sure why that is but I'm trying to change that. I store my paper in those rolling carts with each drawer designated to a certain theme (one drawer is labeled "boys" & has all the papers, stickers, sayings, etc for all my boy pages) Same for Christmas, summer, Disney, soccer, school, etc, etc. That way, when I want to scrap a certain theme, I just have to take out that drawer and all my stuff is in one spot. Since I have come up with that way of organizing, things have been working out okay.

But this weekend has been mostly dedicated to organizing my photos. Oh my, what a nightmare!!! A couple years ago I bought one of these big plastic photo organizing boxes http://www.amazon.com/Advantus-Corp...=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1286791164&sr=1-2 It did the trick but somehow things still got all jumbled up in there? So this is what I did. A couple weeks ago I went to a crop that I always go to during work every Wednesday morning and I brought along a few pictures to scrap. Well, I ended up throwing them into a little ziploc storage bag (the quart size) so I wouldn't lose them. Then the idea hit me.....I spent the most part of this weekend going through ALL of my pictures and organizing them into those little quart sized storage bags and labeling them right on the bag itself. That way when I go to scrap them, all the pics are in one place and I don't have to dig around to find any other pics that might go with that page.

I have a little more to do today (thankfully it's a long weekend) and then things will be tip/top down there. My next quest is to go through all of my scrapbook magazines and books and see what I can weed out from those. Any ideas on how to organize the layouts or ideas that I like from those?

Thanks for letting me ramble.

 

[LindaBabe]

No suggestions but heaps of praise. GOOD JOB, Mazlex!

 

[rlovew]

I would get an accordian file folder and organize them by the number of pictures for sketches and stuff and if you are saving them because you want a particular theme for scrapping then add it to the drawer of stuff you have in that theme- maybe in a sheet protector (all of them).

 

[disneylover1959]

Organizing your photos is the worst, most time consuming part of scrapping. Now that I've gone digital with my camera, it's a little easier than dealing with negatives.

 

[MazdaUK]

I need to do something with my mags - they are on the top shelf between the stereo and speakers, but the speakers are getting pushed right to the edge As I have a couple of Becky Higgins books I might just get rid of some and just keep Simple Scrapbooks (as it folded)

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

I have a 3-ring binder...seperated into sections. So, when I see a layout I like and may want to use or keep for inspiration, I cut it out and tape it into the binder (blank white pages in the binder). The sections are for # of pictures on the page. If there is a new product advertised that I want to be sure to look for, I cut that out and keep the clipping in my wallet. After all the cutting, the magazine goes!! It takes a long time if you have a build up of mags, but once you are caught up, going through one or two a month is nothing!! It doesn't take up too much room either...the layout pictures in the mags aren't usually too big...you should be able to fit multiple on a page!! Also, there will be room on the sides for you to right any "recipes" of your own that you may have or notes, or immediate ideas or changes!! Hope that helps! I like your idea for the pictures...always looking for a better system!

 

[wdwmickey]

I use a 3 ring binder too In fact I cleaned it out when I organized in January. Amazing how scrapping has changed in 12 years (I tossed a lot of old ideas that no longer appealed to me).

 

[rlcook]

My printer is also a scanner, so I scan them into my documents and label the files as to what they are and then I can pull it up when I'm looking for something. I use this for new techniques, page layouts or just anything in the mags that I think is interesting.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I could probably spend as much time organizing as I do scrapping. LOL Getting your pictures organized and sorted is such a huge step. I am so guilty of flipping through pictures over and over again trying to decide what I want to work on.