Preparing for a Crop

[LindaBabe]

I just want to thank everyone who offered their tips for organizing stuff in general and on how you prepare for crops. I am excited to say that I am just about done organizing my stuff and I LOVE it!

I started my reorganization by taking out the big 2-shelf bookcase I was using to set my small bag on. In its place, I put an Iris cart and a smaller rolling cart. I was able to completely empty out my two CM bags for the first time EVER! I put both of them in a back closet to take out only when needed.

The first things I bought were an Iris cart and some plastic 12x12 holders. I divided my embellies and loose pattened paper into the various plastic holders and then put those in the various Iris cases. I then added any stacks I have to the corresponding case. Some cases have just a stack and one or two embellie holders (Christmas stack with Christmas and Winter embellies divided into two holders) and some have 4 different embellie holders. I have one case that is empty so I have room to grow. I just need to label the individual holders and the outside of the Iris cases so it is easy to find things.

I re-purposed a 5-drawer rolling cart with a lot of the stuff I kept in the bookcase and my small bag. It has my Ziploc bags and swap supplies like tape and labels in the bottom large drawer, chalk and some doodling templates in one, Cricut carts in another and CM Storybox photo mats/journal boxes in the fourth. I have one empty drawer so I have room to grow.

I purchased two large, rectangular baskets to place on top of the rolling carts. They have straight sides and are exactly wide enough to place all of the plastic holders that hold my cardstock and random patterned paper. One basket is all cardstock including all of the holders and the multi-color packages I have. The other basket holds the other three plastic holders with PP (Disney, Misc. Patterned Paper and Misc. Patterned Paper Scraps) plus all of the stacks of generic patterned paper like the Glitter stack and the giant stack I bought from Costco. There is enough room in the front of each of the baskets for me to stand up my 12" trimmer, my cutting mats and my Cricut mats.

On the other side of my bench, I have a very low table that holds my picture sorter box, my soft-sided bag that contains all of my brads, eyelets, buttons and snaps, and my three clear sorters with all of my ribbon, fiber and Primas.

This seems to be working well for me at the moment. It is MUCH easier for me to reach everything (especially my paper) and everything is more organized so I spend less time looking for stuff. This makes it easier for me to kit so I am able to prep for crops and home scrapping faster than I used to which has upped my productivity level.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing your methods and ideas. I'm loving what my organizing has done to help me. I really feel like my goal of 365 pages scrapped this year is totally doable!!

Oh Shauna! It sounds like you have it SO TOGETHER! That is taking the ball and running with it! YOU GO, Girl!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

OT- Thank you Linda for your priority box recommendation. My paper is just fine in its holders that my DH made for me. It was all my swap stuff that was in complete disarray. I would love to put them all in binders, but binders & protectors cost a little more than I wanted to invest as my goal is to use them all. So I used your box idea. I have two boxes of characters, one for each Disney Park, one huge one for everyday and one for the tag books & Zoo & Pirates. Some day I'll sort them more, but right now it works.
Thank you.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Way to go Shauna!!!!

I'm so happy for you! I hope we can reach 365, well 366 , together!