How I Store My Card Stock & Designer Series Paper

In this first post in my “Storage Series” I will share how I manage my Stampin’ Up! card stock & designer series paper (DSP). I’ve adapted this over the years, and I’m pretty pleased with my current storage situation. It works well for me right now… and that is what will be important when you are organizing YOUR own space.

Full-Size Card Stock StorageFirst, here is my card stock, stored on wire shelves you can find at many different stores. To accomplish this paper storage, you will need a couple boxes of the shelves and a bunch of zip ties to hold them together.  I won’t go into how to build this today, but if you want more information you can email me! The card stock stored here is 12×12 & 8-1/2×11 full sheets that have NOT been cut.

Larger Card Stock Scraps & DSPNext, here is where I store my larger scraps of solid card stock and my DSP. The open storage sleeves to the left hold card stock by Stampin’ Up! color family. The open storage sleeves in the middle hold my DSP paper stacks by color family. The closed storage sleeves on the right hold my DSP, separated by pack, as well as one sleeve for storing all 3 colors of glimmer paper.  These sleeves hold full-size sheets and all scraps in the same holder. They key here is that I have labeled everything so I can easily find what I am looking for.

Small Card Stock ScrapsHere is my card stock storage for my smallest scraps. I used to keep them all separated by color in small zip-locks in one box, but I like this storage by color family much better.  It really helps me to NOT keep every single teeny, tiny scrap because I only have a certain amount of space per container.

Card Stock Card Base StorageIn this box (which is sold as a card holder, but didn’t work for me in that way) I keep my card stock, by color family, which is already cut into a standard card base size (8-1/2×5-1/2, scored at 4-1/4).  This really helps keep me from cutting into a full-sized piece of card stock when I already have a card base ready to go!

Card Stock Management During CraftingFinally, while I am crafting, this is how I manage my card stock and DSP.  Small pieces I don’t need to keep go immediately into the trash on the right. Everything else goes into the basket on the left (except card bases & full-sized sheets) for me to put away at a later time.

I hope this article helps you with ideas for storing your card stock & DSP. If you have questions, please contact me. If you have your own storage for paper that works great for you, share it in the comments. I’d love to hear your ideas!

“Best of Brides & Babies” Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!

Welcome to the “Best of Stampin’ Up!” stamp set for May… The “Best of Brides & Babies!”

Each month I’ll post information here on my website about the NEW “Best Of” set for that month:

The Details:

  • All “Best Of” stamp sets will include 3-5 images, including a never-before seen image, and will be priced at $14.95.
  • While just one “Best Of” stamp set will be released each month (with a new theme each month), all of the “Best Of” sets will be available until March 31, 2014.
  • All “Best Of” stamp sets are available in Clear-Mount only.
  • As a special incentive to collect the “Best Of” stamps, starting in February there will be a collector’s card and 25-year proof of purchase sticker included with every “Best Of” set. Collect six stickers, and send it in to redeem a FREE set of your choice valued up to $14.95! Free sets must be redeemed no later than April 30, 2014.

DOWNLOAD the Collector’s Card HERE!

Contact me for more information or visit my page every month to see what’s NEW!

Happy Stamping with the NEW “Best of Brides & Babies” Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!

Free Downloads for My Digital Studio

I post often about My Digital Studio:

  • Projects I’ve made
  • How much I love the software
  • About how each and every week (Tuesdays!) Stampin’ Up! adds more digital content to the My Digital Studio store.

I’ve neglected to mention that every once in a while, digital downloads are FREE!

I’m including a list below of all the currently available FREE digital downloads available. They are all linked to my Online Store, where you can see what each item looks like.

I’ve included the January, February & March wallpapers because they are still available AND because you could still use them in your digital projects by covering up the part with the month on it.

Do you know what else is FREE?!? The 30-Day Trial of MDS! And if you download the 30-Day trial from my Online Store, you can receive my 10 video tutorials to help get you started with MDS.  So, seriously, what are you waiting for?

Contact me with any questions you have!

 

Four Steps to a Finished Scrapbook

I am really excited to announce that I recently finished my son’s first-year scrapbook! (He’s four!) Those of us who truly enjoy our scrapbooking hobby know that “finishing” an album is a rare thing. Many times we might have several scrapbooks “in progress” and sometimes we just don’t feel like working on a specific scrapbook, so it’s fun to be able to switch around between multiple projects. I really had to decide that finishing his “baby” book was a priority — and I am so happy that I did!

I wanted to share a few steps that really helped me get it done, without feeling like I was forgetting something!

  1. First, everything starts with your photos. Mine were primarily on my computer to begin with, so I went through ALL of them from his first year (and some from before he was born) and made a list of what I had to work with, in chronological order. Some photos fit neatly into an event or theme, and some were just daily life. I listed it ALL. It helped me to keep this list on my Google Drive, but a handwritten document could work for you.
  2. Second, I had my photos printed. ALL of them from his first year, whether I thought they might be included in the scrapbook or not. This way I would still have all of them either sorted in labeled boxes or in his scrapbook. It gave me some flexibility towards the end of my project when I decided to include a 12-month retrospective (2-page spread) using one photo from each month that I hadn’t previously used in the book.
  3. Third, I pulled ALL the designer papers (patterned scrapbooking papers) that I might use for his scrapbook into ONE container. This made it more simple for me to go to ONLY that one spot to find paper for each layout, rather than digging through my entire stash of paper each time. Also, you may decide to tie all your scrapbook album pages to a certain design or theme — so keeping all of that together makes more sense. I didn’t include solid card stock in this project stash, because with my craft room layout it is easy enough to pull pages as I needed them. You could also include embellishments in this step, but I tended to make or use embellishments as I went, so I didn’t need to collect them all at once.
  4. Finally, I simply got started making pages. With my handy list of photos, organized by month, then by event, I could make a page and cross it off my list. I didn’t have to necessarily scrapbook each page in order, so jumping around within the album made me feel a little more inclined to scrapbook because I didn’t HAVE to work on a specific page. For example, one of the first layouts I completed was Liam’s first birthday! Some of the last pages I completed were from right before he was born!

So, I hope reading a little about my process might help you get your scrapbooking done, or at least help you get a little more organized. Everyone has to do what works for them, and this truly helped me get my son’s first-year scrapbook completed before he left for college! Now I am working on a scrapbook from my high school days (almost 25 years ago!) and I’m more motivated to get it done, now that I know that it’s possible to finish a scrapbook!

I’d love to hear the steps that work for YOU when scrapbooking. Share them in the comments below! And please contact me if you have any questions!

~Elisa