Do you or your friends/family post photos or scrapbook pages online? On Flickr, on your blog(s), on message boards, anywhere? Than you could be affected by this issue, where anyone can poach your images and use them in advertising, etc WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT. Not to mention, they won’t pay you for the privilege.
To find out the dirty details, read the 5/9/08 post on Claudine Hellmuth’s BLOG. Others are blogging about it too: TIM HOLTZ, KELLIANNIE and SCRAPPIN{JEWLZ}, It’s a topic for the message boards at CKMB and AMR (which is where I first heard about this; thanks Dee!). And the PPA (Professional Photographers Association) is getting involved (just Google PPA orphan act and you’ll get hits on several articles, etc).
Okay, this is a Soapbox Issue for me. THIS is why I don’t post personal photos online. I’ve been asked many times why I don’t post my own layouts or other work on my blog. Mainly the reason is that “it’s not about me,” it’s about scrapbooking. But also, it’s about not having my privacy invaded by no-good, blood-sucking, dirty lowlifes as those who will CONTINUE to steal images (it’s already happening now, these laws will just make it legal). Do you know what’s been going on with Flickr and their sister site, Orkut? Faceless online perverts have been “stealing” images of children and using them to advertise their sicko child porn websites, and God knows what else they do with photos of children in the privacy of their homes. Why anyone would try to make this kind of thing legal is WAY beyond me. I’m just baffled. Baffled, but not speechless, as you can see. Shouldn’t lawmakers be working on a bill to PROTECT the average person and their personal photography??
I hope you also feel strongly enough about this issue to at least read the story on Claudine’s blog, click on the link she so nicely provides, and write your governmental representatives. It’s just a quick form, all the verbage has been done for you. PLEASE make your voice heard. And if you have a blog or belong to message boards, you must spread the word. This affects too many of us scrapbookers and, if our numbers band together, we CAN make an impact. {Climbing down off soapbox}….
The awesome message board at ALL MOMENTS REMEMBERED is hosting another online crop and I’m inviting you! Please come on over and play with us, whether you are already a member over there or not. You do need to be approved to join the MB by the owner Stacey, so you could do that sometime this week. If you think you might, leave a comment below so I can let Stacey know I sent ya’ and which MB name you’ll use. She gets a lot of spammers so it helps if she knows beforehand. Also, when you sign up you can tell her Erika/journeyfan sent you.
Okay, what is an online crop, you ask? It’s a pre-set time when a bunch of people are on the message board at the same time. There is usually a separate forum set up; if not, just go to the Scrapbook forum. Usually, board moderators and/or just everyday users host challenges for which there may or may not be a prize, also known as a RAK (comes from Random Act of Kindness). If the challenge needs any specific items you might not have on hand, the moderator usually lets you know so you can have it ready when the crop starts. Examples of challenges: “Do a layout that’s all black and white including the photo” or “Make a card that includes use of an acrylic stamp, Basic Grey paper, and scraps from your stash” or “Create a 12×12 layout about a loved one who has passed on, using a song quote.” You get the idea! Once the online crop starts, you’ll have a set amount of time to post your challenges, either in the message board gallery or directly into a post on the message board.
Now, specific to the AMR online crop next Saturday (here is the LINK to the thread about it), Anne Marie will be the official hostess and she will post the Warm-Up Challenge at 2pm EST (11am PST). Then each hour on the hour, a message boarder will post another challenge. These challenges were arranged ahead of time between Anne Marie and anyone on the message board who offered to help. Another reason to make sure you’re an AMR MB member ahead of time: There are already some “heads up, you will need this item” type of posts for the challenges. These are the ones posted so far:
* 2 colors Acrylic paints (any brand; will be used together on a lo)
* Brush (those 1″ foam brushes are great, but ANY brush will do)
* Plain or Kraft gift bag (any size)
* 1-2 black/white photos of yourself
* Clothing tag (gee, guess you’re all going to have to go out and buy a new outfit, LOL! — no, this can be cut off any existing garment)
Ladies are also posting questions they have about the crop, and kind of chiming in if they hope to “be there.” You know, in a virtual kind of way…
Here is what Anne Marie says about the Challenges Schedule: Non-competitive hourly challenges will be posted with RAKS for participating! A break has been scheduled during the crop … AND you can come in at ANY TIME during the crop and play ANY challenge! You will also have until NOON SUNDAY to post your submissions in the challenge threads. Winners in each challenge will be drawn at random.
Now, for non-competitive types like me (who aren’t very confident in their work “winning” anything), this is the cat’s meow. All I have to do is participate in one or two or all of the challenges ~ as many as I want or have time for ~ and I have as good a chance at winning as the next girl. And knowing Stacey’s generosity, the prizes will be most excellent. Sweet….
I’ve never participated in an online crop before, although I’ve come in after the fact and read through all the posts. (AMR, for example, plans to hold online crops once per month and CKMB has held several in the last year). They seem to generate all kinds of fun projects and, most importantly, COMPLETED LAYOUTS! So far, my Saturday is open and I really hope to participate in my first-ever online crop. Even if I only get to one or two of the challenges, I’ll feel I’ve accomplished something. On the day of the crop, THIS is where you will go!
So, c’mon, will you join us?? Have you participated in an online crop before and what was your experience like?
I’ve been eyeing this puppy since Thanksgiving but didn’t want to pay $20. Even when all the Christmas stuff at Target went on 50% off, then 75% off, then 90% off, this item remained full price. Patience, dearies, patience… I found it on an endcap at Target yesterday for $14. Hey, that’ll work! Although I’m hearing from my friends on the CKMB that I should take my receipt back and {nicely} demand the 90% off, because that discount should have been applied to this item. Yeah, that refund could be worth a trip to Target! Oh, who am I kidding, it wouldn’t take a special trip; I’m there once a week as it is…
MAKING MEMORIES HOLIDAY FOAM STAMP AND PAINT KIT:
I wasn’t looking for these, but they jumped in my cart when I was there. They were also on a clearance end cap. Originally $5, marked down to $2.50. Pretty good price for glittery and/or 3-D embellishments and a bling word. Not sure if I’ll keep them all for me, because they would make great little prizes for crop goodie bags. I think everybody needs a little bling in their life!
MAMBI EMBELLISHMENT KIT VALUE PACK:
So head over to Target and report back with any kick-ass deals YOU find!
Isn’t this a gorgeous card? Well, the quality of the photo is my fault, but the card itself is lovely. It arrived in the mail the other day from KELLIANNIE whom I know from CKMB and the AMR message board. Her title, in fact, at AMR is “Queen Card Designer” and she constantly inspires us with her beautiful card designs. Miss Kelli has even posted a card-making TUTORIAL on her blog to help us neophytes who can’t design our way out of a paper bag (um, that would be ME, by the way!). I think she could sell these babies and make a nice scrapbook budget, don’t you?
Here is an awesome layout from Kelli, that was part of her non-HOF entry, LOL. Isn’t she a cutie?:
She even has really cool music on her blog (another DMB fan, yahoo!) so go check it out; it’s called YARD SALE KIND OF LUCK. And THANK YOU FOR THE CARD, KELLI! You made my day :)
Just a quick post, because I feel guilty when days go by and I haven’t yakked about anything :) I’m hosting 2 all-day crops tomorrow and Saturday (8am to midnight, both days). Seems no matter how much I get done ahead of time, no matter how many items I check off the To Do list, I’m up all night before my crops getting ready! Oh well, I have so much fun at the crops and have such wonderful friends to spend scrap time with, that I stay awake and happy on just a couple of hours sleep.
Can I say thank you SO MUCH for all the great comments about my business name?? That is so awesome and they are great to read. Scrappers are, yes, a very creative bunch and you make me smile :)
On a down note, it was finally confirmed at work today that they plan to close the facility I work at (part-time in a clerical job). It’s been a rumor for months, so I had already started to look around at other jobs. The closure will be completed by June 30, 2008…so now I’m hardcore job hunting again. It’s all very complicated but the heart of the matter is that this job has allowed me to be home with my kids more; finding another one like it in pay and hours will be virtually impossible. I’m about to have a breakdown from worrying that I’ll have to go back to work full-time. I have noticed such a difference in our family, our kids, my “self”, our happiness since I’ve been home more and it breaks my heart to think about us being back on that full-time treadmill. I know this blog ain’t about me, but if you feel like saying a little prayer for me I would truly appreciate it.
Okay, now I have 4 hours of computer work, then several more of getting ready for the crop (make goody bags, pack car, make brownies,…), so I’d better get on it! Hope you’re able to get some scrapping done this weekend!
PS: As for the Organizational Challenge, it officially ends this Sunday 1/6/08. However, I certainly won’t be holding anyone to the deadline as I won’t be meeting it myself. Unfortunately, job searching and financial planning has had to take over. I’ll continue to post my scrap space organizing progress and hope you will do the same. I will complete the RAK for the business name suggestions after I finish up the crop, probably Sunday or Monday. Thank you, sweeties, for understanding…
Ok, after goofing off for Christmas…and, um, perhaps for a few days after…I’m back in organization mode. My “12 Hours in 12 Days” plan got about 4 hours behind, so I tried to catch up today. I worked reorganizing my scrap space for about 2.5 hours, so I’m still behind (gulp). But here is what I accomplished:
~ Took new ribbon off rolls and put into ribbon jars.
~ Decided to use five of the large gingerbread jars to store embellishments by color. These are embellishments with no ‘topic’ per se, so they don’t go in the ScrapRack with all my themed stuff. For example, I have metal flower clips, generic small journaling tags, etc. that don’t really go anywhere else. I sorted them into the same color categories as my ribbon, so hopefully coordinating and grabbing things for future use will be a breeze :)
~ Used a small gingerbread jar for all of my flowers. Took ’em all out of their packages and mixed em up in there ~ it looks so pretty! The only exception is I kept the tiny little Prima flowers in their jars, just stuck the whole jar in there (I only have 2 jars. So far….bwahahahaha).
~ Used a large gingerbread jar for all of my chipboard letters (one pack of felt letters in there too). I didn’t realize I had so many until I saw them all in one place. One thing I learned from this little organizational experience…snack-size Ziplocs are my friend! I took each alpha out of it’s packaging and put it in a snack bag. Viola! Compact, see through, and easy to cram bunches into a big jar. Lovin’ that…
~ Put all my pens into a small GB jar but not sure I’m gonna’ keep it that way. I took them out of 2 Creative Memories pen cases and they don’t fill up the jar enough so that the pens are standing anywhere near upright. Now a Scrapbook Obsessed person would just say…”Must buy more pens!”. And I occasionally do, but mostly I use the ones I’ve had since I started scrapping. Okay, there were the glitter gel pens in Christmas colors from the Target $1 Spot recently, but that’s it, I swear!
You’ll also see a jar I already had done, full of felt flowers. Those are the ones from the Target $1 Spot; that’s only $3 worth ~ what a steal!
And I actually got some scrapping done tonight because I could finally see my desk. That was fun and felt really good. But I have LOTS more work to do. Hope you’re making progress too & if so, please tell us about it!
I was only able to spend a little time over there, as I had two jobs due yesterday and today. But it was sure fun, and I can tell it’s a place I’m going to like. Here’s the gist:
~ Fun and VERY friendly message board that had a lot of participation. Stacey, Heather, all of them are some of the nicest ladies you will meet. And Stacey (the owner) wants it to be a friendly, helpful MB…and she’ll boot ya if you’re a Hater. So please come join in over there. I would say that ~ especially if you’re intimidated by the HUGE boards like CKMB and 2Peas ~ you can jump in now on this smaller board, where everyone is chatty and friendly, and become comfortable. Pretty soon you’ll be an old-timer with a huge post count, see?
~ Lots of great new products and Stacey is constantly adding things. She said she can get basically ANY product you want, just ask. I mean, that’s some pretty great customer service.
~ A new Gallery to post your work in. This isn’t my bag, but I know a lot of you like to have your pages, cards and altered items seen. So become one of the first, get your Gallery entries in NOW before it gets all crowded-like.
For me, it just feels good to support a small company that’s getting off the ground. Stacey is a wife and mom, just like many of us, who started this business to be able to spend more time with her family, while helping us with our scrapbooking needs, and creating a fun community where we can all hang out. So come over to AMR and join us anytime. My bet is you will get a personal “Welcome” from Stacey, Heather, or a Design Team member.
PS: I won two RAK’s!! Totally sweet (in a Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure kind of way). A paper pack and an AMM caddy! I’ll post pics when I receive them. I’m also awaiting my first-ever order from AMR. Will show you pics of that too when it gets here :)
PSS: Heather has asked if I want to host some Happy Hours! Totally kewl. Will let you know if that works out (and you’d BETTER be there or else).
This is so embarrassing. After all my bragging about organizing my scrap space earlier this year (it was THIS POST), it’s a mess again. Holy cow! I think it’s even worse. Yeah, I just looked at the Before photos from last time and it is much, much worse now. My excuse is that I started as a scrapbook consultant this year and now, in addition to all my own stuff, I have to ‘keep stock on hand’ of Memory Works products. At any given time, I also have boxes of orders here until I distribute them. But, that being said, the real reason it’s a mess is because I haven’t kept up on it. I didn’t create a solution before I had the problem. And I’ve kept buying new scrapbook supplies while hardly using any. Okay, here is the disgusting evidence:
This is as you walk into my scrapping area, which is the back half of a larger room with the kids’ play area in the front. As you can see, the walkway is closing in on itself and I can barely walk through there without losing body parts. The box of red albums is a Daisy D’s Year in Review and Christmas album. I’m doing a class/party on that the week after Christmas. There’s my little Lexmark standalone photo printer that I got at Target for $25 on Clearance. I tried to use it once, got frustrated when it wouldn’t print anything but green photos, and it has sat collecting dust ever since. Although I did recently buy that Lexmark-specific photo paper (it’s sitting on top of the printer) to try again before I toss the thing out the window. The blue bins I bought last month to try and better display my products at crops, etc. (will be a separate post about those later). Until now, I’ve been using a big clear Rubbermaid container and small, white plastic baskets to display things. The Rubbermaid is just plain ugly and the white baskets are cute enough, but the sides are too low and everything just kind of flops over and won’t stand up for customers to look through it. You can also se my XXL tote and another smaller one (don’t remember what that one is called). I load them up with MW products when I go to crops and it’s nice because they protect everything from dust and getting bent in transit, and the XXL is on rollers so I can really carry lots of stuff. The problem is then I have no room to take my own crop stuff (tool kit, page kits, etc.). Needing a solution to that problem. The cream tote is all my Memory Works catalogs and paperwork. Well, I shouldn’t say “all”…there is another huge white binder of stuff in my home office. The black box is a Creative Memories Power Sort box full of photos and memorabilia from my Europe cruise. That was in 2006 and I’m only about half way through the album (if you don’t count journaling, of which I’ve hardly done any). Everything in the Power Sort is getting dusty because I can’t put the lid on or it will crush my brochures, menus, etc. To the far right is my shelf which has stayed pretty organized, mainly because it’s packed and there is nowhere to put anything else. But it needs work, for sure. The two ziploc bags on the floor are my templates, CM cutting system, Coluzzles, etc. They used to go on that shelf but they got kicked out when I bought some new blank albums.
After you walk in my scrap area and take a left, you’re looking at the window and my desk. That stack of paper with the black and white Jenni Bowlin on the top (love it!) is my December kit from Memory Works Express. I had it out of the box to look through it and never put it away. Under that are some other recent purchases: K&Co. Wild Saffron slab; DCWV cardstock pad with the jagged edges (what’s that called?), and two SIS tool packs that are empty. I had all my acrylic stamping stuff in one of them and it got full, so I bought an identical one when they were on a great sale at Tuesday Morning. Then I found the black tote at Michaels (you’ll see it later in the tour) for 40% off and moved all my stamps into the tote. Not sure if I’m liking it, so while I decide, the empty blue tool packs sit empty. The ribbon jars on the right look fine ~ I’ve managed to keep up with my ribbon this way, just tossing in any new ribbon I get right away. The large white box and another stack under the brown box (that you can’t see here) are picture frames from Costco that I bought about two months ago. Okay, let’s be honest, it’s been more like six months. I HATE the picture frames I have around my house right now and keep saying I will redo them, but there they sit. It just seems so intimidating to figure out which pictures I want to put in which frames, get them enlarged and/or converted to black and white, choose which pictures go where in the house, and hang them. I’m procrastinating big time on that one. The basket on the top right is full {bursting at the seams} with letter stickers. Even though I have a Cricut, I can’t seem to stop buying alpha rub-ons, Thickers, chipboard alphas and sometimes even sticker letters. Although I’m proud to say I don’t buy those much anymore because I know I won’t use them; I have years’ worth to use already. Although most of my letters are at least in one place (that basket), they definitely need to be purged and organized.
This is the top of my legal size filing cabinet. Inside is actually very organized, with all my greeting cards sorted by event; receipts, instruction books, etc in files; and office supplies like printer paper, extra cartridges, etc. Again, ribbon jars look good although they’re dusty on top. I purged magazines and idea books last time I did The Big Cleanup and now the stack is back! New magazines, idea books and other books that need to be purged or put away.
Here is the heart of the space, where i actually scrap, my L-shaped desk. With the missing front trim that never got put on because we didn’t follow the instructions properly when we put it together from the box. Once the desk was together, waaayyyy too much trouble to pull it apart again just to add some silly little trim. Anyway, you can see my black tool pack which holds many of my essentials – various adhesives, stylus, stapler, etc. The papers on top are envelopes from Christmas cards we’ve received so I can update my address list. I mean, really, that doesn’t even belong in here and that’s what happens a lot. If I want to straighten another area of the house, I just put things in here. Voila! We have a mess! On the right side are sticky notes and mailing supplies; my new ToteAlly Cool totes (larger for punches, Stickles, etc and smaller one for Cropadile, pens and scissors); the ever present Diet Coke. In the back are recently developed photos that have nowhere to go so I keep stuffing them back there. To the left is my ScrapRack which is very organized but too full so, see, the little K&Co. tags are falling out of the Christmas section. And my glorious new Basic Grey Magnetic Mats and faithful Cutterpede paper trimmer.
Here is my little corner with my stereo (new Pebbles Inc. Ribbon Iron on top cooling off because I just used it); high dollar printer and scanner that I never use; random Mike’s and Target stamps for long-overdue RAK’s; baby wipes to clean acrylic stamps; and my labeler which surprisingly gets a lot of use in my space. I’m very organized about being disorganized! The desk drawers have computer equipment, font and software CD’s, etc and are very organized but I don’t seem to go in there very much, so maybe that stuff could go elsewhere and open up some space for scrap-related things? The cupboard side contains my Cricut, mats, and cartridges on top, a bin with electrical cords, phone cords, power strip, etc on bottom. Again, why is that stuff in here? I do have an old laptop on my desk that I just use for journaling but I hardly ever use the accessories anymore so they could go in a closet or something. See, progress already!
Here is the rest of my desk. There is the black Michael’s tote I told you about. All my acrylic stamps, ink pads, alcohol inks, stamp cleaners, etc are in there. Behind the tote are: a bucket of Prima flowers I’m borrowing from a friend, my ink pens in Creative Memories Pen Holders, and random new products that need to be put away. The Colorbok paper pads under the black tote will be for sale, but I need to log them in my computer first. The pile on the left is mostly the stuff from my Secret Santa (thanks again!) and the right side pile is memorabilia to file and a new notebook for scrap ideas, to do lists, etc. (First entry should be: TO DO ~ Clean up your damn space!).
Wow, okay… Seeing your mess in a big full color photo is even MORE eye-opening, even MORE embarrassing and shocking. Deep breath. Count to 10. Breathe out through the nose. Yoga breaths, yoga breaths. Okay. I’m back. This is the table to the left of my desk (the far side of it is near the walkway we already saw). I brought this table in the last time I organized, thinking it would be extra space to work on big projects, sort my photos, or have a friend over to crop. Yeah, right. It’s become a primo dumping ground for the stuff I guess I just used to leave on the floor. On the table you can see more gingerbread jars which I’ve been dumping various embellies in that either need to be put away, or are prizes for crops. The 12×12 stack back there is mainly paper to file or put a price tag on. The white baskets I was using to display my products ~ one is empty, the other has in it two Memory Works Express Kits from May 2007. One is mine, one is for sale. There are papers and embellishments in a super large Ziploc, including a box of glitter chipboard letters from K&Co. which I need to keep bagged together to sale and/or act as a sample of the kit. The problem is that each of these kits comes with an alterable project and this one was a small paint can. I mean, jeez, how to you even store that?? I guess my lame answer is, “In a white plastic basket.” Down below the table are my very organized page kits in a white plastic crate, another jar, and a Target bag with a flattened postal box and some acrylic stamps to sell once I get them in the computer and price tags put on. At the bottom middle of the photo are two cardboard file boxes on the floor. Hiding under the bag of Figgy Pudding Card Kit stuff (with cards in progress) is one project box (album, papers, embellishments, photos and souveniers from a big trip we took in, yes, 2005). The other is a project box for my 2006 cruise album. Neither has even been touched in months, except to add or take papers from. What you can’t see is that the entire space under my desk is filled with bins of my old photo storage system (remember THIS POST about how I was going to re-do that?), altered projects to make (photo cubes, shadow boxes, etc.), and Christmas presents. I’ve been shoving gifts under there all year because it’s the perfect hiding place. Everyone is scared to come over here! Seriously, my DH sends the kids in to grab the wastepaper basket once in a while or he just yells over to me, “Hey, how’s your trash? Bring it here if it needs emptied, please.” Smart man. Very, very smart man.
This is just a close up of the jars on the table, and you can see the blue basket in the background where I’ve put some of the paper packs I have for sale. They are elsewhere in the house, but I have a total of two large blue bins (like the one on the table), two medium sized green ones, and two small blue ones. They are all filled with MW products for sale. The baskets themselves are organized, but I have nowhere in my scrap space to put them.
So, I have survived the ultimate in humiliation by showing you my ‘crap’ area. I mean, SERIOUSLY?? SERIOUSLY?? And why am I subjecting myself to this, you ask? Because that’s what it takes for me to get to work and get this place cleaned up again. Last time, I entered an Organization Challenge on the CK Message Board. This time, I’m sharing it here on my blog. Now I’m accountable (I mean, if you guys out there really care??) and I WILL get organized again. I’ve come to this conclusion: Now that I’m a scrapbook consultant and have to keep a lot of extra products and paperwork around, this space just isn’t big enough anymore.
Part One of My Plan: My wheels have been turning about how I can re-work this space, maybe somehow utilizing our guest bedroom/office also. I already got DH’s approval to get rid of the old king sized bed in there that takes up half of the room, yet only gets used about four times per year when my mom visits. (No worries, Mom, we’ll findya another place to sleep!).
Part Two of My Plan: I have two weeks off from work for the holidays. Granted, I could get busy with my ‘from home’ jobs, I have at least one scrapbooking event, and we may go out of town for a few days. But I think this is a great opportunity to spend some time getting my scrap area organized…once and for all…um, yeah, right! Do I have your support? You got any suggestions for the dilemmas I’ve shared? I challenge YOU to organize your scrapbooking area over the Christmas break, so post in Comments if you will join me. I would love it if you sent me some photos I could post of your before/after or link us to your blog showing same. DEADLINE IS SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2008 (‘cuz ya gotta have a deadline or else you won’t do it!)…
It’s been awhile…not since last May with the Cropadile…since I’ve fallen so madly in love with a new scrapbooking tool. But after first playing with my new Basic Grey Magnetic Mat a couple weeks ago, my heart is still going pitter-patter ever time I relive the experience. Maybe it’s that I’m still in that “I-just-met-you-and-you-can-do-no-wrong” stage with my BG baby, but I hope to stay perpetually infatuated. I know that many of you have the Basic Grey Magnetic Mat on your Christmas list, so here is my review:
This thing RAWKS! Here is a picture:
The retail cost is $24.99 and the mat is 15”x15”. The premise is this: The mat itself has a sheet of metal in between the black self-healing layers. Then the ruler and the little “tacks” are magnetized. So you use them to hold things in place while you cut with a craft knife, say, a curvy flourish or some letters. Or you use the tacks to hold down your pages in progress, which has two benefits: One, you can move things around while you’re deciding how to place your photos, journaling, and embellishments. Two, the magnets hold everything down and let you walk away from your project without worrying about all the pieces blowing away, falling on the floor, being tipped by a toddler, or batted by a cat. I even carried a partially done layout to a crop in my bag and it arrived completely intact. Those little babies are strong. For another $5.50 retail, you can get 10 additional magnetic tacks (the mat comes with 8). It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’ve heard on the message boards that the silver paint on some people’s tacks begins to peel off. What a pain, but I heard you can paint them with clear nail polish to stop or prevent that from happening. I also heard that the customer service has been good with getting BG to replace them, yet who wants more tacks that are just going to peel. Someone else suggested getting little magnets elsewhere like the Container Store or wherever, so that’s an option (see why I love MB’s?? everyone is so helpful with sharing problems and solutions!).
I got my BG mat, of course, through Memory Works. When we first started carrying them, I wanted one but hesitated to buy a BG mat because I wasn’t sure if I should spend that much money on something I wasn’t sure I would use or like. I mean, for $25 I could get a lot of PP, ya’ know? Also, I didn’t exactly have $25 laying around so… But as time went by, I kept hearing people raving about their BG mats so, when I made a little money from a crop I held, I decided to buy it. Well, then they were out of stock for the longest time (How does that saying go? “She who hesitates is lost…”). FINALLY! They were in stock again and I ordered that baby right away. Actually, I ordered 4 because I had another crop coming up by then ~ 2 to sell, and 2 for me. Yes, TWO for me. I had also heard that if you get one, you may as well get two especially if you do mostly 2-page layouts (which I do). The thinking is that if you have 1 BG mat and get everything laid out, aren’t you going to want another one right next to it? See, scrappers are very logical girls J Well, I sold one of the remaining mats as soon as my mom saw it and I showed her how it works. She scraps 8.5 x 11, so one mat for her is fine I think. Then she used hers at the crop and I demo’d it for everyone, and sold a few more. Also sold FIVE of them at my Holiday Open House. It’s crazy…if you see this tool in action, you will want one!
In preparation for the Open House, I needed to put together a double layout called “Thankful” by My Minds Eye. Here is a photo of the finished product:
Anyway, perfect opportunity to try my BG mat, although I didn’t anticipate using it much because there weren’t any fancy craft knife cuts and the layout didn’t look very complicated. But was I wrong! I only broke out one mat for this project (can I confess…that was because my desk was so overtaken with ‘stuff’ that there was only room for one mat??). Anyway, I used the heck out of the BG mat. I made all the cuts to the papers on my Cutterpede according to the measurements on the Class Kit instructions. I cut out the exact phrases I would use on the layout, from the die cut sheets and the rub-on sheets. Then I placed everything for one layout arranged on the mat, using the magnets to hold everything down. I don’t know about you, but when I’m scraplifting a layout or putting together something from a class, I’m so nervous to tack anything down. I’ve had to do a LOT of unsticking in the past when I thought I had put this or that element where it should go, only to find when I got to the last step….urrrghh! No room left or something didn’t line up where it should. Well, here I was doubly nervous because this was a class project that others would be copying from, not a layout I could just shove in my album and hope no one noticed ‘my lil boo boos.’ It had to look just like the picture, y’know? So I was really loving those magnets in a big way. It was so cool to lay out the elements, tack them, notice something wasn’t going to fit later, and be able to easily move things around til it was perfect.
The other thing I loved was the ruler. First of all, BG was very smart to make it longer than 12” long. It’s a full 18” long, which allows plenty of room on either end of the ruler hanging off past the edge of your layout. I had the background paper down on the mat with the ruler either horizontally or vertically across the paper. Making sure both the paper and the ruler were lined up with the markings on the mat, I was able to easily make sure my photo mats and other elements were perfectly straight. Now, this is something I’ve needed help with for a while. In a way, I’m a perfectionist with straight lines and really prefer the look when everything is straight (if it’s meant to be so). But I hate trying to make it that way, with my old 12” long plastic ruler and the Creative Memories 10”x12” cutting mat I had been using (yes, I was long overdue for a larger mat). Anyway, I really enjoyed being able to easily have straight lines…I think, for me, that is one of the most addicting things about the BG Magnetic Mat.
So if the Basic Grey Magnetic Mat is on your Christmas list, I hope you’ve been “nice” this year, and Santa puts one under your tree. If you already have one, give us YOUR review in Comments or link us to your blog!
Perhaps just in time to be #1 (and #2 and #3) on your Christmas list, here are some new organizational items from Making Memories.MAKING MEMORIES DESKTOP CAROUSEL:
I have yet to see it in person, but word is that it’s showing up at Michael’s stores around the country as we speak. Therefore, I assumed it was “NEW!”. However, when I found THIS PRESS RELEASE about the Carousel on the MAKING MEMORIES WEBSITE, I noticed a press release date of July 20, 2007. Jeez, sometimes I’m really behind the power curve, aren’t I? Anyhow, assuming it’s not such “old news” that you might still be interested, here are the deets:
“The Desktop Carousel is a hexagonal shaped, multi-level storage unit that offers top-loading cubbies as well as slide-out drawers in a 12″ x 14″ footprint. Each upper compartment is accented with a metal label holder for easy product identification, while the lower drawers are outfitted with curved handles and magnetic closures.”
It retails for $39.99 so grab that next Mike’s 40% or 50% coupon and get this baby for roughly $20 to $24. I found one art supply website selling it for friggin’ $55.95. WTF?!?!
Per the press release, “In addition to working as a desk organizer, the Carousel can double as a makeup organizer, school supply caddy, and even kitchen accessory…(It) is constructed from sturdy MDF, and currently is available in a white glossy finish. The company also has released coordinated Desktop Storage units (MSRP: $19.99), constructed from chipboard, to hold 12″ x 12″ papers, as well as sticker sheets and other embellishments.”
And ~~TAH DAH!~~ Here are the aforementioned Desktop Storage Units:
“Your workspace will always be dressed for success, thanks to our desktop organizer. Neatly store 12″ x 12″ paper and tools while stowing away stickers, embellishments and more in convenient removable drawers with label holders. Get organized!Ideal storage for 12″ x 12″ paper, embellishments and more. Made of sturdy paper-covered chipboard”
MAKING MEMORIES DESKTOP ORGANIZER – EMBELLISHMENT BOX
While you’re over at the Making Memories website oogling all their cool stuff ~ like the FABulous Noteworthy paper that WILL be mine (oh yes, it will be mine…)…
and the Shimmer Brads….
…make sure and check out their very scrumptious MAKING MEMORIES BLOG, where there is tons of MM news, yummy recipes, and wonderful page ideas.
Okay, enough sounding like a Making Memories commercial because, NO, they don’t sponsor this blog like they should, so I’m going to tell you what I really think about their products.#1: The Carousel is awesome looking but I won’t be getting it. First of all, I bought a similar one from Target several months ago. It was cheaper but not nearly as cute. It’s a square shape, white, with drawers and metal label holders. Secondly, the footprint on the MM Carousel is huge, so I probably wouldn’t get it even if I didn’t already have one. What I find is that carousels just don’t work great with my set up because the only space for it is kind of at the back of my desk. Then it bangs into things every time I rotate it, including the window blinds, my Leaning Tower of Memorabilia-to-File, and my Diet Coke. I recommend a carousel if you have a project table where it could sit in the middle of the table. Also, I ‘travel scrap’ a lot and it’s not like I can take this heavy wooden thing with me to a crop or event. So I end up putting less-used items in there like flowers, smaller punches, etc.
What has been the better item for my needs is the Tote-ally Cool Totes I got at Costco recently, which even come with a rotating metal stand that fits in a pocket of the tote when you’re not using it. I wrote about them HERE.
#2: The Desktop Organizer and Embellishment Box. If you’re going to order it online, just please note that the material they are made of is “sturdy, paper-covered chipboard.” My experience with that material on a heavily used item is not good. The item scratches easily, the drawers stick, and the paper starts to come up at the corners. They’ve had an older version of the MM Embellishment Box sitting dusty on a shelf at my Mike’s for, what, a couple of years? It’s tan with a black lid, and the price is decent for the box and all the embellishments inside, but the thing is totally scratched up. That’s the same reason I never give in to all the adorable “cloth covered” or “linen covered” storage boxes at Tuesday Morning. They are so cute, but oh-so-scratchable. Anyway, the MM website says it’s “new and improved,” so maybe they brought down the scratchability quotient.
All that said, I like the looks of both items. I like how the Organizer holds 12×12 stuff and could sit back on my desk out of the way…Hey, a girl’s gotta’ have her creative space! It would be a perfect place to store my new stuff AFTER I sneak it past DH into my scrap area (oops, did I say that in my “out loud” voice?), but BEFORE I find time to put it away in it’s proper place in my properly organized scrapbook area, which is always 100% clean and organized just like Martha Stewart’s.
I would still pass on the embellie box, only because I love the system I already have for storing all that tiny stuff. I have these and each little snaplock compartment is filled to the brim. Must…not…buy….more…brads…til…4,000 I have…are used!
When I’m berating myself for having too many embellies, I remind myself that my mom has this…
Mom can always make me feel better. Here is the link to the CKMB THREAD on the Carousel if you want to see what others are saying. If I find a thread on 2PEAS, I will add it later.
So, what do YOU think of these Making Memories storage products?? Do tell us in Comments.
PS: At least on my screen, the formatting is still all screwy with photo captions next to the photo instead of above them. And none of the line breaks or spacing I entered are showing. Which is SO annoying to me as an English major because it looks like one big run on sentence to me! Is my computer broken, or do you see what I see?
We would like to thank you for your loyal dedication and continued commitment to scrapbooking and our Creating Keepsakes (CK) magazine. Without the support of our loyal readers and scrapbooking partners we would not be where we are today. In the spirit of continuing our editorial mission and fulfilling our commitment to you, we want to address the recent incident related to our Hall of Fame (HOF) contest.
We have been reading your comments and dialogue on the Creating Keepsakes message board and we internally investigated the error that has caused us all great concern: awarding Hall of Fame recognition to someone who submitted work that was not solely their own.
Our review has found the primary cause of our error. Staff changes on the CK and Hall of Fame editorial team occurred at a critical juncture in the production of the HOF book and the new team was not fully briefed on this assignment. The specific breakdown came just as the HOF book was going to press. One of our staff was called by a winner who requested a photo credit be given to another photographer for one of the winner’s photo entries. Given that the rules of the contest dictate contestants submit their own work, we should have disqualified this person’s entry accordingly. Unfortunately, our staff person did not understand the ramifications of the winner’s request and simply added the other photographer’s credit to the HOF book after the publication had already been proofed for printing.
We acknowledge and take full responsibility of our mistake and we assure you that it was not done with any bad intent. We deeply value the trust of our readers. We have read your messages and want to explain our action plan outlined below to help rectify the situation and assure you it will not happen again:
1. We appreciate the winner’s forthrightness in notifying us that the photo credit should be given to another photographer. Unfortunately, as a matter of fairness to our other contestants, this winner has been disqualified.
2. As part of the contest rules, all potential winning entrants must sign an affidavit confirming that their entries are solely their own work. Although we received signed affidavits from all such entrants, we now have evidence that such a measure failed to protect us against all errors. In order to satisfy both our and our readers’ concerns that no other errors occurred during the HOF contest, we are now resubmitting this affidavit to the other 24 winners for final verification thereby underscoring its importance to the integrity of the HOF contest.
3. One week after receiving the newly signed affidavits, we will announce the 26th place ‘winner’ (Honorable Mention) and add him/her to the 2007 Hall of Fame. The winner will receive the prizes and cash award granted to the other 24 winners.
4. Upon receiving their second affidavit should other 2007 winners come forward and acknowledge that their work is not solely their own or fail to return the second affidavit, we will disqualify them and add the next-in-line Honorable Mention(s) to the 2007 Hall of Fame, providing the prizes and cash award accordingly.
5. We will print a special The Scrapbook Hall of Fame, Volume 9 supplement to honor the new winner(s) and re-acknowledge those winners. This special printing will be poly-bagged with Creating Keepsakes’ February 2008 issue, which will deliver into subscribers’ homes and onto newsstands late December 2007
6. We will move forward with our 2008 Hall of Fame contest, but revised rules that will be published on our web site by November 1, 2007 and in the January 2008 issue of Creating Keepsakes. To avoid such errors in future contests, all relevant staff members have been appropriately informed and educated on contest rules.
Certainly this has been a challenging situation for us all. We are painfully aware that our error has deeply upset many of you, our cherished readers and scrapbooking partners. We value you and your trust that you have placed in us and we will continue to do everything we can to maintain your faith in Creating Keepsakes. We hope our response to our error is seen as a step towards maintaining your trust.
We deeply appreciate your support and hope you continue to enjoy our magazine, scrapbooking events and book products for many years to come. If you have any questions to comments, please contact Lin Sorenson at linsorenson@ckmedia.com.
I tell ya’, you go away for a little scrapbook retreat weekend, and this is what happens! Here is the gist of the story as I can gather it, only having time to scan a huge amount of posts at Creating Keepsakes and 2 Peas message boards from the last few days:
When the CK 2007 Hall of Fame book which showcases the winners came out recently, it was noted that one of the winners (Kristina Contes) had used at least one photo in her entry that was not taken by her – as required by contest rules. Apparently, there was no doubt about who took the photo, as photo credit was given to Nisa Flin, who happens to be a professional photographer. There were lots of questions being asked about how she could have won, given that the rules weren’t entirely followed. Today, this message was posted on CKMB by way of explanation:
“It has been brought to our attention that in CK’s The Scrapbook Hall of Fame, Volume 9, we inadvertently listed an incorrect photo credit with the “Family of 3” layout. This was an editorial oversight on our part. CK apologizes to Kristina Contes for accrediting her photos to Nisa Fiin and for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. If you have any further questions or suggestions, please e-mail us your thoughts at letters@creatingkeepsakes.com and be sure to include “HOF Comments” in the subject line.
Brian Tippetts
Editor-in-Chief
Creating Keepsakes”
Well, no one was buyin’ it, to say the least. The responses to that message from Brian have now reached 10 pages, and still going strong. The statement that “CK apologizes to Kristina Contes for accrediting her photos to Nisa Fiin” was not accepted by the masses because there is apparently evidence abounding on the internet that the photo was indeed taken by Nisa Flin. Well, that led to the point that, on further examination of the HOF entries, there are possibly several entries with photos not taken by the entrant. As you can imagine, those HOF entrants who DID follow all of the rules, and took pains to only include photos taken by themselves, are pretty ticked. Others asked, essentially, “What’s the big deal? It’s only a contest. Everyone makes mistakes, even CK. At least they admitted it and apologized.” Which was responded to with, essentially, “It’s not ‘just a contest’ if you put countless hours and inspiration and money into your HOF entry, and took pains to follow every single rule, only to lose to someone (or several someone’s) who didn’t follow the rules.” Another point being made is that, for those who would like scrapbooking to be a career or professional accomplishment, winning or losing HOF is an entirely big deal. I would equate it to Halle Berry winning the Oscar ~ you betcha’ she got a lot more and better roles after that and deservedly so. Winning big contests or awards is a way for excellence to be recognized, put on a pedestal, and shown to a much wider audience. In response to complaints of posts being deleted by CK because they questioned the contest, CK posted this Reminder:
“Thank you for being a part of the CK message board! We would just like to remind everyone of the guidelines you agreed to follow when you created a message board account. Messages that do not uphold these guidelines will be pulled.
You agree to be respectful of others’ ideas and opinions. You will not use any expression of racism, bigotry, obscenity or profanity (including asterisks [*] to represent profanity). We will not permit such comments.
You agree to not make personal attacks, or “flames.” (Flames are comments about a person rather than about his or her opinions.) In addition, you agree to refrain from posting libelous remarks about companies or individuals. Libel is defined in Webster’s II New College Dictionary as “A written, printed or pictorial statement that defames one’s character or reputation or exposes one to public ridicule.” We reserve the right to remove messages that we consider libelous. This is a serious matter. If you post libelous remarks, legal action can be taken against you. To learn more about libel, see www.firstgov.gov or the Libel Defense Resource Center.
You agree to be respectful of Creating Keepsakes and our staff. We are happy to provide this message board as a free service, but we reserve the right to delete messages that are disrespectful to us. We work hard for you, and we appreciate your polite consideration as you make comments about our staff and our publications.
Please see our guidelines for further details: https://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/mb/guidelines.ihtml
_________________
CK Online”
And after bunches of negative (and some positive) feedback to his original statement, Brian added this to his original post:
“UPDATE:
Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue. According to the information we have received, the photo credit attributed to Nisa Fiin that appeared with the “Family of 3” layout on page 20 of The Scrapbook Hall of Fame, Volume 9 should have appeared with the “This Is Real” layout on page 49, the “Laughter” layout on page 107, and the “Precious” layout on page 159. We admit this is inconsistent with the statement in the Official Rules that “Entries, including photographs, must be the sole work of the entrant.” During the judging process, we had no information that the stated photos were taken by someone other than the contestant. We apologize for any confusion this has created regarding the Hall of Fame Contest. Because of the lengthy speculation regarding this issue, we would like to explain our judging process in depth to provide insight into why photographs have appeared in The Scrapbook Hall of Fame special issue that are not the sole work of the entrants.
Before judging the entries, we verify that each one follows the specified format, which is:
“1. Complete the scrapbooking assignments listed on the reverse side. For the purposes of this contest, a “layout” is a one- or two-page scrapbook layout that conveys a single theme. Assignments are also listed at www.creatingkeepsakes.com/hof.
“2. You can send us your assignment layouts in three different ways. (1) Take photographs, (2) print computer scans or (3) make reduced color copies (so that four layouts fit on one side of a sheet of 8½” x 11” or 12” x 12” paper). Do not send original layouts; we are unable to return materials. On the back of each color copy, photograph or printed scan, print your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and a complete list of supplies used to create the layout (including both the manufacturer and product name of each supply used).
“3. Affix the color copies, photographs or printed scans to the fronts of three sheets of 8 ½” x 11” or 12” x 12” paper (three or four layouts to a page) by applying photo tabs or glue stick to the backs (unselected, unpublished layouts will be separated after judging to be considered for use in the magazine and future special issues). Identify each layout with a label corresponding to the assignment letter that the layout fulfills.”
The Official Rules state that “Entries that do not follow the specified format, or that include more or less than 10 scrapbook layouts, will automatically be disqualified from the 2007 Scrapbook Hall of Fame contest.”
Once we have completed this disqualification round, we judge entries on a “blind” basis, which means that we do not have access to the entrant’s name when we view his/her layouts. We have no way of knowing whether the contestant is among the people pictured in the photos and as such cannot verify whether photos are the sole work of the entrant during the judging process. Even if we could verify that, the disqualification round has been completed, and while we expect entrants to follow the guidelines, our only policy for disqualification is stated in the previously mentioned formatting requirements.
Fairness in identifying the industry’s top talent has always been our top priority. Entrants who follow our specified format, sign the agreement that they have followed the Official Rules and exhibit talent based on our judging criteria are awarded the title of Hall of Fame.
Because we cannot verify that all photos are the sole work of the entrants and because of the feedback we have received, we are seeing legally what we can do to address this issue in the 2008 Hall of Fame Contest and will also address it in future contests. Please check www.creatingkeepsakes.com/hof2008 in the upcoming weeks for an updated message.
As a final note, we’d also like to address any concerns that the CK editorial team has been removing posts from the message board as some sort of cover up. This is not the case. Only those posts which violate the TOU of the message board will be removed. Please see the “Reminder” post from CK Online in the Scrapbooking forum for further clarification.
Brian Tippetts
Editor-in-Chief
Creating Keepsakes”
Again, the ladies aren’t buyin’ it. In a nutshell, those who are upset feel that, even given the way HOF entries are judged, this situation shouldn’t have happened. At some point in the process, CK should have caught the inconsistency even if the entrants mistakenly or purposely did not follow the contest rules. There are posters threatening legal action, to cancel CK subscriptions, never buy a CK product or attend a CK event, enter any scrapbook contest, etc etc. To say the people are upset would be the understatement of the year. Unfortunately, this situation has made the normally peaceful CKMB ~ my very own Happy Place ~ into something resembling the Ultimate Fighting Championships. “New” members or “newbies” – an assumption based solely on their post count being under 20 or so – at first appeared to be the ones leading the negative charge against CK, and it was noted by some “old timers.” Others stuck up for the so-called newbies, pointing out that they may in fact be established members who started a new identity for fear of backlash after stating their opinions. I understand this; if I were an established CKMB’er who followed the rules of HOF and then discovered this problem, I would start a new ID before posting my true feelings. I don’t care what anyone says, there is professional backlash in the scrapbooking industry, just like in every other. Anyhow, then discussions started about how newbies aren’t welcomed, nay run off, at CKMB…then the defenders spoke up saying that wasn’t true.
I think where it stands now is just a running discussion of disappointment in CK and how the contest and aftermath have been handled. I know there are blogs where this is also being hammered out, and I do mean hammered with a capital H, but I don’t have the heart to read them right now.
{My disclaimer: I’m not involved in this situation. I’m not making accusations or statements or pointing fingers. I’m merely summarizing what I’m reading on message boards and quoting directly from statements made by CK in a public forum.}
I didn’t enter HOF or any other scrapbooking layout contest, nor do I plan to, that’s just not my bag. But I did once enter a contest to win a scrapbook store (yes, a scrapbook store!) that was closing. You submitted a layout with extensive journaling about why you should win the store and I poured my heart, soul, and lots of money into that contest. I can’t tell you the disappointment when I was told the contest was cancelled for not enough entries. So I can completely understand the pain this HOF situation causes to people. But, personally, I’m the type that likes to ‘wait and see’ in situations like this. I’m not going to comment yet, but let things settle in my heart and brain for awhile. I also want to see if CK does or says anything else before I make any kind of judgment about them. I can tell you it’s not looking good. But I wanted to share this event with you and hear your thoughts if you’re NOT kinda’ shocked speechless like I am. Yes, I know ‘it’s only scrapbooking’, but to the Scrapbook Obsessed, it’s a big deal…
As I posted about HERE, I was lucky enough to spend last weekend at a scrapbook mini-retreat. It was nothing fancy, not an organized retreat house, just 5 friends who got together. One friend T. has a sister-in-law who owns a beach house, so we only had to pay $250 to have the house from Friday through Sunday. We agreed to do all our own cleaning and laundry to save on the cost, plus the Sister Discount came into play, I’m sure.
On Friday, I worked until 12:30, then had a bunch of shopping and errands to do. One thing I did was buy a little goodie for each of the girls…they each got 2 of these Autumn Leaves acrylic stamps from Target. They cost $1.99 each and are so cute!
I picked stamps that applied to each girl, like the baby carriage stamp for T. who’s about to start her famliy and the one with the stars for L. who has a cute little boy. I found some cute bags and tissue, too. I love shopping for friends, don’t you? Since it was K.’s birthday we were celebrating, I also got a card for her. Inside I wrote that her gift was a $40 credit towards her Memory Works order. I thought that way I know she’s getting things she loves! Then I got some food and drinks from the grocery store, as we were each responsible for one meal and our own snacks/drinks. I finally got to the house around 4:30 and was so happy to be there! I was the last to arrive, so I quickly got set up and started scrapping. We each had 1/2 of a large table (T. had her own table which shared the laptop).
The in-depth chatting started up right away and didn’t stop until we left Sunday afternoon. They were 4 of the nicest ladies ever and we had lots in common. I had already known T. and L. through K., and they had all come to my crops so I knew them as acquaintances. I met S. that day, and what a sweetie. When you talk to people non-stop for 2 days, they definitely become Friends. We now know probably more than we ever wanted to about each others husbands, kids, families, jobs, medical crises, and scrapbook preferences! That’s one of my favorite things about scrapbooking is that you can sit around and talk while you do it. And because you’re sharing photos and journaling that are so personal, you truly get to know the scrappers you share time with.
We had a late dinner of Italian takeout (eggplant parmigiana for me, yum!) with an expensive bottle of Rotta zin that my husband insisted I bring to share with my friends. Then back to scrapping! We lost T. to her beddie bye at 10:30, L. and S. at 1am, but K. and I were up until 3am. I surprised myself because I’d only had 3 hours of sleep the night before when I stayed up late packing for the retreat. Then Saturday morning K. and I woke at 7am with the other ladies, which also surprised me. I guess we were so excited to get some more scrapbooking done, and we didn’t want to miss a minute of the fun. I made lunch, spinach ravioli and french bread with homemade chocolate chip cookes, but I didn’t have any. My family came over to the beach and we met for lunch at a cool outdoor restaurant. I was so happy to see them all, you would think I’d been gone for 24 days instead of 24 hours. It was a gorgeous day, with a fun and delicious meal. Afterwards, they headed off to the pier to see if they could find the Great White Shark that had been sighted there recently, and I headed back to the beach house. We scrapbooked all night again, only stopping for dinner that L. had made in her crockpot. It was a delicious chicken tortilla soup from a recipe she got in Fix It or Forget It. For desert, T. and L. surprised K. with a cake T. had made ~ German Chocolate, her favorite ~ and we sang Happy Birthday. No one ate cake just then as we were so full from the soup. S. had to leave that night because she was going to a 49’ers game the next morning. She’s a Creative Memories rep and she was able to help out K. with a brown leather Compass album that K. had been looking for (they are no longer in production). That night, K. and I were the last ones up scrapbooking again…I think we made it til 1am.
On Sunday morning, everyone was up drinking coffee and slowly starting to scrap by 9am. K. made us a great breakfast of fruit salad and scrambled eggs with sides you could add like cheese, green chilis, etc. L. had to leave at noon; me, T. and K. kept scrapping and talking until 4pm then starting packing up. We loaded our cars with all our own stuff ~ and there was lots of that! ~ and we packed the tables and chairs in T.’s Suburban. Then we spent about an hour cleaning the house, finishing the laundry, remaking beds, and divvying up all the leftover food. I came home with the rest of my ravioli and bread, 2 bottle of Pellegrino, half of a German Chocolate cake, cookies, a bottle of OJ, some wine, and the remainder of my Diet Coke 12-pack. We were joking how my DH would be like, “Oh, yes honey, you can go on the next scrapbook retreat!” because I was bringing home some of his favorite foods.
At 5:30, it was time for me to head home. As much as I missed my family, it was hard to leave. I had such a good time and got a lot done. I seem to rarely scrapbook at home these days, because there are always so many other things to do. I hope to unpack all my gear soon and keep this momentum or mojo going. Retreats and crops always get me ‘in the mood’ again. I loved looking at everyone’s completed pages as we went along, and learning new techniques from them. The things I got done: 9 pages for my Europe album, 4 family pages, 10 cards, & organized my Bazzill by color and my Basic Grey by line (Blush, Phoebe, etc.). I have been blessed by K. with A LOT of BG and it’s what I’m solely using in my Europe album, so it was getting out of control. I feel so good now that it’s organized. I also sold some Memory Works things kind of by accident. I fully looked at this as a ‘getaway weekend’ and did not want to sell anything while there. But I still had the box full of stuff in my trunk from the crop a couple weekends ago. Plus on Saturday DH brought over a box that came Friday that was full of stuff K. had ordered and lots more. So of course, we all got excited about new things and the rest is history. But I was very glad I had things the girls needed to complete projects they were working on. For example, T. started her SNAPSHOT OF ME album (Becky Higgins, CKU album) and said she’d looked around but hadn’t found a paper line she like enough to do her entire album in. Then she saw I had Basic Grey’s Infuse pack and she loved it!
Her album was turning out very cute. I can’t wait to see it when she gets all her photos in and journaling done. All the girls are such talented scrapbookers and I was very lucky to be in their company this weekend. If you haven’t gotten together with YOUR scrap friends, gotten away for a little retreat, I highly recommend it.
As you know, I’m fairly “scrapbook obsessed.” (REALLY???? We hadn’t noticed!). Which means that, yes, I scrapbook but also that I think about it 24/7, read all the scrapping books and magazines and blogs, participate on message boards, watch scrapbooking on tv, attend and hold crops, work as a scrapbooking consultant and have my own little s/b business as a compliment to that, etc. etc. (Yes, I could go on!). As a person who is this involved, I have some opinions on what I think is happening in the scrapbook industry so I thought I would share them and see what you think. Note: When I refer to the scrapbooking industry here, I’m talking about paper scrapping not to include digital. First of all, it’s no secret that in late 2006/all of 2007, the industry has slowed down. By that I mean it’s not making as much money for the biggies, i.e. the magazines and the major scrapbooking product companies. Secondly, tons of local scrapbook stores (LSS’s) are closing with only a few new ones opening. Since LSS’s used to be the heart of the industry, I take this as a major hit. I think there are 4 major reasons for this downturn: the economy, the internet, digital scrapbooking, and the industry itself.
Okay, the first and easiest reason is the economy. Not that the economy is horrible, but it has taken a hit in the last few years with gas prices so high, mortgage rates going up while home values stagnate or recede, and jobs being outsourced to other countries where they can pay someone 50 cents an hour to do the same job an American would be paid $12/hour for (major pet peeve of mine, but we won’t go there). But the bottom line of our economic shift is that we all have less disposable income to spend on scrap supplies. Yeah, I know, horrors! Everyone I’ve talked to – ladies like me who have scrapped and shopped for years – has had to tone down their spending. I used to fill my Honda with gas for $25, and now it costs $45. There went the $20 I would’ve spent on supplies last week, and that adds up to $80 less from this one consumer over the course of a month. May seem small but not when you multiply $80 by the millions of scrapbookers who routinely shop. Before we used to think nothing of dropping $80-100 at the LSS every few months, but now it might happen once a year by using those gift cards from Christmas. Because our money is so tight, we’ve become smarter shoppers who rely on…big box craft stores and their lovely coupons. While this is convenient and cost-saving to we consumers, I feel it has really hurt the industry. I’m the most guilty of it than anyone I know, so I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it, just pointing out that it has had a definite effect. When I can get a Colorbok 12×12 album using a 40% off coupon for $12 instead of $20, or use a 50% off coupon to buy a Crop in Style Cube for half-price, I’m going to do it. But when I do, I’m taking the money I would have spent at the LSS and giving it to Michaels which is a huge nationwide chain. As much as I adore Mikes, they are not contributing to my community, donating items to my crop, or supporting my local scrapbook community like an LSS would. When we continually give our (few) scrappin’ dollars to Mikes, Costco, Hobby Lobby, et al., we are making it virtually impossible for the LSS to stay in business. When I asked one local owner why she was closing her store, she said, “Everyone thinks running a store is so profitable because scrapbook supplies are expensive. But it takes A LOT of pieces of 69 cent patterned paper to pay my light bill.” In other words, sure, there is a good mark-up on scrapbook supplies but it’s not like owning an appliance store or a car dealer where each sale can net you hundreds/thousands of dollars. A person has to walk out of the LSS with a bagful of supplies (or a full-priced Cricut or a full-priced QuicKutz) for them to see a significant profit per sale. I don’t know of one LSS owner who is making a killing, even the very savvy, business-smart ones. When I used to have 7 LSS’s within 100 miles, I enjoyed shopping at them so I could have the latest and greatest and enjoy the atmosphere there, even if it cost a bit more (see THIS POST for more on my love of LSS’s). But after I heard that comment from the owner, I made even more of a point to spend my scrap budget at LSS’s. Now I’m down to 1 LSS and I go there at least once per month even though it’s a 45-minute drive. The rest of the time, I do use my coupons and look for deals at big box stores. I suppose as a matter of principal, I could refuse to shop ‘big box’, but #1-I’m not that strong (LOL), and #2-Would it really make a difference if one lone scrap shopper in America made that effort? Nope. It would take a banding together of many of us, and I don’t see that happening. For most of us, the slowing economy has made it so that we put our budget ahead of the things we enjoy about our LSS’s.
The second trend that has negatively effected our industry is the internet. It’s tied in with the big box/economical reasons above but, basically, there are so many advantages to internet shopping that many of us have transitioned to it either partly or fully. There are so many positives to buying scrapbook supplies from the internet: easily view everything that’s available, compare prices to get the best deal, and take advantage of screamin’ deals on Ebay – all in the comfort of your warm, dry house while wearing your jammies! The only negatives: credit card/ID theft issues, waiting for the package to arrive, and sadly, taking our money away from the LSS’s. The major upside is that the internet has allowed any scrapper who would like to open up their own ‘store’, whether it be Ebay, Etsy, or a full-on store website. As a scrapper who recently quit full-time work and was interested in working from home, I can appreciate how that kind of opportunity could be irresistable and even considered it myself. However, this freedom in e-commerce has led to a saturation in the scrapbook market…and the eventual failure of many online stores. Don’t get me wrong, I think you can still make some pocket money in this type of venture but I don’t see many people making a full-time income from it. There are many huge sites that have done very well for a long time (ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOBBIES, EMBELLISH IT, etc.), but they are rare in my opinion. (If I’m wrong on this, please educate me :-). Bottom line is that if we’re all shopping online and forcing vendors to give us the rock bottom price or go out of business, and forcing the closure of LSS’s which offer all the products that keep the big magazines/companies going, then we as online shoppers have negatively impacted the very industry that we so love.
The third big effect I see involves digital scrapbooking. I don’t know any official statistics, but I’ve concluded that a large portion of paper scrappers (maybe 50%?) have transitioned partially or fully to digital scrapbooking. I base this on the number of people who talk about it on MB’s, post their digital pages, demand representation in the ‘paper scrapbooking’ magazines, and the number on digi-websites and blogs. I’ll bet Costco is making a killing on 12×12 page printing! Digital scrapbooking is very popular and it has to have had an effect on the paper scrapbooking industry. It goes something like this: A paper scrapper wants to try digital scrapbooking. She looks around online and downloads one free digi-kit from 50 different sites. She tries the digital thing and realizes she can complete a whole album while sitting in the car with her laptop at 5 of her son’s baseball practices. Not to mention no fuss, no mess, no sticky desktop to clean when she’s done. She thinks, “Why didn’t I try this sooner?” and tells all her friends to try it, which they do, and they all love it. Ms. Digi Scrapper looks at all of her paper scrap supplies and says, “I’d better stop buying supplies because I will never even use what I have, much less new stuff. And besides, why pay money when I can get all those digi-kits for free?” Now the only money she is spending is on printer cartridges and digital page printing (although I hear from lots of digi-scrappers that they don’t even print most of their pages; the pages live in their computers to view onscreen, post on their blog, or e-mail to relatives). Anyhow, even if some of this 50% of scrappers remain hybrid, I’d bet they still don’t spend anywhere near the amount of money on supplies as they used to. As for the creators/sellers of digi-elements, are they getting rich? Have we just transitioned the profit from the paper scrap companies to the digital designers? Personally, I don’t think so. Again, why pay for something when there are so many freebies? I love the ARTICLE Kim Guymon at Scrapbiz.com wrote about this subject and she explains it very well. But, again, the bottom line is this huge transition to digital scrapbooking has changed the face of the scrapbooking industry as we know it. I imagine if you’ve gone totally digital, you aren’t concerned but as a ‘completely paper’ scrapper, I kinda’ wish it wasn’t happening. I’m not blaming anyone – the digital scrapbookers or their industry – I just wish digital had come along after my lifetime or something, LOL. It’s like when I get mad sometimes and DH says, “Why are you mad at me?!?” and I say, “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the SITUATION.” (Pout, pout).
“Fourthly” and lastly, I place some blame on the scrapbook industry itself. I think they have bowed to the pressure we put on them for something new, “the latest and greatest”, all the time and they just release too many dang products! Coming from me, this statement probably shocks you, right? I can shop like nobody’s business and drool over all the new products. I discuss them here on my blog and post links to enable your shopping as well. But just because we want the new stuff all the time, doesn’t mean the industry has to provide it. I think the popularity of the scrapbook magazines with their ads for new products, their awesome pages and articles featuring the new stuff, and all the internet advertising of same has pressured the makers of scrapbook products to keep putting out new collections. Well, I’m no expert but I imagine that costs a lot of money – designing, advertising, attending trade shows, sending reps to the stores, and filling orders. When the industry was really thriving, that was all well and good. But now that it has slowed, we’re still expecting tons of the latest and greatest, and they are still delivering. How can that be profitable? Add to that the new companies that continue to appear and it boggles the mind. A few of the longtime, larger companies have recently gone out of business and I predict that more will follow. I’ve also noticed limits on production that frustrate stores and consumers. It has to eventually fall apart, as much as I absolutely hate to say that.
So there are my thoughts on today’s paper scrapbook industry. I think about it a lot as I read the message boards and hear so many complaints lately like this: “CK has gotten so thin”, “My LSS closed :(“, “The freebies at CKU/Expo have gotten so limited,” and “Why is there no Michael’s coupon every week like there used to be?”. I’ve noticed that CK, the premiere scrapbook magazine, has changed to a company with horrible customer service and thousands of loyal subscribers dropping their subscriptions. I see Creative Memories, the premiere (or at least original) scrapbook home party company, firing employees and making decisions that continue to alienate their consultants and, hence, customers. To me, the answer to these questions and the reason for the negative trends all lies in the fact that the scrapbook magazines and the companies who make the products are not thriving like they used to be. As scrappers, that’s just something we have to realize and live with. Hate to be Debbie Downer, but I think it’s only going to get worse… Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’m not happy about it either, fo’ sho’. Now tell me what YOU think – I would love to know if I’m ‘in the dark’ or ‘on target’.
From the 2peas MESSAGE BOARD: Thursday Blogger…
With the Holidays around the corner. Are you planning on making your Holiday Cards? If so when do you plan to start so you can get them all done?
Usually I buy pre-made cards because I write the oh-so-dreaded Christmas letter. But I decided to make cards this year too. I’m not much of a card maker but figured I’d give it a whirl because I so love to receive handmade cards from others. At Tuesday Morning a couple weeks ago, I found the perfect thing. It was one of the 400 bazillion piece kits that CK had on QVC. It’s the red one with all holiday goodies inside including gift bags and tags. And tons of stuff to make holiday cards.
Oh, and did I mention that the original cost was over $50 and I paid $20??? {Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas to me….}. If I’m really going to do this, I need to start making my cards soon. First I need to find some card sketches online. I’m going to a crop next Saturday but don’t know if I want to “waste” my crop time making cards….hmmmmm. How about you – making your cards this year? Do you usually make them? When do you start?
It’s been almost a week and I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep, LOL! I held my second scrapbooking crop last weekend. It was Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 10pm each day. I had an absolute blast! I know there are critics of crops and many people who say they just won’t go to one because they need to have all their stuff, they don’t like to pack for them, etc. But if you’ve never gone to one, you really should give it a try. The best thing to me is it’s like a mini-convention of scrapbookers and where else are you going to get that? Well, other than CKU et al, but not everyone can attend those events. To me, it’s not even really about how much scrapbooking I can get done at crops anymore. The pages I get done are just a bonus. It’s the networking, the scrap-chatting, the sharing of ideas, the sharing of excitement over this great hobby, looking at everyone’s pages and learning more about their lives, hearing the stories of their families, seeing their latest projects and learning new techniques. And invariably you find someone there who knows someone that you know (know what I mean?). I just love the whole ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ thing, don’t you? Anyway, there is just so much to a crop – it’s not ONLY about getting pages done!
This crop went very well, I thought. There were ladies coming and going at different times – I offered a Full Day and a Half Day option. That worked out well because everyone’s weekends are busy and this way, they could really work the crop into their schedule. One lady came for just a few hours while her daughter attended a birthday party nearby. Since she only paid the half day rate, she didn’t feel like she was being cheated of part of her fee. There were about 10-15 people there at any given point; there were 3 ladies that were there all day for all 3 days. Now that’s devotion! And many others who would’ve kept that schedule if they didn’t have other things going on.
One of the best things this time was that my LSS participated. I asked them if they could contribute anything for the goody bags and maybe some business cards. They came through with: 3 large items I used for end-of-the-day door prizes; (50) coupons for $5 off; (50) business cards; and tons of smaller items for hourly drawing prizes like mini album kits and embellishments. The grand prize was a $25 gift card to their store. I was so happy for the gal who won it – that was the best prize! I’m so amazed at their generosity and very grateful.
There was also a Creative Memories Consultant who attended for 2 days. She brought a bunch of her products to sell, and she even got some scrapbooking done. I was glad to make the connection with her and we have agreed to support each other in our consultant endeavors. She seems like a very smart businesswoman and I know I’ll learn a lot from her. I was happy that she sold some things and was able to have success from my crop. Gosh, there were many fun stories and projects, so many neat women I got to know or got to know better. There are such interesting lives being lived out there, and I love to learn about them. On top of that, I got to spend 3 days with my mom (who as always supported me through this), and with my good friend K whose table was up front so we got to talk and talk and talk.
As for the Memory Works part of it, that was also successful. I haven’t tallied it all exactly but I did make a nice little profit from items I sold at the crop, or from orders people made while there. Although it is hard (i.e. expensive) for me to have a ton of my products on hand, I did have a lot more things to show as samples or to sell this time, so that made a difference. The hard part is trying to predict which products will be popular and that shoppers will like. Scrapbooking products look nice on the internet, and even better in a catalog, but there is nothing better than seeing them in person. That’s what really convinces someone that they must have it! For instance, MW has a Crate Paper pack that looks very pretty in the catalog so I ordered it for myself. But when I got it in the mail I was like, WOW! The colors are SO pretty, the paper is SO thick, and the designs are SO fresh. It just blew me away. There is nothing like the real thing.
Many people were asking about the NEXT crop, so I will be working on that. The 2 hotels I would use are already booked throughout the summer. The first step is finding somewhere to hold the crop. I have orders coming in now to deliver (MW will ship orders directly to the customer but most of mine prefer to save on shipping costs by combining orders, then I deliver each one). I’m also hoping to get some scrapping done myself now. At the crop, I only finished one 2-page layout, and got everything done but the journaling on three more 2-page layouts. So I need to finish those. I’m also very excited about a new project I hope to start….that I learned about at the crop, of course! Three of the ladies had just returned from a CKU-Album and the project they were completing was an All About Me album designed by Becky Higgins. It’s absolutely beautiful, and so special. We took photos of all the layouts and made copies of her instructions, so K and I are hoping to create one for ourselves. We’re planning a couple Sundays together in July so we can work on it together. I hope all of your summer projects are just popping along!
If you’ve noticed that my posts have gotten rare lately, it’s because I’m planning another scrapbook crop. The first one I did this past May 12, which was an all-day Saturday event. It went over so well that several friends asked me to organize another one, and couldn’t we make it THREE days long this time?? You ask, I’ll deliver! The next event will be in about two weeks (June 22-24, 2007). We had such good luck with the hotel we used last time, that we’re holding it there again. So I’m just in Heaven over here, taking sign ups, planning meals, shopping for goody bag items, getting my Memory Works stuff ready, and praying that lot of people sign up (so far, pretty good!).
In other ‘happy me’ news, I got my first sign-up for the Memory Works monthly kit (it’s called MW Express Kit). Well, okay, it’s my MOM but that still counts! Last week I decided to send out MW catalogs to everyone who had purchased something from me, mostly at the last crop. Those Basic Grey chipboard file sets were a big hit! I included a handmade Thank You card, the catalog, and flyers for the June crop, the June MW monthly kit, and the Sneak Peak for the July kit. My mom saw the June kit and loved it. Here it is:
For $35, you get:
8 sheets of Crate Paper/Basic Grey paper
6 sheets of Prism textured cardstock
26 Scrapworks shimmer letters
6 velvet blossoms, 6 crystal brads, 2 metal tabs, some 7 Gypsies goodies, 4 yards of ribbon
1 chipboard accordian purse kit by 7 Gypsies
supplies to make 5 cards
(and so much more I can’t list it all)
She also compared what she’s receiving in her current kit with what MW’s has and said mine has more for the money. So she’s canceling her current kit and going with mine! I’m so stoked!
Here is the July Sneak Peek:
I love that the kits are month to month with no commitment (as long as you cancel by the deadline, one week before they send the kits out). MW has been doing kits since Feb. 07 and I have loved them all. They have such good taste, and I appreciate how their Design Team posts ideas on the website for pages and altered items you can make with each kit.
One more piece of news: I’m so happy to see that my blog has rolled over 8,000 hits. When it passes 10,000 it will be time for another RAK! Stay tuned…
Tell me how things are going in your Scrap World – any crops or CKUs coming up? Any good buys lately? Tell me about it in Comments :)
I’ve done a few posts now regarding scrapbook organization and I truly thank you for all the nice comments and questions. I wanted to share links to some of the organizational items I’ve found very useful in my scrapbooking area:
Julie asked about the Iris project sorter, which is actually called the Scrapbook Chest by Iris.
Becca/BS asked about how to sort all those beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous papers we have. This is what I use – Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Holders. They are the best thing since peanut butter and banana sandwiches! They hold the paper much like a magazine holder stores magazines, so you can thumb through and pull out what you need without messing up the rest of the stack. I truly love these and think anything by Cropper Hopper is genius!
Also for Becca – don’t we love ALL kinds of paper?? I recently reorganized this aspect of my house too. I have tons of gift bags, tissue paper, wrap, etc. It used to be in a large flat Rubbermaid container under the bed. But when my collection outgrew the box and I realized how hard it was to find anything, I moved it all to this. It’s the wire cubes you can find at Target or Walmart for under $20. I have a couple plastic bins on top for mini-gift bags, bows and ribbons. It’s been a good system so far. I’ll post a photo of mine soon…
Edited: Here ’tis:
While I was writing this, I received an e-mail about another cool organization tool and this one you can take with you to crops! It’s the Catchall by Croppin Cutie and MarthasChoice.com has them on sale for $16 right now. I don’t have one, have never seen it til now, but boy it’s cute. Gotta love the pink! I think this would be great to use at crops or just keep on your desktop to keep all those tools and little pieces contained.
Feel free to ask any more scrapbooking organizational questions and I’ll be glad to help!
This past weekend, I held my first ever crop! It was a lot of work, but SO FUN. I had hoped for about 20 scrapbookers to attend, but there ended up being only 11 of us. The good part of that is everyone had plenty of cropping space. There were round tables that normally seat 8 people (for dinner), and there were only 2 people per table. My mom had made name tags for everyone with a little clip art that was perfect – a scrapbooker saying “I Need Elbow Room!”. The crop was at a newer hotel and their service was excellent – they were just a pleasure to deal with. When not that many people were signing up for the crop, I was going to cancel it. But I called the hotel manager and told him my predicament…and he lowered the room rental price by $125 so we could still have the crop. Here was the menu: Donuts and Starbucks coffee for breakfast; foccaccia sandwiches with turkey or tri-tip, chips and iced tea for lunch; candy and cashews for snacks; pizza and salad for dinner; and brownies for desert. Yum! Everyone seemed happy with the food. I had planned to order pizza from one place, but it turned out that one of the scrappers’ sons owned a pizza place. So she called in the order, got us a great deal, and it was delivered (vs. me having to pick it up). She said her son would kill her if he found out we ordered pizza from anyplace else, LOL. Two of the gals made a Starbucks run in the afternoon for that needed pick me up. The crop went from 10am to 10pm, so we needed lots of energy. There were goodie bags for each person. And we drew door prizes every hour so each attendee won something. Then there were Challenges – for each one met, you got a ticket to another prize drawing. That was the best part I think, because it really motivated people to scrap a lot and to try new things. I, of course, didn’t get much scrapbooking done. It’s a lot of work to run a crop! I worked on a Daisy D’s class kit and made a little board book about my mom. It had pictures of her from our trip to Rome and it’s called, “Mama Mia!” I will post a photo when it’s done (and after I get her permission to show her photos to the world!). People saw me doing the kit, liked it, and I sold all the kits I had. It WAS a great deal – 2 board books, tons of 6×6 paper, ribbons, 2 sheets of letter stickers, 2 sheets of other stickers, and metal photo corners for $13. Will post a link to the kit later… Have you ever held a crop or are you thinking about it? Tell me about it in comments!
At 3am today, I finished the challenge from CKMB to organize my scrap space…wahoo! Here are the BEFORE pics:
And AFTER pics:
I still have some work to do, like organizing my massive quantities of photos (heritage, childhood, high school…to about 2003). I’m also looking into a bookshelf or some other way to store my finished scrapbooks in my living room. Right now, they take up a good chunk of my scrapping bookshelf. For the living room, I’m digging this IKEA Expedit bookshelf . We don’t have an Ikea around here but I think I can purchase it online…if I can get hubby to agree that it’s $200 well spent (wish me luck). Edited: Ummm, make that over $400 when you include shipping. May have to wait until I can travel to an IKEA, gulp.
Back to the scrapbook organizing! Other than what I mentioned in my last post, here are the top 10 things I did to organize my space:
1. Went through a huge stack of patterned papers that I bought or was given over the course of the last year and didn’t put away. I already had specific Cropper Hopper vertical holders or files for Chatterbox, Memories Complete, SEI, Doodlebug, KI Memories and Bo Bunny. In this process, I located enough Basic Grey, Daisy Ds and My Minds Eye (thanks to that Costco double pack) that I had to create folders for them too. They all look nice and comfy standing next to each other on my bookshelf.
2. Went through a huge stack of embellishments that needed were scattered everywhere. I got some of them put away in my ScrapRack, and put the rest in an Iris drawer for later filing. By cleaning out all my 12×12 Iris drawers, I now have someplace to store things until I have time to file them instead of piling them on my desk or leaving them in shopping bags all over the floor. I will try to file things right away, but if they do go in the Iris drawers, I only have so much space to fill before I have to stop and put things away.
3. Dusted! Wow, a lot of dust builds up when you don’t scrap for a year. Yuck….but nice now :)
4. Put all my computer-related software, blank photo CD’s, etc in one drawer of my desk. Sorted through two other desk drawers and made room for tools I don’t use often.
5. Got rid of two old wooden vegetable crates that I’d been using in the corner as a little shelf and moved my Iris “project sorter” into their place with the mini stereo and telephone on top.
6. Fixed my “letter E” collection that had fallen off the shelves when my husband was pounding on the garage wall awhile back.
7. Took most of the white plastic baskets out of my little shelf unit and filed that stuff elsewhere. They were not covered baskets and everything got too dusty. Moved all my mini-albums from various places around the room onto the shelf instead. Note to self: Dust once in a while.
8. Things that were sorted through and tossed or moved out of my scrap space: old scrapbook catalogs (do I HAVE to hold on to every single one?? Jeez.), past issues of scrap magazines, birthday gifts for others that I have been stashing under my desk, and my huge collection of photo frames.
9. Purged a stack of newspapers after cutting out and Archival Misting the obits or articles I wanted (someone close to me is quoted in the paper a lot).
10. Consolidated my page kits and project kits from crops, CKU, the cruise etc into one plastic crate which now sits under the table.
Oh, speaking of table, I added a table to my area and am thrilled with the amount of workspace I now have. I can even have a friend over to crop with me in there now! (DH will be happy we’re not all over the dining room table anymore, LOL).
I don’t think I have any great organizing advice above, except to say “Don’t wait as long as I did to purge stuff you won’t use or doesn’t belong in your scrap space”. From things I already had organized, I would highly recommend using cute jars to store your ribbon (decorative, cheap and practical), and utilize Cropper Hopper vertical storage for your papers. They even have 6×6 and 8×8 holders now. It’s so much easier to access your papers and not crush them than with horizontal storage.
I still have a little work to do on sorting embellishments and such, then onto the next project: photo and memorabilia organization!
It’s the wire cubes you can find at Target or Walmart for under $20. I have a couple plastic bins on top for mini-gift bags, bows and ribbons. It’s been a good system so far. I’ll post a photo of mine soon…
I don’t have one, have never seen it til now, but boy it’s cute. Gotta love the pink! I think this would be great to use at crops or just keep on your desktop to keep all those tools and little pieces contained.
