Inspiration to scrapbook & organization tips

Merry Christmas designed by Dina Bonnecaze-KUDOS
1st Place winner of CCL Page Contest Winner

Is your scrapbooking area organized? Or do you sometimes avoid scrapbooking because you know you won’t be able to find something when you need it? Or better yet, you can’t even find a clear space on your desk to scrap? This is the condition of mine right now & its DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! My organizational level seems to rise and fall. At times, everything is a huge mess of piles on my scrap desk. Other times, my scrap area is neat and tidy, allowing me to create freely and stress-free. WOW-obviously these are my favorite times.

In hopes of getting you organized, I thought I’d share some general organizational tips I’ve picked up over the years:

Let's start with PRINTING & ORGANIZING PHOTOS. Its so important to have your pictures printed. I used to print my own photos, but i have found that its more economical to upload & print to walmart.com or scrapbookpictures.com. Now, i only print my wallet photos if i decide i need smaller prints as I'm scrappin'. This also solves another issue of backups-once you upload to print photos, the provider saves your pictures.

My favorite method for organizing photos IS: Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom (sorry this book is no longer available-but if you can find a copy-its awesome). The shortened version is: Purchase Pioneer 3 up albums (i tried others & they don't last-you can find these at MM). Organize photos in chronological order. Edit your photos as you store them, its OK to discard the photos that are exactly like 3 others, is just a bad shot, etc. I use one sleeve-3slots for 1 scrapbook layout i plan to create-you can store 2-3 photos per slot for faster & easier viewing when you see a scrapbook layout that inspires you. Although your photos are stored chronologically, you don't need to scrap in order-free yourself to scrap what you are inspired at the moment to do. I promise you will get so much more scrappin' done IF your photos are printed. Save photos in a "Moments" section if its a great relationship photo but doesn't necessarily go with the theme or you have too many pics for that theme-these turn out to become awesome moments layouts.

Another little tip: before cleaning up from a scrapping session, use leftovers to create a card or two! What a great way to organize and create in one fell swoop! Keep the clutter down, and get a head start on card giving!

30% Thursday: Wall Canvas
Thanks for reading, please subscribe,
Happy Scrappin'