breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,893
Location: PNW
Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
|
Post by breetheflea on Jul 25, 2017 16:29:25 GMT
Ever done anything stupid in the name of organizing?
The hours I spent making "color drawers" comes to mind. Problem is then I'd just go through every color bin (except purple which didn't have enough for a whole drawer) every time I made a layout...
Now I'm trying to undo the brilliant idea of a few years ago to take apart my 6 by 6 paper pads and sort them by color... I'd rather just grab a pad and have all the papers match then trying to make my own matches...
Have you done anything stupid in the name of organizing that you regret?
|
|
christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,123
Location: New York, NY
Jun 26, 2014 18:02:19 GMT
|
Post by christinec68 on Jul 25, 2017 16:56:02 GMT
I regret going all in on the color sorting too but I unsorted a few years ago.
I mostly regret buying make shift organizational pieces. I am aching for a full redo of my space. It was formerly known as the dining room, so I just worked around that and the storage limitations of a dining table and a weird corner hutch DH wasn't ready to get rid of. Some of the pieces I have now are literally falling apart and I plan to replace them with something I intend to keep long term, even if it's piece by piece.
|
|
|
Post by mom on Jul 25, 2017 17:08:18 GMT
I regret the purchases of plastic storage containers. I hate plastic. Why did I think I would want to put them on a shelf and store things in them? There are other ways to store things besides using plastic.
|
|
|
Post by lisacharlotte on Jul 25, 2017 17:40:32 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that.
|
|
|
Post by pennyscraps on Jul 25, 2017 17:59:14 GMT
I had a brief moment where I busted apart all of my October Afternoon collections to sort them by color. After about 5 days, I was putting them all back where they "belonged". Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. Thanks for saving me on the 6x6 by color. I've been pondering that one..... Guess I'll pass now.
|
|
|
Post by marg on Jul 25, 2017 18:07:15 GMT
I sorted everything by colour, too, and then had to change it all back. I hated going through the bins to find things I needed.
I bought the Clip It Up and sorted all of my numbers and letters, grouping all the of the As together, Bs together, etc. - like, every chipboard A, alphabet stamp A, acrylic A, all went together in a baggie on my Clip It Up. I got the idea from someone's blog, I think maybe Nicole Heady's? Hated that and had to re-sort.
Those were the two biggest mistakes. I also have lots of small ones, like sorting all of my wooden stamps into the 12x12 bins by category - I guess that wasn't so bad, but it was better when I unmounted them and stored them in Avery Elle (well, the cheaper ones on Amazon) envelopes by category.
|
|
Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,606
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:55 GMT
|
Post by Elsabelle on Jul 25, 2017 19:24:50 GMT
I recently decided to stop organizing by collection. I took the embellishments out of every collection and ended up with a massive pile of embellishments that I stepped over for a few days until I decided to put them back. Figuring out how to organize all those embellishments became too big of a job and I just didn't want to spend time on it. I should have listened to the whisper of the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" thoughts that went through my head before I did it.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Jul 25, 2017 19:50:04 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that. I have small colored embellishment containers. They are the 5 x 7 photo holders and 20 of them fit into an Iris case. I only keep tiny flowers, bling, journal stickers, twine, etc in these. These are my embellishments that are really generic. Actual embellishments that really go with a line of paper or have multiple colors in them hang on my Clip It Up. I just like being able to take my giant Iris case to a crop and have "a little pop of color" ready to add to any layout. I do remember seeing people put whole drawers of colored embellishments together and I knew that would be too much to look through.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Jul 25, 2017 19:57:06 GMT
I have organized my scrappy stuff way more than I scrap and I scrap a lot! Part of me just enjoys organizing and I do it in my house more than I need to also. I don't know if I would say that I thought what I did was stupid, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea. I have tried different organizing tricks that were just too hard to keep up with. I have books of punches, dies, and stamps that haven't been updated. That is probably what I regret doing. I also keep a list of supplies I have in my purse and other than punches, I don't really need them (but I have them!).
|
|
|
Post by myboysnme on Jul 25, 2017 19:59:32 GMT
This thread is right up my alley. The entire reason my scraproom is unusable is because of my efforts to organize in the first place. I took everything out of the Crop in Style drawers and iris cases and decided to organize by theme into iris cases. Well the iris cases began to overflow. I had no place to put them because the shelf unit I store them on can't hold all of them. I got so overwhelmed that I ended up with empty iris cases, piles and bags of product, no place to put it.
Several years ago I spent an entire weekend organizing my theme into large plastic bins. I got about 10 cases filled by theme. That was probably 1/4 of my stash. I honestly feel that I cannot organize at this point. The only thing I can do is continue to use product by scrapping and I have to find another place to store my albums to free up shelf space.
At least 2 relatives have offered to help me organize but I cannot take them up on it. I wouldn't even know how to have them help me because when there is more stuff than there is space, it's impossible.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Jul 25, 2017 20:13:29 GMT
This thread is right up my alley. The entire reason my scraproom is unusable is because of my efforts to organize in the first place. I took everything out of the Crop in Style drawers and iris cases and decided to organize by theme into iris cases. Well the iris cases began to overflow. I had no place to put them because the shelf unit I store them on can't hold all of them. I got so overwhelmed that I ended up with empty iris cases, piles and bags of product, no place to put it. Several years ago I spent an entire weekend organizing my theme into large plastic bins. I got about 10 cases filled by theme. That was probably 1/4 of my stash. I honestly feel that I cannot organize at this point. The only thing I can do is continue to use product by scrapping and I have to find another place to store my albums to free up shelf space. At least 2 relatives have offered to help me organize but I cannot take them up on it. I wouldn't even know how to have them help me because when there is more stuff than there is space, it's impossible. My albums are all in the living room. Now way would they fit in my scrap room and no one would ever see them. Until you find what you really like, couldn't you just put like items in large baggies (or get the 12.5 x 12.5 bags) and just put them in large flat baskets? That way you could still see items and get to them when you need them. I have a six foot, six tiered Clip It Up and I love that thing. It holds thousands of embellishments that aren't already being stored with paper products that match. Ladder shelves are a great storage solution in a room. They hold paper or long thin baskets.
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jul 25, 2017 20:14:00 GMT
I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things.
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jul 25, 2017 20:16:44 GMT
myboysnme the only albums I have in my craft room are the couple I'm working on. The rest live in one of my spare bedrooms. If I kept them in the craft room there wouldn't be any room for any supplies!
|
|
|
Post by teacherlisa on Jul 25, 2017 22:18:54 GMT
I have to agree with Christine in that I did a lot of "make shift" organizing back in the days when I had a lot more time than money. I actually spent more money trying to save money lol...but oh well.
I recently moved out of a small area in my living room ( I used room dividers and scrapped behind them ) into an extra bedroom and it is still a work in progress, but I am really working on organizing better for this space, and doing things the way I like it vs the way someone else thinks I might like it lol.
I will say that I still like my color drawers, and I organize paper by color also. I do not buy a lot of "collections" so maybe I would feel different about that if I did.
|
|
|
Post by lisacharlotte on Jul 25, 2017 23:22:06 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that. I have small colored embellishment containers. They are the 5 x 7 photo holders and 20 of them fit into an Iris case. I only keep tiny flowers, bling, journal stickers, twine, etc in these. These are my embellishments that are really generic. Actual embellishments that really go with a line of paper or have multiple colors in them hang on my Clip It Up. I just like being able to take my giant Iris case to a crop and have "a little pop of color" ready to add to any layout. I do remember seeing people put whole drawers of colored embellishments together and I knew that would be too much to look through. View AttachmentView AttachmentI actually have my embellishments organized that way also in the same iris photo case. I think i'd prefer by type/category rather than color. My problem is things end up out of sight out of mind. I need to create kits with papers and embellishments so i have a group of things that go together. I'm more apt to use what is right in front of me.
|
|
|
Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Jul 26, 2017 2:44:45 GMT
Many, many years ago, I had to have a double side by side file cabinet. One side for patterned paper, one side for solid paper, all organized by color. It was great in theory, but the paper was too heavy for the hanging files, and they started tearing. The cabinet was a big, heavy monstrosity (a pain in the ass to move). I was a bit transient back then. Moved three times in a 18 months. After the first move, when it was time to move again, I sold the file cabinet, and switched to something smaller and more portable to hold my paper. Then I stayed put and didn't move again, for six years. LOL!!
|
|
|
Post by Mary W on Jul 26, 2017 2:47:34 GMT
Many years ago when I took all my photos out of those magnetic albums, I sorted them by person (because I was making albums for my boys and pages about particular people) and put them in photo boxes. Now, I am scrapping by event or just random subjects, so all those photos that are sorted by person I have been slowly resorting by year. And at some point I put some photos in albums. Now they're all just unorganized and in several different storage things. I pity whoever will be sorting through them when I die!
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jul 26, 2017 2:52:07 GMT
Not so much organizing...more buying and forcing me to organize. I used to buy bits and bobs and put them into 4x6 iris boxes by color. I can't think of the last time I've used anything in there because that's not really how I craft...they take up an entire drawer just about and I can't bring myself to part with it because I still love most of the contents. I just have so much in kits and in front of me on my desk that I don't need to access it and because it's in a drawer, I don't ever think to grab it out just to try and use something from it.
|
|
GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,291
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
|
Post by GiantsFan on Jul 26, 2017 2:57:02 GMT
Un-mounting my wood mounted stamps. I did it to save space, which I didn't have much of at the time.
Putting my brads and eyelets in those round stacking containers, the ones where the container screws on to the next one and becomes the lid and so on. I spent way too much money on those and hated them.
Like Mom earlier in the thread, storing everything in plastic. And it didn't even match. I bought whatever I could find at yard sales or on clearance.
|
|
|
Post by midorica on Jul 26, 2017 3:10:00 GMT
I used a fuse tool to customize my own plastic pockets for my stamps and dies, because I didn't want to invest in the Avery Elle pockets + Fridge Bins solution. Biggest mistake ever. The binders were crazy heavy, and dies kept slipping out of the pockets, and I had to be so careful turning the pages I began to dread taking my stamps out.
I fixed the problem by finding Fridge Bins for cheap at Winners (Canadian equivalent of TJ Maxx) and buying plastic pockets from the Japanese dollar store. The pockets are not very heavy plastic, but they work for my purpose, and are only 2.25 for a pack of 27. I cut up sheets of white cardstock as the pocket inserts, and the system works great now!
|
|
|
Post by LisaDV on Jul 26, 2017 3:20:44 GMT
Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. I was just thinking of the Wookiemouse challenge yesterday!!💕💕💕 I'm currently taking apart my SU! Stamp sets and reorganizing all my wood mounted rubber stamps into categories. I am taking a photo of the stamp set before taking it apart. But I really hope that I don't regret doing it.
|
|
|
Post by jennoconnell on Jul 26, 2017 3:34:03 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote.
|
|
GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,291
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
|
Post by GiantsFan on Jul 26, 2017 4:07:20 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. I'm new (since December) to Evernote. I took photos of each stamp set. Each set was a different note. I tagged all items in each set. I love being able to search for a bee or get well or whatever. I like it with my stamps so much I cataloged my dies, background stamps, stencils, inks, Zigs and Tombows. No more duplicates! Yes I have/had duplicate sets.
|
|
|
Post by artisticscrapper on Jul 26, 2017 4:16:49 GMT
i have a couple of small PL kits and a some random cards from a swap with a friend. I decided to organize them all together by color. Last weekend I decided I wanted them back by set. I found a site online with every card from every set ever and put them back where they belong. I usually keep things by set so I don't know what I was thinking.
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jul 26, 2017 4:32:46 GMT
ok, now I have to know...how does one use Evernote to keep track of stamps? I used to keep a physical index of stamps until I realised it was much quicker to use evernote and that way I can actually search for things. Another dumb thing I did was to create a stamp image rolodex as part of the first Wookiemouse challenge. So many hours wasted on that. I tossed it recently. Now I use Evernote. I have several 'notebooks' including one for stamps and one for dies. I have a separate note for each set/die and include a picture (usually grabbed off the web) then add sentiments/keywords as 'tags' so I can, for example, search for all sets that have a 'best wishes' stamp in them. I also note which stamps have matching dies by including a link to the related note. Bonus is that you have the inventory when you're out and about. I don't do much shopping IRL but occasionally I'm out and spot something and then I can check whether I already have lots of sets with that in it.
|
|
camcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,973
Jun 26, 2014 3:41:19 GMT
|
Post by camcas on Jul 26, 2017 4:43:28 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that. Me too...I just redid some by category ...enamel dots/wood veneer/die cuts etc because that's how I think when I'm scrapping- I hope it works better for me Left over die cuts is my biggest challenge...how to store.....
|
|
|
Post by kiwikate on Jul 26, 2017 6:47:41 GMT
I sorted my embellishments by color a few years ago. I need to rethink that. Me too...I just redid some by category ...enamel dots/wood veneer/die cuts etc because that's how I think when I'm scrapping- I hope it works better for me Left over die cuts is my biggest challenge...how to store..... This is me too exactly! I went all for the colour boxes, then smaller iris boxes, now Ive gone back to main categories. I have far less of a stash now, so I feel its a better solution. But all those hours spent organising..... SaveSave
|
|
camcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,973
Jun 26, 2014 3:41:19 GMT
|
Post by camcas on Jul 26, 2017 8:25:50 GMT
I feel your pain kiwikate!
|
|
Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,469
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
|
Post by Chinagirl828 on Jul 26, 2017 9:56:51 GMT
I did the colour sorting too and I think it lasted for two weeks before I had to put everything back into categories. I just couldn't find my supplies that way. Interestingly I recently split one of my categories back into colour and so far it seems to be working.
|
|
|
Post by peasapie on Jul 26, 2017 12:11:15 GMT
I have to agree with Christine in that I did a lot of "make shift" organizing back in the days when I had a lot more time than money. I actually spent more money trying to save money lol...but oh well. I recently moved out of a small area in my living room ( I used room dividers and scrapped behind them ) into an extra bedroom and it is still a work in progress, but I am really working on organizing better for this space, and doing things the way I like it vs the way someone else thinks I might like it lol. I will say that I still like my color drawers, and I organize paper by color also. I do not buy a lot of "collections" so maybe I would feel different about that if I did. When I moved out of my NYC apartment into a home and had my own art room, I reorganized too. Now I have all punches in one bin, all stickers in a bin, markers in a bin (and separated in ziplock bags within the bin). I have stencils and tools hanging on a pegboard, and bits of lace in a vintage suitcase on a shelf. It's so much easier to organize when you have room!
|
|