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Organizing 12x12 Designer Paper
Does anybody have some unique, brilliant, one-of-a-kind organization ideas for 12x12 paper?
I have my 8x11 paper organized and a nice little "flip" book to use to get a quick at-a-glance at the colors.
But, my 12x12 pages often go unused because I simply do not know what I have. I cannot simply make a "flip" book for the designer paper because I have so little of each design.
I organize mine mostly in horizontal magazine style holders divided by company even if I only have a few papers from a company they still get their divider. I put in dividers labeled with the company name. I also store a few other groups of paper not by company but by theme, I have a heritage holder, a military/patriotic holder (we are a military family so have lots of that) and then I have one just labeled kids stuff for making little kid pages, school pages etc. and also Chrismas is separate too. Its been working pretty good for me even though it took some time to set up. If I have stickers that go with the paper they get put in there with the paper.
I'm always looking for a better way so will be nice to hear from others.
I'm just organizing my 12x12 paper as well. I bought a cropper hopper hanging filing system that I hope works for plain paper. But, I like luna mom's idea for topics on the files. I have a bit of Basic Grey paper that I just luvvvve, so I am putting it into sections for women, men, and other ideas. If I mix them up too much I won't remember what I have them under, I think. If I don't see stuff I don't use it so all my gear is visible. I have no other ideas and would love to hear what others have done.
What about buying 12x12 album (not an expensive one maybe use a Michaels 40% off coupon or Costco sells albums and refills at a great price) and store your 12x12 papers in it, then you could flip through and your papers would not get damaged.
I use the cropper hopper hanging file folders and divide by paper by company, but keep themed paper in it's own file. I would like to hear how others do this as well.
I use 12 x 12 books which have plastic sleeves in them so papers are slipped in back to back. The folders have 10 sleeves in them for around $4 AUST and then refills are around $1.50 for a pack of 10. I have all of my papers in them 7 folders with 20-30 sleeves in each. EEEEKS I have some paper don't I ? My cardstock aren't in these. I bought them at LSS.
These are great ideas. But, using the 12 x 12 album, doesn't that become a hassle putting paper in then taking out, etc. Unless I am misunderstanding the concept. A blush, in advance, if I am being clueless in CS.
I have heard it is better to keep paper vertical. True?
Please keep those organizing ideas coming. I really need them
I prefer the vertical system, some systems have like 25 slots, the one I have had to be put together, and has a cover; but doesn't have the name on the product or cover. I alphabetize each section by a theme, season, misc
and whatever themes fit for you.
I bought wire "bin" systems from Bed, Bath and Beyond and built "towers" I have 2 of them you assemble the frame as usual with the caps that come with it and then use zipper ties to put shelves in. One holds all my solid color 12" and the other all my patterend.
When using the 12 x 12 folders I can flip through the folder seeing each individual sheet in full then slip out the sheet I want to use and then return the cut into sheet back to the plastic sleeve. Even though I have 7 folders I have a fairly good idea which folder has a particular sheet in it if I know what I am going to use. These folders only hold my papers, my cardstock is in colour groupings in a 12 x 12 holder ( like a magazine holder ). And my double sided card eg. basic grey, wild asparagus ( my big, huge weakness ) is in a seperate holder.
I bought some 'plastic briefcase' type folders (CarryAll or something like that) from M's. They've got 2 snaps on the front - one for few papers the other for more - they expand to 1.5 inches. They were on sale for $1.50Cdn. I keep SU! in one and then my other papers are organized by color. I like that my paper won't get dusty (construction across the street).
__________________ Sheila
<----Gabriel...15 months old May 1, 2011. He loves being outdoors!
Mine are all sorted into the grip-lock bags suitable for 12x12s, one brand per bag, sorted by collection. The bags are then sorted by brand alphabetically and stored in a tower.
It's worked OK so far, especially when I know exactly the look I'm aiming for when crafting. It doesn't work so well when I just need a little something of a particular colour and I have to go rooting through looking for just the right thing if a particular collection doesn't immediately spring to mind.
I have thought about sorting by colour but I know I'd start getting confused as to which colour pile to put patterened papers in, or what sort of themes to store the patterned papers by
I'm liking the sound of some of the storage ideas I've heard so far and will be watching the thread with interest!!
I use a 12x12 container with the lid cut off (open) and then use the white cardboard that comes with the designer paper packs for the dividers... There's a UPC on the bottom right corner that has the name of the paper... I use the large tag punch to punch it out and affix it "tab style" along the top of the carboard... Some of the writing in that area is cut off, but it works for me... This makes identifying DPs in my paper stash a lot easier...
Mine are all sorted into the grip-lock bags suitable for 12x12s, one brand per bag, sorted by collection. The bags are then sorted by brand alphabetically and stored in a tower.
It's worked OK so far, especially when I know exactly the look I'm aiming for when crafting. It doesn't work so well when I just need a little something of a particular colour and I have to go rooting through looking for just the right thing if a particular collection doesn't immediately spring to mind.
I have thought about sorting by colour but I know I'd start getting confused as to which colour pile to put patterened paperes in, or what sort of themes to store the patterened papers by
I'm liking the sound of some of the storage ideas I've heard so far and will be watching the thread with interest!!
I'm currently converting to vertical storage
What I did as a try before I buy the specific plastic holders was use 13 x14 recycled priority boxes (I get a few of these delivered with design team goodies). Cut them down a little and then cut a diagonal across the front.
Tried this for a month to see if it was going to work for me, and I love it!
I've bought some of the cropper hopper plastic files specifically for this vertical storage but the priority boxes were a great way to go to see if this was going to work for me!
hope this helps
Cropper Hopper has these wonderful plastic sleeves that have a tab at the top. I use my dymo labeler to print out a label for each sleeve. All of my SU paper is stored in these. I just recently organized it all and I am now using my paper so much more. I found the sleeves at A.C. Moore. If you don't have one, check the Cropper Hopper website and see where to get them. They come 3 to a pack and I think they are around $5-6. It's worth the investment! Kathy
Just remember that going vertical means you have to have the extra space! Also from my personal experience if the cardstock isn't thick it will curl unless it is packed pretty tight in the box (curl as in flop over). I didn't have the extra space which is what I went with towers lol! They fit next to my table and cabinets just right!
Walmart has these fantastic "Scraptotes" about $4.50. They are are made of plastic/vinyl (fun colors!) and comes with 6 dividers and tabs. I bought two (need to get another one!). One is for my solid colors-grouped as blue, brown, yellow, red, pink, blah, blah, blah. I put all hues in the appropriate divider, light to dark. The other tote is for Occasions/Themes. Grouped the same as everyone else that's written here. The third one I need to get is for my pattern paper. I will organize that one like my solid CS, using the background color as the deciding factor. The great thing about the totes, besides being portable is that they can be stored vertical or horizontal, depending on space needs. Ya can't go wrong for the price! HTH!
tat2girl~~~sounds like what I am looking for. Will have to hop over to the store and check it out. Are folders included? I like your way of sorting CS. I think I am going to have to make titles /names of papers . That way I will know what I have (don't buy too much of one and not enough of another) and be able to coordinate colors.
Thanks for the suggestions.
These are all great ideas! I currently have my "generic" Michael's and JoAnn's 12x12 papers in a segmented plastic crate, sorted by color families. My SU designer papers/Simply Scrappin' papers are in 12" verticle file folders from Hobby Lobby---these were expensive, so I plan on checking out the WalMart ones for more storage. Coupons help!
I am using those 3 drawer plastic storage containers from Wal-Mart or Target to store my pp. Each drawer is for a certain company. I store my CS in my
Crop In Style Paper Taker. It is divided into 3 sections and each one of those sections is divided into 3 more section. Also each of the 3 smaller sections dividers has a pocket on the front so you can keep you scraps matched with the colors. Love it. I would love to find another one or two for my pp.
__________________ Dawn, Mom to a wonderfull 5 yr. old
military wife of 15 yrs PIF thank you thread
I went to a office supply and bought a file box it is cardboard it has room for the vertical dividers I divided my plain colors and put them in dividers. You can use it vertical or horizontal. Than my SU,and designer papers, It took a bit of time but once done I am in heaven. I took and scanned each paper and pasted a 1x1 onto a template for charts from microsoft. Each row was numbered so each divider than got a number and what ever 10 pcs of paper were in that row were in that divider.EX.row #1 went in divider#1 I then printed a copy and used double stick tape and put a copy on the file box plus I keep a copy on hand for matching and of course on my computer.
Like I said it took a while to do but once done you can add to it real easy.It is so easy to see what you have.
I would imagine that my way of scanning & making a chart would work with anyones systems that I have seen posted. It is just 1 more step of organization.
Hope this can help someone. Thanks
Kathy
I bought an ebook from Scrapbook.com and after I read it all I have used a number of the suggestions to organize my tools...if interested in it let me know and I can forward you a copy of it. It has a chapter just for paper organiation ideas and what is available...and I used what they said and it is working well for me as I really have a small space...just let me know...
WOW so many great and neat ( pun intended) ideas! I don't know where to start. I guess deciding which papers I want to keep will be helpful.
Melissa~~I would love to hear more about the book you have. Will e-mail later.
After friends leave (next week) I plan to do some serious CS organizing. That means i will have to limit myself on SCS!!! lol
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Well, after reviewing all the awesome ideas for organizing my 12x12 papers, I finally did it! And I love what I did . . . thanks to a combination of ideas I got from this thread.
I already had a black zippered book thing to hold 3-ring binder pages in 12x12 sizes. I already had TONS of 12x12 empty scrapbook pages. So, I took over the floor of my dining room and separated out ALL the different styles of 12x12 DP I had. Then, I inserted each style into one side of each of the empty scrapbook pages. What I have in the end, is a quick and easy option to quickly view all my DP's by simply turning the various pages of the book I made! For the DP's that are double-sided, obviously I can only put one set of pages in a single scrapbook page. But for the DP's that are single-sided, I can put two sets in a single scrapbook page . . . One side for each of the two designs.
Anyway, that's what I did and it works fantastically for me! I can have the book open near my stamping table and I can get a quick glance at all the available pages without having to thumb through a stack of loose papers.
Organizing 12x12 Designer Paper
