Megan Hoeppner
Welcome to Magazine Monday! As a friend of the Paper Crafts family (former PC editor), I’m delighted to be guest blogging here today. My name is Megan Hoeppner and I’m the creative editor for Creating Keepsakes magazine.
In this month of goal setting, I’m here to share an idea inspired by “Taking Inventory,” an organization idea I featured in my January “Tips & Tricks” column. It’s an easy-to-use tracking system to help you remember the supplies you have, using the Inventory Tracking Sheets below. In this example, I transformed the sheet for my supply of pink and red inkpads.
Download your own free tracking sheets here.
Inspired by these sheets, I want to share a few additional ways to keep track of the product manufacturers on your supplies, so you can toss the packaging but remember all the information you need. So often we sort our goodies by color or type, which can complicate replacing and/or sourcing products for projects (such as when you submit your work to Paper Crafts and CK, of course). Here are a few easy tricks for remembering where your product delights came from, long after you’ve tossed the packaging.
Images
Thanks to digital cameras, snapping pictures is free and easy. Create a product file on your computer and take a pic of your product packages before you discard/recycle them. If you want to take this idea a step further, print small pics of these images and write the product info on the image. Here’s how I created an inventory card for photos of some of my accents before I separated them.
Inventory card for accents
Patterned Paper
If, like me, you file patterned paper by color and occasionally find yourself wanting to reunite a collection, you’ll like this simple solution. Punch out small samples from the collection sheet (the one that comes in the paper pack) and adhere them to a note card with the collection name and the manufacturer.
Inventory card for paper
Stamps (Clear and Rubber)
Remember which images came together in a stamp set by visiting the company web site and saving the image of each stamp set you own. Then write or type the name of the set and company on a card with the images. Don’t forget the name of the stamp set, the item number (if you want to get that specific) and the company name. This way you can keep track of your original sets, even if they get divided up over time or due to your unique filing system.
Inventory card for stamps
Ribbon
Ribbon scraps oftentimes end up in jars, which can make sourcing them a challenge. Remember who made your favorite trims with cards containing small scraps of the ribbons.
Inventory card for ribbon
With the new year upon us, I hope these tips get you off to an organized start. Speaking of organized, I’m always on the lookout for fresh organization ideas to feature in my “Tips & Tricks” column. I’d love to read your ideas in the comments section of this blog. I know you Paper Crafts peeps are a super creative, organized lot, so I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity while I’m here visiting. Thanks for letting me stop by!
Cheers!
Megan Hoeppner
Wow Megan! I WISH I was half that organized!! What great ideas!! Now I just need 30 hours in a day!
megan, thanks for the idea of taking pics of the accents-such a great idea !
Megan -
Thank you for these wonderful organization tips. I will be implementing some of these immediately. Lord knows I need it – LOL!
Elaine Allen
neat ideas.
Great organizational ideas!
These are such a fabulous ideas – I’m always looking for new ways to organize my scrappy stuff.
Megan,
Thanks so much for the fabulous organization tips. I definitely plan on using them.
Thank you so much for posting these organization tips. I’ve been looking for some new ideas.
Love all these ideas, wish I was even 1/4 this organized. The ribbon idea is perfect — so many times I wonder “which company” … thanks for the tip!
Great tips! I never thought to take photos of my embellishments. One of my favorite organizational products is a great spice rack I got from Storables. It has 3 rows and 18 spice jars which I have filled with buttons, ribbon, and flowers. I put a little label on the inside of the lid with the product information and I flip the jars so the lid faces in…that way I can see all my pretty colored embellishments when I glance at it and find what I need easily.
You know – I needed something to jump-start me in the organizing and this is a great way to begin! Thanks!
Love these ideas! Thanks Megan!!!
Thank YOU, my creative friends. I’m glad you’ve been inspired by this inventory approach. Kerry, your spice rack idea sounds awesome!
And thank YOU, Paper Crafts. I’ve loved being a part of your happy community today.
Awesome tips and ideas, Megan. Thank you for sharing these. I will definitely be using some of these right away!
I just finished organizing my craft room, but I am going to use your tips going forward. Brilliant ideas!
Fab-u-lous ideas Megan… you are inspirational!
LOVE the ideas!!! I’ve been doing a lot of organizing of my craft stuff lately, but haven’t done any of these things. Thank you SOOOO much. What good is having great supplies if you 1) have forgotten that you have them, and 2) can’t find them? Right? THANKS
I have a mini inventory that I take shopping with me. I haven’t updated it for a while, but I’ve used business card size cardstock and recorded things like pen colors and ink colors. I’ve punched a hole at the top of each page and a hinged ring keeps the pages together.
At Christmas when I was doing an album and was trying to stick to a color palette I took samples of my cardstock colors and glued them to a page. It was great for keeping everything color co-ordinated.
I keep all my 12x 12 paper together then 8×8 etc papers together.Then I keep all my plain color cardstock grouped by color. I keep collections together: for example Basic Grey Collection packs together. Large paper pads I keep them together. If I buy a Bo Bunney (or any brand) piece of pattern paper separte it goes into Bo Bunney (or in the designer holder) 12×12 slim holder, etc. My stamp organization could use help, that is where I know I have but cannot find it! Emblishments can be problem. keep your ideas coming!
Thanks for all of these super ideas on how to get organized (ONE of my new year’s resolutions for my craft room)
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