Category: Organization

30 Days of Creativity 2011 - Day 1

6/1/2011

When a friend reminded me 4 days ago that 30 Days of Creativity was starting soon, I had to do some quick mental math. Was it really June already!?!?! Where has the year gone!?!

Once I got over the shock, I got really excited. You see, I've been hanging out at (read: refreshing non-stop) this new website called Pinterest. It's a site where you can create boards and 'pin' interesting photos to them. And they link back to the website you got them from. And other people can see what you pin. And you can see what other people pin. And you can repin their pins. And it's just a huge circle of creative awesome!

*breath*

So, needless to say, I've found a ton of ideas on this site, and I've already got a list of about 15 things I want to make for 30DOC this year. My goal is to try to make something I've never tried before for at least half of the days.

And today was Day 1. I decided to make something I've been thinking about for a long time; a tiered serving tray from plates and candle sticks. But this one has a twist - instead of plates, I used cake pans! I saw the twist on Pinterest and loved it! A little bit glam, a little bit grunge. Just my style!

Step one was to hit up my favorite thrift store for supplies, then out to my brand new spray paint place!

Once the paint was dry, I headed in assemble. I began to realize that this project was going to take quite a bit of patience to let things dry.

Here's the before (with painted candlesticks):

And here's the after!!!!

I love how it turned out! The green is the perfect color and (even though it's hard to tell) the pans go from largest at the bottom to smallest at the top. It's going to hold so much fun stuff!!!

I have to let the glue cure overnight (more waiting!!), but I will post a picture tomorrow of it all loaded up! I can't wait to see it!

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Stamps, stamps, and more stamps!

7/21/2010

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As a scrapbooker, I never had much use for stamps, they were too narrow in their application and I enjoyed making each of my scrapbook pages a unique piece of art.

Since I began seriously making cards 3 years ago, I have found great use for stamps. Especially decorative scrolls, sentiments, and alphabet sets. My collection has grown and I find myself forgetting what I have. Not that I would buy duplicates, but I forget to use what I have and I go back to the same few stamps over and over again.

To alleviate that problem, I decided to make a stamp catalog. I spent an afternoon sorting out my wood-mounted stamps into categories (I will do my smaller collection of acrylic stamps another day). Then I stamped each onto their category page and put them together into a binder (that also holds other reference materials).
Behold, my stamps:

Not all of them, obviously. I just took photos of my favorite groups.
Now I just need to flip through these pages of stamps to get inspired and see at a glance what I have to use.

I get my stamps from 3 main sources. Michaels or Joannes (mostly from the dollar bin at Michaels, but if it's a regular stamp, I always try to use a coupon), garage sales and thrift stores (my guilty pleasure of treasure hunting), and from other people (my mom mostly, but my coworkers all know that I'm always looking for crafty castoffs). I have only purchased a very small number of stamps at full price. That's the main reason my collection has not gotten out of control- stamps are expensive!!!

So:
Where do you get your stamps?
How do you organize them?
Do you have a stamp catalog?
Let me know!

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More Coupon Goodness!

7/18/2010

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I've been keeping myself busy with a few projects this weekend.

First, I got an order for one of the coupon holders I wrote about last week. One of my coworkers loved how organized all my coupons looked and immediately pulled out her old trapper-keeper-pencil-case that had coupons crammed in & spilling out of every part of it. Those poor, crumpled, unused coupons! Her only request for color was, "Bright, so I can find it in my dark purse". Here's what I came up with:

I also made a few more holders while I was at it, including a couple in a smaller 4.5x6 size.

The first 2 (Blue/brown with red flower and blue with white leaves) are the larger 5.5 x 7.5 size and the next 2 (beaver holding flower and owl on a branch) are the smaller 4.5 x 6 size. The last picture shows the sizes relative to a Sharpie marker. Cause everyone knows how big Sharpies are!

I have put these in my Etsy store, and for only $8.00 (large) or $7.00 (small), you too can be the proud (and organized) owner of a Little Paper Creations coupon organizer!

Each holder has 4 sections to sort your coupons into. I have left the sections un-labeled so you can either label them yourself or let me know what 4 labels you want and I'll label them for you before I ship it off.

I also spent my weekend working on another organizational project, but I'll write about that tomorrow.

Happy Creating!

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Coupons = Happy!

7/11/2010

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Sundays have crept up on my "favorite days of the week" list for one simple reason; I get the Sunday paper now. And that means coupons!

I'm having a major love affair with coupons right now. It's not so much the saving money (though that is pretty nice), and it's not trying new things (though I have done that, too), it's the hunt. It's the game of finding the best deal, the best combination, the best sale.

I have always just put all my coupons in a single folder or pouch in my purse or just crammed them in (and was saddened when they disintegrated into nothing at the bottom of my purse). I don't like the usual coupon accordion folders for a few reasons:
1) They are really thick on their own before you even add the coupons.
2) The coupons are hard to access without taking the folder all the way out of my purse. Which I don't like doing.
3) They have a lot of spaces that I never use.
4) They are stiff and I have cut myself on them. Oww!
5) They are ugly!

So I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and make a coupon holder that suited my needs.

And here's what I came up with:

It measures 7.5 x 5.5 and is housed in a durable, clear plastic cover. The inside is split into 4 sections with labels telling what belongs in that section.

Have I mentioned before how much I love to organize? So it should be no surprise to you that I also love my label maker!

My four sections are: Groceries (food), Household (pretty much anything that's not food), Around Town (restaurants, services, store specific coupons like Michaels or Staples) and Receipts (because I always keep receipts).

When it's empty, this folder is pretty flat, but it can easily expand when things are in it. Here it is all filled up and fanned out:

And closed, like it will be in my purse:

I love that it's open at the top and sides so it's easily accessible without taking it out of my purse and it's pretty!!

Here are a few sites I use to print out coupons, in case you wanted to get started:
KouponKaren.com
DealSeekingMom.com
Coupons.com
RedPlum.com
SmartSource.com

So, how do you organize coupons?
Would you use an organizer like I made?
Where do you get your coupons?

Happy Creating! And couponing!

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#30DaysofCreativity - Organization!

6/19/2010

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I L-O-V-E to organize! I will happily plop down in the middle of a giant mess and methodically sort everything into it's proper place. (As love as I don't have to clean it, too!)

So as one of my 30 days of creativity, I created a new organizational system for some of my paper that's been getting away from me. I like to buy pads of paper to work with - it gives me lots of paper that already looks good together, it usually comes with some solid or near-solid papers so I don't have to buy extra, and they always have really fun designs! I especially like 5x7 pads. For some reason, they don't intimidate me and it's usually just the perfect size and amount for full sets of cards.

After buying (and using) many of these 5x7 pads, I was having trouble keeping them together and visible enough that I would still use them. I needed to be able to see them all, I needed to be able to get them out easily, I needed to be able to keep papers from one pad together, even after they had been pulled out and even cut up, and I needed the solution to be cheap and cute!

And here's what I came up with:

I got this basket/bin from Target for about $5 (I actually got 2, the other one holds cd cases of acrylic stamps) and the 5x7 pads fit perfectly in it! I knew I needed some way to separate the sets from each other and keep them self-contained, so I cut up regular file folders and put the sets of paper in them - another perfect fit!

And to keep the patterns in the pads visible, I tore off the front cover of each of them and attached it to the inside of the file folder so I could see at a glance what I have to work with.

I like this system because it's easy to maintain, it's flexible, it's easily added to when I get more paper, and it's cute! I kind of want to make the same type of thing for all the 8x8 pads I have, but right now, they are easily accessible in a clean magazine holder, so we'll see if I ever need to change that. Besides, the file folders wouldn't stick up far enough like these do.

Let me know what you think of my new system! Do you have a paper-organizing system that works for you! Please share, I could always use more ideas!

Happy Creating!

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Forward>>

30 Days of Creativity 2011 - Day 1

Stamps, stamps, and more stamps!

More Coupon Goodness!

Coupons = Happy!

#30DaysofCreativity - Organization!

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