First Time Scrapbooking? Here’s Some Starting Tips! #1: GET ORGANIZED!

Posted on 06. Mar, 2007 by scrapbook blogger in Organization

For all you scrappers out there who just don’t know where to start, I wanted to help by giving you a starting point.  The very first thing you need to do is GET ORGANIZED.  If you are at the point where your prints are still on your computer, I suggest using a software program such as Google’s Picasa to help you organize.  After that, you can print out the pics.  Once you have your pictures printed, there is only one way I would suggest to organize.  I would purchase the large POWER SORT BOX from Creative Memories.  This is a hefty purchase at $35.00…but after scrapbooking for 9 years and trying to find different sorting boxes/methods, I finally broke down and spent the money on this nifty organizer.  Let me tell you it was sooooo worth the money.  It holds up to 2400 pictures.  It comes with little white plastic dividing tabs that you can write on in pencil.  Then you can erase it when you need to.  Unlike paper, once you erase it, the plastic seems as good as new.  Includes 12 mini-dividers within the large storage box.  The lid has a built-in pocket for storing larger photos or memorabilia.  Most importantly, it is safe for storing your photos.  (I have had to learn the hard way that storing photos in cardboard boxes do not keep them safe.  My trip to Australia photos from about 12 years ago are all stuck together. )  You can organize your photos according to themes or just by chronilogical order.  I choose chronilogical just so I can keep the dates handy.  If I get behind, I may forget how old ”such-and-such” was in the photo.

I would suggest you not buy supplies for your pages until you know what pages you are going to make.  Trust me…I have scads of papers and stickers that are cute, but I have no pages to put them on.  I would rather have spent my money on supplies I will use.

Ok, scrappers, GET ORGANIZED!

4 Responses to “First Time Scrapbooking? Here’s Some Starting Tips! #1: GET ORGANIZED!”

  1. Laura Mae

    17. Dec, 2007

    I also use the CM photo sort. 2400 pictures is 100 rolls of film! Another thing I do is sort my stickers by holiday/month. Birthdays go in November since that is when my daughter’s birthday is. Summer stuff goes in the middle, around the patriotic stuff for July 4th, and Halloween is before Thanksgiving. School stickers go after the summer stickers. This has made it much easier for me to utilize my stickers and know what I have. I do the same with my papers in that they are organized by holiday, and then by color. I sort as I buy – sometimes you just need to buy more stuff :) ! – and this makes it effortless.

  2. Bonnie Spitzer

    02. Apr, 2008

    John Porter 12 x 12 Great for scrap booking. Comes in Black/Black, Red/Black, Blue/Cream, Coffee/Cream $7.02 each

    (I fell in love with these)

    This Black 12 inch by 12 inch expandable post-bound photo album contains 10 perma-hinge black sheets. Proven to protect photos for 200 years. This album has the following features: – Totally acid free bookbinders board, pages and covers – No optical brighteners to fade and degrade photos – Buffered acid free, lignin-free paper will preserve photographs for centuries – 3% calcium carbonate reserve protects against future acid formation – Flexible binding allows pages to turn and lie flat – expands up to 45 sheets – Beautiful, non-fading and solvent-free Italian bookbinding cloth – Photo window on cover allows for personalization – Patent-pending Perma-Hinge pages are 100 times stronger than average album pages so they’ll never fall out. – UPC coded – Retail Value $19.99 John Porter is a photographer, designer and pioneer of responsible photo preservation who has worked for more than 30 years to develop albums and photographic storage products that meet or exceed the preservation standards of The Library of Congress.

  3. Linda M.

    03. Sep, 2008

    This is my first time on this site and I Love it! I am a long-time scrapbooker and Organization has always been one of my downfalls and expenses! I always had trouble keeping things in order and would end up purchasing doubles on accident. Finally I got organized and the product that worked for me was Tote Trac. I am always running short on space, and this uses the ceiling of my garage and closets! They come with a nice labeling system so i know what is in each tote. Check them out at http://www.totetrac.com. I like them a lot and definitely recommend the brand! It cost me only $20 to get organized!

  4. Susan

    02. Apr, 2010

    I have a Power Sort box for each of my 3 children. Each section is a year of photos of their birthdays, Christmas, Easter etc. When they leave the nest, they will take their baby books, their school albums and a Power Sort box full of organized memories! I couldn’t complete albums for all those precious memories but I did save them.
    $35 is a small price to pay for that.

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