Organizing: My Craft Cabinet

Since the Online Crop event is coming up this Friday, I devoted my long weekend to organizing and purging my craft supplies...

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I will never get any work done if I skipped this task! It'll be time-consuming for me to look for my tools... Check out the "before photo" -- my craft space looks overwhelming. I guess this explains why I haven't been making cards & scrapping (traditionally) for a long time. You might be wondering why I collect empty toilet paper rolls... Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see what those rolls are for! 

AFTER: Now I'm ready for the Online Crop! All of my scraps are neatly filed, I don't have to rummage through a bunch of trash to find the materials that I need. 

See how I organized each area:

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TOOLS

•  Purchased magazine racks and used them as "vertical drawers" to save space

•  Grouped like items together and made labels for each container: paper, coloring materials, decorative scissors & glue, punchers & embossers

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SCRAPS COLLECTION

BEFORE: Items fall off every time I open the cabinet doors!

AFTER: The paper bags and Kleenex boxes are taking up too much space, so I cut them into pieces and filed them in my 3-ring binders.

I arranged my leftover paper scraps by color... I have one binder for solid papers and another one for printed designs! It's easier to take note of all the materials that I have.

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EMBELLISHMENTS

Stored them in a clear book for easier browsing

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MY "JUNK" DRAWERS

I usually dump my things into these drawers when I'm lazy to put them back into their respective areas..

AFTER: Designated the left drawer for my newly-bought 12x12" cardstock and 6x6" paper stacks... This will keep them free of creases. I reused a Ferrero Rocher box for storing note cards, post-its, memo pads and envelopes. The second drawer is for office supplies. Let's see how long this stays organized!

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GIFT WRAP

I used the toilet tubes as gift wrap holders.. Got this great idea from Pinterest :)

Shopping: More Great Finds

Last weekend, I went to 10 different stores to browse and shop for supplies (again!) 

Just want to share my great finds... Scrapbookers and papercrafters, grab them before they run out of stock! :)

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Rouge de Garance paper stack (National Bookstore Festival Mall and Glorietta 5)

Originally priced at P115, got mine at P89.50! 

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All About Scrapbooking - Dainty Petals paper stack (National Bookstore Festival Mall and Powerbooks ATC) 

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All About Scrapbooking - 12 x 12" paper sheets (National Bookstore Sucat)

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All About Scrapbooking - 12 x 12" cardstock (Powerbooks ATC)

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All About Scrapbooking - "Paper Sheets for Scrapbooking" (National Bookstore Glorietta 5 and Powerbooks ATC) I love the doodles but I'm not really liking the rainbow gradient background... I'll just scan the design and change the colors on Photoshop.

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National Bookstore - Brown sheets of paper (National Bookstore Glorietta 5)

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All About Scrapbooking - Coral alpha foam stickers (National Bookstore & Powerbooks ATC)

Craft Easy 6 x 6"mini easel (National Bookstore Sucat) - for displaying scrapbook layouts/cards

AAS foam shapes (moon) with adhesive (Powerbooks Glorietta) - I loved moons-and-stars designs when I was a teen! I'll use this for my 3rd year high school scrapbook

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Carolina's (Metro Gaisano) sea green, coral & beige buttons - Love this color combination :)

Organizing: Decluttering

My friends think that I'm the most organized person they know.. but the truth is, I'm not! I have way too much clutter, I'm just good at hiding it..haha! Each time I clean my room, it gets messy again after a week. For a pack rat like me, it's a challenge to stay organized.  Good thing my sister recommended the site www.missminimalist.com to me. I got so inspired by Francine Jay's blog entries, I want to purge everything that I don't need. It's gonna be a long process!

I started decluttering last weekend.. Donated old clothes, threw away my college and office notes/expired makeup/toiletries that I never use/song lyrics/photo envelopes/outdated accessories/etc.. 4 days are not enough! :)

Will post the before-and-after photos of my room next time!

Shopping: All About Scrapbooking

It's been a while since I last shopped for scrapbook supplies. Most of my layouts are now digital, I don't have to spend for my materials because there are tons of free kits available on the net. I get to save a lot of money (and space)! This weekend, I went to National Bookstore to check out the books that are on sale (by the way, the Cut-Price Book Sale is until Aug 19), but then I found myself in the All About Scrapbooking section and hoarded bought these items... I included the prices in case you want to buy for yourself too!

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1) It's All About Love Paper Stack, P115:
I was browsing the books section when this stack caught my eye from afar.. Look at how tasteful these patterns are! Seems expensive, but it's not! For only P115, you get 50 sheets of 6 x 6"160gsm paper in 10 different designs. Not bad! My sister also bought one for her Paper Fashions projects.

My top 4 favorite designs:

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2) Satin Flowers, P32.50, 18 pieces:

I have yet to ask my fellow scrapbookers about the right adhesive to use for these flowers. Love the colors, they go well with my printed paper stack.

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3) Alphabet and Number Foam Stickers, Big, P69.50  Small, P32.50:

I'm planning to use these stickers as stencils, just like what I do with my magnetic refrigerator letters. 

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4) Felt Stickers, P46.50:

I'm a fan of the pink and brown color combination. 

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5) Paper Flowers, P32.50 (on sale, original price: P42.50):

Will use these for my friends' Hawaiian-themed debut party layouts. (Yes, I'm 10 years behind. :) Still haven't finished my 4th year high school scrapbook.) These paper flowers are also available in pink/purple and green/yellow/black color combinations, I just stopped myself from buying them, had too much clutter stuff in my basket already :)

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This trip to my favorite store made me want to go back to traditional scrapbooking again! I also got inspired after seeing the photos from the Make More Memories event held last August 4.. I wasn't able to join cause I had no time to prepare my materials and photos, I only read about the event 2 days before the scheduled date. (Must remind myself to check the FB group news feed more often! )  Good thing Sunshine organized another event for scrapbookers - Online Crop Date! We'll get together on Facebook to scrap and post our projects. There will be fun challenges and prizes to be given out! Let me know if you're interested to join!  

Layout: Baby Nephew's Smile

My nephew smiles a lot during mornings, glad I was able to capture this candid photo of him happily looking at his mom..   (January 2012)

Materials:
• Software: Adobe Photoshop

• Fonts: AlexandriaFLF (title), Futura Bk Bt (caption)

• Photoshop Action: Cross Coloring Tools 1.1 (Medium Tone Crossing) by kalifbanane

Notice the slight difference? :)

• Yellow patterned paper from Angie Hinksman's Design House Digital Blog Hop 2011 kit

 
Note: The original paper has no smiley faces on it, I just added them as embellishments. I traced this smile graphic from AllGraphics123

Playlist: Rainy Day 2

Listen to my playlist at Grooveshark.com:

Playlist: Rainy Day

A mix of slow alternative/acoustic/chillout songs

Listen to my playlist at Grooveshark.com:

Gift: Personalized calendar

For: My mom
Occasion: Christmas 2011
Project: Desk calendar with photos of her grandchildren

Materials:

• Chevron patterns from Audacious Designs  - Thanks, Audrey! :)

• Fonts: Din, Caecilia
• Paper: Bevania
• Software: Adobe Photoshop 

Blog: My About Page

I'm fixing my blog now! Just finished updating my About page. Read it here.
Might publicize my blog soon so I can gain more readers who share the same interests as mine! :) I only have two followers as of now! Hehe!