Tuesday Tip -- Page Planning organization

When I go scrapbook somewhere else, I love to have my pages pre-planned with coordinating paper and embellishments ready to go. Then I can bring only 1 bag and my tool caddy into the crop. I've been amazed at how NICE this has felt lately!! See, I used to be the kind of cropper that would bring EVERYTHING I could fit in the rolling tote, plus 2-3 bags/boxes, etc. It often took me more than one trip from the car to get everything into the cropping space. And then it took me so much time to unpack (and then pack up at the end) that I lost valuable cropping time.

So, a few years ago, I decided I needed to be better organized for my cropping time. I looked around and found these great tools from Cropper Hopper. Now I can unpack and clean up in less than 5 minutes and carry everything in one trip easily. It makes my cropping time so much more productive and gives me a chance to actually finish a lot at the crop for all those "oohs and ahhhs" from the people sitting near me. Plus, if I don't finish a page, I put everything back in the organizer and it's ready to go next time I scrapbook, and with the card

Tuesday Tip -- Page Planning Organization

I absolutely LOVE my Cropper Hopper Page Planner Organizers!!

There are 3 pockets:

One small pocket in the front for photos and page planning cards.

One medium sized pocket in the back for

embellishments, stickers, accent papers, photos, etc.

One large pocket in the middle for your 12x12 paper and large items.

Then you have the page planning cards, too! I love these -- they are roughly 4x12 inch cards that are folded in half to fit in the front pocket. There are spaces to jot notes about your page plan, including title ideas, supplies needed, page size, sketches, journaling notes, color schemes, etc.

Now for the price saving tips...


I love the cropper hopper ones and have many of them. They are so sturdy and have the perfect sized pockets. But, I couldn't afford them many of them when I first started using them. I started with just a few to see how they did it. Then I took some 12x12 page protectors and put a 6x6 page protector inside. I was able to separate the big pieces from the small ones and photos. Then I printed a bunch of my own version of the planning cards onto 8.5x11 cardstock.


I really prefer the cropper hopper style because they're sturdier than a page protector and the pockets don't get lost inside like smaller page protectors do, but the page protectors will do in a pinch (or a down economy).


Happy Scrapping!
Heather Q

Tuesday Tip -- more money available for scrapbooking

I've been trying to squeeze the budget lately. There's little money for scrapbooking, but there's all kinds of stuff I want!

Tuesday Tip -- more money available for scrapbooking

Have you heard of The Grocery Game? In our area we also have Savings Angel.
Both of these sites help you manage your grocery purchases and coupon usage, but for a fee.

Coupon Mom does this for free, but with fewer services and not as detailed. I use this site.

The whole trick is to clip you coupons and use them at the optimum time. I cut out the ones that I know we would use. Then, I wait until the item goes on sale and use the coupon. As long as I don't NEED it, I can wait. I saved $92 on my last grocery bill and $95 on the one before that. This includes food as well as cleaning supplies, paper goods, and pharmacy items.

Let me give you an example. I know we will eventually use the boxes of rice that actually cost me 25 cents each. They were on sale at the store, buy 2 get 2 free, plus I had a coupon for $1 off. All four boxes for a buck!

I bought a "Warm Delights" for free. The store sale was 10 for $10. I only bought one (would've been $1) but had a coupon for a dollar off. So it was free!

I bought boneless ribs in the family pack because coupon mom pointed out the great savings. I got 5 pounds for $5 and ended up making several meals out of it!

I highly recommend the free Coupon Mom site. See if any of the stores in your area are on the list.

If your store is not on the lists at any of the sites, you can use the same concept at your own store. Clip coupons for things you'll use and put them in a coupon organizer (or a set of envelopes you've clipped together). When you're at the store, if it's on sale and you have a coupon, stock up. If it's not on sale and you don't NEED it right now, save the coupon for another day. Look at the family packages of meat and freeze in smaller portions.

With all the money you save, you'll be able to get that ______ you NEED for your next scrapbook project! I had a great time shopping at a Scrapbook Garage sale this past weekend and found all kinds of deals. I wouldn't have been able to go if I hadn't saved some money at the groceries this month!

Happy Scrapping!

RAK Winner! and Tuesday Tip -- Pen storage

Congratulations to the winner of last week's RAK

Wannabescrappin said...
I love finding new blogs to follow! I saw yours in one of your e-mails for the LOM Yahoo group.
March 8, 2009 6:08 PM

Please email me at TheScrapTrap@yahoo.com with your mailing address!

All of you that signed up to follow my blog, add some other blogs to your following list. If you used blogger you can go to your "dashboard" and see updates, rather than going to each blog to see whether they've posted or not. I used to have a list I checked every day, but so many didn't post every day. Now I just check the one place. I'm so happy with blog following -- I hope you'll all find it helpful, even if you decide to quit following me! :D (But none of you will want to do that!!!)

Tuesday Tip -- Pen Storage

I've heard from multiple sources that the key to a pen/marker's long life is to store it horizontally. I used to use a pen caddy that held 75 pens on a collapsible stand (I think the one I used was from Cropper Hopper). I out grew that one years ago, and have been keeping all the other pens in a large zippered pouch, also by Cropper Hopper. This was so frustrating because I could never find the pen I wanted and had to check multiple locations for pens. I finally decided to change my system and make it more user friendly!

I spent a whopping $6 on a set of 5 plastic drawers at Walmart. Each drawer is sorted by colors.

Drawer 1 = Red, pink, orange
Drawer 2 = Yellow, green
Drawer 3 = Blue, Purple
Drawer 4 = Brown, Black, White
Drawer 5 = Metallics, Red Eye, Disappearing ink, and other specialty pens

(this is my "specialty pen" drawer)

It can now sit on my desk, I can easily reach it, AND I can find the colors I need FAST.

Bonus Tip:


You may be wondering about how a "prudent" scrapbooker can have so many pens. A great tip I got years ago -- Michael's sells a 100 marker set in their ARTISTS section (like by the paints and canvas -- not the craft paint). My pens say Fibracolor on them. They were $15 regular price when I bought mine 6 or more years ago now, and they all still work beautifully! I used a 50% off coupon to buy them during one of the holiday sales, so it cost me less than $8 to have every color of the rainbow. I'm pretty sure they're still available -- I saw them within the last year, but don't know how much they're selling them for now.


I love the look of "creative lettering" on my titles and journaling. When I go back and look at my older pages, I love the look! It makes me happier than alpha stickers, stamps, rub-ons, or even computer printed.


Hope this post gave you lots of helpful tips tonight!

Happy Scrapping!

Tuesday Tip -- RAKs and Prizes

I have been very fortunate lately. I've won several great prizes and RAKs. For this Tuesday Tip, I'm going to share my secrets and Pay-It-Forward as well!


Tuesday Tip -- RAKs and Prizes


Increase your chances of winning by:


1. Following blogs. I am regularly updated by my "Blogger Dashboard" on all my blogs. It gives me a title, a picture, and a few lines from each blog. I click on the ones that interest me. I never miss a RAK by my favorite bloggers that way! Plus, I don't miss the announcement that I've won. I can't believe the number of times I've seen on a blog that someone won, but didn't claim the prize. The "Blogger Dashboard" is free and simple to use, but I'm sure there are others out there, too. You can follow just about any blog by copying and pasting the address into your dashboard, but some blogs (like mine) also have a "follow me" button for one-click service!


2. Join Fiskateers! I know most of you who come here regularly are from Fiskateers, but if you're not, you really need to join us! I know it's a little intimidating to have to send an email request to one of the 5 women who host the board, but it's not a big deal to join. It's just a way to protect their site. Fiskars and the Fiskateers are so generous! Come see what we're all about! http://www.fiskateers.com/

**And now, for my own RAK!**

I'm sending one lucky blog reader this package of items. (Sorry, due to postage, this whole package can only be sent to US or Canada blog readers. If you are from another country, I will still send you a small prize if you are the winner, but it will not include all the items shown.)


Prize includes:

6x6 Scalloped Chipboard Book by Colorbok (US and Canada only)
18 sheet Mini Paper Pad by Colorbok
Self-adhesive Rhinestones
Heidi Grace Flower Brads Orchard Collection (US and Canada only)
Heidi Grace Rub-ons (US and Canada only)



Here's how to win:

1 entry for commenting on this blog post. (limited to one comment/person)
1 more entry for "following" my blog publicly - make sure you tell me in your comment!!
1 more entry for sending someone else to my blog -- they must include your name in the comment section (so-and-so sent me)



You may enter anytime before Monday, March 9th at 7:00pm, Eastern Time Zone (US). Winner will be announced with next Tuesday's Tip. I reserve the right to "re-RAK" if the winner does not respond within 2 weeks of announcement.

Happy Scrapping!