Notion Tour! How I use Notion to track my craft projects

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

I don't have a problem, you have a problem... Hope this was an interesting insight for folks and I'd genuinely love to hear about your own setups whether in Notion or not! I'm always tweaking things and will totally steal your ideas 😉

[@catherinecronin1611]

I'm definitely going to have a go at something similar to this! Hopefully it will stop my craft ideas dissolving into endless random notes on my phone 🤣. This takes my understanding of Notion's potential a few steps further, I want to play ith both the crafting setup and the calendar display in my exisitng study setup. We'll see how I get on...

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

@@catherinecronin1611 Omg yes the endless random notes with nowhere to live, stuff of nightmares right there! 😱 You already know your way around Notion so hopefully you get the gist of how I set all this up but feel free to ask if there's anything specific you can't get working. Good luck, and let's compare notes once you have it meeting your standards 🤓

[@TabiConner1020]

I use notion daily for work, and it’s the thing that kept me afloat during grad school. This is a great use that I’ll have to try! 😊

[@threecatsdancing]

Wow, I'm only halfway through this vid and I already know I need this template. NEEEEEEED. 😉

[@iamsarahsarahiam5763]

Thank you for this, I was trying to find a way to track all my non knitting craft stuff in the same way I use Raveley for the knitting. I'd never heard of notion but this was perfect, its taken me months to actually use your tips but I'm now well non my way to getting organised. You're a genius!

[@florance17]

Notion is SO good! I use it for absolutely everything from meeting notes to gift ideas to reading stats (I have a book gallery for TBR and each reading year)... I pitch it to my friends as my Pensieve. Since I'm new to embroidery and highly interested in the organisational aspect, this comes at the perfect time. Thank you so much for making this video!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

The Pensieve is such a good analogy honestly. Mine is also full of notes on just about everything and not having to keep everything in my brain all at once is a lifesaver! Glad you enjoyed the video 🥰

[@violaineb.8552]

Hi ! I just watched your video, and discovered your channel at the same time. I've been a bullet journal adept for years, but recently -as my life gets busier- I don't have time to update it anymore and don't carry it with me all the time. Notion seems to be the perfect app to switch to a digital system, be able to just copy-paste and not write and draw everything each month, and always have it accessible on my phone ! I was looking for examples of use for craft and sewing project. I really like your system, and how everything is linked between library / project / wardrobe. I can see the time it took to get there, but this is so satisfying in the end !! Thank you for your video, that'll be a great inspiration for me. Have a good day :)

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Thank you so much! Glad I could help give you a few ideas. Despite this being a very late reply to your comment I'd love to hear if you've made progress on that or come up with any cool features to add. Always looking for new ideas haha 🤓

[@retrocraftdreams]

I watched this from my old account back in the day, but I've been using airtable for years, and saw no reason to switch. Kinda had the opposite usage as you - started with the database of my craft kits and pattern books, and then wanted to incorporate my projects and episode planning. As much as I love airtable, it does lack the page functionality. So I've been testing out notion for the first time. Not gonna lie, I've been frustrated at a lot of things that it doesn't do that is seems like it really should (adding images is a big pain compared to airtable), so I just had to come back and watch this again! Not quite sure what ideas I'll incorporate, but you've got my brain turning, so I'm going to go play with it some more right now! Also, I was pleased to notice this time around that you've got some Stephanie Law patterns in your HAED stuff. She's been one of my favorite artists for so many years (even went to one of her gallery shows), and is probably one of the only artists that could tempt me to take on one of those behemoth patterns.

[@ziggyssia]

Thank You so much I love your template! I was looking something useful to track my art projects and this seems so cool! Thank you so much and I love your craft projects!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Thank you! Yes something like this could work brilliantly for art projects, maybe you can categorise them by medium or subject or...ooh...both! I love categorising things, haha.

[@brecrowned1062]

I would love a template! I understand how to use notion, but setting it up from scratch is overwhelming

[@maryboardman3886]

Me too! Willing to purchase! This template is perfect, please publish for sale.😊

[@saartjepoezestaartje8216]

Amazing! I'm gonna use this!

[@druskie4h]

Wow this is amazing! I love it! Can you share a template?

[@craftfasty]

Can you do a breakdown video of how you made each of your different notebooks/pages? I also love to over organize things and like the idea of having everything linked digitally for when I'm out and about.

[@isobelfern6985]

Stumbled on this video and it's inspired me to make my own crafting database! Very useful video, thank you! I'm working on adding a yarn database, so I can see what I've already got (and link it to future projects), but I'm not as adept at Notion yet

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Woohoo! My work here is done!

[@StitchyRin]

This is really interesting. I will have to check it out.

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

You are going to love me and hate me in equal measure for introducing you to this 😉

[@stitchilonka]

I want an invitation to that fancy afternoon tea in that drafty castle. 🧐 I think I have a wardrobe for that. … well at least a shawl.

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Haha, we would rock that afternoon tea. Couple of classy ladies like us?! Mmmm now I'm hungry for scones...

[@odsmey]

Your database sounds and looks amazing and while yes, there are many things I probably wouldn't use (and definitely would not update), I would love a template of the more basic things (for me, that would be the pattern library and the projects, and the links between them, as well as some of the views, to get an idea how to set up new ones).

[@maryannjohnson5410]

Thanks for the video. I had not heard of Notions before, but my son has. Currently I have an Excel spreadsheet with cross stitch projects listed in it. Only ones I've started, and it hasn't been updated in awhile. I also have a project card with each cross stitch project I start with name, designer, and fabric listed on it, start date, finish date, and I can track the days I work on it. When I finish the project I put the project card in a binder. I may look into Notion to see if that would work better for me than the spreadsheet.

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

I *want* to be the sort of person who can do their organising in a real life, physical, aesthetic way like your project cards. But what can I say I'm terminally online 😆 Have a great time today btw if by chance you see this before it all kicks off! 🥰

[@maryannjohnson5410]

@@TheGiddyStitcher Thanks. I'm heading over to the bride's house soon and then it's hair appointments to start off the day.

[@ajandmilasmama8785]

I just stumbled upon this video and absolutely love it. Thanks for the information and I’d love to see another video as you discover more and more tricks with Notion! Any luck with a template to share? 😊

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Thanks so much, I'm glad you found it interesting. Is there a particular part of my setup you'd like as a template or is it more just literally the whole thing? 😅

[@TheWeezyOfOz]

This is spectacular! As someone with a whole bunch of hobbies and idea squirrels swirling around my brain, this is an absolutely genius idea, if you did release templates for this I would be on it like a car bonnet. My memory is really bad and even worse after I had Covid, I even keep losing my notebook ("just write it down"! LOL!) so using notion sounds like the ideal case.

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

It really is great but one of the most annoying (or best, I suppose) things about it is they keep adding new features with basically no warning. So I keep having to tweak everything. Really should get around to making an official template at some point though, is there a particular feature you're interested in getting your hands on our just the entire setup? 😄

[@TheWeezyOfOz]

@@TheGiddyStitcher I've just reproduced a lot of the features you describe that I would love to use but honestly if you had a template up, I would have gone for that instead. I've gone for the project table linked to a patterns table with a nice in progress view. I'm also starting to make some videos of what I make so there's a table for that too (no craft videos on the channel yet but if you like Minecraft Ambient sounds as background while you craft I have a few hours of those ;-) ). I didn't think I would be able to do videos of my various crafty hobbies until I saw your channel, it gives me hope there are other people with mad levels of crafts going on.

[@threecatsdancing]

​@@TheWeezyOfOzDid somebody say Minecraft Ambient sounds? 😁

[@justtere]

​@@TheGiddyStitcheran estimate time to complete the project. Maybe a time line view? Time Tracker that will show how long it actually took, and can nudge you to see how much time you have left to finish (estimate of course)

[@LisaW8736]

Very interesting video. I might have to look into this Notion business 😄

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Thanks Lisa, I think Notion is great (obviously) but it's one of those things that's great *because* it can do so much stuff, which in turn means it has quite a learning curve. Still, you can always start simple and work your way up to this kind of insanity 😅 If you do decide to try it I am ready and willing to answer any questions! 😄

[@LisaW8736]

Thanks so much! I definitely need to start simple or my brain will get lost in the possibilities and I’ll get nowhere. 😁

[@Almagemini]

I think my brain broke a little during that video 😂 Thank you for the setup and tour of Notion and how you use it. Definitely highly customisable and I can see how useful it could be.

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Haha, I'm sorry and you're welcome at the same time? 😆 I think that's the curse of anything so customisable, it's always going to be more complicated to learn than something that just does one thing. Totally worth it though imo! Thanks for watching 🥰

[@FluffyLlamacorn]

Oh, that's so cool. I'm the type of person who's very good at setting up complicated systems and then never really using them, so I don't think I need to invest time into a fancy system for structuring this right now, but I'll keep it in mind, if I ever do (or just feel like setting up fancy systems anyway). Also, do I spy a geometric ace flag pattern? 👀 Do you happen to still have a link to that pattern? I might have a need for that.

[@theseadragonslair8166]

I have been looking for something for my cross stitch projects. My sister who is a knitter uses raverly so I've been looking for something similar! Can't wait to check it out and hopefully set up my stash!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

That was exactly the motivation for me, those tools on Ravelry are great right up to the point where you start doing more than just knitting and crochet! Hope this pointed you in the right direction and you can figure out something that works for you 😊

[@BoboJessieStitches]

I haven't even heard of Notion - always love a good online tool!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Oh yes, welcome to a new obsession! Sorry not sorry 😆

[@BoboJessieStitches]

@@TheGiddyStitcher So I finally got around to giving this a try tonight - wow! It is going to take quite a bit of time to get it up an running with my 100+ patterns. Going to focus on my current WIP list, but I am definitely well on my way down a rabbit hole. I was just this week talking about how to set up a personal kanban system, and I think Notion can help me to that - except I am old and like paper and will likely end up with a wall of sticky notes for that ...

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

@@BoboJessieStitches Nothing wrong with good old fashioned sticky notes. Whatever works! Depending on what format your pattern library is currently in, bear in mind you can do a CSV import to create a new Notion database which might be a good timesaver. Woohoo! One of us!

[@CraftyKarin]

I started using Notion years ago, and I can definitely say I fall into the category of setting up something elaborate and then not using it 😂 I've had the same problem with Bullet Journals. I am tempted to try again now that I've seen this though. More recently I started using the Bear App for note taking just to have something I can quickly throw stuff into before it slips away. But it's far from organized and I do love organizing... I think I might try something where I quickly take notes in Bear and then, like you, take some time every week to organize that stuff in Notion. Thanks for sharing this!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Honestly you sound very similar to me, and that's been the trick. Making sure I have a simple reminder that goes off once a week (and of course, getting into the habit of not ignoring it!). A dumping ground like a simple note app or my "ideas" list on the craft projects page or whatever, so you can just write things down and get them out of your brain and deal with them later. Highly recommend! I'm always up for talking organisation so please feel free to update if you find a system that works for you! 🤓

[@alicjamichalak]

Wow, how great is your dashboard for all your crafting life! I wish I could do something like that for myself. Can you share a simply template, that part with pattern database? I'd like to do something like that with all my patterns which I have everywere! But I don't think I can do it from the scratch all by myself. Again, grat job and thank you for sharing with us! ❤️❤️❤️

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Thank you! I can totally share, but it might take a couple days as I want to spruce it up a bit too. Putting it into my weekend todo list and I will report back in here with a link asap, hopefully your urge to organise hasn't gone by then 😅

[@alicjamichalak]

​@@TheGiddyStitcherthat would be great, thank you! ❤️

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Reporting in! I set up a really simple version of just the pattern library here quartz-thrush-fee.notion.site/Pattern-library-template-0cc485b73f3c4bcfbbdefe9e8a0228cc Now obviously you might want different crafts, you might not have a use for the category field, you might want to record some different info instead. But it should at least get you started! If there's anything else essential you think it's missing please let me know :)

[@sewgood22]

@@TheGiddyStitcher thank you very much.

[@heathercaiger774]

Oh man, that Heather sounds SO annoying! 😂 Sorry this is so late. You released it right as I went away on vacation. (So rude. 😉) I've watched it twice and I'm overwhelmed. You're so smart about all this. I've managed to do a basic version but would love to be able to grasp the linking and stuff. I'm probably going to watch this another few (dozen) times and see where I can get since I want to be as organized as you. I may pester you with questions. Please don't block me. 😄

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Oh she's a right menace, that one! Honestly something like Notion can be as complicated or as simple as you make it, so I'd always recommend starting out simple and just adding things on as needed. My system works for me but I'm used to building out complex systems so it wasn't really daunting at all. Your mileage may vary and you might not need anything near this level. That said, obviously if you do run into specific problems send me a message and I'm happy to tech support! 🤓

[@addysraccoonnest]

I would love to have a template to get started! Im trying to put things together now, but man oh man its going to take a while to wrap my head around it

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

That's definitely normal, don't panic! Sadly it being a bit of a learning curve is the price we pay for it being so flexible. I can definitely knock together a template but it might take a few days. Are there specific things I showed that you'd be interested in using? I'm just thinking of all the advanced stuff that's quite specific to me, that might be overkill for most.

[@eprohoda]

how professional recording.have a good day, 🤝

[@marie-low-stresslife7374]

Haha I agree, databases are very exciting! 🤭 Your notion is very elaborate and I love the fact you made sure you could easily update it with the weekly update task! 💪 Never heard of AmazingMarvin, I'll definitely check it out!

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

It sounds overly dramatic, but Marvin changed my life! It is a bit pricey though, I was lucky enough to get in on a lifetime deal early on. I could talk about it all day so please don't encourage me 😅

[@marie-low-stresslife7374]

@@TheGiddyStitcher haha maybe I could convince you to show us why it's so good 🤭 yes, I checked the price, I would need it to really change my life 😆 but there seems to be sooo many options to plan the day! 😍

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

@@marie-low-stresslife7374 And believe me, I've tried basically all of them 🤓

[@winternightmarecrochet]

:O an organisational tool! Me needs! Joking aside, this is really helpful! I like all the functions! And ohhhhh, I made it in the thumbnail 👀:D

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Haha, yep you're officially famous! You know, if a couple hundred views maximum counts as famous 😅

[@Magroobers]

is it possible to get a template of your wardrobe setup too?

[@rachellee3102]

Did you take a notion class ?

[@TheGiddyStitcher]

Nope! This is all just a result of enthusiastic experimentation and good old trial and error. Of course it doesn't hurt that I'm familiar with databases and relationships between different types of content, from my days working as a developer. But still there are a lot of resources out there and the Notion subreddit is super helpful for specific questions too 🙂