Scrapbook Organization | Rethinking Pattern Paper Storage

In this video, I'm talking about scrapbook pattern paper storage and some changes I need to make in my space.
I had to stop buying collection packs and paper pads. I haven't been using them, they just sit on the shelf and I've been feeling really guilty about it.
I never wanted to break my collections apart. They all coordinate, the work is done for you, you just have to select and go. But there's just something about the whole "collection" thing that keeps me from using them. So I'm breaking everything down. Tearing them apart.
My hope is that even if this is something you could never do, that this discussion is helpful. Each of us sort things differently, we have different storage systems. The best systems support the way you work and create.
I spent a lot of time thinking about how to best do this long before I turned the camera on. The last thing I wanted to do was break apart collections just to make piles of paper that sat in my space. I know exactly where everything will go and I'm excited about the changes.
What I'm doing this may not work for anyone but me. But I hope that walking through the steps and having the discussion can help others think about their own changes.
Here are links to the videos in the rest of the series:
Rethinking Pattern Paper Storage Part 2:
• Scrapbook Organization...
Rethinking Pattern Paper Storage Part 3:
• Scrapbook Organization...
Connect with me
*****************
Instagram @tammytinedesign

[@laurie4275]

I think it's worth saying, it's OKAY to purge the papers you know you don't like, and will never use. In every collection or paper pad, we all know there's a couple papers we don't like at all, while we love the others. I fill large zip loc bags with my purge pages and send them off to the thrift store, hoping another scrapper somewhere will be glad to find them.

[@tammytinedesign]

That's a great way to do it! I do purge a couple of times a year and it helps me just keep the supply I want and will use. 😊

[@Kerri6024]

Hi Tammy, loved your thought process here. I have to say as a 'normal scrapper' i.e. I'm not a Maker, or associated with a specific brand, my approach appears to be a bit of a blend. I keep collections together, i.e. if they're in a kit or a themed pad, most of the time until I have used up as much as I think I'm going to with that specific theme. Then I break the left overs down into their main colours. For each main colour group e.g. all my oranges or all my greens, I have two shelves in my 12x12 storage shelves fitted into my Ikea Kallax unit. One of these colour shelves will be for plain cardstock in that colour group, the other shelf for patterned or specialist papers in that colour group. Becauser I'm not affiliated or particularly brand-loyal, I've never understood the logic of storing papers (once they're out of a collection) in manufacturer groups - if I'm making a birthday page I'm not going to be looking through every mfr to find what they've done in that theme. If I'm faced with a double sided paper with two different themes I'll "file" that paper into the shelf associated with the colour group I think I'm likely to use it for. If I'm faced with a 12 x 12 I can't see me ever using, it goes into a 12 x 12 sleeve and I'll use that for when I need to fill a gutted page (e.g. I wanted a 1" margin around the page but took out the middle square because it was too good to waste) .. so the 'blugh' paper is sacrficed to the cause 🙂 Here in Australia we don't have as many themed occasions or calendar events like you guys in the States; we don't "do" Halloween, Fall, 4th July, Thanksgiving and so forth (mores' the pity too I love the idea!) So I'm left with few I need to worry about keeping separate 'bins' for (the 4-5" width 12z12 bins) ; for me this is military, Christmas, and Pets. So then what do to when your 12 x 12 papers have been used and you have remnants. Papers A4 down to A5 size, offcuts and so forth, same idea, I have A4 pockets for each colour group. Same approach. I bought (don't laugh!) fishing tackle boxes one for each colour. I put ephemera, embellishments and die cuts I've done a bulk of for that colour group. So when I need to find complementing accessories for my pages I go ok, this page has predominantly x y z colours I'll get complementing a b c embellishment boxes. There's my five cents worth, hopefully out of all these thoughts we might help a world of scrappers sometimes in a world of pain over this housekeeping (oh but isn't it fun!) Smiles ... :-)

[@tammytinedesign]

Hi Kerri, thank you so much for watching, even though we have different systems. When I started scrapbooking, I sorted everything by theme - Christmas and autumn and baby and sports, etc... because it never occurred to me to do anything else. And the crazy thing is, I'm not really a theme or seasonal scrapbooker. Certain layouts yes, but in general, I just wanted to scrapbook with papers I liked. And I live in Florida where there are two seasons. Hot and not as hot. 😆 But as the supplies got better and manufacturers came out with more and more collections every year and it got more complicated. I had too many themes. I had a theme for flowers. But fall lines have flowers and Christmas lines have flowers, do I put a paper in flowers or Christmas? I wasn't sure, but I always remembered that one specific flower paper from Basic Grey. And then I'd be working on a layout and really want that one green stripe paper. But was that a fall collection? Or maybe that was an Easter collection? I could never find it but I knew American Crafts made that paper. It's just the way my brain works. I wasn't partial to any one company per se, I just remembered what papers were made by what company. It's good that there are so many different ways we can sort things and find the way that works best for us! Thanks for sharing because you're right, if something I said can help someone, yay! If something you've shared can help someone, yay! I love that this scrapbooking community is so supportive and helpful to one another. 😊

[@catherineskis]

My Tuesday Morning store also closed and Hobby Lobby is changing its line to having home decor. Our small town has limited crafting choices. For the ladies who have "ugly" papers and you don't know what to do with them, use them as envelopes!

[@tammytinedesign]

It is so sad, isn't it? There are no real scrapbook stores where I live either and it was always fun to stop by Tuesday Morning and put my hands on physical products, when they had scrapbook stuff that is. I will miss that! Great idea for the pattern paper you're not going to use! 😊

[@marybethcully5883]

I love your thought process…what a great way to highlight ways to store paper so you use it…thanks❣️

[@tammytinedesign]

You're welcome! Thank you for watching. 😊

[@mintymintington8248]

I love hearing your thought process. I could watch you do this all day. 😂

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. 😊

[@christinep7198]

I really enjoyed seeing your process! Subscribed! Waiting for the next one 😊

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you so much! 😊

[@taniab2018]

I absolutely love this & I can see a time where I switch to a this system, or add a component. What I do is this: -B sides/distressed solids/tone on tone papers -Themed paper I would ONLY use for that topic (sometimes in a themed collection you'll get generic flower or stripe that works for any page... but there will be some papers that only really make sense on, say, a birthday/travel/holiday page) -Kit starters: in (I think) 4 categories: Flowers, stripes, geometrics, icons/text The reason I am going to hold off taking the next step & doing what you've done is that I generally don't a make page kits, and I want to help myself mix my paper line. I start with the B side I want for my base, then go from there based on my photos. I am subscribed now to your website (which I hope will let me know when you make a blog post?) and I am going to watch your videos, especially ones on fixing layouts, and choosing papers to put together for layout.

[@tammytinedesign]

Hi Tania, thank you for your kind words. I think so many just see the playing with paper and telling stories with photos part of scrapbooking, and don't think much about the storage and organization that goes along with it. There are so many ways to organize and sort. It sounds like you've also spent time thinking about how you do things and have system really works for you. That's awesome! I'm not blogging much, I just put up posts when videos are released here on my channel. The current schedule is the 5th, 15th and 25th of the month (subject to change as life happens!). I will send out an email update soon as I have many new subscribers. Thank you and I hope you continue to find my content valuable! 😊

[@MaraJonesScraps]

I love to buy collection packs, especially from Tuesday Morning before mine closed. I jump into organization projects sometimes without thinking it through. Not sure I could ever do this, but I enjoyed listening to your process.

[@tammytinedesign]

I completely understand! I would never tell anyone to do this unless you are sure. For me it came down to this: use it or lose it! So I'm trying to make use of what I already have. Thank you for watching!!

[@laurie4275]

I've got huge stacks of single papers, from all brands, going back 20 years! First, all seasonal holidays, or specific subjects are sorted. Then what remains, is sorted by colors. It works great for me. Now if I could just quit buying more than I need...

[@tammytinedesign]

Same here! But I know if I don't get it now, I may not ever get it. So I buy. But I will say I've gotten better over the 20+ years at knowing what I like and what I don't. I don't buy as much as I used to, but I still buy more than I need to. Not sure that will ever change! 😆

[@wendyurban7722]

Great video Tammy. I think I will start a rainbow of tone on tone papers 😊

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you! My tone on tone rainbow is one of my favorite things I ever did to make my life easier. Good luck!

[@nwalker1049]

I have watched this video now for the second or third time. I love hearing the thought process and I like a lot of it. My question is what is your process to select embellishments when you are creating a page? I do purchase by collection therefore I have a sticker sheet usually, but also a few other things, and if I break up the collections, I’m not sure where to put the other things. So can you tell me more about that?

[@tammytinedesign]

Aw, thanks so much. I'm still amazed at how much easier it is for me to find papers now everything is out of the collection. I don't know why my brain works like that, but I'm feeling exactly the same way about the embellishments. If I save embellishments just for that collection, I'm never going to use them. Stickers right now are kept in my manufacturer files along with any loose papers. So I have multiple sticker sheets in each mfg file. When I pull a kit that has Echo Park paper, I pull the Echo Park file and look for the stickers. If I pull a kit with a Simple Stories paper, I pull the Simple Stories file to look for stickers. It's not perfect. I would much rather have all the stickers from every mfg organized in a way that I can see everything and pull stickers from any mfg for the layout I'm working on. Because maybe with a Simple Stories paper, Maggie Holmes stickers would work. My paper system is working so well for me that I am now in the process of re-doing my die cut and ephemera storage. I have a video coming out next week to show what I'm doing. I think I will end up going in the same direction for stickers because I love what I'm doing with the ephemera. Hopefully that video will help! 😊

[@gabriellab3368]

Nice ideas

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you!! 😊

[@stampbooker]

New Subbie 😊 great thoughts on organizing! It always scares me for some reason to separate collections, but you know what? There’s still the manufacturer strip on them and I could also pull them back together. I like how you store your B papers. I’ve been doing that recently myself, but in file folders. I may try your method in the cropper hopper as it takes up much less room!

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you, Michele. It took me many years to get to this point. The guilt over having collections just sit on the shelf finally got to me. I thought I would feel some angst over it as I was going through each one, but I feel so much better now that I've done it. Having a collection of B-sides in a rainbow is the BEST! 😀

[@stampbooker]

@@tammytinedesign that’s so encouraging to hear that it’s working so well for you! 😊

[@stampbooker]

This is SO interesting! So when do you go to your manufacturer’s bin? I can see when you would use your kit starters and your B side rainbow section, but when do you go to the manufacturer section? Off to watch your other videos!

[@tammytinedesign]

Ah, thanks! The first place I go to find papers is the stack on my desk with all the new stuff. If I use it right away, it never has to go in the stash, right?? 😄If I can't find anything there, I'll go to the kit starters. And if I'm still stumped, then I go into the mfg files. Unless I have an idea in mind that might work with a specific paper I know I have from Basic Grey or something. By the time I get to the mfg files, I'm ready to make something work. I don't like to spend a ton of time looking for papers. I'd rather be creating. 😊

[@ru4repeattoo]

​@@tammytinedesign, thank you for this comprehensive look into a couple options for how to store pattern paper. 🎉

[@papermunch]

New subscriber

[@tammytinedesign]

Thank you!

[@laurasutton1551]

I sort paper by theme Christmas thanksgiving flowers graphic guys ect.

[@tammytinedesign]

It's cool that you found something that works for you, Laura. I think a majority of scrappers do the same.😊

[@susieavedikian9741]

Where did you get the organizer for your b papers? Just found your channel!

[@tammytinedesign]

Hi Susan! I keep my B sides in Cropper Hopper files. I've had them for many years. I think I picked them up at Michaels back in the day, but I don't think they carry them anymore. But Advantus does still make them and you can get them on Amazon (direct link - NOT an affiliate link 😊) www.amazon.com/Advantus-Vertical-Scrapbook-Holder-Frosted/dp/B009MRKYXU/ref=sr_1_25?crid=2BS0ZQYIWQBPE&keywords=cropper%2Bhopper&qid=1701351560&sprefix=cropper%2Bhopper%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-25&th=1

[@tarahartshorne4439]

I miss basic grey

[@tammytinedesign]

Same! Vegabond was one of my very favorite collections ever and I still have some of it. I'll hold onto what I have left of Basic Grey until I use it all! 🙂

[@qwispery]

What do you mean when you say kit starter?

[@tammytinedesign]

Hi Christina, for me, a kit starter is a piece of pattern paper that has multiple colors, like a floral or a rainbow of stripes. I would take that multi-color paper and create a page kit around it, pulling tone-on-tone or single color pattern papers in colors that coordinate. So it's just one piece of paper that I can use to pull a page kit together around. I like to have page kits ready to go, along with photos so that when I'm feeling creative and ready to scrapbook, I can just pull a kit and scrapbook. I tend to make page kits when I feel too tired to actually scrapbook, but want to do something productive. I hope that helps!

[@qwispery]

@@tammytinedesign Thanks! I’m a card maker and do not scrapbook so I was pretty confused 🙂