Creative-Moms.com

I’m in the middle of moving and reorganizing my scrap area. It’s quite a task and there are so many things I keep finding to do. Since I’ve been scrapping for coming on 13 years, I have accumulated quite a bit of “stuff”. My goodies also include a lot of dabbling in many forms of art. I’m a jack of all trades but master of none, I guess. lol They all seem to find their way into my scrapbooks though and I love it all.

One of the biggest tasks I’ve gone through, in this never-ending endeavor, is taming the huge amount magazines. I have many years of several scrapbook, card making, stamping magazines. I also have a random assortment of other arts & crafts mags lining the shelves and filling assorted baskets all over my house. My husband is far worse of a magazine hoarder than I have ever been. So imagine the worst scenario and then double that and you will have a good idea of what my house looks like. lol We’ve always kept them pristine condition and I finally decided it was time to peel through the layers of it all to just keep what I truly wanted. I don’t mean just keeping the periodicals I like best. I like them all! I mean only keeping the actual layouts that inspire me. So, if you would think it’s time to get rid of all those old and out dated publications this might be a fun way for you to do it too.

I noticed that each year, after school was over, my kids seemed to have several barely used composition notebooks. They are the type with cardboard covers and stitched bindings. The covers are sturdy and fun to decorate. These make inexpensive yet sturdy books for you to leaf through when you need some ideas. Over the next week or two I took a handful of magazines with me everywhere I went. I also brought a pocket folder and a retractable blade. Then when I had a few minutes of quiet time, I simply went though all of my magazines, page by page and ripped out the entire page when I saw something I liked. I also took the pages that had step by step techniques and instructions. I found it much easier to make sure that I organized the things as I went. then I made a book for each type of thing. I can’t tell you the fun and satisfaction I felt in ripping through those old space hogs.

a few examples of my "Magazine Mini's"

Next, I started just cutting out the layouts just sitting in front of the tv in the evenings. This is where, if you have kids, you can enlist them for help. If you want to be able to see the manufacturers, be sure to leave them in when you trim your LOs. They typically seem to be in tiny text under the pictures. Finally, I just grabbed a glue stick and started sticking them into the composition books. I made sure to leave room around the pictures so I can jot down notes if I wanted. Reminding myself what caught my eye in that LO or what I have planned for it. The kids loved this part too. Most aged kids will enjoy this. Mine are in middle school and still got great satisfaction in siting there with a glue stick and slapping them onto the pages.

During this process my hubby got motivated too and so we also went through his magazines as well! He loves computers, techy stuff and photography. I can’t say I did much with his computer and tech magazines but I really enjoyed ripping into his photography magazines. Instead of putting them on the composition books though, I simply keep them in pocket folders for inspiration in my other arts such as painting and sketching.

You may decide to organize your books by themes. I didn’t worry about that but I did keep my cards and scrapbook layouts in a separate books. Here are some ideas for books:

layouts
layouts by themes
Techniques
Idea Sketches
Cards
Stamps
Ads

The last one might make you take a double take but don’t forget you can get great inspiration using the professional designs found in advertising pages. Things like color sets and general design translate quite easily to scrapbooking.

I think you will be just as tickled as I am with all of the room you clear off of your shelves. I will clarify that I still have one huge basket full of current magazines. I haven’t gone so crazy as to tear these up. However, the ones in the back are quaking in their boots because they know I add my newest additions to the front and their days are numbered. lol

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to share your thought in the comments section! Claudia

Tags: Inspiration

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