Scrapping Magazines...

[Amber]

Do you purchase scrapping magazines for inspiration like I do? I have tons of magazines and there are so many awesome ideas but Im trying to come up with the best way to organize my magazines.

Ive decided to tear out the pages with the LOs, ideas, articles that I really want to keep. Now, to figure out what to do with them. The reason that I tore these out is it will make it somewhat easier to find something that I liked rather than flipping through all of the pages of the many magazines that I have. I can never seem to find what Im looking for.

how to you keep all of your ideas orgainzed? I dont think that I want to scan-seems like it would take way too much time. Im thinking of putting the pages in protective sleeves and then keeping in a 3 ring binder to look through when I need it.

[KimN]

I also love to *collect* scrapbooking magazines. I enjoy reading them and looking at all the layouts. When an idea really sticks with me I photocopy it. Being a homeschooling Mom I am blessed with having a color photocopier. Then I just hole punch the sheet and put into a three ring binder. I have shared this album many times with other scrappers who need inspiration. Also it keeps my magazines in perfect condition, just in case I ever run out of ideas and want to read the magazine again!

[elizabethlmccoy]

kim that is a good idea.

I just put the magazines in magazine files & holders...I'll tell you the honest truth I find more inspiration more frequently from the galleries here at DSP.

However I do have the CK books that they put out that have tons of layouts in them (not sure what the names are) But those really help me and it is some what categorized in the book.

Amber I like your idea about tearing things out...but I think it would be more difficult for me to deal with b/c I have too many notebooks as it is...I think just separating the magazines by topic help me enough. Also that way should I want to sell them at a garage sale or something like that they would still be worth something and people would still be interested in them when they have all the pages???

[susan]

I agree with Elizbeth... I use the gallery here for my inspiration. But for how to's or other stuff, it's the mags...

I get those 14 tab dividers from Staples for 3 ring binders that include an index page. Then I start sorting and putting the articles behind tabs... Some are generic and some are specific. Then when I want something, I just look thru the index, and go to the correct number tab for the articles.

Now, that's for the mags... for the online stuff, I have a similar filing system on my computer with similar files. When I find something on the internet, I copy it and put it in one of the files. URL's can change or even go away... this way, if I find a tut I like or some other helpful information, I'll always have it handy.

Yep... I'm a little bit of an organization freak. It's the virgo side of my personality, I think...

[Amber]

Susan- you are right on target with what I was thinking!

[Jenna]

Sadly, I just cut up THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS worth of magazines over the last month. I spared NOTHING execpt those issues I am published in. I cut out the layouts, articles and ideas I wanted and I kept EVERY sketch I saw. I had every CK, Simple Scrapbooks and Ivy Cottage issue, most of the Memory Makers and Paper Kuts and TONS of misc scrap and craft magazines... all gone. And idea books that were collecting dust were cut up too. ALL of this now equals half a shoe box of idea. Not even a full shoe box. That was SO sad. To think of all that money spent over the years on a handful of layouts I loved enough to keep.

I was always worried, "what if I need THIS idea or article and it's gone?" You know what, it wouldn't be easy to find in all the issues anyway, so I kept what I needed and most everything else can be found online.

Sorting them will be another story. Someone suggested I go to Michaels and buy a sticky photo album cheaply (the no-no albums for scrappers), but it doesn't have to be archivally safe for this purpose. I thought it was a great idea!

I am open to learning and look forward to replies in this thread!

[Margie]

oh, i'm a cutter upper too! i'd never wade through magazines myself. i have two folders right now with tons of page ideas in one and element ideas in another. not organized and not super helpful, but i have them! when i go to paper crops once every month or two, i spend most of the time looking through those folders and the rest of the time wishing i had a computer there. :D

[susan]

If you're a cutter upper and have a scanner, then scan those pages and save to a CD...

[elizabethlmccoy]

ooh great suggestion! But I find scanning to be tedious I guess I am spoiled... I hardly ever scan pictures for scrapping I just wait until I have another opportunity to take more digital pictures. Right now my scanner isn't even hooked up :p

But I do think that if scanned it could really make a difference...as you could load the pictures/articles into Photoshop Album and put tags on them and really make the searching process easy!!! HMMMM This could work too with the information you save off the internet right?? All those sketches & and inspirational layouts...


Ooh I like that....thanks for getting my mind going...I guess I'll give in and plug my scanner back into my computer and start scanning.

[susan]

... and I hadn't thought of hooking it up with Album. Now there's a great idea to bring it all full circle.

[Emma]

I make a lot of "homemade" books meaning I pull out a page I like and put it in a binder.
Every once in awhile I'll make a table of Contents in Word and print it out. For instance, my sewing binder is organized alphabetically by topic: curtains under C, T-shirts under T etc
My scrapping album is all digital, pdf files, but my print books would work if I ever used scrapping magazines!
My husband just has a space to keep all his magazines and gets the yearly index put out by the finer publishers to make searching easier. Tauntons now has an online searchable index for ALL issues, so I'm sure other publishers do too.

But for me making binders are the fastest organized way to do it (there are faster ways like stashing in a big box, and more organized ways like scanning and cataloguing, but this is fast and relatively organized)

[Betsy]

I rip out pages, use a three-hole punch and add the pages to a three ring binder every other month or so. I have it divided into sections like "Products" "Layouts" "Techniques" etc. and I also put in tutorials I print off the web, and pages of stuff I've scanned to make brushes and whatnot. Very handy binder!

You can get your mgazines or idea books spiral bound at Staples or any office supply store - I think Kinkos and the UPS store probably do it too - they can do up to an inch thinck and then there's a clear plastic front and a black backing, and I think it runs about 3-4 bucks. They splice off the binding so the pages lie flat.

[Jennifer]

O.K., here's what I do....
NOTHING!!!! I can't believe how organized you all are! LOL The most organized thing I do is create a folder on my hardrive called "samples" and there I put a copy of a LO I liked from the internet. Then, when I want to use it, I put it as my first layer in the new LO with the URL from where I got it. When I'm all done, I turn off those layers to print but then the sample (and the credit to who originated it) is always there, just hidden.