GET ORGANIZED CHALLENGE Week #2 - Paper

I spent the weekend sorting all of my loose sheets of 12x12 paper. I do not have near the amount of paper some scrapbookers have. I only by DP when I have a specific project in mind and the paper is on sale - a combination of the two, not one or the other. I do not buy paper just because there is a sale. There must be a project in mind.

The concept behind The Scrap Rack is that all of the supplies are broken down and stored in one of four sections.. aka The 4-Section System. Everything fits into one of four categories: Alpha/ Numeric, Themes, Calendar, Rainbow (which I will talk about in a separate post).

The Alpha/Numeric is the easiest category. If it is a letter/ number (be it sticker, chip board, stamp, etc) then  you file the item under this tab. I am also including WOW - Words of Wisdom and Shapes under this category. Because unless they fall into a specific theme, which I'll talk about next, they really don't fit anywhere else. The other thing is to file items where YOU are most likely to find them. For me, having these items up front works best.

The next category, THEME, is a bit longer. This is where you list individually all the different things you would scrapbook (or make a card for) by theme in alphabetical order. Here is a short list of my categories:
ANIMALS (subcategories - Cats, Dogs, Wildlife, Zoo)
ARTS/ CRAFTS/ FAIRS (because I have pics to scrap for these items)
BAKING/ COOKING
CELEBRATE
   I included everything I would make a card for in this category as well as things to 'celebrate' so my sub-        categories include: Anniversary, Baby, BD, Get Well, Grad, Sympathy, Thank You, Thinking of You,      
    Wedding
COWBOY/ WESTERN
DISNEY/ PIXAR/ LICENSE
ENTERTAINMENT (subcategories - Artists/ Concerts/ Music/ Shows)
FAMILY & MILESTONES
GARDENING

And the list continues.

Because Tiffany has broken this down and does not want us to become overwhelmed in the process and give up, she breaks things down into manageable bites. Because she knows most scrapbookers have mounds of papers, she suggested we only sort an 8" stack this week. Over the remaining weeks of the course we will sort an additional 4" each week.

Mine is done - Totally 6" of paper.

The stack on the left is all of my themes. The stack on the right is the CALENDER stack.
The Calendar is the THIRD category in the ScrapRack where we break the paper down according to the Calendar year either by month, season or a combination thereof. I have broken mine down into combined months with subcategories.
JAN/ FEB - New Year, Winter/Snow/ Valentine's Day
MARCH/ APRIL - St. Patty's/ Easter
MAY/ JUNE - May Day/ Mother's Day/ Father's Day
JULY/ AUG - 4th of July/ Summer
SEPT/ OCT - Fall/ Halloween
NOV/ DEC - Thanksgiving/ Christmas

Christmas is my biggest section over-all. LOL I see LOTS of the SR single pocket pages in my future.

I do have MORE PAPER then what I'm showing here. All of my other DP falls into 2 categories - SU, which I keep in 12x12 hanging file tote next to the SU cabinet and the DCWV slabs. I keep these on a shelf on the Entertainment Center. The good news is - in transferring the loose paper to the SR, I'll have more room on that shelf for slabs and there are still a couple from DCWV I want to buy.

In this process I purged a lot of DP from my days at Michaels. That is all going in the box to the Kindness Club in MN.

The only thing I have left is my scrap drawer. I need to determine my smallest size - I'm thinking 3x4 - then pitch the rest.

I have met my GOAL for Week 2. My REWARD: - The Spring Mini order from SU. I did not see anything in the SAB to warrant spending a party's worth of ca$h so am just ordering the items I want from the Spring while I still can.

Tomorrow begins Week 3 - Embellishments!
Oh FUN!