I recently undertook a rather radical reorganization of my patterned paper. Well, maybe not COMPLETELY radical, but a tiny bit radical...I re-organized ALL of my patterned paper by color!
Previously I had only one of the three above files organized by color. The others were sorted by manufacturer, with complete collections and/or brands together. I finally decided to take the plunge and sort it ALL by color....BECAUSE, you can NEVER go wrong with rainbow-color order!
Here are the completed files. In addition to the tabs for each color, I also set up a tab for "themed" paper, multi-colored paper (such as my vast collection of STRIPED paper!), and specialty paper. I kept a few collections together (notably Bazzill and Ki) but most everything else found a home in ROYGBIV.
In resorting all of my paper, I discovered a few things:
* Patterned paper can be hard to sort by color. I sorted by the dominant color or base color. If there was no dominant color, it went into my "multi-color" section.
* Holy cow, I have some very ugly paper in my possession. (I really should have made a "What was I thinking?" tab!) If it can't be used for cards, I will use the backside of it for draft copies in my wide-format printer.
* I have a TON of blue paper. Not sure why that is. I don't have anything against blue, but I'm not a huge fan, either.
* I also have way too much pink paper. I'm definitely not a pink person. The pinks need to be aggressively purged.
* I am not a themed paper person. I have some cat paper, some Girl Scout paper, and one odd sheet of paper with dominoes on it, but that's about it.
* I have more patterned paper than I will ever use in my lifetime, at the rate I use it.
With luck, the newly sorted ROYGBIV patterned paper will help me use it up a little more efficiently. At a minimum, my paper files look much cooler now that they're in proper form. :-)
I'm impressed that you only have 3 of these containers full of PP! Looks great in the new order! I have been considering purging my stash as well and donating to LADs daycare. They can always use it for something!
ReplyDeleteWhen I repainted my scraproom I purged a LOT of stuff, but the patterned paper still fit in my shelves that hubby made for them so I didn't touch those. I don't have a lot, but they are sorted by colors too. Although not ROYBGIV... I have themed/multicolor paper on the top shelf, then pinks/reds, blues/purples, yellows/greens, and neutrals.
ReplyDeleteI should really go thru it all though and purge the stuff I will never use. Like you, I don't know what the heck I was thinking when I bought some of it. Then again, there are a lot that I was stuck with when I foolishly started out buying stacks....
Wow! Looks great. :) I'm trying to use up some of my big stash of patterned paper and, like you, wonder what I was thinking when I bought some of it - ugh.
ReplyDeleteI tried that once, but it didn't work for me. I had to go back to manufacturer. I think because I couldn't decide what color to put papers in when there was a dominate color. Good job for tackling it!
ReplyDeleteFINALLY! I'm ahead of the game on something! I organized mine like that years ago... But it's only because I don't pay attenton to the manufacturer I guess. :-) And also I no longer scrapbook. But I still use all my stuff for cardmaking at least.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, something I had organized like this before you! (ie that means I'm cool too;) I love my patterned paper like this. Chatterbox and BG are the 2 I store by manufacturer/collection though. Oh, and my old (but still cherished and/or hoarded) Club Scrap:)
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