Crop Check List

It's almost time for the Robin's Scrap Next crop (Disney theme!) and I'm anxious...but not ready to go. I have a lot to get done since I'm attending as a scrapbooker and a vendor. As this event is four and half hours away, I can't just head back home to get something I forgot so I spent the morning tweaking my crop packing list before printing it out. It's easier for me to separate everything into categories as some items can be packed early, while others not until the morning I leave.

Some items might seem a given, but I have left them in the past so I added them to list. I have found nothing is easier to forget than an item I believe is "unforgettable."

Wearing:

Clothes for 4 days – Disney shirts, shorts, leggings

Costume (there's a character dress-up night)

Slippers

Sweater (venue can get cold)

            Toiletries

Book Selling Related:

            Books

            Bookcase

            Swag

            Tablecloth

            Square Reader

Devices/Non-scrappy:

Laptop

Speaker

Charging Cords

Phone

Car Charger

Devices/Scrappy:

Cricut or Cameo 

Mats

Cords

Extra Blades

Flash Drive with SVG files

Scrapbooking/Non-Crafty:

            Ott-Lite

            Extension Cord

            Power Strip

Small table

Chair Cushion

Cup Holder

            Cup with Lid

Ear Buds

  

Scrapbooking/Crafty:

Pictures (yes, have left pics at home, fortunately it was only a 12-hour crop)

Adhesive – Tape and Liquid Glue

Foam Dots

Fine Tip Scissors

Small Paper Trimmer

Corner Rounder

Kiwi Lane Templates

Title Templates

Mechanical Pencil with eraser

Disney Paper Case

Vacation Paper Case

Cardstock Paper Case

Page Protectors

Pens

Colored Pencils

Stamp Pads

Disney and Vacation Stamps

Scrap N’ Easel

Idea Books (Disney and Kiwi Lane)

Post-it Notes 

Die Cutting:

            Vinyl

            Paper Scraps

            Tweezers

            Pokey Tool

            Cricut Pens

            Chalk/Chalking Tool

White Gel Pens 

Snacks:

            Diet Coke

            Bottled Water

            Cheese and nuts snack packs

            Grapes

            Chocolate

Small Cooler

Page Kit--Stage Two: It's All About the Paper

This week I'm going to show stage 2 of my process of making page kits. The second step is choosing the paper for the layout. The first thing I do is gather up the paper that will work with for the page (or in this case album). Since I have a storage container for vacation paper and embellishments, it wasn't that hard to gather up the best choices. Since the album is our cruise to the Caribbean, I picked out cardstock and pattern paper colors that complemented the blues, greens, and light browns that were in many of the pictures. I also pulled out some paper with silver in it as this was a trip for our 25th anniversary and I wanted to mix that color into some of the layouts.

Some of the paper choices

I separated the photos from our first port stop, into five categories: first views of the island, beach, snorkel excursion, behind the scenes, and landscapes. The first picture category I worked with were the first views (leaving boat). I had some paper with the Royal Caribbean logo and really wanted to use it for as the first, Labadee, Haiti, is the private beach for Royal but it wasn't working for the photos. I glanced over at the behind the scenes pics (testing the life boats, tram, preparing for lunch) then looked a the RC paper. The colors went well together. I set the first view pictures aside and placed the behind the scene photographs on it. Perfect.

Next, I pulled out some new choices for the first view layout and loved how the blues popped when placed on the light green paper. The light beige strip was part of the pattern paper design and worked perfectly to mat a few of the photos. I had a shade of beige cardstock that matches the beige on the pattern paper and will use that to mat photos on the first page of the double page spread.

After all the paper choices are made, I label a sticky note with the day of the trip (Haiti was Day 4) and any title ideas then place it into a 2 gallon bag.

Next week it'll be all about the embellishing.

Where's the Tape Runner?

Usually getting ready for a weekend crop retreat brings me such joy. I'm always so excited to start packing because that means crop weekend is almost here (I "leave" on Friday, I have leave in quotations because this retreat is in my town and only about ten minutes away). Today I am filled with dread and finding all sorts of chores that need doing to avoid packing. The issue is I don't know where anything I need is currently being stored. I feel like I'm in a never ending game of hide and seek with the inanimate objects winning. We're in the process of rearranging rooms and I have scrapbooking items in the soon-to-become my craft area and office, in my current office, and also in what was once my scrapbooking room.

Figuring out where to start first is overwhelming. I know the easiest thing to do would be to bring everything into one area to sort through but then I'll be cluttering up one space. It would make the most sense to bring everything upstairs to my new office/craft space, but as we still have items in there from when we redid our bedroom, the room is already crowded and chaotic adding more items into it will not make the task any easier. (Putting items back into our bedroom is taking longer than we planned, I'm about ready to give us a deadline and whatever isn't back in the bedroom will be donated.)

I had planned on starting a new album at the crop but I might just finish up the last few pages of the Disney album I've been working on and then work on die cuts for our anniversary cruise album. It would be easier to do prep work for the November retreats coming up then trying to dig everything out. I know by November, we'll have the rooms in some semblance of order.

On the Go Cropping: Storage Dilemma

Now that I'm cropping away from home more, the bags and organizers I use to transport my supplies are not working as well. Part of the reason is that I scrapbook differently than I had in the past (use more layered die cuts and dimensional stickers rather than flat stickers), boxes of mystery books come with me as I also do signings at retreats, and then I'm traveling farther distances so more clothes to pack.  Since our children are grown, my husband comes along when his work schedule permits and I must save some space for his golf clubs. I'm a little directionally challenged, so it's nice having a driver. I've found I arrive at my destination sooner and I'm less stressed.

My cropping on the go used to mainly be at a twice a year retreat that's ten minutes from my house. No need to pack clothes and I could leave some supplies behind as if I discovered I couldn't crop with it, it was a short drive to retrieve it, or I'd bring it the next day. It's harder for me to make decisions on what makes the cut when I know I can't return for anything.

The one item organizing item I'm having trouble finding is a tote for 12x12 paper. I like to easily see my options and sort my paper into categories. I have a fabric tote (Thirty-One brand) that I can extend to have an extra section to use either for trash or to store other items in near my table, but it unsnaps when we carry it by the handles. I believed I found the perfect solution at the most recent crop I attended until the owner of the storage unit (a tool box she uses for scrapbooking supplies) told me it's extremely heavy when loaded with paper. So back to browsing the web for other options.

Recently, I've gotten hooked on Kiwi Lane templates so am now on a search for a storage item to carry them. I've been putting them in my rolling tote with my trimmed and other supplies but I'm worried they might get bent or torn. I'm hoping to find something that will hold the templates and also my Stickles (basically it's small tubes of glitter glue).

On April 20, I'm heading out again to a retreat and I hope I can find something that works. I think I'm going to "shop" around my home today and see if there's something I can swap out with the fabric tote.

Cropping on the Go--What to Pack

Tomorrow is the annual Spring Rotary Crop in our town and I once again am staring at a huge pile of scrapbooking supplies on my cropping table. I usually keep an album project packed that I only work on at crops but I had wanted to work on some pages this winter so I took out some items, and other of my on-the-go cropping staples had made their way into my office. So I had to go on a hunt and gather mission. Now, it's time to pare down and pack because I know I won't use everything that right now I plan on bringing with me. We get six feet of cropping space, which wouldn't be enough for everything I have piled on my eight-foot table.

Since this crop is local (10 minute drive), if I find something I left is a necessity, I can drive home to get it or bribe my son to bring it to me (usually money for gas or fast food works). I like to break my list into two sections: Equipment and Projects. I always pick a specific project so I can limit the types of embellishments I'll need to bring (this crop I'm working on Disney World vacation album).

Equipment:

1. Lamp (the lighting can be dim in some areas of a room so I always bring an OttLite)
2. Extension Cord
3. Duct Tape (to secure cord down, sometimes it stretches across the room...always double check it's okay to use tape)
4. Electronic Die-cutter (I always plan on cutting everything out before the crop but I run out of time)
5. Phone Charger
6. Clamp-on Cup Holder
7. Spinning Tool/Embellishment Organizer
8. Wire Shelf
9. Chair (if I can use our Traverse to transport, I bring my cropping chair from home)

Projects:

 1. Photos (forgot a pack of photos once so now it's a list item)
 2. Adhesive
 3. Trimmer (personal)
 4. Cardstock
 5. Pattern Paper (designs that go with the project I'm working on)
 6. Precut Die cuts
 7. Chalks
 8. Glitter pens, glitter glue (I like glitter)
 9. Small Ink Pads for Inking Edges
10. Pens
11. Embellishments (stickers, brads, Washi tape that go with my theme)
12. Scissors