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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Project Life: Organization

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had purchased a few organizational items to keep my Project Life supplies in line. Even though it was really dreary yesterday, I took some pictures and wanted to share them with you so you can see how I've set up my space.

First, a little about what I was doing before I purchased these. As far as the elements to the core kit, I basically sorted them by how I wanted to use them {my anal Annie tendencies made me sort all the journaling cards and title cards so I wasn't using 2 of the same card too close to one another}. Then I simply just put them back in the core kit box. I will say that I love this year's core kit box and how it's possible to use it as an organizational tool. If you've ordered Project Life kits in the past, you know how giant the Big White Box was, and it's basically just a place to keep everything corralled, but not really organized. So, I was thrilled with this year's Little White Box. But, it still wasn't meeting my needs.

I typically finish up my Project Life layouts on go because I take my photos of them at work. I don't see daylight during the winter unless I'm at work, so that's where the pictures happened. Which meant I was carrying my album, Corner Chomper, Tiny Attacher, and maybe some Thickers or other stickers from the PL core kit with me to work and back every week. This system worked for a little bit, but I got tired of lugging everything around and not really having a place to keep everything in one spot. For example, I realized last night that my date stamper was still laying on my desk at work, and I couldn't put it in my new organizational system.


Enter these boxes I purchased the other day. All of them are Martha Stewart with Avery {which are sold at Staples}. I had a coupon for this weekend so I thought I'd try them out, and I'm really glad I did. They come in 3 colors {white, brown and a teal color}. This is the white, despite the ugly lighting in this picture. I purchased a tray with a drawer and 2 of the long divided boxes {which came with lids, but I won't be using them}.


The divided boxes are perfect for my journaling cards. On the left, I have my filler cards {to be used for the 8th 3x4 inch spot}. In the center there are the grid journaling cards, that I haven't used yet...looking forward to breaking them out when I get some of my new plastics tomorrow! And on the right I have my journaling cards, sorted in order so all I have to do is pull from the front when I put them in my album. I'm kind of surprised at how well everything fit - I wasn't bright enough to look at the measurements of the boxes before I purchased them. And there's room to grow, which is nice. I'll put my date flags in one of these dividers as I cut them out, I'll put my date stamp in another, and so on.


Then there is the tray & drawer. On the left side of the tray there are my title cards {sorted in the correct order, of course}. I can just pull a title card from the top when I'm ready to use it, if I want to go that route. I'll probably put a bunch of title cards in their layouts as soon as I get the plastics so I can have that step done. In the middle are the folded journaling cards that tell longer stories. On the right are all the stickers that came in the core kit.


And here's the open drawer. There's plenty or room for bigger items {like the Thickers} and the tools I turn to over and over again. You can't see in the picture, but I also have some extra photos waiting to go in layouts in the drawer so they don't get misplaced. And throughout the organizational system, there's still plenty or room to grow, which I love!

To be honest, I haven't figured out where exactly this will go at home. I'm looking for a place I regularly pass by so I'm reminded to take photos and save memorabilia. I'm also looking for somewhere safe where the dogs won't jump all over it and nothing will get spilled on it. I will find a place eventually, and for now, at least my supplies are all together and not at the bottom of a reusable shopping bag.

How do you organize your Project Life supplies? There's a ton of inspiration out there if you're looking for ideas. I have a few of them on my Project Life Pinterest board.

Happy Thursday!

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