GO10-1 It’s All About the System – Class Presentation

Welcome to Go10, Class 1 – It’s all about the system.

In this class we’ll talk mostly about the way we think about organization and then I’ll give you a few tasks to complete over the next week.

To get a better understanding of organization, you first need to understand the difference between “Organization” and “Containerization.” Containerization is the practice of putting things into boxes, bins, drawers, totes, or closets, possibly adding a label to them, and then forgetting where they are or that you even own them. Containerization has its purposes – storing 7 years of receipts for the IRS, ….containerization works for things you don’t actually “use.”

“Organization” is the art of systematically storing and retrieving things – both physically and mentally. In this lesson we’ll focus on organizing things together in such a way as to keep things together we’ll use together, sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, sometimes both.

In order to do this with craft supplies, we need a good system. A system that is easy for your brain to remember and then STICK WITH!! If you’ve organized your craft supplies once you’ve probably organized them multiple times. I would be willing to bet your system was based more on the physical act of containerization than the mental process of organization.

With craft supplies we’re going to build your system on 4 major categories or sections.

  • Section 1 – Letters, Numbers, and PunctuationMarks
  • Section 2 – Sentiments and Themes A-Z
  • Section 3 - The calendar year
  • Section 4 – The rainbow

It’s just that simple. Let me give you a few examples.

I’m demonstrating the 4 section system in The ScrapRack, I’ll explain a little about it as we go along. You can create a 4 section system in a variety of different tools, even large ziplock type bags could work. If you’re interested in learning more about all of the components of The ScrapRack, please watch the “Meet the ScrapRack video” which is posted on our website – follow the link in your email.

Section 1: Letters, Numbers and Punctuation Marks

This is where you’re going to store everything that is alpha numeric, but not theme specific. Within this section it works well to group your alphabets by size rather than by color. I know this is counter intuitive, but if you think about how you will use the alphabets it will make more sense. If you are designing something, the words you will use will fit into a particular area of the design – so size is important. Also, if you are trying to spell something, 4th of July for example, if you think you would like red, and you go to the red alphabets ,but you don’t have all the letters, so you think, Maybe I could use blue and red, so you look through the blue, but still not the right letters in the right size, so now you have to look for the same size letters in white…..if you group all of your alphas by size this process will be much easier. As I mentioned earlier, this is all things Alpha-numeric, but not theme or holiday specific.

Section 2 – Sentiments and Themes A-Z

Get Well, Congratulations, Birthday, Zoo – these would all be found in Section 2, Sentiments and Themes. As part of this week’s 10 minutes a day you’ll need to create a list of Sentiments and Themes that you craft about. Don’t worry about mixing up supplies; Card making, Stamping, Scrapbooking, Mixed Media – all of them can be combined. You’ll love how easy it is to create ANYTHING when it’s simple for your brain to remember where you’ve stashed your supplies. Themes and Sentiments can be big loosely defined categories or they can be more narrow – some crafter’s will have an Amusement Park section, while others will have Disney, Sea World, etc. I would recommend that you try to keep big categories together under a very general heading rather than try to separate everything into very small categories. “SPORTS” is a good example, keep everything under the heading “SPORTS” and then subdivide the section behind the major tab; Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer, etc. This will serve you well on a number of levels. If we stick with the Sports example; a football collection might have some very generic pieces “Go Team,” “Champions,” Cleats, Whistles, etc. These items could be used for many different sports, but it you have them spread out alphabetically through your Sentiments and Themes section, you might actually forget about those football items when you are working on a soccer champion’s page.

Section 3 – The Calendar Year

This is as simple as it sounds, all of the regular annual holidays and events organized together January to December. Again, this keeps things together that you might use together. Often I get asked why do we need this section? Why not just put Easter under “E” and Halloween under “H”, etc. I think we can all agree that keeping things together we use together will make things easier. So if we use Halloween for example, if we place Halloween under “H” and, Fall or Autumn items under “F” or “A”, then we place Thanksgiving items under “T” – when you’re ready to work on a “Halloween” project – you will most likely miss the perfect pumpkins from a Thanksgiving collection, the scary leafless tree cut out from a Fall collection, etc. When all of these are together you’ll be able to easily flip through each of them to make the perfect choice, creating a better projects, using more product and spending less time. It’s a big win all around.

Section 4 – The Rainbow

This section is the most difficult for people to get their brains around. It’s a little bit scary to go against the conventional wisdom of separating your supplies by type. Crafters – “Don’t Fear the Rainbow.” This one section alone will simplify your crafting more than any other. Huge benefits come from using the Rainbow to organize all of your solid colored embellishments and accessories. Perhaps the most important of these is finding things quickly and easily. If you need a red brad, all you’ll need to do is go to that red section and “Voila!” all of your red brads are visible and accessible. You’ll know what you’ve got and also – you’ll know what you don’t have, the search is fast and easy instead of drawn out and frustrating. Other benefits include – using more of your supplies – if you’re thinking you need a red brad, when you get to red you find that there might also be a red ribbon or flower that would work – you’ll use that too!

It’s easier than you think to fit everything into a category. Don’t be afraid to add categories that are generic – lots of crafters have a “Shapes” category for templates, I’ve got a category W.O.W. – Words of Wisdom. This is where I store all of my little poems and sayings that don’t really have any particular category. When I’m looking for a generic quote or phrase I can flip to that category have a quick read through, weather the words are on stickers, vellum, brads, tags…it doesn’t matter, they’re all there.

Time to get busy

Step 1– Your first task is to create a Sentiments and Themes list. These are all the things you craft about organized alphabetically. If you need a little help, download our Sentiments and Themes list, then modify it to work for you. Click Here.

Step 2– Clear off a space where you’ll put all of your organized supplies. If you’re using a ScrapRack, you’ll just need a shelf that is 13” deep by 15” wide with 11” on either side for the wings. If you’re a paper junkie, consider something like the IKEA EXPEDIT, IKEA KALLAX or another cube style shelving system.

It doesn’t have to be a huge space. The area in the picture is only 36” wide x 44” tall x 18” deep. But it’s plenty big enough when you’re using the right organization tools.

If you’re using something else, file folders, large ziplock bags, etc, clear a space in a box or drawer where you’ll put them as they fill up.

Step 3– Over the next few days spend 10 minutes each day rounding up all of your supplies and getting them into the same general areas. This will really help when you start sorting.

Download the 4 Section System Article and add it to your Go-10 Notebook, click here.

Step 4– Watch for your next GO-10 Email!

Thanks for participating in Go-10. Remember if you want to connect with other Go-10 or Get Organized Challenge participants, you can join them on FB by searching: 2011GetOrganizedChallenge Group – Or just click here.