I am Adhesive Challenged...

I am going to the Sacramento Scrapbook Expo in October with Liz, a friend I met at the DSP Adobe Laptop Crop in July. I am signed up for a few classes and in looking at the supplies list what I notice most is adhesive, adhesive, adhesive!

I like the adhesive tape runners but for some reason they don't like me. I have tape in the darned thing but it doesn't come out...too much tape comes out but it is not on my papers it is just hanging out all over the table...the tape comes off but the left over piece doesn't feed back in and it is hanging all over the table..."easy to replace refills"...easy for who...engineers? I finally get on a roll and run out of tape and have no more refills. I tried the darned purple glue that dries clear...well explain to me why I have dried purple goop on my layout? I am apparently adhesive challenged.

I was thinking about what to bring to the Expo in October. I did a little research and I have come upon the decision to try something new. Ta-Da...it is the ATG tape gun...I know it looks big but the posts I have read indicate that it is light and easy to use. And it holds something like 36 yards of tape. Also for little ole challenged me, there is a loading instruction and video at Framing Supplies dot Com, the site I purchased it from. And just for a little insurance, I bought the refill tape also. Yes there is an upfront cost. But apparently if you do the math you will start recouping the costs in a short time. Of course that would depend on how often you scrap. Although I am an accountant by trade, I didn't bother doing any math here. I just looked at the shiny red gun and said....ooohhhh I like....and clicked on the add to cart button and the rest is history. I can't wait until it arrives. I will check it out and report back if adhesive challenged me could use it with ease.



You can Google this as it is sold at various sites. I bought mine from Framing Supplies dot com. $41.69 for the gun and $3.30 for the refill. I read in some posts that you can get the refills for $2.00. I don't know if that is an old price or if they are available somewhere for that price. I just decided to buy the refill with the gun since I was already paying for the shipping.

Pics to Scrap

Just thinking about all the layouts I need to do. I really need to develop a list of what I want to accomplish. When I actually sit down to scrap sometimes my mind goes blank and I can't think of what to do. Yet...I have so many photos that need to be scrapped. I want to go back and finish the Reality Scraps from 2007 at Scrapbook Graphics...I need to update my annual Casini Ranch album for our trip last November...I went on three vacations this year...

Hopefully the new organizational system I wrote about earlier will help me get some scrapping done!

Credits:
Shabby Princess Summer Cottage kit
SBB Tidbytes with compliments 2008 kit
Staples from Lumapix and SEI

Photo Freedom aka Getting Photos Organized

I have been reading Stacy Julian's books on her photo and layout organization. Stacy has given me a new way of looking at how to organize everything. What I like about her style is that she presents what she does and explains how and why she does it. Having this information enables you to adapt the system to meet your own needs.

Stacy is a paper scrapper so her system starts with a printed photo. Since I am a paper and a digital scrapper, I am going to adapt her system to bridge my paper/digital organization. At the present time my paper system is one mish-mash-mess and my digital system is actually fairly organized. My plan is to organize my printed photos and layouts "loosely" based on Stacy's method. I say "loosley" because Stacy is right brained and I am left brained. So, our systems will naturally be slightly different.

For my digital photos and layouts I only need to make a few modifications and my digital photos and layouts will be organized exactly how my paper ones are organized. What a concept! I will have an All About Us 3-ring album and I will have an All About Us digital album. The albums will not necessarily have the same layouts in them because I don't print all my digital layouts and I don't scan my paper layouts. But the systems will be similar so finding things should be a lot easier. I am so super-de-duper excited about this. Organization makes me HAPPY!

The Big Picture was Stacy's first book. It talks more about her layouts and how you can set up a system to NOT scrap chronologically so you never feel like you are behind.

Photo Freedom is Stacy's latest book. It goes in depth about her actual system for photos and layouts. She explains what tools she uses and exactly how she uses them. She provides the details of the tools that she uses but encourages you to start with what you have on hand and not to go out and necessarily purchase everything that she uses. That way you can understand the nuts and bolts of the system before you add in the bells and whistles.

She explains the process that a photo takes. From printing it off the computer, where it gets filed, how it will get scrapped etc. It is very obvious that Stacy practices what she preaches and her ideas have certainly opened the floodgates of ideas and possibilities for my own process.