My New Scrapbooking Tactic ~ Drop It In, Baby!

Hello, ya'll!  While you are recovering from your turkey coma, Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday...I thought I would take a few down moments to talk to you about scrapbooking.  Did your teeth just clinch?  I know many of you are stressin' about your scrapbooks and some of you have just plain given up.  But hang with me here...

Ten years ago, many of us were hanging out at all-weekend crops, scrapping away and having a blast together.  But after talking with many of you, somehow all our lives have gotten really busy, and we aren't taking the time for crafting that we used to.  I chock it up to two kids and a few businesses.  I know you have your own reasons, too.  

But just because we've gotten uber-busy does not mean we have to give up the things we love.  It just means we need to find new ways to "play".  In my own life, that means SIMPLIFYING.  

So today I want to show you how I am simplifying my scrapbooking.  

My new system is a sort of "drop-in" method.  I put this page together in 5 minutes to show you what I mean.  Because SU no longer sells page protectors besides in 8x8" size, I am purchasing divided page protectors online or at the craft stores with 40% coupons.  

For this page, I dropped four pictures in.  For the other two slots, I embellished two sheets of 4x6" designer paper.  

This is such a quick and easy technique, and I am loving it.  It sort of brings together card-making and scrapbooking all in one.  Decorating areas 4x6 at a time is so much easier for me than decorating a whole 12x12" layout.  You can use any ratio of pictures to decorative quadrants.  Let your pictures dictate what you decide for each page.  

This method of "drop-in" scrapping certainly uses less adhesive, which is another great bonus!  

This method also helps you use up some of your stamping stash, which is also awesome!  Here I used doilies, stamps, a brad, twine, washi tape, a tag, etc.  

I also like to throw in some office supplies like the white adhesive labels for quick notes.  Slap them right onto the pictures...it looks so cute!  

Here's the thing, you can buy expensive kits for doing this kind of scrapbooking.  But I figure I have a TON of supplies already at my disposal.  I want to use them!  The SU designer papers can be a HUGE contribution to "drop-in" scrapbooking.  

So here is what I did.  I had a ton of 12x12" double-sided papers AND 6x6" double-sided papers from all our paper shares.  But 4x6" seems to be the best size for my new scrapbooking methods.  Sometimes I use page protectors with 4x4" or 3x4" slots...but those can easily be cut from 4x6" papers.  So 4x6" was the choice for me.  

Here is my new basket of designer papers for scrapbooking!  All cut 4x6" and ready to grab for scrapping!  I have them separated by their themes because layouts look great when I use the same theme of papers.  

This basket of papers is so neat and tidy.  And it's holding, seriously, SEVERAL of my 12x12 papers and a TON of my old 6x6" papers.  

Above are my former 12x12" packs.  Each pack is cut down to 4x6" and kept together with a rubber band.  

If you are afraid to cut down all your 12x12" papers, the awesome thing is that SU gives you TWO of each sheet.  So I kept 1 set of the designs in 12x12".  Then I cut down the 2nd set of designs to 4x6".  

Here are my former 6x6" paper shares.  I cut them down to 4x6" of course.  Then I put them into the clear envelopes that SU sells.  Those things are so awesome.  Seriously, you get 50 for $4.95!  What great storage!  The leftover pieces of DSP are 2x6" and would make two 2x3" tags easily.  The bags hold together all the scraps.

I'll show you a little further.  This is one of the 6x6" paper shares cut down so you can see exactly what I did.  6 sheets of 4x6" and 6 pieces of 6x2".  The 6x2" pieces would make great tags but would also be great for punching out images. I'm saving the 4x6" for dropping into page protector slots, though.  ;)

The great news is that SU is starting to sell items very conducive to my new scrapbooking method.  I picked up all these fantastic holiday themed products, and they will be perfect for embellishing 4x6" sections in my scrapbook.  The Season of Style Paper Stack is just $6.95.  The Tag Kit is one of my favorites, $10.95 for pre-cut tags, ink spots, twine, stamps...love!  The Season of Style Journaling Tags seem to be a hidden secret in the Holiday Catalog.  I keep having to point them out to people.  They are on page 22.  Look at all that pre-printed awesomeness!  They come in varied sizes, and you can just slap them into scrapbooks (or use them for cards!).  Seriously, just $4.95 for all those heavy-weight tags, 35 of them!  I forgot to picture the matching washi tapes, get three for just $4.95.  The price points on all these great scrapbooking items makes me very happy.  I hope SU keeps pumping out new designs because I will buy them all!

SU also has stickers that go with this Christmas theme.  And right now you can get a Bundle of some of this goodness with the Holiday Sale!  Ends tomorrow.  Get stickers, the journal tags, a smash book, and fun rotary stamp for 20% off, $21.44.  Smash books are a whole other easy scrapbooking method.  We will talk about those another day!  

While SU is not selling 12x12" scrapbooking materials, they ARE doing 8x8".  And they have the drop-in page protectors!  Here are the 8x8" supplies in the Holiday Catalog and they are part of the 20% sale ending tomorrow, too.  The album is $11.96 and a set of 10 divided page protectors is $3.96.  

  

NOW...I feel so much better telling you all my new secrets to easy scrapbooking.  It's not all SU supply related, but that's ok.  Find the albums and protectors that you want, and then get out your SU supplies and put them to good use!  

I also will soon be offering some 4x6" kits that will be very conducive to this kind of scrapbooking AND to card-making so stay tuned!  I may just have a Cyber Deal coming up...so you won't want to miss out!  

I'd love to hear what you think.  Have you seen "drop-in" scrapping?  Have you tried it?  Do you think it looks like something you could handle?  I would love to get many of you back into this hobby that you love...just in an easier and less time-consuming way.  Let me know if you are thinking about joining!