Tackle It Tuesday - Organizing Your Space Part 3

Those hopes for catching up over the weekend - I got some of it.  Sort of.  I did finish my house.  It is officially out-of-season; and that was the big one.  I did a menu for almost the entire week.  I needed to hit the grocery store to make Monday's dinner, so I still need a plan for Thursday and Friday (which probably means another trip to the store.)  I also cleared the laundry room of all the giveaways stacked in there.  They are boxed and waiting to be put in my car.  I also have the post started for recipes that I forgot about over the holidays.  I would have gotten to more, but we took an impromptu trip to down to southwestern Colorado, and that took all day.

But, you just carry over the remaining and keep plugging away.  Much like dealing with your creative space, whether it's tucked away in kitchen cabinets or you have a full, dedicated space.  You keep plugging away, because in the end de-cluttering is freeing and inspiring.

Repost:  January, 2013

I've talked a lot about my work process for being creative.  Knowing how you work is important as you purge your way through your space and/or supplies.

Today is about finding out your work flow.  

• Design First - means some type of design element inspires how you start your work, whether it's a font, a color combo or some other element.

• Story First - you have your title in mind, maybe you've already written your journaling.  Creating your page is because of the story you're telling.  Everything you select once you know your story, supports its telling.

• Photos First - it's all about the photo(s).  Your ideas about your layout and journaling come from the photos themselves.

• Supplies First - the products in your space are all the inspiration you need, whether it's the plaid of a paper or the sparkle of the buttons - you see the product and you know what photos you want to pair them with.

This is where the book comes in handy, because the workbook has a quiz to help you figure out your process.  If you're not sure what your process is sit down to create and just pay attention to how you work.  Are you flipping through your kits first?  Or maybe you have a journal of things your kids said.  If you're always looking for tools for your layouts, you'll know you need to round them up, maybe into a station of sorts, but at the very least keep them out and at hand.  If you never reach for the sketch books but they're lined up on your table, it's either time to pass them on or at least move them behind close doors and make room for something you do need at the ready.

How this works for me:

My approach starts with products.  It's one of the reasons I'll probably always be a paper scrapper; the tactile feel of the supplies.  I love the colors.  The patterns.  The sparkle.  So yeah, products kinda do it for me.  I pick a kit and then pull photos to go with it.  Followed by the design, whether I use sketches or just push stuff around.  For me title and the journaling come last.  

Because I know this about how I work, it translates to how I set up my space.  Knowing I need to see my supplies to use them, means that the supplies I use most are sorted (for the most part) by color and are kept where I can see them.  But things like my tools, which aren't as big a deal to my design are stored behind closed doors.

Take some time in your process to figure out how you work so you can set up your space and your supplies to help that process and you'll find your time is spent creating not searching.

Like previous posts in this series the majority of the information is inspired by the book "The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker."  Read Part one and two, if you missed them.

Happy Tuesday,