TJ Newsletter organization

No artwork of a visual nature for you today, but I think organization can be a form of art if it makes your life easier and frees up time and effort. :o)

You know by now how I love Technique Junkies for the constant influx of stamping ideas, but I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I like having the paper issues as well as the online access. Sometimes I find it easier to create without my computer on and I love being able to flip to the technique page and read thru the steps as I'm whipping up a card. The only downside - I use them so much I have a fear of wearing them out!! Or worse - gasp - blotting out a key word with an ink splotch!! LOL Here's the answer I came up with for myself and wanted to share:

This is a softsided booklet I picked up at Office Max for just over $5 (no sale on at the moment :'o( Wah, and LOL as I "need 6 more!) Each holds one year's worth of newsletters with extras (more on that below...) Inside are 24 permanantly affixed sheet protectors, and both the spine and cover can be filled with any paper (think hand decorated! Mine isn't there yet...) to customize the outside.

Inside the front cover pocket I have a listing of what I call Go-to techniques for the newsletters in the book and the month of the issue they can be found in. These are my pet-favorites - either quick and easy, low mess, or so stunning I can't resist!

Now here's the real beauty - each year of newsletters (with the exception of the first which I think is a couple months worth, and this year, which will be an extra page or two in the last two issues) contains 18 double sided pages, and there are 24 pages in the booklet, which means: you can either skip a page after each newsletter and file your technique extras from that issue in it, or leave all the blanks at the end like I did above and insert an index (the one in mine is the Index by Supplies for 2007 which can be found in the TJ File section of the group site). I actually pasted two columns on each piece of paper as it prints out in a single column and that just made it too many pages. As shown it just fills the extra pages! Woohoo!! Another option would be to just continue on with newsletter pages for the next year, but I personally like each year seperate.

The only drawback I can see to this method, if you are compulsive like I MIGHT be >;o), it's hard to cut that first newsletter down the middle to get single pages out of it. BUT, hang in there - the finished product feels great to handle and will be easy to store or carry along anywhere because it is flexible but seems well made. The spine measures 6/8" so it's narrower than most three-ring binders. I figure if it should get tired years down the road I can always move the newsletter pages to a ring binder with sheet protectors.


Here's a photo of the center, where you can see that the pages are in there pretty good. Sorry I don't have a full photo open to the pages with the newsletter in - I didn't want to infringe on copyright laws by duplicating Pat's material online, but you get the idea how awesome it looks!

Hope this helps as it hasn't been too beautiful to look at :o) For more organizational tips for your stamping area, go to the section labeled Index of Posts (on the sidebar) and click on Organizational Tutorials...