Right as Rain - Cardmaking and Scrapbooking with Jean Manis

Organizing My Cardstock

Hello! My cardstock is stored in IKEA magazine files in a closet, where it’s protected from sunlight and fading. I’ve tried multiple ways to organize my cardstock over the years, but I’m finally settling on a system that makes sense for how I actually use it.

The original plan was to organize everything by color hue and shades. In theory, it made perfect sense, but in practice, not so much.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated cardstock from many different companies, including Bazzill, Simon Says Stamp, Stampin’ Up!, Taylored Expressions, Spellbinders, Gina K., Memory Box, Lawn Fawn, and others. I combined all of those papers into one color-based system. It could take a while to find the color I wanted. Furthermore, once I had a pile of cardstock out on my desk, putting it all back where it belonged was a challenge. Shown below is a cart with magazine holders that became a temporary holding place for cardstock after I finished a card, except that “temporary” sometimes turned into a pile waiting to be put away.

When I got the complete line of Spellbinders cardstock, I swatched all of the colors. With the Color Swatch Petal die and Color Swatch Names stamp set from Spellbinders, tailor-made for this purpose, I created a swatch deck. That deck is shown below, along with one from Bazzill that I have owned for a long time.

I put the Spellbinders cardstock into magazine files with dividers labeling the colors. The cardstock is sorted by color to match the swatch deck. Because I was using Spellbinders cardstock regularly on my projects, I had the colors right beside me while I worked and quickly became familiar with the collection. The combination of the swatch deck and the organized cardstock made the system work really well for me. And that’s when I realized that this is the system I want.

Rather than trying to force all of my cardstock into one giant color-sorted collection, I want to create this same kind of system for the other cardstock lines. I plan to organize my cardstock by brand and color. I’ll give each major cardstock line its own section, with the cardstock sorted by color within that system.

Swatch Charts Are Part of the Plan The other part of this project is making swatch charts for the cardstock. When available, I’m using inventory templates and downloadable resources offered by the manufacturers.

One System at a Time I’m not going to try to reorganize everything at once. I plan to prioritize the cardstock systems I use most, organize and swatch those, and then work my way through the others.

I want to create a system that makes it easy for me to:

- - find the cardstock I want
  - see what colors I own
  - easily put away the cardstock
  - reorder cardstock when I need it.

Sometimes organizing isn’t about sticking with the original plan. It’s about paying attention to what isn’t working and changing the system.

Fall Quilt-Inspired Card

Hello! I’m really enjoying letting the season guide my cardmaking right now. For this card, I chose a palette of orange, navy, warm yellow, and off-white. To begin, I used the Taylored Expressions Quilted cutting plate die (now retired) to create a quilt frame from Lawn Fawn Speckled Eggshell cardstock. I love quilts, but I don’t quilt, except with paper!

- I heat-embossed the Penny Black 30-863 Autumn is Calling sentiment on Taylored Expressions Blue Corn cardstock, trimmed it to fit in the center square, and glued it to the back of the frame. I backed the frame with an A2-size panel of the Blue Corn cardstock and added the assembly to a card base.
- Next, I added texture to four cardstock panels (TE Blue Corn, TE Sweet Potato Pie, TE Pineapple, and Lawn Fawn Speckled Eggshell) with the Spellbinders Starshine Background cutting plate.
- Finally, I cut each pierced panel with the quilt die and inlaid the pieces into the frame.
- I finished the card with a die-cut needle and thread (TE Little Bits – Needle & Thread). It seemed like the perfect little detail for the quilt theme.

This is the kind of seasonal crafting I’m enjoying: choosing a few colors that feel like fall, working with the themes of the season, and finding new ways to use the supplies already in my collection. It’s satisfying to shop my craft room and discover that I already have everything I need.

My Embossing Folders Needed a System

Hello! I’m continuing my creativity reset, and this time I’m tackling my embossing folders. Like my background stamps, they’ve accumulated over the years, and they’ve ended up in a variety of places and configurations. As I sort through them, I’m trying to make them easier to find, which means giving them a system that makes sense to me.

I’m storing the folders by manufacturer and size, keeping 2D and 3D folders separate. For example, within the Spellbinders bins, I have A2-size folders, 2D large-format folders, 3D large-format folders, and kit club folders. The Taylored Expressions folders are shown below; they are all the same size. As I sort through all of my embossing folders, I am putting the fall-themed, Halloween, and Christmas ones towards the front of the bins.

I pulled out some seasonal cardstock colors and created swatch cards, then used several fall-themed embossing folders to create sample panels. If I don’t use the panels on cards, I can keep them with the folders as examples of the designs.

Embossing Folder Pros: Quick and easy; use cardstock you already have; add subtle texture that does not compete with the focal image; little mess; switch the cardstock color for a different look.

Embossing Folder Cons: Require an embossing machine; you need to know the correct machine “sandwich” for different folders; some folders work better on certain machines; folders take up storage space and can accumulate quickly; some designs are less versatile; and advanced techniques, like inking, add supplies and cleanup.

Do I need more? After sorting through my embossing folders and seeing what I already have, I’d have a hard time justifying the purchase of any more. Sometimes buying something new is easier than doing the less exciting work of sorting through what we already own. We see a card we love, decide we need the same supplies, and never stop to consider that we may already have something that would work just as well.

Taylored Expressions | Fall Farm Scene

There’s something especially satisfying about building a little scene on a card. For this farm-themed design, I pulled out older Taylored Expressions supplies (from 2016). I combined them to create a cozy farm scene with a pickup truck, pumpkins, a barn, a tractor, and a windmill. An embossing folder adds texture to the foreground, suggesting a hayfield. I used an Elizabeth Craft Designs sentiment stamped on a cloud. This card came together with supplies I already had, and I enjoyed creating a seasonal card.

Supply List
Taylored Expressions dies: On the Road – Truck, Cloud Duo, Build a Scene – Rolling Hills, Little Bits – Halloween Scene, Little Bits – Fall Harvest, Build a Scene – Farm Fence, Little Bits – Barn, Little Bits – Tractor, Little Bits – Windmill
Taylored Expressions Weathered embossing folder
Taylored Expressions cardstock: Cherry Pop, Candy Corn, Sweet Potato Pie, Pineapple, Sweet Basil, Blueberry, Earl Gray, Sugar Cube, Black Licorice
Elizabeth Craft Designs Autumn Words sentiment set

Crafting Is an Inventory Problem

Hello! When you see a beautiful card on Instagram, Pinterest, or a blog, it’s easy to focus on the supplies that went into making it. What you don’t see is where all those supplies will live after you buy them. Every new product becomes one more thing to store, organize, and find. That’s especially apparent as I work through my crafting supplies. As part of my creative reset, I’ve been sorting my background stamps and moving them into consistent storage pockets. I’m also pulling seasonal stamps forward so I can actually see what I have when I’m ready to make fall, Halloween, or Christmas cards.

It’s a small shift, but it changes how I think about buying supplies. Before buying a product I see online, I’m asking: Do I already have something I could use? And if I buy this, where will I keep it?

Background stamps are versatile and relatively inexpensive. One stamp can create dozens of looks by changing the ink and cardstock. But they’re also another category to store, along with the inks and cardstock needed to use them.

And that’s what I’m realizing through this reset: crafting is an inventory and organizational problem. The more supplies I accumulate, the more important it becomes to know what I have and where it is. That matters to my cardmaking mojo. Good organization reduces the friction between having an idea and actually making something.

While sorting my background stamps, I found several I’d completely forgotten about. I pulled out some neutral cardstock and stamped them.

I didn’t need anything new. I just needed to find what I already had. And on that note, I’m back to my sorting.