Organizing Chipboard By Shape
In today's Craft The Story video (Episode 8) I'm taking you on an adventure with me as I organize my chipboard by shape + then make a layout using some of those pieces to support my story.
Chipboard is one of my favorite embellishments to add to my projects. Most of the chipboard pieces we offer in the shop and in our subscriptions include words ( that's on purpose) and I love looking through them for story jumpstarts as well as for words to support my stories.
For awhile now I've been wanting to organize a box of random chipboard pieces that live in a drawer of my work table. Inside that box you'll find a collection of pieces that have been punched out of their backing from various kits + product releases from the last few years. In a few different videos I've dumped them out on the table to sift through them to see if I could find one to support a story I was telling. For awhile I also stored chipboard standing up in Dragan Boxes from Ikea and then at some point I started punching them out and putting them all together into this box.
Check out a post about breaking up my Story Kits here.
My goal today was to organize and sort the majority of my chipboard by shape and then store them in plastic embroidery thread boxes (I'm pretty sure this idea came from Krystal at some point last year - maybe something from the December Daily® Prep Day event). I can tell you that I'm super happy I took the time to organize these by shape because it opens up a whole different way of looking at my chipboard. I think punching the pieces out of the backing + sorting by shape is really going to work for me - especially after I have used the main pieces of a chipboard sheet for a particular project.
My current stash of chipboard fit into two of these plastic storage boxes from Amazon.
This seriously brought me a whole lot of joy when I was done.
Sorting by shape now gives me the opportunity to use them in "shape groups" on my projects which is way easier to do when they are all grouped together vs. looking through sheets for specific shapes. As someone who returns to repetition again and again in the way that I design my pages this makes me so darn happy. Breaking them up and taking them out of their backing and placing them into new homes based on their shape is giving them new life because I get to see them in a different way.
Let's take a look at today's video:
Here's a look at the layout I created after organizing my chipboard:
For this layout I enlarged a photo I shared on Instagram recently to 7 inches wide x 8.25 inches tall (the size of the outside of a page protector in a 6 inch x 8 inch album). I took the journaling directly from my Instagram post and copied and pasted it into a box in Photoshop (I got those measurements by using a ruler to measure how much space I wanted my story to take up).
Above my journaling I added pattern paper from the Heart Scrapbook Kit (this new quarterly subscription will be available on Tuesday, March 2nd at 9am PST) and added a stack of chipboard pieces that are all the same shape.
I loved mixing the fonts and colors together and keeping the shape the same. I was able to select a few different sentiments that related to and/or supported the story about what I've recently been reading + my general love of books.
On top of the main photo I added a foam stickers for my title and use chipboard asterisk pieces for the dots and a rolling date stamp for the date.
SUPPLIES
- Plastic Embellishment Storage Boxes
- Ikea Dragan Storage Box
- Heart Scrapbook Kit Pattern Paper from our new Quarterly Scrapbook Kit: this will be available on Tuesday, March 2 at 9am PST
- Various chipboard pieces from past projects + kits (chipboard comes in every Story Kit + Stories By The Month Kit)
- Chipboard Asterisks
- American Crafts Foam Word Stickers
- Metal Ruler
- Fiskars Trimer
- Epson Matte Presentation Paper
- 6 Hole Punch
- Scotch Rolling Adhesive
- 6x8 Albums
OTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO
- Craft Jen Schow Instagram
- Hybrid Product Play Workshop (includes how-to for the other project I show)
- Sweater
This was so fun to watch everything coming together! Great video Ali thanks!
Thank you!
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I'm loving the craft story videos every Friday. They bring so much joy. This has been my favorite one so far. I love the organizing, the ideas for using chipboard on a page and a completed layout. Thanks for the inspiration and the heart you put into everything you do.
Thank you!
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Another Friday another great video Ali.
I paused the video at around 20 minutes went up to my craft room and punched all the chipboard pieces out. It was seriously freeing to see all those tethered shapes become tangible elements for adding to my stories and I had ideas immediately for a couple of layouts.
Thanks Ali.
WOO HOO! I love that action!
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Loved this! Thanks for both the organizational and design inspiration! Looking forward to these videos every Friday also.
Thank you!
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What date stamp did you use?
Thanks Julie
This is the one I use: https://amzn.to/38fKQAT
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I seriously look forward to this every Friday! Thank you for all you do to support our efforts to tell our stories! Big love from BC!
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I did not think there was a thing I could learn in an organization of chipboard video and then there you went giving design ideas and whipping up a delightful page. Thank you for this series, Ali.
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Hi, the link to the post on breaking up story kits is showing an error?
Thanks Ali - loving the Friday videos
Hmmm - seems to be working when I click on it. Here's the link: https://www.aliedwards.com/2016/06/supply-organization-breaking-up-my-story-kits
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This has got me thinking about using chipboard in a new way, thank you Ali. Also, I love how the chipboard pieces feel like a stack of books :)
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Love this video! Great layout! This storage method would be awesome for when I have one or two pieces left on the “sheet”. Not a criticism, just an observation (that I know you’ll embrace because you’re awesome like that), my brain works differently so I couldn’t use this method for all of my chipboard...I would just end up tossing it all out.(ask me how I know this! 😂) Looking forward to seeing how it works for you.
It's all about finding what works for you to support your stories (and knowing what works + doesn't work for you is awesome).
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I had an "Aha" moment while watching this. I LOVE what you said that a story doesn't have to be "monumental". It reminded me of a letter I found from my Grandmother to my Father when he was overseas fighting in WWII. She was talking about ordering fabrics to upholster the dining room chairs and make curtains out of. She went on and on and I found it so much more interesting than some of the "big" stories in those letters because it was such a slice of life back then. My grandmother passed before I was born so I never met her but that little snippet told me so much about her. And now I think I have to document that in some way. Thank you for another inspiring video!
Yes! So glad that stood out to you.
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