Hi Everyone,
Hope you're having a great day!
I have been frustrated for a while by trying to keep track of all the little pieces of cardboard and paper that come with my quilting rulers.
Somehow I have managed to do it without any type of organizational system. But, they always seem to be in the way, and I'm always knocking over the stack. So, today, I decided to take charge of the situation.
I have read other people's tips for organizing these, and the one I thought sounded like it might work for me was to put them in a page protector and store them in a notebook. I love notebooks and office supplies about as much as I love plastic storage containers. Anyone else out there like that? I bet there's a lot of you...
So, I went shopping today. I figured I really didn't need a 3-ring binder. I don't have that many ruler instructions, and I don't foresee I will in the future. So, my thought was I'd purchase one of those presentation binders that have page protectors mounted in them permanently. I found one at Office Max for about $7. It had 24 plastic sleeves in it. Plenty. But, it was a little light weight and flimsy, and--well--it wasn't really that pretty...just plain white.
Then, I was in Barnes and Noble and saw this:
(insert romantic music playing and birds chirping...)
I was in love. This one was pretty and functional. It also had 24 page protectors mounted in it:
The cover felt so much more sturdy and heavy in the hand. I thought it was terrific. It was more money ($12 or $13), but I felt it was worth it.
Now, I could just stick my ruler instructions in these pockets, but here's the rub... They are all different sizes and would sort of float around in each page protector (making it awkward to turn the pages). Also, I was thinking that in order to use the instructions, then, I would have to take them out of the page protectors (a pain in the arse), and--I don't know about you, but--I'm pretty confident I would easily misplace one by taking it out. I thought, "Well, I could label the pocket so I would know what needs to go back in there..." but I know myself well enough to know I might not get it put back right away and it might get lost. Labeling it would only tell me which one was lost, not where it was!
So, I decided I would make a color photocopy of each side of the instructions and put them in the page protectors. That way, I can leave them in the book and just flip to the page I need.
So, for example, this large, fold-out set of instruction for the Fons and Porter Triangle Trimmers:
opened up to be about the size of two pieces of 8.5x11" paper. There was a front side (above)--all information I would want to keep. And...
the other side. The left half of the page contains instructions in English. The right side of the page is the identical set of instructions but written in Spanish. Well, I don't speak Spanish, so I figured I really didn't need those. I could copy this onto three different pieces of paper and put them in the sleeves.
Page 1
Pages 2 and 3
I know this takes up two page protectors instead of one (if I had just slid the instructions into one), but, I feel this size is more manageable (8.5x11" rather than twice that size) and easier to use when I need to refer to it. And I don't have to pull anything out of the sleeves to use the instructions.
The instructions for my Easy Angle Ruler were just front and back. So I just copied the front and the back and put them on facing pages so I could see both at the same time.
This set of instructions (for the Kaleido-Ruler) was a little more tricky. They were folded accordian style. The size of each panel was about 1/6th of a 8.5x11" piece of paper. And, it was printed front and back. So, it presented a challenge for how to copy it and get the panels in the right order. Here was my solution:
I cut the panels apart. I took them to my printer/copier. I put the four panels face down and made a color copy. Then, I turned over all four panels and copied the other side on another piece of paper.
So, now I had this. Now, I cut each of the paper copies apart into 8 different squares. I took two clean sheets of paper, and arranged them in the sequence that made the most sense and taped them down with Scotch tape.
Like this. I was going to copy them again so I wouldn't have the tape, but you really couldn't see the tape, and I figured it's going in a page protector, so it would be fine. I thought if I copied them again, the quality of the text might deteriorate more. So, I left it as is and put these in two facing page protectors, just like I did for the Easy Angle ruler.
Final step...
I got out the label maker to make a label for my new book:
Do you have one of these? I LOVE this label maker. I have a little handheld one, but I really like this one much better. I connects to your computer via a USB cable, like this:
(Please excuse the laundry in the background! My sewing room is in the laundry/utility room. LOL)
It requires no software whatsoever. You just plug it in and turn it on. When you turn it on, it boots up a little program that's stored on the device. You type what you want your label to say (you can change the font, size of font, whether it's one or two lines, etc) right on your computer keyboard. Press print, and out your label shoots. I love it. Way better than typing on those little keyboards on the handhelds, especially if you have a lot of labels to make. You can also save your labels on the computer, if you want.
Make two labels...one for the front and one for the spine.
I really love how this worked out. Now, this is up on the shelf and the instructions aren't in a stack on my desk...A stack that gets knocked over every time I try to sew.
See, I really can be organized about a few things. My dad would be really proud of this. :-) ha ha. He is so organized. I think I only got half of that gene, however, because it's pretty selective for me about what I'm organized with (whereas, Dad is organized about everything). I don't know about you, but on some days, I don't really feel like sewing; however, I want to be in my sewing room touching fabric, etc. Those are good days to clean and organize, I think. Today was one of those days. And my new sewing room is so small, I'm really trying to cull things down and get totally organized. I can't afford to have stuff laying around anymore.
Hope this was helpful. What strategies do you use to keep your instructions organized? I'd love to hear your ideas, especially if they involve getting some really cool new office supplies (that I then have to figure out how to organize and store).
Until next time,
Mama Pea
