Last month Alexa posted
a very funny description of preparing for a crop which reminded me of my own pathetic attempts at getting ready to make the most of some creative "me" time.
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| My cheap & cheerful rolling tote |
- For my very first crop I forgot to take anything to cut paper with - no scissors, no craft knife, no trimmer - tricky! Not the best impression to make on people I'd never met before - luckily my fellow croppers were better prepared and willing to share.
- A couple of months later I forgot to take a cutting mat - when I got home it was still waiting by the back door. Now I have a small A4 mat permanently tucked into the back of my Stanley Robox - it's kinder on the crop tables!
- One time I arranged to meet up with some UKS friends at a fantastic all-day crop about an hour's drive from home. No lunch! Luckily there was plenty of cake ... I was slightly hyper on the drive home, not to mention several pounds heavier!
- I love joining in with sketch challenges and will prepare papers and photos ready for crops - great unless you forget to print the sketch too - thankfully one or two of my fellow croppers have phones that do more than make calls and will look the sketches up on the internet for me.
- The ultimate fail, as far as cropping forgetfulness goes, has to be the time when I had gathered specific supplies, including paper, card, embellishments, ribbon, ready trimmed photos, sketches ... everything I could possibly need for a whole series of pages ... this was going to be a super creative day. The fly in the ointment? I left ALL my photos behind. Every one! Luckily Hubby was home and was able to tell me the dimensions of each photo; I used scraps of card as temporary place-holders and substituted them with the pics on my return home!
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The first meeting of a crop that I helped to set up at the beginning of the month.
For once I remembered everything, including the brownies and shortbread! |
Do you crop with friends? How do you remember not to forget stuff? All hints and tips gratefully received!
I forget things too - even pictures to scrap. I either run back home and get what I need or my friends are always more than willing to share. I'm lucky that most of the time I am fairly close to home either at day crops I host at my local volunteer fire department or at a home of one of my scrappy friends.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by your photo of the Stanley thinger (?) What is that? I have never seen one before.
I so enjoyed reading your random organizational problems! I've cropped with friends a few times and can't remember that I forgot anything I needed. However, I always find that other people bring a lot more stuff than me, so I go around and visit and try everyone's tools so I can add items to my wish list when I get home! LOL
ReplyDeletelol Yes like you I forget things, I usually take things with me that I won't want either, too much stuff, my favourite forgettables are my cutting mat and ruler and once I left behind the pps I wanted to use.
ReplyDeleteOh my! I love your Stanley Robox, it's awesome! You must be pretty impressived rocking up at a crop with that thing. LOL I've never been to a crop, but if I do, I'll definitely try and remember to take cutting tools/mat, lunch, sketches and photos!!
ReplyDeleteI so want to go to a crop, but I can't find one locally. I treated myself to a full day job with classes once in Stratford upon Avon and my ex came down to take our daughter round the sights and on the river.
ReplyDeleteThat time it was he who forgot: to take any photos - FAIL!
I would love to go to a crop unfortunately there are none near me. This made me think though - do you remember to bring everything back home again? Love your Post :0)
ReplyDeleteI used to go to a crop but it fizzled out because of lack of numbers :(
ReplyDeleteI was always forgetting something though! Love this post xx
The first time I went to a local crop was also the first time I'd ever scrapbooked. I turned up with a small 'birthday present' type bag filled with actual scraps - newspaper cuttings, book pages and pieces of wrapping paper.
ReplyDeleteOnce they stopped laughing, the people at the crop couldn't have been nicer and everyone gave me a little bit of something to try working on my first layout.
I've never been to a crop. I think I'd probably love the social side of it, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't scrap anything. I need peace and quiet for scrapbooking.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know I'm not the only one inclined to forget a necessary ingredient! I'm getting better though. If I have time to "prepare" for a crop, I'm usually pretty ready to go!
ReplyDeleteI have only been to a few crops but can never believe the amount of 'stuff' that most people take with them!
ReplyDeleteAlison xx
wow you make me feel organised thanks...my trick...make a list and check it off, simples
ReplyDeleteI'm a digiscrapper, so packing for a crop is a bit different for me than for a paper scrapper. Still I manage to bring lots of stuff--computer, external hard drives, my pen tablet, etc., plus stuff to share (scrapbooks, candy, ATCs). The one thing I usually forget that I wish I had is a thumbdrive in order to easily share things with other scrappers.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I'm more concerned about forgetting something at the crop site than I am about leaving something at home. I double- and triple-check that I have everything I came with when it's time to leave.
I crop twice monthly (sometmes 3 times!!) with friends.... how do I remember everything? I don't unpack my crop bag!!
ReplyDeleteOh my... someone who's as bad as me! :lol:
ReplyDeleteI've only been to a couple of crops but on the first one I went to I over-compensated and took everything bar the kitchen sink! :lol: I think the ladies, who I'd not met before, were a bit surprised to see my struggling down the stairs (it was in the basement of a local craft shop) with a wheely trolley, an artbin, at least one other box etc etc! :lol:
Now I go to a local craft group that meets every other week just for 2 or so hours - my problem is that it starts just around the time my kids go to bed and I never seem to get organised enough to pack stuff up earlier in the day so I end up putting the kids to bed, throwing some random bits in an artbin and jumping in the car. This week I took with me some ATCs, a stamp, a paintbrush and some spray inks, intending to stamp the images, spritz ink onto my craft mat and use the brush to paint with... except I forgot the craft mat AND... an inkpad! I had nothing to stamp with! :lol: Luckily I had also taken some new unmounted stamp sets and some U-Mount so I sat there and mounted stamps instead! :lol:
I think I'm spoiled by having a craft room at home now.. I am too used to being able to turn around and look for things as I want them and I seem incapable of being organised enough to assemble things I can work on away from the craft room!
Ali
Great post - has me smiling in recognition! I always hope that someone will lend me what I need!
ReplyDeleteYour post made me laugh. I think we've all been there a time or two...some of us, maybe more than others. LOL. I host crops at my house, so I can't forget things! But in turn, I never actually get to scrapbook. Once a month for 4 years, and I've hardly completed any layouts during those crops! I eat and visit and eat and look at everyone else's stuff...oh and help everyone...did I say I eat? I'm constantly running back and forth grabbing tools and small supplies for everyone else who forgets! LOL. But I LOVE it! I wish you lived closer so you could come too!
ReplyDelete*meridy*
I run a crop and have done since 2000... my best suggestion is to hold it next door so you can walk back and collect things. Which does mean people ask if they can borrow x or do you have any y but hey.
ReplyDeleteI make up page kits now - photos, sketch or at least notes of a couple of ideas including some journaling, cardstock and anything else I need. Use some plastic wallets I bought years ago and then pile them up in a pizza box.
If I don't have time or space for kits I at least do the mental planning and then grab roughly what I need.
Your RoBox made me smile - remember when they were all over UKS. I had a square box tote, these days tho' it's all pizza boxes and RUBs when I go to teach or crop away from home and further than next door.
I have a pdf checklist that a certain lady sent me once! Shall I send it back to you???
ReplyDeleteHere's to not forgetting anything on Saturday!!! :)