Craftroom, Organizing, Scrapbook Layout

Tuesday Tips: Page Planning for Crops

Recently, I attended my first scrapbooking retreat “for fun”. I made a promise to myself this year that I would attend some events where I wasn’t a vendor or a host. The last time I did this was almost 20 years ago, which meant that I had to figure out a new way to pack to create scrapbook pages without taking my entire craft space. Today, I am going to share with you how I preplanned my page kits for my first crop.


I am overly-organized in my craft space and, to be honest, I get overwhelmed with too much “stuff”. I knew that I would feel the same way if I overpacked for the retreat, so I decided that page kit planning would be the best alternative.

Close to My Heart has some amazing plastic envelopes that work perfectly for page kit planning. They come in two sizes – 12″ and 6″ – and are extremely affordable, reusable, and durable.

In the catalog, these plastic envelopes are labeled as 12″ and 6″ envelopes, but their true measurements are 13″ square and 6-1/2″ square, so there is plenty of room to add memory protectors to your page kits.

Throughout the video, I walk you through my page planning process. I start with the photos and use them to help me chose the pattern papers, cardstock colors, and embellishments for my kit.

Now there is no way that I am going to use all the papers and cardstock pieces I picked for this kit, but it is much easier for me to have a small selection of pieces to choose from than it is to pack my plastic paper organizer bins.

To make the process easier, I took note of the colors on each of the pattern paper zip strips to help me choose the cardstock colors. Every current Close to My Heart paper has a product strip with a list of coordinating colors. I was able to reference these product strips and my Love of Color books to help me choose some colors to match the pattern papers and photos.

After I had chosen my papers and cardstock colors, I choose few embellishments for the kit. I will be bringing my diecut books to the retreat, so I won’t need to sort through those, but I will need to add some 12″ sticker sheets and other themed embellishments.

After everything has been added to the page kit from my craft space, I just need to place it inside the envelope and it’s ready to pack. These envelopes fit perfectly inside our travel case paper insert and our large plastic tub organizers.

These kits are compact, easy to travel with, and simple to create. All you need to do is pull out the kit you want to work on and make your scrapbook page.


For those who would like to see the full scrapbook layout process, I have created a quick Tuesday Tip video for you. I hope that it helps you the next time you pack for a crop or retreat.

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I hope that you enjoyed this week’s Tuesday Tip. Each month, I will be adding a few new Tuesday Tips to help you in your craft space. If there are any specific topics you wish for me to share, feel free to request those in the comments below.

I hope this inspired you to try something new. If you have any questions about this project or the supplies listed above, feel free to leave me a comment.

Hey friends! I wanted to let you in on the products I use in my videos. Just so you know, I’m not getting paid to promote any of them, but I do have some affiliate links available if you want to check them out. If you end up buying something through those links, it would mean a lot to me and my business. And don’t worry, you won’t be charged any extra. Thanks for your support! Learn more


Hey friends! I wanted to let you in on the products I use in my videos. Just so you know, I’m not getting paid to promote any of them, but I do have some affiliate links available if you want to check them out. If you end up buying something through those links, it would mean a lot to me and my business. And don’t worry, you won’t be charged any extra. Thanks for your support! Learn more

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