Quiet Book Week - Keeping Organized

 As any quilter, scrapbooker, or crafter would agree organization is key! I used a binder to keep everything together and sorted, however you could use whatever you wanted. I'd like to show you what worked for me.

 In my front cover I kept all of my receipts. I purchased a lot of things I didn't end up using and I wanted to track the cost of the final product. 

 My first page was my original brain storm of pages. I threw them all on paper and picked the ones I wanted.

 From there I made a map that detailed which page went where, what backed onto what and what color ric rac I would use around each edge. I am just one of those people that needs ideas on paper. I mean I'm starting to plan Ethnie's first birthday and I have all sorts of notes written down!

The next page was an 11x11 template so I could see just how big everything was on the page. I drew a dotted line where the finished seam would be.

 Each page had it's own sheet protector. Which held all of the goodies. 

 Inside each page was 1) Color pictures of the page I wanted. 2) The pattern printed out on full sheets of paper. I did this so if ever a friend wanted a copy then it would be no problem to whip it out and photo copy it! 3) The cut out pattern in a zippie bag. Lets be serious, quiet books have A TON of itty bitty pieces. I put them all in a zippie with name of the page written in sharpie.

 Same pattern one is cut one is in full. 

 Once I got to the cutting stage I would use a tiny piece of rolled up tape to keep the paper from sliding all over the place on the felt. There is in fact a right and a wrong side to felt so watch out for that.  Once the piece was cut I left it with the pattern taped to it until I was ready to sew it all together. I knew I wouldn't be able to remember what was what. For the most part I cut out every page and then I sewed them all so I could be at the same step with everyone. I found I got discouraged when I would make a page in it's entirety and then be back to square one for the next page.

 If I saw something I liked about a page I would print it out and make a note of what I liked so I could incorporate several ideas into one page, plus if you have a memory like mine you may look back at the picture and say... "Why do I have this?" Small notes take a lot of the guess work out of things!

 For my original pages I did the same thing as I did for the patterns I printed of line. I drew it up and kept a master and then I made a copy and cut it up.

 I would also diagram out my original pages before I started to cut anything. I learned this the hard way. After throwing away a lot of supplies I decided to make the big decisions on paper first. Paper is cheaper than fabric! :)

 For the wise men and other people I wrote out instructions of how to sew them together. It was tough let me tell you. I was so worked up about them I had dreams. I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel all over again.

 For my fonts this is exactly what I did. I printed them off of the computer, held them up to the window and traced it on with a disappearing marker. A super simple way to get uniform words!

I know I am OCD. I have come to terms with that, so this book may be a little over the top for you. I'm just telling you what worked for me and I hope it might be able to help a few people out! Happy crafting! May the force be with you!!!