Organizing TPT Purchases

Since school got out in June I have been on a MAJOR overhaul.......Cleaned out the closets, garage, Den......I am FINALLY getting around to the computer files......I have 2 computers ....2 External Hard Drives (1 & 2 TB) and a billion (not joking) flash drives! Life got busy and well it is going to take a while! I thought I'd share some things I have found that have been helping along the way. These may or may not work for you.

First of all a product share

SOURCE

This is the bomb........This is perfect for having all your purchases in one place! Ashley goes into depth HERE.

For mine, I did do the images a bit different than she shows. I went to the TPT product and downloaded to a file the product image directly to my computer(right click save image). Sometimes I had to find the link from blog posts. Then when I am done I just delete the files....

Also for my graphics files (clipart) I do it a bit different ....I print contact sheets of each product.
On windows go to the product folder click on one of the files and then click ctrl +A to select all of them.....

Then I hit the print button

TIP: Unclick Fit Picture to Frame (this makes entire image print)

And select contact sheet. Now I print my using NITRO PDF to save them as pdf''s but you can just print each one to your own printer.  I keep the pdf within the file as a back up .....These contact sheets I file in the binder above under graphics so I can see what each one has.

On my computer I use a program I've had from my digital scrapbooking days called ASDSee
(this is awesome product, but I am just sharing one component)

I mark each graphic with a label (Graphic) then a category (Seuss) ......I love that I can mark a file (in this case graphic) with multiple categories. I can then search all my files for Seuss and find them in hurry. I am not going to lie I am WAY behind on this. It is labor intensive in all aspects but at the end of it will my life that much easier!

There you have it! I will back soon with more!

Library info and pictures......

First of all I wanted to share a picture, all summer many of us in the drought prayed, begged, pleaded for rain. Wouldn't you know the minute we turn in our crops for a loss(it wouldn't have mattered but still)

A neighbor a few miles over, didn't get a drop....I kept saying all summer, let me do recess duty and at the exact time it starts it would rain.
2ND warning long post AHEAD....
Now on to the library organization. As you know, I applied for a grant via donor's choose. It was for 30 baskets, a bookshelf, and supplies for organizing the classroom libraries. Now, where I got the idea that the baskets would be enough to share in more than one classroom, I am not sure.  But let me tell you I was getting a little worried on day one, while sorting my coworkers classroom. We went thru 30 baskets like there was no tomorrow. So here are a few tips and tricks I learned along the way.

Library organization tips and tricks

First of all, if you are going to use your classroom library and have students check books out here is the site you need.

FAQ's

Now if you are like me and will just use your books for classroom read alouds or projects. Here is the site for you.

Tour

Neither one is perfect. In fact ISBN's are tricky. Some pop right up. Others take some work finding. But in the end it is worth it Here are some sites I used to find isbn’s for the books.

I also had luck with finding the books better on librarything then copying the isbn to booksource. If that didn’t work I went to amazon and typed in the title and copied the isbn number from there. Note newer books were fine, But my coworker’s library used to be the previous teacher’s and well she was my first grade teacher …. So there were some books published every decade since.

Some sites for reading level help

http://www.jmeacham.com/leveled.books.htm
https://leveledbooks.beaverton.k12.or.us/
http://classroom.jc-schools.net/pohl...lingbooks.html
http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx
http://listbuilder.scholastic.com/we...0&beginIndex=0
http://listbuilder.scholastic.com/we...?storeId=10001
http://www.leeandlow.com/books/

http://lexile.com/fab/

In the end what I did was load them into Library thing, Export an excel when done. Put into a template from Booksource and upload to their site.

When it came to the labeling. We had already made a categories when I found These

Reagan's Labels 

Do NOT try and do this for yourself. These are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it. Read more about her labels HERE. I had to start from scratch and do these. OY.......the best $10 you will ever spend. Believe you me. Here are some pictures.........But warning ignore the room, We were allowed to come in Only to work on the books as the follow up was due to donor's choose the first week of school. I will share the wonderful job my coworker Andrea did decorating in a later post.

Had to buy another scanner so we could both scan in the books.

Funny story, I shared this pic with friends on facebook,

Sigh ....@Andrea has the EXACT copy of Velveteen Rabbit as I did as a kid......

 Only to find out it WAS from when I was  in that room in 1st. LOL....

And here is the final reveal 

What I know for sure is.....There was several times, when I called Andrea saying WHY are we doing this again. Frustrated with no isbn's, technology glitches but in the end it was soooooooo worth it. Andrea had her kids help out, they were great. Thanks for letting me share!

Pinterest inspired

Made it Monday #4

I am linking up again with Monday Made it, I did make this Monday, but waited until spray paint dried.....and dried..now we have a heat advisory in IL...really as I was sweating and sweating again while painting. Guess I would have just passed out if I did it now.....

Close up of the water line from flood ....power washed these before painting

Watching the paint dry and dry

As you know I am cleaning/purging. When this house was built, it wasn't known at the time but it was built amongst a sand vein, so the sump pump go through about 900 gallons a day. This was confirmed after our sump pump died for the 3rd time in 6 years. (we are talking HEAVY duty one at that) So before this was all figured out, we had two massive floods in the basement. One was 18 inches, the other was 10. So ALOT was destroyed....But these cabinets were salvaged. That  was my mission to make over these. (As you can see they were a hot mess to say the least) Below are my inspiration pins......

Final Source

My Version is on left (green and white polka dot vinyl)

Sorry IPhone pictures in basement!

Next up is something home, (but could be used in the classroom)

source

A gal I know is getting married (I am doing crafts on my cameo for her) but her shower was this past weekend. I saw this, loved the idea of the initials, but wanted they could use after the shower. So here is my adaptation. Scrabble magnets.

 What I used in this:
Kitchen items all from Kohl's (her registry)

Avery Magnet Sheets	Scotch TL901 9" Laminating Machine	Scrabble Tiles Alpha
Silhouette CAMEO Info

InLinkz.com

There you have my latest! Hope you learned that while pinterest gives us great ideas, we can adapt it to our own ideas! Thanks for checking in!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
 Btw thanks to Ashley from The Polka Dot Patch I kept seeing Blogpress on her posts, I have been looking for a Way to upload my iphone pics from the phone directly to my Blog....woohoo, I thank you! My ISP thanks you (uploading via phone instead of them) go check her blog it is awesome, and so is she!

What works in Organizing

As you know I am in the Mother of all Purging/Organizing missions here at home,(it also includes my entire classroom currently housed in my basement future post on that one) But as I do this, I wanted to share things I have found that ARE working ..... A few years back, I went to IKEA to get furniture for my den/craft room. I had thought this out for months/years. So when I went I knew exactly what I wanted, no time to dally ...Here's what works...(sorry no current pictures until I get it cleaned up)and they are iphone pics....

Here is the view from the door way, I love my expedit desk

Here is what I use to organize within the cubbies, and of course my old pepsi crates

Did I mention I have a slight obsession with buckets!

I had these strips of wood added around the room to make sure all my things were secure

Love punches, the back of the door organizer holds all of my small and border punches...

Each drawer is labeled like this

yep an entire drawer of adhesives

Love Love this, the shelves hold my scrapbook paper containers like this

The drawers hold my dies (which I don't use much now with cameo)

I will show more details when I am done with it, but noted alot of people are crafting this summer, and looking for furniture for their homes. I use more of my supplies on school projects than I do scrapbooking! Just thought I'd share ......I am trying to get some outdoor projects done before the REAL heatwave hits IL, upper 90's, even with some 100 degree temperatures ....Yuck....

Blog planning

I have the best of intentions of posting. But then life gets in the way. Since school has been out on May 25th, I have been with the help of my 11 year old and 14 year old nieces been purging/organizing the house. I have much much more to do, but one of the places I wanted to add organization to is blog planning. So I went in search of printable blog planners (free as let me tell you I have spent $$ on things already) here are some of the ones I found.

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

 

 

The last one also has a blank Lesson planner

 I am going to use each for a week, and see how I like it. Just thought I'd share!  Also ........

If you download these leave the ladies a comment thanking them!

Pinterest find(Freebie)

Source

I saw this on pinterest and clicked through to Here. Problem being I don't draw to save my life!

So I got onto PSE and with Lettering Delights DB What-Nots & Notes I made my own version!

 

 Rachel even gave sizes of each square. Woohoo! Below is my version. I made it on legal size paper, printed in black and white and then laminated it. I used this the last weeks of school, and am using it currently for my massive organizing projects. I find it helps me break things down! Hope you enjoy, leave me comment letting me know if you used it!