Monday, May 2, 2011

It's All in the Numbers---With a Twist!

I found the following article on-line years ago, but thought I would share it, since it still applies today!  The author (Rockester) had the right idea back then...create your own Counterfeit embellishments, rather than buying more supplies!!! 

YIKES!!!
"Did You Know? A Word About Stockpiling Scrapbook Supplies"

  Taken from organizedscrapbooks.com
  • "Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?
  • Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?
  • Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realise that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?
  • Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)
  • Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)
  • Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do approximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?
  • Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? (SHARE!!)
  • Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is 1 year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)
  • Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?
  • Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?
  • Did you know there are 1000's of free sketches online? Watch our links for sites. If you can't find those free ones online to print and refer to, or need ideas for crop parties, get Becky Higgins Creative Sketches book and also her Creative Companion book. Sketches are simply awesome for versatile formats of layouts.
  • Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? (And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $1300 spent per year.
  • Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way!
  • Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only 2 titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over 1/2 the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and clogging up precious storage space--never to be used again.
  • Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolee's, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do it yourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.
  • Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard?
  • How many pre-made ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!"

Just for fun...tell us how many inches of paper you have accumulated?  And how many pieces did you use up last month (April) doing the Counterfeit Kit Challenge?

21 comments:

  1. Awww heck at this rate I never ever ever need to buy again. I easily have 4 or more FEET of paper HOLY JUNK! But in my defense I have not done my purge for this year as of yet :( Oh well at least it is not drugs, alcohol, expensive shoes/purses or other men LOL!

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  2. Hahha!!! Man...don't let my hubby see this, he'll never let me buy scrapbook supplies again!

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  3. Wow, does that ever put it in prospective!! I would never have guessed I could do ALL my scrapping with what I have................

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  4. Why, Oh, Why did you post this??!! Now I will feel guilty every single time I even think about going to the craft store!!!! All I made this month was one page layout, two mini albums, one card and a tutorial. I did use some scraps in an interesting way, I will be posting that on Wednesday. I agree with Margie, my husband must never see that!!! HAHAHAHA!

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  5. Thanks Counterfeit Kit for allowing me the honor of guest designing and combating the four foot of paper I have assembled. Let's see the static on how shopping through your stash and using the counterfeit kit as motivation increases your scrapping speed. I'm with Crystal at least it's a healthy habit.

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  6. Feelings of guilt from my corner too! I have about 24 inches of paper and cardstock combined. BAD girl! I scrap a lot but more comes in than gets created for sure. Thanks for the incentive and inspiration to get some of the older stuff out and USED up. Looking forward to the new challenge on Thursday...

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  7. I probably have 12" on patterened paper and 12" of cardstock. I used 10-12 sheets of paper last month in my counterfeit kit. I need to take a copy of this article with me to a scrap retreat next month, so I can keep my spending in perspective!

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  8. Those figures are very disturbing!! It ALMOST makes me never want to buy another thing. I'll have to go through my stash for some measurements. My paper is separated by manufacturer, which makes it a little tricky.

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  9. Just love this.....so true too!!! I am too frightened to measure my pile.....and as for pre-printed twill ribbon...we will say no more!!! LOL
    Jackie

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  10. I used at least ten full sheets of paper and cardstock in April and have about three more pages on my table nearly finished. I also used quite a few partial papers. But, I still have a hefty stash. No point in measuring, it's just a lot.

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  11. Wow what a eye opener. I don't even want to think about how many feet of paper I have. 1, 2,no 3, maybe 4 feet and to think I have even already gave alot of paper away to friends that are just starting to scrapbook.

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  12. wow that is mazing and horrifying at the same time!! I really have to start usng it all up andI am cancelling my shopping trip tomorrow to sort the stash instead!

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  13. I would guess I have about 9 inches of cardstock and twice that in patterned paper (and that's probably being conservative). I think I used about 16 sheets of paper with April's kit - not even a smidgen of a dent! (Of course over the month of April, I purchased at least 30 more sheets of cardstock!)

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  14. Ah, it's not an unhealthy habit (unless of course you're spending more than you can afford) so I'm just not going to feel guilty about something I enjoy. I've a relatively small stash of papers and cardstock (compared to all the hoarders out there) and with counterfeiting, I'm certainly managing to hold off on some spending. Apart from last week's birthday splurge....ahem!!!

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  15. Hey...it's still cheaper than therapy!!!

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  16. I totally loved this post!!! It sure hit home with me. My sister and I figure that we could scrap on for about 10 years if suddenly the industry went belly up and there wasn't any supplies to buy! hee hee I am trying hard to cut down my purchases because I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of supplies I had. I am doing much better than last year, but still need to stay away from the LSS. These counterfeit kits help!! :)

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  17. Interesting statistics. Has this theories been proven already? Sorry, scientists will always pose this question and then dispute it. Looks like I just have to test the theory to be happy. lol!

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  18. I have absolutely no idea how many inches of paper I have, but I think I have a problem because when I read "pay yourself 20-40 bucks an hour and make your own" I was thinking that I could use the 20-40 bucks to buy more scrap supplies! lol

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  19. I only measured 12x12 papers...
    55 inches of patterned paper
    10.5 inches of cardstock and
    3.5 inches of patterned paper that I will never use unless I make cards or something because it is really old or really thin paper.
    This month I used 16 sheets of patterned paper and 10 sheets of cardstock from my counterfeit kit.

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  20. ok ok i'll stop buying apparently i have plenty, anyone want to share pop on over.

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  21. What a great post! I was feeling kind of bad after measuring my paper and cardstock - 13 inches high in total, until I started reading the other comments here! Seems like I don't have much at all in comparison to some people! LOL I used 10 sheets of paper from my counterfeit kit in April but figure I probably brought about 100 new sheets into the house so I'm still up 90 sheets! Oh well, there are worse addictions a person could have. But having said that, I do plan on staying away from the LSS until after the next CHA show products are released. Time will tell how well that goes! LOL

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