Coupon organizer

Hello everyone! This is TraciVee here from http://neverfullpricescrapbooking.blogspot.com/ . If you are a follower of mine, you might already know that I'm a penny pinching, coupon clipping, money saver. I thought it would be prudent to include my passion for saving money into my project. And so the idea of creating a cute coupon organizer was born....

Here is the 'recipe' :

2 pieces of Tim Holtz grungeboard

1 1/4 in Zutter o-wire

brown acrylic and metallic acrylic paint

10 5/8 in long piece of white elastic

Brenda Walton Brookfield Scrap Pad to go

two large eyelets

9 Prima-type flowers (mine were Paper Studio)

3 brads

adhesive

chalk ink

I first used my Gypsy to cut the rectangles used for the pages. I think I just used a rectangle shape from Plantin Schoolbook but resized it to 10 3/4 in by 8 in. Cut out as many of these as you wish. I like to have a lot of categories to sort my coupons into, so I cut out 10 of these, which will give me 20 pockets!

Here are all the pages after I cut them out. I really like this stack...it's full of homey earth tones-my favorite!





Next, you score each page halfway down the long way.....




...and about 3 5/8 in into the short way.





Then you fold each along the score lines as shown. You're gonna fold the short side up and then fold along the long side so that when you are finished your pockets are on the outside.

Here are all my folders all ready to go....

Next, I punched them all with my Bind it All...what a job that was!

Next, prepare your naked Grungeboard. I cut two pieces at 7 3/4 in by 4 1/8 in. Then I rounded the corners for a more finished look. Next, line up the Grungeboard with one of your coupon folders and punch holes.

Next, I painted my Grungeboard with dark brown acrylic paint.

After that dried, I lightly brushed some copper metallic acrylic paint on top, but wiped it off right away with a paper towel. Some of the copper stays on, but the dark brown still comes through. This technique kind of gives it a rustic kind of look. Very cute!

*Sorry but this photo is not terribly true to life in its color...but you get the idea....*

Next, I used my Gypsy to create the labels for my coupon folders. Cut as many shapes as you need. I cut 20 in cream colored card stock and then cut out another 20 out of coordinating paper in shadow feature.

After cutting them all out, I inked them using chalk ink and an ink blending tool.

Here are the shadows....

Now, I wanted a more finished look so I used my computer to print out my labels. You can just write them in if you don't feel all this is worth it. :)

What I did was print out my labels....

Then I used repositionable adhesive to stick them to the piece of paper that I printed them out on...I used Okie's method of doing this. She has a great video tutorial on how to do this- http://okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com/search/label/Video%20Tutorial%20-%20Printing%20on%20Cardstock%20shape

After I got them printed out, I adhered them onto the folders and put the whole thing together. Hello Mr. Bind It All!!!

Okay, so after all that I knew I'd need some type of closure so that my coupons don't fly out all over the place. What I did was punch a couple of holes and used an eyelet to hold my elastic in place. Be really careful when placing the elastic when you set your eyelet so that it won't come undone.

I looked high and low for colored elastic, with no luck! ... so I broke down and bought white thinking I could just color it with a marker...and that is just what I ended up having to do!

At this point, I just prettied-up the cover. I punch three holes and added my flowers with a couple of brads. Nice 'n' easy.....

I set my coupon organizer up for the way I shop...I always go around my Super WalMart the same way....Health and Beauty first...then my cleaners...then condiments...and so on and so on...I'm kinda ritualistic when I go grocery shopping, LOL.

I used that idea to order my coupon labels. Toiletries, Cleaners, Condiments, Canned Goods, Pasta/Rice/Boxed Dinners, Baking, Snacks, Beverages, Breakfast &Cereal, Paper & Plastics, Dairy, Frozen Items, Bread/Bakery Items, and Produce.

And-what would you know!- right after I finished binding my coupon organizer they went and remodeled my Super WalMart and now my book is all out of order!!! Doesn't that figure??? lol Oh well....

Oh...and last but not least...my FAVORITE coupon category...

Crafty Coupons---NEVER leave home with out them! :)

I hope you all enjoyed my project. Thanks so much for looking. If you have questions or anything, feel free to stop by my blog and I'll be sure to answer you! Have a great day!