COSTO Paper Organization

If you have the COSTCO 2-sided designer cardstock that comes in a zippered container and, if you’re like me and have been totally frustrated w/ finding the right patterned paper for your project, in this satchel --- you have come to the right place.

I previously spent needless hours searching thru the portfolio for the right paper. Sure, I had my “legend” but I couldn’t find the paper that caught my eye on the legend, in the portfolio. So, I would flip thru the multitude of sheets, getting more and more frustrated, hoping I would “hit on it”.

No worries now. I finally figured out a system that really works. I had originally saved the cardboard “legend” of the various sheets of paper contained in the satchel. I cut it to size and inserted it inside the front, so it could be seen thru the see-thru cover. Even though this satchel had tabbed slots, there were no tabbies to put into these slots, so I basically made my own, using cardstock, cutting to size, adhering some alpha stickers that I had.

But then I was faced w/ the mathematical calculations that needed to be done. Well, I’m no Math whiz (who am I kiddin’ – I’m basically Math challenged! LOL; even tho I’m getting much better w/ training from my Nintendo Brain Age game.) Sorry, I digress. LOL

So, hubby came to my rescue. Didn’t take him long, at all (maybe a couple seconds) to tell me:

* 75 different patterned sheets of paper
* 30 tabbies

Here’s the scoop:
The first 3 rows (on the legend) have 3 different patterns in each slot. 15 x 3 = 45
The next 2 rows have 2 different patterns in each slot. 15 x 2 = 30
45 + 30 = 75. Eureka! All 75 patterns accounted for.

Now, w/ using my alphas:-
26 letters, but 30 slots; hence A to Z = 26; AA, BB, CC, DD = 4 --- 26 + 4 = 30

You could easily use a numbering system, but I didn’t have any numbered stickers, so I utilized what I had.

I am sooooooo loving this patterned paper portfolio now. No more needless searching. I just need to look at the legend, see what letter my choice is under, look inside the portfolio, find the corresponding letter and “Bob’s your Uncle” or. . . . . . . voila! -- choice found!!!

If you click on the pix, they will enlarge. :-)

paper legend, showing my alpha lettering system:-

inside, showing how I labelled the tabbies:-

If you’ve come up w/ a different way of organizing your paper in this portfolio, I would love to hear about it.