Storage Method for Fussy Cuts - Updated October 19, 2026

I have updated the way I store both my images that have already been fussy cut and the images that haven’t been cut out yet. Because of the way my brain works, fussy cutting images only when I need them doesn’t work for me. However, I came up with a solution that works for me and keeps everything easily accessible.

This may seem like a lot of work to some people, but if you are someone who needs to be able to see what you have and find it easily, this system might work for you, too.

Since I started doing this after I had purchased a couple of books, it wasn’t a big deal for me to get everything organized. After flipping through those first couple of books over and over to find an image, I quickly became frustrated because I couldn’t remember which book I had seen it in. I can’t even imagine what it would be like now that I have all but three of Marta’s books!

Organizing the Pages from the Books

When a new book arrives, I remove all the pages and scan the book from cover to cover - Jump to Why I scan.

Then I sort the pages into categories, such as backgrounds, main images, bits and bobs, words, and so on. If a page contains images from multiple categories, I cut the page apart so I can file each section where it belongs.

I use hanging file folders labeled with the book names and store them in a rolling file cart.

I have two file drawers for storing the pages from the books. One drawer holds folders containing images, and the other holds the backgrounds.

The backgrounds are sorted by book. Within each book’s main background folder, I sort the backgrounds by size and place them in ziplock bags.

In front of the drawer that holds the backgrounds, I keep folders containing images that won’t fit into my 8.75 x 6.25-inch bins. Behind those folders, I keep the remaining images sorted by book and then by category.

For example, I have folders labeled:

1. Autumn Stories – Fairies/Kids
2. Autumn Stories – Bits & Bobs
3. Autumn Stories – Animals

This makes it much easier to find the pages I want when I’m ready to do some fussy cutting.

My System for Fussy Cutting

When I’m ready to fussy cut, I take a folder containing the images I want to cut to my chair in the front room. Then, while I’m watching or listening to my TV shows, I fussy cut the images and toss them into an empty bin.

The next day, I sort the cut images into categories and put them into the appropriate bins. Each book has at least one bin.

The bins I use are ones I buy from Dollar Tree. I generally order 12 at a time and have them delivered.

How I Organize My Fussy-Cut Images

For the most part, I organize my bins by category and book. However, there are some exceptions.

Some images can be used with any book, so it makes sense to keep them together. For things like butterflies, birds, fences, rocks, and similar items, I combine images from all the books into one bin labeled “Misc.”

That way, if I’m looking for a bird, for example, I know I can find one from any book in the Misc bin. It doesn’t have to come from a particular book—unless, of course, I want a bird dressed for Halloween!

Inside each bin, I use small snack-sized ziplock bags and small 3 x 5-inch ziplock bags, which I purchased on Amazon, to organize the smaller images. I put each type of item into its own ziplock bag. In the bins containing people, I sort the images by size and put them into separate bags. This makes it easy to find the size of image I want without having to sort through everything.

My New Way of Organizing Backgrounds and Images by Theme

Recently, I found myself getting frustrated when I was looking for a background to use for a journal page I wanted to create.

For instance, I wanted to make a Halloween page. I knew I had just the right background somewhere, but I couldn’t remember which Halloween or autumn book it was in. I was having the same problem when looking for images to use.

I decided it was time to make another change!

Over a couple of evenings, while watching TV, I went through all the file folders containing the large and small background papers from Marta’s books.

Instead of keeping everything organized only by book, I decided to combine similar themes. For example, I would put all the winter backgrounds together, all the Halloween backgrounds together, and so on.

My goal was to make it easier to find the background that fits the theme of the journal page I want to create, without having to remember which book it came from.

The little drawers on the left side are also from Dollar Tree - Small Drawers. Those hold most of the smaller tickets that primarily came out of the Junk Journaling Tickets book. Using the small drawers made it easier for me to get the color I wanted quickily & easily.

I think the pictures will help explain what I am talking about, but I am more than happy to explain it more if you need additional info.

Why I scan

One of the reasons I scan the books is so I can print out extra backgrounds or images if I am making greeting cards (to give to family/friends). The other is that I can’t do the fine hand movements to draw lines around the smallest images for my ScanNCut to easily see. So, I use a graphic program to put an outline around each image, then print it out and have my ScanNCut cut it out.

Happy creating!

Judy