What do y'all do to prepare for MOC?

I can give you a link to the spreadsheet. I made a copy with just the column titles. Then it's simply a matter of making sure to fill it in when you shop. (Well, and, if you want to, filling it in with past purchases.) It's of course editable, so you easily could add a MOC column to update before Jan 1 (or a "Retired" column). Having said that, I still find it reassuring to check for a kit once I start a challenge. That way I know the kit is in store, and I can include the store link in my gallery credits, which I know the hosts appreciate. Anyway, I can provide y'all with the tools, if you're ready...

 

Sorry to be so long replying. We were with my father in North Carolina and I had limited access. What a great Christmas and visit!

Here's a screenshot of mine. Right now, it's not sorted in any specific order but it only takes a click or two!

 

Your spreadsheet is really cool! I like the way you categorized. I think I might do something like this, with a column for the main colors.

 

Ooh! I like this spreadsheet method, too! Maybe I'll smoosh both of your spreadsheets together when I do mine.

 

I'm super-impressed how organized everyone is! I'm on the low end of the organization scale.

All my TLP kits are in one large folder. Inside that one large folder, I have a sub-folder for all of my templates, all of my alphas, and then everything else has its own folder by kit name. That's how I start out.

1) I assume that the "designer surprise" kits are going to be available for MOC, since they're on sale this week and MOC starts next week. So I purchased a kit and a mini kit and a template set from that.
2) I pick about a dozen kits that are my favorites and "go-to" kits and check that they're still in the store.

I rename the items in (1) and (2) so there's a 2020 at the front of the name. That pops them up to the top of my file list. Then I look at those kits first when I start working on a layout. If I go outside of those kits, then I check if the item is in the store. My first MOC, I was a brand new customer so I only had a couple of kits to work with. Now, I have a LOT of kits to work with, lol, but I try to stick with my top dozen or so kits during MOC so I get less overwhelmed with choices.

 

I spent some time last night moving things into a MOC8 folder - pictures that I might want to use. I also moved things to my EHD that I knew I wouldn't be using. I was just trying to get organized.

Next, I'm going to move some of my TLP files that I know I won't be using. Anything that I have a question about (whether I can use it or not) is going to my EHD.

I'm going to be out of town until the evening of January 2nd, so I'm taking the time to get all of my ducks in a row before we leave.

 

This stream is fabulous. I found the lily pad during last year's MOC and if clues were shoes I would have been barefoot. My crediting was incorrect and I only finished 12 of the tasks. I spent an inordinate amount of time on some of them....

Now I have lots of resources and being relatively new I don't really need to worry so much about retired products.

I have all the products by designer in their own lily pad light room catelogue.

files for completed and pending uploads and filesfor work in progress. (PSD and JPEG)

A small notebook with pages 1-31 to write down the challenges, ideas and the credits.

I have set aside 2 hours a day and some extra time on saturdays to catch up.

I will check to see if the products are still in the store before i use them ....that would be a disaster.... warning heeded

In an ideal world I would have key worded my Lightroom catalogue ...

The downside is that I am in the mountains with limited internet for downloading and uploading but it will be enough to get the challenges .... the upside few distractions...

Fingers crossed...

 

This is basically the best thing I've ever seen. It's as though your brain scanned my brain and figured out exactly what my brain needed, but like 50 years before my own brain could ever have figured that out for itself.

 

I'm hesitant to admit this, because it reveals way too much about how my mind works, but in addition to all the currently-in-store Lilypad kits, my MOC 2020 folder contains a special MOC version of my Scrap Materials Quick Find folder. The Scrap Materials Quick Find folder contains separate folders for Alphas, Stitches, Leaves, Flowers, Buttons & Gems, Butterflies/Insects/Birds, Chevrons & Arrows, Doilies & Lace, and many more. When I unzip a kit I go through it and make copies of most of the non-themed elements and put the copy into the corresponding Scrap Materials folder, and when it's a TLP kit I do it again into the MOC Scrap Materials folder.

It's time-consuming and EHD-space-consuming, but since I veer randomly between being a kit scrapper and a non-kit scrapper having the MOC Scrap Materials folder lets me easily make layouts like this one, where I can pull from all the flowers in a single folder and still know I'll hit that 75% current-TLP requirement.

 

I have to go through my stash and take out anything that is retired so I don't get disqualified for using a product that's not in the store anymore!

 

Being a newbie who has been collecting freebie stash for a while I have a question... does freebies from current designers count as "available" for MOC or must it only be kits purchased in the store?

 

If the freebie is in the store (even as a freebie)you are safe. That being said, my first MOC, the first of the amazing months, I bought 3 kits for the first couple weeks. I had been a freebie collector prior, and oh my gosh, I spent $20 (because in my brain I was gonna finish all 31 and get that $20 gift certificate).
I recommend this, get newsletters to all the designers (many have extra coupons in them for the sales). BYOC comes out the first Friday, and the more you buy, the better your discount. Wednesday are 50%off sales. Friday is new releases (on sale and then with designer coupons, great deals).
If you need justification to buy, I am here to help.
1. you aren't developing film
2. you can reuse digi scrapbook stuff
3. no paper, glue or scissors around the house.
4. you are collecting memories and keeping busy
5. It makes you happy!

lol