Ink Pad Storage

I have been doing some re-organizing in the craft room and figured out how to store my ink pads (for now...). I bought some small drawers from Wal-Mart, and cut some CS to fit in the front of each drawer telling me what color is in each drawer. I have a color book that I made (you can see it to the left of the drawers, it is similar to the Stamp Inventory one that I made) so it is easy to go to the "pink" page (for example), find the shade that I want and then pull it out of the pink drawer. Now, this setup may not work so well when Papertrey Ink releases their new ink-pads.... but it has been so much easier than my previous setup! I also have my blocks, stamp cleaner, positioning tool, re-inkers etc in here for now.

Stamp Inventory and Storage

I have a lot of stamps from many different companies and many different formats (wood, cling, clear etc) and have some that have never touched ink because I forgot that I had them!
Previously all of my wood mount and cling stamps (mostly SU) were in a Sterlite cart, while my clear stamps were in binders. But then my binder pages started coming out and the wood and cling stamps were neglected. I started to set up a Rolodex style inventory.. but that was too much work to be honest. So this is what I ended up with after going through a lot of blogs and message board posts about stamp organization... and it works for me!

The cover is made out of chipboard that my curtains were folded around and some binder rings:

 

Inside each stamp set is stamped onto a simple sheet of computer paper (cut in half) and labeled with the Manufacturer, Stamp Name, and a number. (click on image to make it bigger)

The clear stamp sets are in CD or DVD cases depending on size (SU Cling come in DVD cases already, so I purchased some extras for my other large sets). The stamp sheets with just a number tell me that they are in CD cases, a "D" before the number stands for DVD case, and a "W" tells me that it is wood mount. The wood mount stamps are in the SU clam cases and also are numbered, with exception of my wood Christmas stamps which are all together in a small bin.

The CD and DVD cases are in these boxes from Amazon and are stored in a closet behind my workspace. I need to get a couple more boxes!

It is hard to see in the next picture, but here is an example of the numbered CD cases

And the wood stamps are in bins on the same shelf of the closet. 

Eventually I will organize the stamp inventory sheets by category.. but for now it is already so much easier to find my stamps, and I have been using the wood mounts more now that I see them with all of the rest of my stamps!

ETA*** I found the link for the stamp organization that mine is based off of! http://sillyleanndesigns.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-process-and-how-my-organization.html

Kids craft table

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Facebook post about a local school, that had recently been sold, selling off a bunch of furniture. I swung by while Megan was in ballet class and picked up 2 kids desks (classic metal with laminate wood top/ $2.00 each) and a large kids table for $5. This thing has a solid wood top and two cubbies. I had no clue if the table would fit in my craft room, but if not I was only out $5.

I had to do some rearranging (the dresser that was under the ribbon rack is now in one of the closets) but the table fits perfectly! Here are some pictures of the girls working on Birthday cards for a couple of friends.

The kid's art supplies are in the pink and green bins to the left of their table. I just picked up some round  pink storage ottomans (from Target) that are the perfect height for the girls to sit on at this table and will add some more storage to the room.

Die storage

Last night while Eric and the girls were at swim lessons I spent some time in my craft room. I had seen a couple of great ideas for storing the PTI (and other) dies and combined them for my storage.
First I started with Tracey's idea of using magnetic vent covers and cardstock in a photo storage box. I still need to label the cardstock though. I plan on writing the name of the die on the front, and on the back I will list all of the coordinating stamp sets and their respective numbers (new stamp storage coming soon...)

After I had all of my PTI dies on the cards.. I was left with the small Cuttlebug and Sizzix dies. I wanted them in the same place, but they did not stick to the magnets. Then I remembered Dawn's storage idea for the PTI dies. I pulled out the clear acetate sheets that come with the PTI stamps, plugged in my sewing machine, and made pockets!

Now, I suppose I could have made the pockets for all of the dies, but I loved Tracey's magnet idea and it is so easy to take them on and off... so I continued. I put my embossing plates and folders behind the dies, and even added the Cuttlebug plates and embossing mats.

For my long dies I added some magnet to the side of the box...

And now all of my Cuttlebug supplies are in one spot, with room to grow.

Craft Room Clean Up

For months now, well... since we moved in April, my craft room has been a mess. There have been boxes stacked up since the move, and crafting holiday gifts did not help things either. Sunday I got to work cleaning it up! I am not finished yet, there are a couple of small bins to go through and a closet to organize.. but it is already so much better!

Before:

And After:

It was hard, but I narrowed down the supplies that I keep on the top of my workspace to these 4 containers. On the left is a basket with my crop-a-dile, scissors, stapler, corner rounder and small hole punches. The pink bucket holds my pens, the tall white basket thingy holds all of my adhesives (with extras in a basket in the closet) and the green container holds journaling cards and scraps of lined PP. Hopefully I will have the rest of the room cleaned up in the next few days!

More storage...

Directly behind where I sit in my craft room is this sterlite cart. In the bin on top is where all of my alphabets are kept in their original packages. Chipboard, rub ons, stickers etc. They are all in here. The top drawer is where my stamp supplies (blocks, baby wipes, cleaning pad etc) are stored. The middle drawer is where I keep some SU stamps and the bottom drawer hold my heat gun, glue gun, extra rubber etc. Originally I had this drawer under my workspace, and the bin with my alphas were on a shelf on the other side of the island, but I kept pulling the alpha bin over to the other side and decided that it just needed to stay there! I am thinking about getting a clip-it-up for my alphas.. but it will not work for all of the items in their original packaging (KI Soup, Paper Studio chipboard, Heidi Swapp Chipboard... just to name a few.)

Finished Layouts

When I finish a layout it typically goes on display in my craft room. I hung two curtain rods parallel on the wall, and have page protectors hung (with the opening to the left) from curtain clips. This allows me to easily add and remove layouts for display. Though I have been trying to be better about putting layouts away in the appropriate albums after they rotate off of the wall, it does not always happen that way. My second location for finished layouts is in an iron wall pocket that sits above my desk/ counter-top.

Other items on my desk include my favorite fairy lamp, a basket of cards given to me, my "project" basket (the green one), and my ink/ paint storage. This space is where I set up my cuttlebug and sewing machine when I use them.

Organization: Embossing folders

While browsing my blog list a couple of weeks ago I saw this great idea for organizing and referencing embossing folders. I do not have anywhere near as many embossing folders as Karli has, but it is still a great idea and easy to maintain as my collection grows. So here is my version. This did not cost me anything!

 

First I embossed a piece of CS with each embossing folder. I liked the little tags that Karli used, but wanted to see the entire pattern so I used larger sheets. Then I numbered the embossing folders with a sharpie, and numbered the coordinating CS "sample". The sample sheet fits easily inside the front of the storage box. Now all I need to do is add a label to the box!

 

Nestie Storage

I could have sworn that I already wrote this post...but I can not find it so here it goes again.

Amanda and I made these frames for our Nestability storage. Well, the frame was her idea, but the wrapping paper to cover the magnet sheets was mine! She has a great description already written up here, so I will not repeat it all. 

Here is my Nestie storage! I will need to make a bigger one soon!

 

New Ribbon Storage

**This was posted on the family side yesterday**

This weekend I cleaned up my craft room and painted my ribbon rack!  I saw a similar one (but
much smaller) online somewhere and asked my Dad if we could make one
like it. I wanted to be able to pull my ribbon on and off easily
without having to thread/un-thread all of the spools from a dowel. This
is what we came up with!

Yep. That is me with a nail gun. This is what it looks like now!

All
of my loose ribbon is in the jars, and my spools are on the ribbon
rack. I love that I have lots of room to grow, especially since I buy
the new PTI ribbon every month. I figure I have a year or so before I
will run out of room. The stray wire you see peeking out of the top is
for a smoke detector that we have, but need to install. I still need to
take pictures of the rest of the room while it is still clean!

More picture of my craft room

   

Ok, the wall color is REALLY off in this photo.. but I love it! (ETA.. I had to go in and edit the color so that it looked right. It was really bugging me!)

 

It was tough deciding where to put it. I have this HUGE wall of yellow to the left when I walk in the door, but I am not sure what to put on that wall! The decal fit perfectly above my fairy though.

Here are a few more pictures...

   

I put my curtain rod (and bought another) up, but I am missing a bracket for the bottom one. I also need to find the bag with the gold curtain clips in it so that I can hang up more layouts. I love having this display set up.

After I get everything put away I will take detailed pictures of my storage and the room. Here are some details about the island though.

It is 6' x 3' and is at counter height, and was custom built by my Dad and my brother-in-law Billy. They also built the bookshelf that is to the right of the window. I have ordered stools for the island (should be in by Friday) but I think that I will probably stand most of the time. Lots of room for me to spread out, and still some room for someone to come over and scrap with me. I also have the counter top that has my fairy lamp on it that is at desk height for someone to work at as well.