Edumicate Me Thursdays - Punch and Stamp Storage

So, in my quest to have some regular features on this blog I'm going to devote Thursdays to all things "educational" including hints, tips, solutions, tutorials and techniques.

I'm always on the look out for storage solutions for my constantly increasing amount of "stuff" in my craft room. I have a good deal of floor space but not a lot of wall space due to some fixed items in the room. When I came across this multimedia storage unit in Walmart I thought it would be perfect to store a few things that had been accumulating without a proper home.

First of all, I have to say that its really important when you are organizing your stuff to know what your personal "storage style" is. There are a lot of great ideas out there - some of them look really, really cool...but the reality is that what works for someone else may not work for you. In fact, it might drive you crazy.

I am, first and foremost, a visual person. Some people can't stand having their stuff out in the open. Not me, if I can't see it, I won't use it and I'll probably forget that I own it. I've been known to buy the same item twice for this very reason. The best present I ever got from my husband was an electronic label maker. What I can't store in the open I label so I know exactly where all my stuff is with a quick glance around my craft space. If you are the kind of person who likes things neatly tucked away in pretty boxes or behind closed doors, my style will not work for you.
I love this little storage unit because of its versatility. It works great for my large punches which I was really having a hard time storing. Their handles rest nicely on the back dowel and I can easily see them. The rest of the shelves are taken up by some of my SU stamp sets. These are stored aphabetically for easy retrieval. The unit was $35 dollars CAD and was pretty easy to set up.

When I purchase a stamp set it gets logged immediately into a large binder with sheets to stamp all my images. I record the stamp company, the name of the stamp (or set), its purchase date and the location of it in my craft room. The images are organized by categories (such as Christmas, thank you sentiments, flowers, food) and are kept inside sheet protectors in the binder. I also keep samples of all my ink colours, glitters and embossing powders in this binder so I know what I have on hand when I start a project. Stamps are generally stored in three locations - Sterlite clear drawers for wood mounted, storage binders for EZ Mounted stamps (such as my Bella collection) and CD cases for my clear stamps.

If anyone is interested in these binder sheets let me know and I'll post them in my download section. I also cross reference stamps, especially SU stamps, which come in sets. A single set might have a flower stamp, a background image, a sentiment, etc. They are logged under each section that is relevant. This system works great for me because when I'm making a thank you card (for example), I can quickly flip to the thank you section and see immediately which stamp would fit best with my card design. I can also find the right ink to go with my paper selections.

That's it for today's "Edumicate Me Thursday". I hope some of you found this helpful and thanks for stopping by!

P.S. for those knitters/sewers out there in the Fraser Valley there are two upcoming shows that you can't miss. Check out http://www.fibrefestinternational.com/ on March 7th and 8th and the Sewing and Crafts Show on April 4th and 5th. There are some amazing workshops/seminars and you know the shopping will be great.

Nestabilities Storage

So, like many folks out there, I love the nestabilities dies by Spellbinder. I love them, but I hate the way they are packaged and I've struggled with storing them since I first bought them. I think I have come up with a reasonable storage solution and I thought I would share it with you since it works so well for me.

Here's what you need: regular size CD jewel cases (not the thin ones), adhesive magnetic sheet. The CD cases can be purchased at any big box or office supply store. I purchased the magnetic sheet at Michaels and I'm sure you could find it at most hobby/craft stores. It comes in 1'x2' pieces which is more than enough for this project.

Get your CD jewel case and remove the black liner from it - throw it away because you won't need it.








Cut a piece of magnetic sheet about 5.25 inches by 1.5 inches. It will be slightly shorter on the left side of the CD case.







Adhere magnetic strip to the inside of the CD case.








Put your nestabilities inside the case and they will stick to the magnetic strip. Now all you have to do is label the spine with the set that's inside and store them in your preferred CD storage system. For the circles and ovals they will all fit on one side. The squares and rectangles do not "nest" so well so I alternate them between both sides of the jewel case.



Hope this is helpful to some folks. Thanks for stopping by!

Ribbon, Ribbon, Ribbon!

Okay - so I love ribbon. It probably results from the fact that my first adventures in crafting were in the fiber arts so ribbon is a natural carry-over from that. Here are today's purchases. I love the ribbon that is out in the stores right now - there are so many varieties to choose from and the colours are vibrant. I already know that I'm in love with the new ribbon being showcased for Papertrey. Check them out at Nichole's blog.

I struggled with storing my ribbon in a way that made it easy to view and access. There are a lot of different ribbon storage solutions on the web but none of them worked for me. I love the look of same coloured ribbons stored in clear jars but I didn't like the idea of having to dig down to the bottom of a jar to find a ribbon I wanted. Many people have ribbon holders for their spooled ribbon but it doesn't work for me because I buy the majority of my ribbon by the yard and not on a spool. I also buy my ribbon in quantity (5 yards or more) so hanging them from a clothespin or binder clip was not an option either. I am very happy with my current solution. For less than 1 foot by 1/2 foot in desk space I can hold hundreds of yards of ribbon in an easy to access system. Here's how I do it...


All my ribbon is stored in these two drawers made by Cropper Hopper. I bought them at my LSS a couple of years ago but you can find them on their website. Here's a view inside the box. All the ribbon is wound around 4" x 6" ribbon cards. The beginning of each ribbon is caught between teeth on each of the cards and then the ribbon is wound around and secured with a small pin. Make sure the pin is pointing towards the bottom of the drawer or they will pull out when you pull your ribbon cards out. I store one colour family on each card and when the card is full I start a new one. Metallics, neutrals and major holiday ribbons (i.e Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween) each have their own cards as well. When I purchase spooled ribbon (such as SU ribbon) I always take it off the spool and put the ribbon on the card. That way all my ribbon is stored together. When I get down to less than a yard of ribbon I put the ribbon in with my embellishments, which are also stored by colour.


This system works great for me because all my ribbon is at my fingertips and I can see just by opening the two drawers exactly what I have...which is great when you're looking for that perfect ribbon to go with your current project.


I would love to hear how you store ribbon!