Organization Tips........

for spring cleaning your crafting supplies. 

Spring is on its way, at least the calendar says so.

So I thought I would share some tips and ideas for organizing your craft supplies.

I have an update on my Distress Ink/Foam Blending Pad Storage. I took the laminated sheet out of the plastic envelope and punched 3 holes along one edge. I now store it in a small 3-ring binder.

The benefit of this change is the top of my hand doesn't get covered in ink when removing a foam pad. I also have a sheet for Archival Ink foam pads.

I have also created boxes for my Distress Ink pads using photo boxes.

I loved how well they worked so I made them for all my rectangular ink pads.

My collection of Copic markers has been growing and I needed more storage space. I created this storage box after several found on Pinterest.

It is an Iris brand card storage box with the dividers removed. I cut a piece of ceiling light tile to fit inside it. It can hold 180 markers. 

Here is what I am currently using. 

I used an Art Bin Super Satchel Double Deep with the dividers. For 7 of the sections, I created an insert from mat board to divide it in half. This made spaces for each color group and 1 larger section. In the large section is an acrylic block and stamps perfect for coloring. One section also has stamp pads and color swatches. I like that it makes it convenient to take to crops or when traveling, just add paper. The lid does remove if needed when working in a small space.

Thanks to Pinterest and a recent trip to Ikea, I was able to organize many of my paper punches. 

I used the Bygel bars attached to a piece of plywood hung on the wall. For the larger punches, I had to add a plywood block under the bracket (as you can see I still need to paint them). Now I can find them easier. I still have punches in wire baskets.

 

These are the paper sorters at Cafe Crop.

My favorite way to store my paper is in paper storage containers. I have plain cardstock sorted by color families. Patterned paper I sort by theme (holidays, sports, baby, wedding...). 


 

Distress Ink / Foam Blending Pad Storage

If you are like me, I hate throwing away or washing the foam blending pads. I kept looking for away to store them. Nothing I found worked for me, so I came up with my own storage solution. This is the revised version, the prototype wasn't as pretty. 

Several people have asked me about this, so I decided to turn it into my first tutorial.

I started with an 8 1/2" by 11" white cardstock paper and drew vertical lines for the velcro strips at 7/8", 3 5/8", 7 5/8"  and at 1 3/4", 2 3/4", 4 1/2", 6 3/4" for foam pads. I also drew horizontal line starting from the top every 1 1/4" This created guidelines for the placement of the label stickers and the foam pads. Repeat on the back side. You have some extra space on the back.

Next I downloaded the Distress Ink labels from the Ranger website (click here). Using the guidelines, I placed the stickers on the cardstock chart by color families, adding in the seasonal colors.

Then I laminated the sheet and added rough strips of velcro (I cut the strips in half to less)  on the lines at  7/8", 3 5/8", 7 5/8" .



 
Now the fun part. I added the foam pads to the laminated sheet. I used the pencil guidelines. To protect it when traveling, I placed it inside a plastic paper storage pouch.