My Work Area

I am so pleased with a purchase that I have to share it with you.  I discovered a company that has a large variety of storage units for craft items, and wanted to show you the first of my collection.  The company I am talking about is "Stamp-n-Storage". 

I love to have everything right at my fingertips when I am working on my projects.  This is a picture of where I sit to create.   I have a collection of all the Distress Inks, markers and refills.  I had them stored in separate areas prior to getting this storage unit. It is so convenient to have pad, marker and refill right next to each other.  I labeled each pad with the name on the end. I also like to see the true color as it will show on card stock, so I also die cut some small butterflies and colored one with the marker and attached it next to the name on the label.  The caps on the pens sometimes don't show the exact color as it will be on my card stock.  One other thing I did was alphabetize the colors (within each color group) so it would be easy to replace them when I have a lot of colors out.     I love that the storage is a flat unit so I can see my inks at a glance. I really love this organization!

My Distress Inks are on the right side in this picture.  On the left of my Distress Inks, I have two of the Stamp-n-Storage Marker Nooks.  One nook has Copic Markers and the other one has a variety of other markers I use a lot. I always need to have my glues very close, so store them on one of the shelves.  

I also have a collection of Spectrum Noir markers on the left side.  In this storage unit I have additional Copic Markers.  I will be purchasing one more Marker Nook to add next to my Copic Markers to have them all together.

My wish list is very large for more storage units from this company.   If you are in need of ways to store your craft products, I recommend you browse Stamp-n-Storage to see the wide variety of products they carry.

Here are some of the items you will find there:

• embellishment storage
• ink pad, marker, refill storage
• marker storage
• paper punch storage
• paper (card stock) storage
• embossing folder and steel die storage

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

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My Die Cut Storage Area

I have had a few questions about how I store my dies and the extra die cuts.  I promised to take a few pictures and post them to show how I organize my dies and die cuts.  This is a picture of the area where I store my card stock, dies, die cuts and off to the right my embossing folders.  In the light blue notebooks, I store my dies by company and category.  I use the Martha Stewart notebooks and clear storage sheets you can purchase from Staples.  I use magnetic vent covers, cut to size, for the pockets in the notebooks, to hold the dies.  Back in November, 2012 I posted information about how I store my dies in the Martha Stewart notebooks.  You can see that post at this link.  My die collection has greatly grown since then!

The Susan's Garden dies comes in uniform plastic "Seed Packets" that store the dies and instructions.  I purchased a storage box that is 6" wide by 11" long to store these packets.  They are filed in alphabetical order. 

 

 I purchased two of these storage cabinets, each with 24 drawers measuring 4-1/2" x 5-1/2".  There is one drawer for each of the Susan's Garden flowers.  They are labeled in alphabetical order going across.  I have room for the new release that will be out next month.    When I die cut, I usually like to die cut a lot of pieces and all the left overs are stored here.  There are extra die cuts for every flower.  Some flowers are just die cut pieces and some I have colored and shaped.  It is so nice to have them stored like this. 

For my other dies, I have another storage system for extra die cuts.  They are stored in drawers labeled by categories.  By neatly storing extra die cut, it can sometime save a lot of time.  Sometimes I just go through these extra die cut and and come up with a neat layering design I would never of have thought of. 

It is always interesting to see how other people organize their things.  Do you have a special way to store your dies and die cuts?  I would love to read your comments.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

You can go to Ellen Hutson, LLC to this link to see all the Susan's Garden Flower dies I have in my collection.  Be sure to scroll down to see the entire collection.  If you would like for me to do a tutorial on any of these flowers, please leave a comment below.

Sizzix, Susan's Garden Flower Dies

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My Die Storage System

Today I thought I would share with you my die cutting area and how I store all my dies.   As you know, Joan's Gardens sells so many different dies that I design with,  and in order to have them in some kind of order, I have filed them in notebooks.  In this picture you can see the blue notebooks which contain all my dies.   I store these notebooks right by my eBosser and all my card stock. These are the Martha Stewart Notebooks you can only purchase at Staples.  She also has three different  styles of insert sheets that I use to store the dies in. Staples does have a whole Center of Martha Stewart organization and office supplies.   

This is a picture of dies in one of the inserts that has two separated pockets.  Each pocket measures 5" x 8".  On the top of each open sleeve is a little flap that closes the opening so any loose dies do not fall out.  These are also in the Martha Stewart Center at Staples.

This picture shows dies in one of the inserts that has four separate pockets. These pockets are 5" x 4".  There is also an insert that does not have any dividers that I use for the long border dies, which would measure 10" x 8".  I did not take a picture of that pocket.

In order for the dies to stay in place in each pocket, I purchased Magnetic Vent Covers from Home Depot that at 8"x15".  These are the perfect size to cut 3 pieces that are 5"x8", then I can cut these in half to make 4" x 4" squares for the smallest pockets. I use my large paper cutter to cut these magnetic sheets.

I have labeled my notebooks according to categories such as: "Flowers", "Leaves & Trees", Dollies; Holidays etc.  I actually purchased a Red Notebook for the holiday dies.  The inserts come in either clear or green and I use the green inserts for the Holiday Notebook.

I like this storage system because the notebooks lay flat for easy viewing and I can easily remove a single die or even an entire section.  By being able to easily see each die, it helps me come up with different ideas too.   

Hope this helps any of you looking for a way to store your dies.   

I'll be back in the morning with my post for the Weekly Challenge At Joan's Gardens. 

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