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My current storage failure was buying large magnet sheets at a big box store to store my framelits. The dies pop off, so I ended up sticking the magnet to that piece of cardstock with the strips of tape, and putting the whole thing in the plastic envelope it came with. Definitely wasn't working for me.
Now I got the StampnStorage magnet cards and box. I got a P touch label maker, and am in the process of switching over. Not sure what to do with the magnets I cut up, the plastic folders, or the clear plastic bags they came in. Ugh.
The ribbon winder is $8.00 and then you add the little boxes. They have different size boxes - probably good to contact them before ordering to see what might work best. And see if they'll be at stamp/sb shows nearby to play with them. : )
My current storage failure was buying large magnet sheets at a big box store to store my framelits. The dies pop off, so I ended up sticking the magnet to that piece of cardstock with the strips of tape, and putting the whole thing in the plastic envelope it came with. Definitely wasn't working for me.
Now I got the StampnStorage magnet cards and box. I got a P touch label maker, and am in the process of switching over. Not sure what to do with the magnets I cut up, the plastic folders, or the clear plastic bags they came in. Ugh.
I tried the ArtBin magnetic storage case...Its empty now and in my elimination box. I purchased magnetic air vent cover sheets (8"x14") from the hardware store which I cut down to fit the avery elle storage pockets. They are filed in a clear storage container by theme. I'm pleased with the outcome.
A common misconception about professional organizers, says Cattano, is that they'll buy you "organizational accessories." "I don't want to introduce anything else," she says. Boxes, filing cabinets, gadget, gizmos -- all of these things meant to organize your home will likely just become additional clutter. Purchasing a set of boxes may make you feel more organized, but, like purging, that purchase is just a way to wriggle out of responsibility.
Also check out... 25 Reasons to Get Rid of It | Martha Stewart
I thought I had a cardstock storage fail today but I've overcome it I think! I bought 3 of the file drawer storage cubes from Hobby Lobby. Got one put together and was very disappointed to find they hold 12X12 hanging folders, not the letter size ones I already have. So I drilled a couple of new holes for one of the rods and moved it over a half inch or so... now they hold my letter size folders just perfect and there doesn't seem to be any problem with function.
I tried putting ribbon on standard clothes pins! If you think curly ribbon is annoying, try kinked ribbon! Now I wrap my ribbon over my 4 fingers and use a twist tie to hold it together. The twist tie works really well as it doesn't leave any marks, holds well without having to twist it too tight and fits most ribbon. If the ribbon is wider thAn the twist tie will accommodate, it will usually just sit in my glass jar without unwinding. My ribbon is stored by colour in jars and as the twist ties are all white, it still looks coordinated. It takes up less room by far than clothes pins too. When I buy a full roll, it's usually on a cardboard spool. I crush the spool in half and break off the sides. Then I'm left with the round cardboard center with the ribbon on it. I crush that too until it is a pacman shape and pull the ribbon free. It's still spooled so I just pop on a twist tie! It's only when I get a hard plastic roll (May Arts) or a roll with A LOT on it that I leave it on the spool!
I had a sheet of steel in my craft room and I held all my embellies and stickers up there with magnets so I could see what I had. Great idea for a small craft room but I have about 10 times the stuff that it would hold now! When I get my new craft room I plan to use it as an inspiration/design board.
Last edited by Rebecca Ednie; 12-31-2016 at 09:58 PM..
We recently moved and I knew I wanted my space to look more nicer since it wasn't in the basement anymore. I thought I would transfer all my clamshell stamp sets to the large cases SU sell. Bought lots, then figured out that this would take up way to much room. So, I am only using them for sets that I won't unmount for example, Summer by the Sea. Any of my other sets I am unmounting and going with the storage pockets. I am cutting up the clamshell case to mount the stamps on.
The one thing I struggle with is DSP storage. It's always heavy, bulky and frustrating.
I rarely use ribbon for cards and almost tossed it all but then luckily I realized I do use it for packaging and gift wrapping. so much better than curling ribbon!
I tried putting ribbon on standard clothes pins! If you think curly ribbon is annoying, try kinked ribbon! Now I wrap my ribbon over my 4 fingers and use a twist tie to hold it together. The twist tie works really well as it doesn't leave any marks, holds well without having to twist it too tight and fits most ribbon. If the ribbon is wider thAn the twist tie will accommodate, it will usually just sit in my glass jar without unwinding. My ribbon is stored by colour in jars and as the twist ties are all white, it still looks coordinated. It takes up less room by far than clothes pins too. When I buy a full roll, it's usually on a cardboard spool. I crush the spool in half and break off the sides. Then I'm left with the round cardboard center with the ribbon on it. I crush that too until it is a pacman shape and pull the ribbon free. It's still spooled so I just pop on a twist tie! It's only when I get a hard plastic roll (May Arts) or a roll with A LOT on it that I leave it on the spool!
I had a sheet of steel in my craft room and I held all my embellies and stickers up there with magnets so I could see what I had. Great idea for a small craft room but I have about 10 times the stuff that it would hold now! When I get my new craft room I plan to use it as an inspiration/design board.
I am laughing so hard right now, I've got tears streaming down my face. My daughter thinks I've lost my mind.
Also have ribbon on dowels. Not so good, but at least I see it on my shelves and use it.
My worst purchase was a tote type bag with a handle and dividers that I used to store my smaller tools (scissors, glue, bone folder, etc). It was cute and worked okay, but really took up a lot of space on my table. I recently accepted the fact that using something I didn't like wasn't going to give me my $20 back, so I got rid of it and took some old plastic cups and put them in a shoe box. Takes up about 1/2 the space and is actually more efficient. And because it's a Converse box, it's sorta my style too!
OMG - I just started reading this thread, thinking about storage/organisation in my scrap room and I had a lightbulb moment...instead of having my SU dvd cases sitting on a small shelf...I could put them in my drawers, spine side up, and flip through them. Fit more in the drawers - cos I only have (hardly use) ribbons in 2x drawers.
Thank you to who ever posted something that gave me the lightbulb moment....
I realized I made another storage/hoarding mistake. I thought I just had to have a sponge dauber for each SU color and of course the storage cases. I carefully labeled each dauber, stored by shades of color. I have to say they looked so cool with all the boxes full and in rainbow order.
Now as the daubers wear out I find that I will grab any shade that's close to what I want and sponge away. Going forward, I'll have daubers for just the light and dark shades of colors and forget labeling. I figure in the end I'll have only 1/2 of what I have now.
I realized I made another storage/hoarding mistake. I thought I just had to have a sponge dauber for each SU color and of course the storage cases. I carefully labeled each dauber, stored by shades of color. I have to say they looked so cool with all the boxes full and in rainbow order.
Now as the daubers wear out I find that I will grab any shade that's close to what I want and sponge away. Going forward, I'll have daubers for just the light and dark shades of colors and forget labeling. I figure in the end I'll have only 1/2 of what I have now.
So glad I saw this! I recently bought a set of sponge daubers and case. I've been debating how to go about setting it up.
I keep my inks in roygbiv order, so I think I'll do that with the daubers. I should be able to cover all the colors in one box.
Thank you!
I realized I made another storage/hoarding mistake. I thought I just had to have a sponge dauber for each SU color and of course the storage cases. I carefully labeled each dauber, stored by shades of color. I have to say they looked so cool with all the boxes full and in rainbow order.
Now as the daubers wear out I find that I will grab any shade that's close to what I want and sponge away. Going forward, I'll have daubers for just the light and dark shades of colors and forget labeling. I figure in the end I'll have only 1/2 of what I have now.
I started labeling mine too, along with the downloadable chart for the box lid, but stopped after a few labels, just because I was lazy. I ended up glad, since I do what you do. I just ROYGBIVed them and grab any similarly colored dauber to the ink pad.
After I use a dauber I set it in a little tray so I don't re-use it on a different color ink before dry, then put them all back at the end.
Regarding ribbon & its storage.... I've been told that there is a ribbon winder thingy out there that allows you to roll your ribbon off the big spool that it comes on. Have any of you used it? What was your experience with it? I'm REALLY curious about this thingy because I really need to do something to minimize the ribbon storage for The You Matter Project. Please advise. Thankies.
Hi Craf-T-Bear, not sure if someone replied to this, but i think you may be referring to the Spool n Store ribbon spooler by Bestcraftorganizer, available here: http://www.bestscrapbookshelf.com/index.php/products/spool-store-ribbon.html.
I own two spoolers and three sizes of the ribbon storage/dispensers. Its not a fail, but not necessarily a must have. You can achieve similar results with a paper quilling tool (just hold your thumb by the edge of the roll while rolling to keep it neat). You can store your rolls in an embroidery thread box or the like. I started there, but ended up using an artbin jewlery storage container with ajustable compartments. I fit a lot of ribbon in it and like that i can see many many rolls at once.
As for the spool n store. I love gadgets and organizing, so had to have it. At first they only had the small ribbon dispensers, which won't hold a full roll of ribbon if more than a couple of yards or was thick. This frustrated me. It was good for scraps, but not what i wanted. Then they came out with medium and large sizes, which also hold washi tape nicely and i bought those. They hold more, but have flat tops (to fit shallow drawers) which restricts capacity.
In all honesty, i prefer my artbin cases for the ribbon. The spooler is neat, but it wont fit ribbon easily that is wider than 1 inch or lengthier than 3 to 4 yards of satin or thin ribbon. If they had a wider spooler that could accommodate 5-10 yards, that would be ideal.
Bottom line, it depends on your needs.
I will say that the spooler makes winding easier, but only if the roll is not large. I find i have to rewind some to keep them neat. A quilling tool can do a nice job if the ribbon isnt too thick (velvet, etc.) The dispenser i love for washi and scrap ribbon.
bestcraftorganizer now also has a rail you can mount on the wall to hold their boxes. Really nice owners, too - I met the husband at a Stamp & SB Expo, and have emailed with his wife.
Wow! Stampers really are a sisterhood! I have tried so many of these techniques that I laughed out loud reading about others' failures. Not often do I read something that makes me laugh and makes my stomach hurt at the same time!
Most of my storage failures have come from bad estimates of the VOLUME of a particular item I'm storing. That is, learning I have way more ribbon/washi tape/stickles/whatever than I thought I had.
Second source of failure is buying more stuff. That perfect punch holder only works until you outgrow it.
I guess storage is a never-ending issue for people like me who keep adding stuff.
Most of my storage failures have come from bad estimates of the VOLUME of a particular item I'm storing. That is, learning I have way more ribbon/washi tape/stickles/whatever than I thought I had.
Second source of failure is buying more stuff. That perfect punch holder only works until you outgrow it.
I guess storage is a never-ending issue for people like me who keep adding stuff.
Estimating is definitely is sore spot for me. All you need is one more of the same basket, bin, whatever and of course it's been discontinued and for a matchy-match person like me I will search and search and search and ....
My failure is the 12x12 storage drawers from Michael's. Once loaded with paper or cardstock, they are worthless. Still looking for 12x12 cardstock storage that takes up little space & is protected from sunlight.
Once I find it, I'll be removing the drawers & replacing them with cloth storage bins.
My failure is the 12x12 storage drawers from Michael's. Once loaded with paper or cardstock, they are worthless. Still looking for 12x12 cardstock storage that takes up little space & is protected from sunlight.
Once I find it, I'll be removing the drawers & replacing them with cloth storage bins.
Have you tried a file cabinet? They come in two and 4 drawer stacks and also in a variety of sizes. That is the system I use, only my hubby built the file drawers. They are the same principal, though.
My failure is the 12x12 storage drawers from Michael's. Once loaded with paper or cardstock, they are worthless. Still looking for 12x12 cardstock storage that takes up little space & is protected from sunlight.
Once I find it, I'll be removing the drawers & replacing them with cloth storage bins.
Jen, this will probably take up too much space for you, but just in case, after looking at tons of options, I got thist. Now I don't SB, so my DSP stash isn't as large as many. And I stack my favorite 12x12 pads elsewhere with just one on the bottom of the cart. (I have five of the same pad.)
They also make one about double this size I believe. If you google "advantus 12x12 cart" or anything like that, you can find photos of it with the hanging folders in it - some on Pinterest. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good luck. I know how disappointing it is to decide on a system, buy everything, and have it not work. Ugh.
My failure is the 12x12 storage drawers from Michael's. Once loaded with paper or cardstock, they are worthless. Still looking for 12x12 cardstock storage that takes up little space & is protected from sunlight.
Once I find it, I'll be removing the drawers & replacing them with cloth storage bins.
That's what I did with mine, too. I did put the drawer on top of the unit so I could still hang my paper there until I figured out a better plan. My "better plan" was trimming all of the 12" x 12" paper down to 8 1/2" x 12" so it could go in legal file folders in a regular file cabinet. I purged most of that paper when we moved across country, then got a bunch of papers from Amber (sprtchick) after I moved here. They are in the same cart bjeans referenced...
My failure is the 12x12 storage drawers from Michael's. Once loaded with paper or cardstock, they are worthless. Still looking for 12x12 cardstock storage that takes up little space & is protected from sunlight.
Once I find it, I'll be removing the drawers & replacing them with cloth storage bins.
I completely forgot about that horrid unit. What a waste.
The rotating Clip It Up! Some were wild about it, a total flop for me. I spent more time fiddling with those flimsy clips and picking things off the floor than anything else. I'm glad I didn't get their floor model. Anyone still using theirs?
I still use one but only for stickers and lightweight embellishments.
__________________ **************************************** My avatar is "Sushi," a beautiful little Siamese girl!
What makes the 12 x 12 storage drawers "worthless" once loaded with paper or cardstock? And how does cloth storage bins help on this?
Apparently, I'm more than a little confused on what 12 x 12 storage drawers you are referring to.
She's referring to the JetMax or Recollections-type cubes. When loaded with paper, the drawer is way too heavy to slide in and out properly - I pulled the handle right off the front of mine. I made a cloth "basket" that could hang from the file supports and put bulky things like crimpers in mine. Nothing heavy, though. I don't have them any more - sold 'em before we moved...
I've tried too many methods to count! The ones that to mind the most are:
Ribbon Storage- I have TONS of ribbon that I use for multiple crafts (and a lot that was bought on impulse) I tried the pants hanger idea first. Didn't work. Too many different sizes. Tried a ribbon box; Didn't work. Again, Sizes. I could go on, but the final method that I am sticking with, that seems to work (for me) is to wrap the ribbon around plastic embroidery thread bobbins. I secure the ribbon with mini rubberbands.
Next would be my dies...I bought the infamous Art Bin with high hopes and have been disappointed since I bought it. It's a good idea, but hard to sort through your dies without them all falling off the magnetic sheets, and the more dies you acquire the more frustrating it gets. So far the dies are still in it, until I find a better solution.
I've tried too many methods to count! The ones that to mind the most are:
Ribbon Storage- I have TONS of ribbon that I use for multiple crafts (and a lot that was bought on impulse) I tried the pants hanger idea first. Didn't work. Too many different sizes. Tried a ribbon box; Didn't work. Again, Sizes. I could go on, but the final method that I am sticking with, that seems to work (for me) is to wrap the ribbon around plastic embroidery thread bobbins. I secure the ribbon with mini rubberbands.
Next would be my dies...I bought the infamous Art Bin with high hopes and have been disappointed since I bought it. It's a good idea, but hard to sort through your dies without them all falling off the magnetic sheets, and the more dies you acquire the more frustrating it gets. So far the dies are still in it, until I find a better solution.
Can you slide the magnetic sheets into page protectors to keep the dies from falling off (or, at least, catching them if they do) and not have to re-invent a method of storing them?
Is anybody besides me spending more time organizing and looking at videos of other people stamping and organizing their stuff than actually making anything? If I had a dollar for every hour I have spent reorganizing my cardmaking stuff I could buy a Bentley. I think I know what my real hobby is.
One thing I did stop watching - videos of cheap ways to make something instead of buying it. In the time it takes to watch the video, read comments, go shopping, set up, and make whatever-the-heck-it-is - that isn't expensive in the first place, so I could save maybe $3.00? - I could make 7 cards, 6 boxes, 5 mini books and a partridge in a pear tree.
I also stopped watching some videos by some popular makers who ... talk... so... slowly, or go on and on before getting to the point. If I'm going to waste my time, I want to do it quickly! ;)
One thing I did stop watching - videos of cheap ways to make something instead of buying it. In the time it takes to watch the video, read comments, go shopping, set up, and make whatever-the-heck-it-is - that isn't expensive in the first place, so I could save maybe $3.00? - I could make 7 cards, 6 boxes, 5 mini books and a partridge in a pear tree.
I also stopped watching some videos by some popular makers who ... talk... so... slowly, or go on and on before getting to the point. If I'm going to waste my time, I want to do it quickly! ;)
Definitely agree. Some of the frugal ideas just are worth it.
I appreciate that people take the time to share their videos but some I just can't handle watching. And NO I don't want to watch your cat or your dog or... I'm glad we have the fast forward button. But, I do appreciate them so don't flame me ;)
Did you mean some frugal ideas aren't worth it? LOL
Being an animal addict, I have to admit that if a dog or cat enters the screen, I'm entranced. To heck with crafts if there's a furry being to watch. Generally they're just on for a moment.
Good thing there aren't just tons of crafting styles but also varied video styles. : )
Add the bridge to connect my work stations has made a big difference in eliminating the clutter... I'm putting things away and wiping down the surfaces as I go along... swapping out images and card ideas on my inspiration board and mantle... I know I have issues, but the clean organized state won't last long... my creative juices are revving up again. 
