Spellbinders die organization

[wavejumper]

Spellbinders has a LOT of sub-categories with their dies. At first I went along with this in my excel file but it is getting totally crazy now.

There is shapeabilities and under that a bunch of subs like the designer series, the in'spire series, etc

The holiday category, DieDelitess, Nestabilities, Celebrations, on and on...

and then of course the name of the die itself.

When you record their dies...how are you organizing them? Just the name and code, or you are doing the category-do you show the designer?

I know a bunch of you have programs that show you a picture so you dont have to make note of all those details...I don't.

I normally organize dies by Word, Border, Cover, Special (makes a 3d thing, bookmark, gift card, easel etc) shaker and then just regular ones under their company names. But that is about it. Trying to fold that into the above is just painful and way too much work.

[uncbballfan]

I pretty much took care of that with a category named "Geometric Shapes." I store them this way.

[browpr]

For storing I keep all of the rectangle layering dies together; as are the circle ones; etc. For the ones they called labels I keep them in number order. For my spreadsheet I just have the Company name and the Die name.

[Bohodiva]

Earlier this year I re-organized my dies and (clear) stamps by grouping and filing them together in photo storage boxes by category. Floral stamps and dies (matching or not) are together, Wildlife (birds, bees, matching or not, etc) stamps and dies together, and so on for all those that are stored in the clear storage pockets. Stamps are in a separate pocket from dies. Dies are stored on magnetic vent sheets found at hardware stores that have been cut down to fit storage pocket.
This system works for me since I don't have to look around for a die or stamp to coordinate with my project since they're grouped together in a category.
I don't have time or patience to catalog each company, style, etc in a digital file/ app. It takes away from being creative. I just want to flip through a category pull what I need and get busy.

[wavejumper]

Yeah I store them like you do Pam and Boho...but I do keep a file which helps me avoid duplicating esp if I am making the mistake of shopping when I am tired (often) ....spellbinders is an old company....they just have SO many different categories for those dies! All my all other dies just go under the few cats I wrote above on my spreadsheet and done.

Ok so it seems like I am the only one who gave that a second thought. Typical of me. Overthinking. :rolleyes: I need to back off that and just record them my way. I can put that extra info into notes if I want.



Thanks!

[123scrap]

On my desktop, I have a folder for my stamps and one for my dies. Under each of these, I have sub-folders by company and have copied, scanned, snapped pics of each set (or individual stamp/die) I own with their file names being the set name. So, that's my "master file" for stamps and dies. I click on a company folder and can see which of their stamps/die cuts I have.

Then, it took me awhile, but I broke up many of my sets to store them by category, so I have another master folder for that, scanning in/snapping pics of the storage cases where I've stamped or adhered die cuts of what's in them. All those files have file names telling me where I can pull that storage case. There's always overlapping categories, so I copy/paste to the other applicable category folders keeping the file name so I know where I can physically retrieve them.

I've had this system for a decade now and it has worked well for me. I've since begun the same for my paper. I can plan out my project right at my computer. If anyone remembers the old physical library card catalogue system, it's kinda like that because I worked in libraries all through college, lol. I write down the case names (boxes for paper) of what I want and then "go the stacks" (my craftroom) to get them and create. And if I could do my ribbon, I'd be using it a lot more!

I have 918 gigs of hard drive storage, so this is not a problem for me, but also, I just looked and even with all my family/personal photos from the 70's on, all my pic-taking of each thing I make, and all my inventory files, I still have 625 gigs free, lol. My point, I don't think it takes up all that much space and most of the photos are at 300 dpi so could definitely be made smaller. I don't have to so I don't.

I have always tried to share product info of materials I've used in what I've made on my blog posts. But I am seriously thinking about no longer doing that. Like wavejumper, I just want to create. The older I get, the slower I get. Plus, most of the stuff is seriously old and no longer available.

[wavejumper]

Aimeslee....it isn't that I don't want to share product info...I am very for that actually in the gallery....I dont have one myself yet but I do read all that stuff...I love a good backstory on a card too.

I just think if I just have the company/die name it will be enough if someone asks. I generally use their inventory codes with SB too so that should help someone if they want to search it.....and not the designer, and the category SB puts it into like nestabilities (with a lot of cats under that) shapeablities, (again a lot of cats) die-de lites (sp) or holiday collection or card creator etc etc etc. They have REALLY spilt out the die inventory. I am sure it makes sense to them....

It will take me some time to convert that to my regular way with dies. I can do it over the winter. SB were the first dies I got many years ago now and I have quite a few now.

I was just curious if all that matters to other people. I know (and am always amazed) that people can remember SO many of the product designers. Or which catalogue stuff came from (SU) I can only recognize a few. But then again it was never important to me. So I thought I should record all that. Now I see it is not needed and it makes looking at the spreadsheet too hard.

The excel file itself though is VERY needed! Omg...stopped me many times from duplicating or showing me I have X number of "hello" dies.

[Valeriesc]

I have stored my dies with magnetic vent covers which can be purchased at stores like Lowes or Home Depot. Used pieces of cardboard to mount them on with my tape gun. I even used left over strips for smaller dies that don't need a full sized piece. The cards are made to fit in the photo boxes like the ones you can buy at Michaels. Don't use the lid for photo box. Photo box is nested inside lid. I have even been able to store 2 sets of dies on one card in some cases. It holds a lot of dies and has room for more.

SU dies are stored in the plastic envelopes the product comes in and I add the magnetic sheet piece to the piece SU has already put the sticky tape to hold the die in place. I have all of my dies including Spellbinders and other dies filed alphabetically. All SU dies are alphabetically at the back of everything since the envelopes are taller. The entire box is stored right close to me so I can easily get to them without having to leave my desk.

Works great for me. Used to use CD cases which used so much space.

[dini]

I use Evernote so I do have the graphic for reference... from Spellbinders I usually copy/paste the full product name (which contains the product line, collection, and artist - like "Shapeabilities First Friends Etched Dies Little Loves by Sharyn Sowell"). If I need to make an affiliate link, I'll use the SKU.

[2cards]

Wow, you guys are sooooo organized I am jealous! I just group categories together, words-sayings, animals, shapes etc. I tried per company/designer but for me categories was easier. But kudos to the rest of you!

[HOBBYSUE]

I'm just an everyday type crafter and not at all like alot of you who are more professional or in the business so none of this is really important to me. My dies are slapped into magnetic sheets from home Depot and in plastic sleeves in a refrigerator veggie bin on a table. Only 1 bin...no labels...maybe 30 sleeves. I just skim through till I get to what I want. Lol. But then again like I said I don't do daily or any videos of my own, I don't sell, I don't teach classes so I guess I can remain unorganized. Heeheehee. I only make cards or projects for friends or family and only post them on my blog which really has no followers and just reminds me of what ones I have done. But you guys have awesome ideas for organization!💕💕

[jeanne3579]

I have far fewer dies than most of you as I'm an avid fussy cutter. However, the basic shapes that are hard to cut smoothly like circles, ovals and other geometrics that need to look nice. I have some fancy borders and some label sets. Flowers leaves, butterflies I have very few of and the ones I have are for small embellishments. I'm a stamper at heart, so my stamp collection is large and I'd rather create with stamps and use dies for the background shape or as a special touch. Therefore, mine are stored by theme, just as my stamps are. I keep them on a magnetic sheet and in a plastic envelope and in a basket with tabbed cardboard dividers. I can flip through the section I need and find what I want, I label the magnetic sheet with the name of the die, so I can reference it in the information I store with the image of the card I keep in my digital documents.

[papercrafter40]

After seeing Lydia's YouTube video on the Airtable database app, I opened a free account with them to index all my stamps, dies, stencils, & digital stamps. I enter the stamp/die/stencil/digi name, manufacturer, label(s) with whatever category/categories I choose (like nature, floral, rectangle/square, oval/circle, etc.), any greetings in the set (though I don't use that field as often as I had thought I would), a link to the company or a checkbox if the item is discontinued (for blogging reference), and an attached photo. If I'm just looking generally, I can scroll through the photo attachments & remember what I have. I probably have an obscene number of products, especially digi stamps. (Don't judge me! ;)) BUT, the great thing about Airtable, being a database, is I can sort & filter records by any criterion I have entered. So if I want to see only Lawn Fawn products, I just filter the manufacturer by Lawn Fawn. Bingo - they, and only they, are visible. I really love the system. Mostly because it takes me less time to search records - especially if I can sort, filter, & do a text search - than it does to flip through actual stamp/die pockets. I do keep my physical products more-or-less organized by the same labels I use in Airtable as well. With labeled dividers a la Jennifer McGuire, of course! LOL The thing I really like about Airtable is its ease of use. I have worked with Microsoft Access 2010, and Airtable is waaaaay more user-friendly! And I can have the Airtable app on my phone so I can track things on the go, as well as a browser bookmark for my account on their site so I can look on my computer.

[wavejumper]

Thanks Andrea,
My question though was not how people organize dies overall...but specifically Spellbinders and if they take note of all the sub-sub-sub divisions THEY create.

If a person takes a pic of the packaging, you automatically would have all that info right there. (ie designer like Marisa Job. Lene Lok, Becca Freeken etc etc.)

I think perhaps I was not clear enough. I use an excel spreadsheet and I am fine with that. I can search on that all I want I do have a separate workbook for sentiments. I wont tell how many "hellos" I have LOL.

[dini]

I have 109 hellos.

[wavejumper]

109 Hello dies? Ok. You have me beat. I have 15 -6 parts of sets.

[dini]

Oh - dies, digis, foil plates and stamps.