My storage solutions

Hello! I'm stopping in to share a couple photos of my recent storage solutions. I mentioned on the forum that I had labeled and organized my new inks over the weekend, and had a couple request to see photos of how I am storing them. I had been wanting to share my die storage as well, so when I got home last night, I snapped a couple quick pictures, and thought I'd share them. There is nothing groundbreaking about how I am storing things, but it's always interesting to see what works for people, and maybe someone will get an idea from seeing something here!
So, here is my new ink holder that I shared the other day:

I bought this to primarily hold the new inks being released from Papertrey Ink. I will add more as they are released, and take out the old ones. Of course I realized as soon as I got this organizer in the mail last week, that I should've ordered two! Or a bigger one for inks, and a bigger one for ribbon! I ordered this from www.organizemore.com . I highly recommend them! It did take a little over a month to get it, which while I was waiting seemed like forever! But, it was well worth the wait, as each unit is hand crafted to order, and they are made REALLY well!
So, this is how I am labeling my inks:

Labeled and Alphabetical Order. :) I bought those little labels from Walmart. I believe they are Avery. I stamped them with the little circle in Tiny Tags and wrote the name. The label do hang off a little, but not too bad, and I don't think it should be too annoying. I also open them from the tip on the other end. The labels are also removable, so if I decide to label them differently in the future, it shouldn't be too hard to remove. They are not too removable, like post-it's or anything, so I don't forsee them just falling off, either. I decided to store my inks upside down.
Next, I thought I'd share how I store my dies.

I found this little box, possibly card catalog at work. Our office bought an old, deserted college, and this was in the library. So, I have this sitting next to my desk, so I can reach it while I'm crafting. As you see, it has the 3 sections, so in the front I keep the Mat Stacks, Fillable Frames, Limitless Layers, and the like. In the middle I keep dies that coordinate with stamp sets like Garden Variety, TANL, Harvest Berries, Flower Fusions, etc., And in the back I keep the largest dies like Mega Mat Stacks, Edger dies, Alphabet dies, Banner dies, etc., It is a system, where I know where things are, and it isn't that hard to flip though, or pull a section at a time out and look through it. Again, this might not be for everyone, but it's working for me, right now. I always thought I was a little anal and OCD about organization, until I started looking online at other crafter's workspace's! ;) I have printed out the names of all the dies with the picture from the website, and plan on labeling their little baggies, but I haven't had the time for that, yet.
Oh, and I also have all of my border dies above my desk:

Some of them are on the magnetic strip, some are in the red thing, which is also magnetic, but is also like a little pocket strip. That looks a little messy. I need more of the little magnets. ;)
And finally, I will show you how I organize my stamps:

So, this is on the corner of my desk. And this is working for now, but may need to change, especially now that Papertrey has changed their packaging. But, I have those little crates stacked up, I got them from Dollar General. My stamps are stored Alphabetically. All my $5 sets are stored in the white box to the left. There is no rhyme or reason to how they get thrown in there. ;)

Oh, yeah! My ribbon. You saw some of my Papertrey ribbon in the first photo, in the ink organizer. But, of course I have more ribbon than that! So, until I buy more orgainzers, so I can have a uniform display, they are stacked in a hodgepodge of units, also on my desk:

The top two are Papertrey ribbon, and I've run out of containers, so the rest is being stacked on top! I forgot to take a picture of my buttons, but they are on a shelf in little jars, sorted by color. And, I think that's it! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask! I appreciate you taking the time to look around and see how I store my *precious* goodies! And yes, in my head I said *precious* like Gollum in Lord of the Rings! ;)

My New Craft Room

Welcome to my first official blog post! I think the best way to start my blog would be to start at the beginning, of my craft room, and post the first pictures taken of my room as it all came together.

So here is my first official picture of my Craft Room:

I really wish I'd taken a better 'before' picture that would accurately portray the dramatic difference that was made to this room with the only change being the floors. However, I'm
glad I thought to take this one, at least!


While anxiously awaiting the completion of my craft room, I'd spent an obsessive amount of time online getting ideas for how I would organize my space. One of the first things I'd decided that I just absolutely had to have was a pegboard. I was on a limited budget, but the bigger obstacle was that I now live in the country where my shopping options are extremely limited. Those obstacles on top of my excitement and impatience led me to purchase the first pegboard I saw, which was at Walmart. In hindsight I wish I would've just waited a couple days and picked up a 'traditional' pegboard at Lowe's, but alas here it is:

My Pegboard:

I will most likely pretty it up a little when an idea comes to me. Please feel free to let me know if you have any ideas...I'm always up for suggestions!

And this is a picture looking into my room from the door:

The desk was hand made my husbands grandfather, and used to be used by his grandmother for crafting. I love this desk for this reason. I'd like to paint or refinish it in the future. This picture was taken a few months ago, so what is missing off my desk is my newer addition, as of mid-November, my newest obsession, my beloved Cricut!!!

My next picture is of another family heirloom. This one belonged to my mother. It belonged to a whole bedroom set that she had since before I was born, I keep meaning to ask her exactly how long she'd had it. Anyway, a few years ago she lost her house, and this is the only piece of her furniture that remains. I am so glad that I have this piece of furniture and that it was incorporated into my favorite place!

My Craft Armoire:

Like I said earlier, these pictures are a few months old, and I'm always changing and adding things, so I'll post up-to-date pictures soon, as well as share more about some of the organization details that are working well for me. I just wanted to finally get a post up and get the ball rolling! I think getting up my first post was the hard part, and from here on out my posts will be a lot more frequent!

Thanks for taking a look at my craft room and being a port of my new endeavour of blogging! Please feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions, as this really is new to me, and I could use all the help I get! Lol.