Wooden Cassette Rack Altered for Craft Storage

Years ago I found one of those Napa Valley Wooden Cassette racks and have been using it for my stamp pads and I still love having my pads stored in this manner. A few months ago BFF Carmen was visiting and we went to a thrift store and there were two of the racks for $3 each and I grabbed one and Carmen told me I should get the other one as well for that price so I did. I knew I didn't have enough stamp pads to fill up either rack but ya never know what might happen!

I had to do a little rearranging on my wall to get the racks to fit but that wasn't a big issue. I did have some Stampin Up ink pads in a Stampin Up carousal storage and thought I would get all my ink pads together and it looks so nice now! I then had to decide what to do with the other rack and I wondered about storing my ink refill bottles in it so it would free up one of my drawers. I was really pleased with how the altered wooden cassette rack turned out!

And here is the result!

The thin backing of the rack was put on with staples and it was fairly easy to get the backing off using a small standard screw driver and prying up gently to loosen the back so I could get it off. You can see in the picture where the little staples hold the back on to the frame.

In order for the ink re-fillers not to just fall through I needed to have two slats as a "shelf" and to accomplish this I used my miter box and miter saw to make the notches on the opposite side of the vertical slats to line  up with notches on the back. I found it easier to cut several at a time and it helped with the wood not splintering quite as much and using a little painters tape held the slats together well. I used one vertical slat as a guide so I would know how deep to cut my notches and then put a line of painters tape across the slat to use as a guide.

Here you can see the notches that are made in the vertical slats and then the notches I made. Before I started cutting I did lay bottles down and count the notches so I would know where to cut. 

This shows the slight gaps between the slats a little better. Now I have to tell you after I took this picture and put the thing back together I realized it would look better if I had the solid edge of the vertical slats toward the front instead of having all the little notches toward the front so I had to take the back off and turn them all around and I'm glad I did because it for sure has a much nicer finished look.

I just used some small nails to attach the back to the frame as I have no idea where my staple gun is and not even sure if a regular staple gun would have worked. 

Here is the finished product before I hung it up and put it on the wall. As you can see there are different size slots because I wanted my Glimmer Mists to be stored in the rack as well. 

This picture shows all three of my racks on the wall and I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

If you ever run across any of the Napa Valley Cassette Racks and wonder what you can do with them you now have another idea of how to incorporate it for storage in your craftroom. 

ProMarker Blending Charts

So I've been gone for awhile...had two hand surgeries and just now getting back to where I can start doing some things without it causing pain on the incision sites and I wanted to share what I think is awesome project I just completed.

I love my ProMarkers, been using them for a number of years now and while I don't use them all the time I do love having them. I have tried many coloring techniques and I always end up going back to my ProMarkers. I think I like them because it's faster than any other method I've tried when I'm wanting to color a stamped image, especially since I always make 6 of a card.

Anyway, I use to have a few little blending charts I made up and when I loaned out my markers the little charts didn't return with the markers. Ever since that time I've kinda just avoided using the markers because I didn't want to have to go back and look up colors to blend. For some reason a few nights ago I got the bright idea to reorganize my markers and have them stored in the monochromatic style that is listed on the website, which you can find HERE if you are interested.

It looks much better this way than how I had them grouped by colors. In this picture I was missing the red marker but I now have it and the appropriate square is shaded. When our Hobby Lobby opened I was thrilled to see that they carry the markers because it hurts my heart *okie thinks and her pocketbook* to only need one or two markers and have to pay like $8 shipping! 

I also made some chipboard dividers and spacers to keep the markers from falling over. Originally the markers were in the little hanging file bags that were meant for CD's. I had cut the bottoms out so the markers would fit in the case. Oh if you don't know this is a 200 disc CD case and even had a little lock on it *okie wonders where the heck the key would even be*.  This is the full set of ProMarkers, sans any limited editions markers as I do not own any of those, and two blender pens. I also have two extra markers at the top because those are about to go out and they are in reserve. 

After reorganizing I decided that I wanted to go ahead and make some blending charts. I got to looking at my storage case and wondering if I could make some small booklets, using my Cinch to bind the pages together and keep them in the case along with the markers. I did some measurements and off to Word I went to see what I could come up with for charts. I did a lot of editing and such but finally came up with something I thought would work for me.

One of my go to charts was the one I found on the former ProMarker site long ago and it gave easy blending for pastel, vivid and muted. I did remake that chart. I always have a problem when it comes to doing skin tones so Google was my friend and I was able to find a few great blending combinations for my skin tone and hair color booklet. 

Also for the skin tone and hair color booklet I found a half image from a website *okie can't remember the name of that dang website to save her life* that works great for reference. I left spaces so I can write down the hair and skin tones I use. Can you say TIME SAVER! I did 3 color combo's for the color combinations and I figured I am smart enough to choose two out of 3 colors if I am only wanting to use two colors on an image. 

You might have noticed blank areas on the pages and those are there so other combinations can be added later if needed. I included blank pages to both booklets, including some uncolored girl images.

Now if you use markers you know sometimes you get bleed through and to avoid this happening as I had more blending combinations I added a page in the back that folds out and then can be placed under the page I will be coloring on so it doesn't bleed through to the next page. Not sure you can really tell but the booklet on the left shows the flap sheet. 

And best of all...my booklets fit in my marker case! I am able to close the lid perfectly and now I will have quick reference when I am wanting to color. I honestly think this will help me use my markers more often! 

I think it took me maybe 4 evenings to get this finished, and probably a good part of the day Saturday. I would have finished quicker but I kept tweaking the charts. But I have to say...IT WAS WORTH EVERY MINUTE!!

Card Organization

As most of y'all know I try and keep things organized and often change organizational systems for things in my craftroom several times before I get things how I like them so why I haven't thought about making little tabs for my cards is beyond me!

I needed to get some recently made cards out of one of my drawers and put them in my card boxes and that is when I thought I should get my cards in a little bit better of order. I just cut some pieces of heavy cardstock and then separated my cards by category so I can quickly find what I want. I had the boxes already labeled but this will make it a little bit easier rather than flipping through all the cards to find what I want. I started to get out my label maker but there was a Sharpie just laying  the drawer next to me so I opted to use it instead. 

I got these boxes about 7 years ago I think at Walmart on clearance and they have been working quite well for storing my cards. I think I need to get busy on some birthday cards since that box isn't quite full. I have been doing a lot of cards that can be used for about any occasion and that box is rather filled up right now. 

I have a hard time with where to put odd size cards, which to me is anything other than A2 size, because they can't go in the boxes lined up all nice and neat....and ya know that bothers the heck out of me!

I'll be working on some cards using dies soon since my Gemini is suppose to arrive today! After cutting with all the dies I did a few weeks ago my shoulder was so dang sore I could hardly move it and my dang wrist felt like it was on fire and I am hoping the Gemini will help take care of that problem because it sure sucks getting old and having arthritis and carpal tunnel. 

Do You Like Dies?

Years ago I got some sets of the Nestablities dies and I quickly decided it was way too much work to cut and emboss those suckers and they sat in a drawer until I decided to sell them. That was about the only experience I had with dies until I got a few Spellbinders last year when I was in Florida and I really liked them because it was just cutting them out. I also got a set of My Favorite Things stitched circle dies that I loved. Well I certainly am learning to love dies even more now!

My crafting benefactor that has sent me so many things over the years recently sent me some of her dies, actually two different batches!

This is the first batch and it had a windows, doors, trees, flourish, branches and other different dies. I don't think this included all the dies she sent but you can see there is a large assortment of dies for me to use.

The second batch she sent had a lot of Christmas dies, enough that I could probably make a different card every year for the rest of my life and still not use all the dies! I told my friend Carmen that she needs to come for a visit this summer so we can make Christmas cards. There were also several sets of frame dies and numerous others.

My dilemma was trying to figure out how to store the dies and also looking up all the names for the dies because, well we all know I have to know the name so I can inventory the dies *okie's need of organization is such a curse at times*. I bought a package of comic book boards thinking I could use them for making mini albums and pulled those out to see how they would work, and they worked great! The only problem was that I had already cut every die out of white cardstock so back to the craft closet I went and got out some brown Neenah paper that I had bought for making envelopes, which will be another post sometime soon, and pasted the paper onto the comic book boards...problem solved!!

I used magnetic vent covers, cut to size and adhered those to the back of the boards for the dies to stick to. The plastic cases they are in are Iris storage cases that I got at Staples years ago and I think I paid like maybe $2 each for them and they work great!

I tried to label all the dies with the manufacturer and the name of the die when I could find the names and I did find the names for most of them. This way when I want to use it I know what I am using and if I need an idea I can do a Google search with the name.

The containers fit in one of my Closetmaid cube storage units that sits right behind me when I'm at the craft table. It makes it nice being able to turn around and just grab a container and flip through the dies. 

I'll be posting some cards that I have made using some of the dies and I can tell ya that after making those cards my addiction for dies is pretty much set in stone now!

Organizing HTV - HTV Chart file available

So y'all know my issue about organization right? Well if you don't ya must be new around here because sometimes it borders on obsessive. I am constantly thinking and trying new ways of organizing different things in my craftroom *okie wishes the rest of her house had the same issue*. I ordered some more HTV, heat transfer vinyl in case someone doesn't know what that is, and I knew it was time to get it in a better method than just a corner in my craft closet where it was hard to get to and go through.

I have my heat press on an old microwave cart, and when I say old I mean I have had this thing so long that I can't even remember when I got it, and have been meaning to see if I could put my HTV on the cart with the heat press since that just seemed to make sense! Luckily I have saved my cardboard tubes over the years *okie has no idea why she would even save the dang thangs* and they came in handy for putting on the cart and separating my HTV. Some of the HTV sticks out, which I don't like but it will do for now since it's so much easier to see what I have and to grab and use. I am planning on finding another place for the books and stuff that are in the area where the doors are so I can keep items or projects that I will be pressing. The little shelf above the HTV has some bags I will be pressing and also a template for tshirt sleeves. I also was able to put my sticky flock and some of my rhinestone template material on the cart. It's the flat sheets sitting on top of the tubes. Those items had been rolled up and I will have an easier time using them and not dealing with getting it to lay flat when I am ready to use them. 

During a moment of "why didn't I think of that sooner" I made up a chart of heat press settings for various HTV I have and after printing I laminated it. I keep it under my heat press and can grab it quickly instead of having to sit down at the computer and look up the settings each time I am ready to heat press something. I do have this, well not this particular one because I took off the EnduraTex holographic HTV items since those particular ones are no longer available, in a PDF file if you would like to download and print your own. I made it a PDF file since some people don't have access to MSWord. 

Just click the link to download the file : 

HTV Heat Press Settings

Organizing Cardstock and Paper

I am really a bit ashamed to say it had been over a year that I had done anything to my paper organization but it is true *okie hears a few gasps, looks out everyone with a bit of a perturbed look on her face* OH PUULLLEEZZZZ!! I'm so sure all y'all keep yours organized and update on a daily basis!

Anyway, I had cardstock here and there and packages of colors with scrapbook paper and my Graphic45 hadn't been updated in awhile either so it was quite a task I had before me but since it was too hot to do much of anything I thought I could use the time to get 'er done! I took this picture after I had already started doing a little. I got the blue plastic bins at Goodwill and I have no idea what they were suppose to be but I know they were used to stand vertical but horizontally they work great for holding my cardstock. They are really heavy duty so I don't worry about them tearing up and since they are solid they can't fall apart. 

I have a hard time trying to figure out colors and I thought the greens were bad but I quickly decided that I think blues are the hardest color to organize because there are just so many dang shades of blue and how I ended up with so many shades I have nodea and to be honest I still don't have the right shades of blue! I have tons of teal blues and I do remember how I ended up with all those. A few years back Consumer Crafts had an awesome sale on the Coredinations, such a good sale I got multiple packs of whatever I could and it seems that the teal is what I use least because it is what I have the most of left now. At this point I was begging people on Facebook to come and organize my blue cardstock for me. Not one person ever showed up to do the task *okie thinks she has a lot of slacker friends*. 

After much persistence, many paper cuts and feeling like I was going blind I got it all done!

Next up was getting my, for lack of a better word "glitzy" cardstock in order. If I thought my regular cardstock was scatter then my glitzy was like hunting for Easter eggs! I kept finding it in all different places and when I did find it somewhere that might be odd I would remember why I had it with certain paper but decided it needed to be all together. 

I had Bazzill bling, Coredinations gems, metallic, opalescent, brushed metal and mica to get in order. I did mix all those different ones together and put them with their color hoping it will be easier for me to find when I am wanting something glitzy. 

Since moving my regular cardstock to the blue containers I had a lot of the Cropper Hopper holders free and it worked out great for getting a lot of my other papers organized and labeled. I have one of those Brother P-Touch label makers and I absolutely love it! 

I didn't label my scraps, but that is what is to the left of the glitzy cardstock. At the time I took the picture I hadn't gotten to my specialty cardstock but it is now organized and on the shelf right below this one. Specialty includes, faux textures, foam, vellum, vinyl (thin for paper not my regular vinyl) washi sheets printables and also I was able to fit my birthday and kitchen category papers on the shelf as well. 

I got my scrapbook paper reorganized and the companies separated again, such as K&Co, MME, Stampin Up, DCWV, Basic Grey and Graphic45. This is a picture of my Graphic45 papers, sans any Christmas collections *okie thinks it is obvious those would go in the Christmas section*. I even finally updated my inventory of my Graphic45 so hopefully I wont make the mistake of buying duplicate packs, which I did do one time in the past. My inventory is done in Excel, just like my stamps, punches, embossing folders, etc, so it makes it easy to go in and add and keep things in alphabetically order. 

My poor scraproom looked like a paper flea market for about a week while I was getting this all done but I am glad I did get it done and it looks so much neater now and it will be easy to find what I m looking for when I want to do a project. Which was not long after I got it all organized! I was sent the Close To My Heart Flower Market cartridge to review and tomorrow I am going to show you a project that I did with that cartridge. Would someone get the lady in the back who fainted some water? I guess it was bit of a shock to her that I used a Cricut cartridge. Is she okay? *okie sees someone nod their head yes* Alrighty then, y'all be sure to come back tomorrow and check out the project!

Goodwill Find Caused Me To Organize

I ran into Goodwill the other day just to pass some time since I haven't been finding much of anything in the store as of the last few months and I walked to the back where they bring out the new racks that will be stocked by the workers and found a stack of paper in packages.

Of course when a crafter finds a stack of paper in packages we have to look and see what it is and when I saw, well I quickly put the whole stack in my buggy! Especially since they were marked 99 cents and with my discount card that would put the cost at 90 cents. I went through and checked all the packages and there was one that was open and only had a few sheets in it so it when back on the rack but the others went back in my buggy. 

Did I mention that the paper packs were Stampin Up? Yes you heard me right...Stampin Up! I ended up with the following lines -

Attic Boutique (2)

Beau Chateau

Berry Blossoms

Delicate Dots

Festive Finery

Holiday Thyme 

Letters to Santa

Nursery Nest

Parisian Summer

Pocketful of Posies

Woodland Park

Simply Scrappin Kit - Just Delightful

Simply Scrappin Kit - Island Blossoms

I was beyond thrilled with my find, because ya know I don't have enough paper *okie does a huge eye roll*, but I knew it was going to cause me some problems because the holders I have my Stampin Up papers in were full and I would have to reg-organize to get the new paper in the appropriate order. Luckily my friend Carmen and I have been on TV date nights watching Game of Thrones and I was able to sit and work on the paper organization while watching TV with her. Since she is in Houston and I am in Oklahoma our TV date nights are on the phone. I have been trying to get her to watch Game of Thrones for a few years now and she wouldn't do it but once she did she hasn't been able to stop watching. I have seen all the episodes at least twice so it is nice to be able to explain things to her during the show as they happen. Oops...got side tracked!

I got out my label maker and went to the closet and got some more paper dividers, which I am out of now and will have to find something else to divide collections in the future, and went to work. I like to keep some of my paper collections by alphabetical order. I will make a bit of confession here and tell you that I had a couple of collections in there that didn't have dividers so it had been awhile since I had worked on keeping my Stampin Up papers organized. I did know I had them, just didn't have them organized with dividers. 

Since each collection matches up with Stampin Up cardstock I thought it would be nice to know what colors match and instead of having to do a search each time I wrote them on post it notes and put them on the dividers so I have quick access. After doing a search and finding SCSDSP Color Chart it was easy to get the colors for the collections.  I don't normally buy the SU designer paper unless it is on clearance *okie figures everyone knows okie doesn't like paying full price* and luckily for me all the papers I had were in the list since it hasn't been updated since 2014. The asterisk next to the cardstock name means it is still available. 

While I was at it I made an Excel spreadsheet inventory of the Stampin Up Designer Paper I have, don't ask me why I did that because I have no idea other than I like making inventories of some of my crafting items. But I do plan on going in and marking which cardstocks I do own *okie honestly believes this need to organize is a curse at times*. Honestly though, it will make it easier to just open up the Excel file and quickly see if I have what matches instead of having to rummage through my papers. By rummage I mean pull out the folder with paper which is organized by color and check the name on the tab.

I really need to work on my 12x12 cardstock organization since I found some more things to use as paper holders at Goodwill last month (which I will post about when I use them) and if anyone would like to come help me do that I will allow you pool time and all the cold beer you can drink!! 

Making Your Own Pop Dots

One of the things I love to use when papercrafting is Pop Dots but I don't actually use Pop Dots because they are a bit expensive in my opinion when used in volume that I use them. They are especially expensive if you have to buy several different packages in order to get the size you want and my solution is to make my own then cut to the size I want. To make it even better I can layer it to get different heights.

I started to panic last night while finishing up decorating my last box and I thought I was getting low on my own Pop Dots. Fortunately when I went to the closet in the craftroom and checked my box I was quite relieved to find that I still have a "few" rolls of mounting foam. I stocked up a few years ago when Wall's Bargain Center had quite a few packages for $1 each and I think there were like 3 or 4 rolls to a package. I shared my find with my friends Linda and Carmen. 

So what do you need to make your own Pop Dots? Mounting Foam and something to stick it to, yep that's it! What I have found that works great is the left over sheeting from contact paper. I have tried several things over the years but this works the best because it releases the mounting foam the best. I use to just cut pieces off the rolls but my scissors would get gummed up pretty fast and after going through a few pairs I would have to clean them with some Undu because they wouldn't even open anymore. 

Since I store my mounting foam strips in a pencil case I cut a piece of contact paper the length of the pencil case to make things easier. I then lay out strips of the foam covering the piece of contact paper backing making sure to leave a little gap between the strips so I can cut them apart when I'm done. 

My pencil case will hold two rolls of mounting foam strips and this should last me awhile. The case fits nicely in one of my craft table drawers and is handy to get to. I love being able to cut the size I need without getting my scissors all gummed up. After spending about 20 minutes doing this last night I'm all ready for when I need Pop Dots!

Pegboard Reorganization

When I went to Houston last month one of the things I wanted to do was go to Ikea, for several reasons but the main one was to get some of the little Bygel Baskets. I had one that I tried on my pegboard and I loved how it held my stuff very well since it was pretty roomy and very sturdy. I was able to pick up 8 of them while I was there and then last week I found something else that I thought might work on my pegboard and finally got around to working on my pegboard reorganization this weekend.

While during one of my digs at the Zipp Outlet here in town I came across a box of 24 brochure holders and while looking at them I could see it hanging on my pegboard with some embellishments in it. I knew I would have to figure out how to hang it but being a gal who is never without a cordless drill I thought I might just try drill a hole in the top and if that didn't work then I would try something else, with there being 24 I didn't figure it would hurt if I messed up a few of them. 

Luckily I was able to drill a hole pretty easily in the top so I didn't have to try several different methods. They don't hold a lot but I think they work out nicely for a few things in my embellishment stash. 

Here you can see them hanging on the pegboard along with the Bygel Baskets. I actually have a few empty ones so that might come in handy if I decide to buy more embellishments *okie wonders who in the hell is she kiddin because if she sees a good sale she will certainly buy more embellishments*. Some things I would have liked to put in there were too wide, such as my smaller blingy rhinestone packages and pearl packages but I actually ended up putting those in a drawer below my craft tables so I can access them easier. I will be making a post of my new craft table set up pretty soon.

It's impossible to get a full length picture of my pegboard since it is in my closet and somehow I ended up leaving out a row between the two pictures. There are a total of 8 clear holders and 11 Bygel Baskets on the pegboard. 

I try to keep certain embellies in their own basket, such as Basic Grey, K & Co., Tim Holtz and Webster Pages, so when I am using that company product line I don't have o dig through all the embellishments but instead can just dig through that one basket. 

Now that I have this all done I am thinking the pegboard is a waste of space and that Bygel bars on that wall might work better but since I don't have an Ikea close and it will be a long time before I get to go to Ikea again this will work for me. It does look a lot nicer and cleaner and by getting things off of pegs I no longer have to pull everything off a peg to get to something in the back I want to use. 

VHS Cabinet Repurposed

My Goodwill seems to get an abundance of those 2 drawer VHS cabinets at times and I kept thinking there had to be something I could do with them. 

One day when I was in there I found 2 priced at $1.99 and they were orange tag and it just so happened that orange tags were 50% off that week. I figured with that price I could afford to get two of them and try and see what I could do. They are pretty butt ugly but I remember when they first came out they were all the rage and most things had a wood finish so they fit well with most people's decor at the time. I will be painting them or doing something to them when I figure out what I need to do.

My first thought for the drawer units were my Stickles and Liquid Pearls. I knew they were short enough to fit in the drawers and with the little tabs on the sides I thought it might be easy enough to make rows to keep them neater and as you see in the picture it worked out great! Notice the open row...well that will be taken care of when my order comes in from Scrapbook.com! Some of my Stickles were almost out and then I saw some colors of Stickles and Liquid Pearls that I liked and I ordered a few. I'm not sure how many people even like Stickles anymore but I for one absolutely love my Stickles and Liquid Pearls!

My next task was to try my glitter and flock. and I was able to get them in the drawers just fine. I was a little worried about the taller jars of glitter and flock but they were short enough for the drawer to shut and open just fine. The jars on the left hand side of the photo are Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze that my friend Linda picked up for me somewhere in Arkansas on one of her trips to get her grandson. The white lids to the left of those are jars of flock I got at Hobby Lobby after Christmas one year and I think I paid next to nothing for them.

The white dividers are made out of cardstock and I was able to measure and cut them where they are snug enough that they didn't need anything to hold them place as the contents did that well and being able to use the tabs on the sides as guides it worked great. If you will notice the little white "blocks" I added those to keep the jars from falling around too much because the same tabs that are great to keep the dividers in place made it a little hard for some of the contents to keep from falling over. 

I added a glue dot to the lids and them turned the bottle upside down on the lid so the glue dot picked up the glitter or flock. By doing this I can easily see what is in the little jar without having to pull out each one to find what I am wanting to use. I'm still getting use to my new camera so the picture is a little blurry. I gotta work on my "macro" skills with that camera. 

I ran into a problem when it came to my Viva Pearl Pens and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist...they were too tall! Not a lot too tall but just enough too tall where the drawer wouldn't be able to shut. As you see my solution was to make the bottles tilt a little so the drawer can open and shut just fine. When I got my Pearl Pens I added a dot to the top of the lid so I could see the color easily and it works out great with the being in the drawer. 

I put what Washi Tape I have, which isn't much, in the last drawer just to see if it would fit okay. I doubt I will keep the tape in the drawer as I'm sure I can find a better use for it. 

One day I am going to stop organizing and start crafting again. I don't know what day that will be but when that day comes I am going to know exactly where everything is that I need!

For the Love of Buttons!!!

My sister came last month for her yearly summer weekend with me and we of course had to go to Goodwill and she kept looking at a bunch of tins and talking about how she loves tins but she didn't like any of the ones they had at the time and so the tins stayed. The next week when I was in there the tins were still there and some gal was looking at them and I noticed she opened one and told the person she was talking to on the phone about the tin and said "it's got some stuff in it". I couldn't see what was in there but I was certainly curious and my memory banks immediately thought of all the grandma's that would store buttons in jars and tins and was hoping beyond hope that the contents of that old rusty tin held those little bits of plastic treasure. Luckily she put the lid back on the tin and walked off. I immediately zoomed my buggy two aisles over and picked up the tin and took of the lid and LO AND BEHOLD it was filled with BUTTONS!!

Being one not to want to over look leaving treasure behind I picked up each tin to see if there was something else in the others and I did find two more tins that had buttons in them. I could have cared less about the tins and they actually went back to Goodwill last week but I was thrilled with the contents! There were even some buttons still on the cards and there is no telling how old the buttons are as some had started crumbling around the edges.

There were other things in with the buttons and this picture shows an old campaign button and some other little items that were in the tins. One of them is a Jr. Red Cross pin and another is a little Knights of Columbus *at least okie thinks that is what it is* pin. I have no idea what the share a ride jingle bell is about. 

The buttons were quite dirty from being in the tins as the tins had rusted so of course I had to wash all of them before starting the task of separating, organizing and storing. These were all the white and off white colored buttons from the tins and was really pleased how well they washed up. The biggest part of the buttons were white but there were some colored buttons in the trove.

Adding so many buttons to my stash called for an overhaul of storing many of my buttons. I knew I would need more storage options and found some cute little jars at Dollar Tree that worked out great. The tall jar holds buttons that I will be using more vintage type projects. And yes....I was that meticulous about my organization *okie wonders if anyone really expected anything less*. 

Oh and I want to show you what I did with the buttons that were still on the cards! Instead of taking them off of the cards I decided to use a shadow box I had purchased, and before you ask yes it came from Goodwill as well, so they can be displayed. I used some Graphic45 Steampunk Debutante paper for the background and then just 

I thought I was done with ever buying buttons but then the other day this jar of buttons were just sitting on a shelf at Goodwill and I couldn't resist putting it in my cart. Now before you judge just know this jar only cost me 99 cents...HOW COULD I NOT TAKE IT! Plus this jar has a lot of colored buttons and I might not have those colors!