Make it work Wednesday #17 Tuesday Edition

Make it work Wednesday is back this week, but it’s a day early because of exciting Rubbernecker posts on Wednesday and Thursday!

This week I decided to reorganize my Rubbernecker Unmounted stamps to make them more accessible.  Most of them were stored on photo refill pages in 3 ring binders.  (See MIWW #3 below) The system works great until you have to pull out 6- 3” binders to select an image for a project.  Not to mention the amount of space the binders take up.  I purchased 1 Scrapbook Solutions Photo Organizer box to experiment.  The Organizer retails for $9.99, but I used a Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon and got my employee discount to boot.  The box comes unassembled with the exception of the lid.  The box becomes quite stable after the assembled bins are placed in the box.  The system comes with labels for the tabs, but I just used my label maker to print my own. 

 

 

Each bin will accomodate 7 background stamps with EZ Mount cushion on them.  My intention was to just store my backgrounds this way, then I took it a step further.  The photo refill pages cut down nicely to 4” x 6” without the clear film falling off the white base.  You can cut 3 out of each page and store stamps on both sides.  So, I organized my images by sets (like Kittie Kits) and by themes.

I have 3 organizers filled now and LOVE this system.  The assembled box measures 4 1/2” High, 12” Wide & 13” Deep.  ( The cover is under the bottom in the photo, but pops on and off easily for dust free storage)

I have so many unreleased stamps, so I just took Post it Note flags and wrote the release date on them.  Now, I can quickly find the next release while still keeping them categorized. 

For previous make it work Wednesday's click on the links below.

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

#11 Sponges

#12 Punch Template Book

#13 Corner Desk Dish Rack

#14 Mini Mister Rack

#15 Alcohol Inks & Embossing Powders

#16 Embellishments Revisited

I hope these ideas inspire you to get organized. Remember, Make it Work!

Make it work Wednesday #16

I am revisiting embellishment storage today because being organized and making it work is always a work in progress.

I found that I was reaching for my hardware that was primarily in storage containers in my roll top desk.

Then, I looked at my Prima Storage system and realized that the space could be better utilized. I started by condensing

down my prima collection to colors I actually use and filled the tins with hardware often reached for. The hanging sheet metal

memo board was a purchased from Target a couple years ago and has housed my Prima's since June of '07. It's about 48" tall with the hanger.

The flowers were condensed down to about 1/3 of the board and replaced with embellishments used often.

Here's the before and after:

For previous make it work Wednesday's click on the links below.

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

#11 Sponges

#12 Punch Template Book

#13 Corner Desk Dish Rack

#14 Mini Mister Rack

#15 Alcohol Inks & Embossing Powders

I hope these ideas inspire you to get organized. Remember, Make it Work!

Make it Work Wednesday #15

  I love storage containers and so today, I am bringing you my system for Alcohol Inks/Accessories & Embossing powders.

Both tins are for Tim Holtz Ranger products.  The first was designed for alcohol inks and applicators.

The second holds the Distress Embossing Powders.  I love being able to grab them off my shelf when

creating. I have punched circle stickers to place on the top of the ink colors for easy reference.

The tins can be found through many suppliers.  I got one from Rubbernecker and the other

from www.scrapbook.com

 

For previous make it work Wednesday's click on the links below.

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

#11 Sponges

#12 Punch Template Book

#13 Corner Desk Dish Rack

#14 Mini Mister Rack

I hope these ideas inspire you to get organized.  Remember, Make it Work!

Make it work Wednesday #14

Here's one of my favorite new organizational tools. I first saw it on Tim Holtz's blog and had to run over to his friend Kim's blog and get my own.

It comes in unfinished hard white maple, but I chose to spray mine black. If you use mini misters and have a collection like I do, you NEED this rack! Kim shipped with lightning speed and I had it in my hands in 2 days. With 30 spots, I have a mister dedicated to all the distress inks and then 6 extra that are filled with plain water and 1 with rubbing alcohol. I can quickly add a reinker to the plain water ones if I am in a hurry, or I can just add perfect pearls to one for a nice pearlized shimmer mist. Anyway, this is my MIWW for you today. Run over and visit Kim and tell her I sent you!

The footprint is only 4 3/8" x 5 5/8" I have it on top of my drawer organizer on my stamp table next to all my markers. There is an artists bottle filled with water behind it so I don't have to run to the sink in the middle of a project.

For previous make it work Wednesday's click on the links below.

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

#11 Sponges

#12 Punch Template Book

#13 Corner Desk Dish Rack

Make it work Wednesday #13

For today's MIWW, I am showing you my diagonal table that nestles at the end of my rolltop desk.  I use this as a little utility area and love the natural light from the window.  If I have a lot of coloring to do, I will pull up a chair and stay for a spell. 

So, here's my organizational tool today.  It's a vintage wire dish rack.  It works perfectly to house many things.  The slots of the left end hold my craft iron and also my quilters iron and new favorite tool, Zip Dry Glue.  The right end has empty paper flower jars that hold things often used - scissors, setting tools, bone folder, toothbrush, tweezers, 6" ruler and Basic Grey Presicion File set.  The top is perfect for my mini Scor-It and the bottom shelf holds my stamp positioner, piercing templates and sponge daubers.  There is room underneath for my watchmaker tins that have charms & flat gems in them.  There are 2 more tins tucked in the slats behind the Scor-It that hold charms and photo turns etc...  I usually use a large guillatine paper cutter that is on my rolltop, but sometimes I need to grab the Fiskars 12" cutter and is sits on the lip of the rolltop perfectly. 

 

Have you seen the new self healing mat that fits on the Scor-Pal?  It can be flipped over and used as a stamping surface.  I leave this right out on my desk and use it for a work surface and just pop the mat off to score.  The red organizer box houses my sponges dedicated to distress inks and much more.  There is a previous MIWW that highlights sponge storage. 

I hope this inspires you to look around your home and find items that may work for you in your craft space.

For previous make it work Wednesday's click on the links below.

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

#11 Sponges

#12 Punch Template Book

Make it work Wednesday #11

Here we are at Wednesday again.  Today I am showing you how I organize and store my sponges dedicated to specific inks.  I use divided boxes that are labeled for each color.  This one is for my Distress inks which I use the most.  The box also houses some walnut crystals and my beloved toothbrushes that are in zip baggies to keep them from making a mess.  I dedicate a toothbrush to black and brown inks and usually use Versafine inks on them as they are oil based making them easier to manipulate the ink on my projects. 

 

I hope this inspires you to organize and find a system that works for you.  For past Make it work Wednesday's visit the following links:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

#10 Ink/ Pads & Reinkers

Make it work Wednesday #10

I can't believe this is already make it work #10! This week, I am going to share how I store my reinkers. I try to purchase the reinker with the pad so that I have them when needed. They are also handy for watercoloring, dying ribbon and other background techniques. I want to be able to find the color I am looking for quickly. This system will take a little time to incorporate initially, but if you do this as you purchase reinkers it will be a very small investment that will save tons of time searching in the long run. My classic reinkers are sorted by color families and color coded by punching 1/4" circles of coordinating CS for the tops of the bottles. From trial & error, I have learned to adhere them to the concave tops using Crystal Effects or Glassy Accents. Tacky glue will harden and not adhere to the plastic for long. Just apply the Crystal Effects in a small drop directly to the cap, turn the bottle over and place over the punched circle like you are stamping an image. All classic inks are stored in my roll top desk. You can see them in the drawers with the cut outs.

They are organized by color families and the drawers are labeled inside. (of course) Initially, I tried writing the color on the caps w/ a sharpie, but I still couldn't find the color I wanted quickly.

Less used reinkers such as Stazon, are stored in shallow drawers of a vintage tool box. It also houses cleaning pads in the top, wheels/handles/cartridges and individual stamps.

The colors I use the most - (Distress inks & Adirondack Pigments) are stored on the top of my SU! color caddy. I don't label these bottles because I can easily see the color through the bottles or see the labels. You may also notice from the caddy, that I don't use it to store SU! classic pads as designed. Anybody interested in purchasing gently used Classic ink pads??????????? To make the caddy work for the pad I use the most, I placed black dominos at the back of the slots. The domino's are placed the long way for the shorter Distress pads and the short way for Adirondacks, Versafine, Encore Metallics & Stazon pads.

You have seen the system that works for me. Take a couple minutes to organize and find a solution that works for you. Here are the past MIW Wednesdays:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

#8 Die Cut Storage

#9 Spellbinder Magnet Storage

Have a great Wednesday & remember, Make it Work!

Make it Work Wednesday #8

Last week, I showed you how I store my embossing folders.  This week is Die Cuts.  I store my file cards in a tin lunch box similar to the altered one for my folders I showed you last week.  Click on #7 below if you want to see the embossing folder box.

 

Nothing Fancy here, just some black cardstock and slide sized page protectors cut up and eyleted to the CS with the opening's to the outside edges.  Like my embossing folders, all dies are labeled with the name for easy reference.  (oops, I see I missed a label on Fish)

 

Same as above, but with 6 per sheet.

My long die sets are in business card sized page protectors.  They just slide in on the left end and stay in place nicely.

larger dies worked out perfectly in a portion of a offset scrapbook page protector that I cut apart.

Sizzlets are in cut up baseball/ATC size page protectors.

I can't take credit for my Spellbinder die storage.  It was on somebody elses blog a while back and I can't remember whose.  One of the walk in closets in my stamp room has a heating duct in it so I just added strips of adhesive backed magnets and put the dies up in sets.  They are labeled so I know the set names.  I have more nesties coming, so the duct is going to get fuller soon.  You have seen how I store my dies, now it's your turn to find a system & make it work for you.

For past Make it work Wednesday editions, follow these links:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

#7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

Have a great Wednesday and remember, MAKE IT WORK!

Make it work Wednesday #7

My collection of Embossing Folders for Cuttlebug is growing, so today I am showing you my storage solution for them.

The altered tin is 6 1/4" wide, x 5" tall 4". The book plate is by Basic Grey.

I have made index sheets that are embossed with each folder and indexed using the round tab punch. The index sheets are 1/4 sheets of CS. I was making them pretty and attaching the tabs with brads at one point, but I am now just stapeling them to the tops to save time. The cooresponding folder is filed behind each index sheet. The tin holds 24 folders & index sheets and is quite snug now. I am working on tin #2 and will categorize them by style when done.

I just got the latest embossing borders and wasn't sure how to store them at first. This is working for me right now. I just took a scrap of white CS slightly smaller than 1/4 sheet and slid the folders over the CS. They are held in place with binder clips. I label each folder when making labels for my index tabs for the folders so I can quickly reference the name when uploading details for a project and to file them quickly too.

My little folders are stored much the same way. I fashioned sleeves by cutting up business card page protectors and securing to CS with eyelets. The outside ends are open to slide the folders in.

You have seen how I store my folders, now it's your turn to find a system to make it work for you. Get organized!

For past Make it work Wednesday editions, follow these links:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

#6 Embellishment Storage

Have a great Wednesday and remember, MAKE IT WORK!

Make it work Wednesday #6

Can you believe that this is my 6th Make it work Wednesday already? I wanted to share my hardware/embellishment storage with you this week. I used to have the stack n store containers in the plastic holders that SU! sold. They stand on their own or can be hung on the wall. I now have 8 of them to get rid of. They hold 6 large containers or 12 small ones, but just took up too much room for how much they held.

So, I took all of my containers and put them in a drawer in my roll top desk. The drawer holds 38 large containers and 20 small. I have them labeled so I can find what I am looking for quickly.

But not all my embellishments are in these containers. some won't fit and I don't have enough containers. That's where these index boxes from the Dollar spot at Target come in and also some small storage boxes. They work perfectly on my Clip it Up!, you wouldn't believe how much you can hang on this thing!

I also have 4 metal containers with the small watchmaker tins that contain more stuff.

Look what arrived on my doorstep this afternoon, fun Tim Holtz hdwe. Gotta get organizing I guess!

For past Make it work Wednesday editions, follow these links:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

#5 Unmounted Stamp Storage

Have a great Wednesday and remember, MAKE IT WORK!

Make it work Wednesday #5

For this weeks edition on Make it work Wednesday, I am showing you my unmounted stamp storage. I have many different kinds of um's from clear stamps, those mounted on EZ Mount, naked rubber and sets I have unmounted. I will start with the stamps in CD cases.

I have unmounted a good share of my SU! stamps by placing the stamps in the microwave and peeling the cushion and rubber off the wood blocks. They are stuck to the inside of the CD cases. I either removed the index labels from the blocks for the outside of the cases or stamped the images using Stazon. The ends are all indexed by set name, manufacturer and theme. The wood rack holds 60 cases and was $1.50 at my favorite resale shop. The one to the left holds 30 and is just a plastic one that I repurposed.

The majority of my stamps are housed in binders as shown here. 5 Binders contain Rubbernecker stamps that come mounted on EZ mount smart cling foam. They cling to photo refill pages nicely. Here is a shot of one of the pages with a stamp flipped over. I also use a sharpie to index the back so I have the information handy when I upload details for a project.

Innovative Stamp Creations rubber comes as full sheets of uncut rubber. Because of the expense of purchasing a ton of EZ mount, I have not added cushion to them. They are closely trimmed and a thin coat of Wacky Tac is applied to the backs. They rubber is also stored on photo refill pages with the index sheet on the front and the images on the flip side. I also use page protectors with a thin piece of cardboard behind the index sheet. Both systems work very nicely. You can purchase Wacky Tac on the web, just google it. It is like repositionable sticky note adhesive.

My Hanna stamps are also in a 3 ring binder, but I used page protectors that are divided into 4ths. I just keep the stamp sets on the clear sheets they come on and slip them in the sleeves. I also keep any masks I make and slide them in the pockets as well. My Riley & Sophie stamps are red rubber mounted on EZ mount and are in the front of the binder on photo refill sheets.

Last, but not least are my Kittie Kits. They come in zip baggies with the index sheet and come as a sheet of rubber with thin cling mount on the back. After trimming them, they all fell to the bottom of the bags. My solution was to cut a piece of glossy white cardstock to slip in the bags. The stamps are all nice and orderly and hanging on my Clip it up! now.

This system has saved me a ton of room and I can find the stamps I am looking for very quickly. I hope this inspires you to find a system that works for you.

For past Make it work Wednesday editions, follow these links:

#1 Ribbon & lots more (Clip it Up!)

#2 Cardstock/Scrap Storage

#3 DP & 12 x 12 Storage

#4 Punches & Wood Mounted Stamps

Have a great Wednesday and remember, MAKE IT WORK!