Organizing Tips and Tricks

I have been organizing again - taking stock of all my supplies and making sure I have it all organized. I thought I'd share a tip I came up with for my stacking Distress Ink Pads. The thing that frustrated me with these is that when they are stacked you can't see what colors are what. So I got some file folder labels at the office supply store (see image, bottom left). For some reason they have a little black line at each end that marks the middle - which turns out to be really handy. I cut between the labels - so I only have one - then I ink it - which I initially did with the pad itself, but now am doing using the little foam applicators (upper right of photo) which works better and gives a better idea of the stamp pad color. After applying the color to the label I cut it in half with an x-acto knife then peel and stick to the edge of the stamp pad, wrapping it around the corner. I do the same on the other side with the second half – that way no matter how you pick up the pad you can see color on the side!

Now when they are stacked I can totally see what colors are what! Very handy and very easy to see. I suppose if I wanted to I could write the color names on, but I don't find that necessary.

I used another similar trick with my Distress Paints and Stain bottles. I pile them up in clear shoe boxes but then can't easily tell them apart when I want to grab one. So I paint (or stain) some white card stock, let it dry and then punch it out with the proper sized punch - I think the 3/4" sized one is what worked for this. Then I glue it to the cap. Voilá! Easy to sort them out quickly when I need them. And actually the colors are ever so slightly more accurate because I'm seeing the actual paint or stain color – or at least how it looks on white paper. Handy.

And for my punches - when I'm out shopping I can seldom recall which sizes I already have at home and which size I was wanting to add to my collection, which is always growing. So I cut some card stock (I chose black) in half - 5.5" x 8.5" - and then punched out of lavender paper so it would show up nicely, yet is light enough that I could write notes on it to indicate sizes and companies of the different punches. This is a handy size I can carry with me when out shopping or attending a stamping convention. I think I have a 3-ring binder this size I could put this into, too.


What do you do to organize your craft supplies that you find handy? I'd love to hear!

Back in the Saddle Again (so to speak)

After quite a long hiatus here.... life's been busy and I just haven't taken time out to post the many things I've been working on... I am making a comeback and want to make a greater effort to keep you up on what I'm working on and experimenting with. Lately it's been Gelli plate printing and I'll post some of my samples. THIS time around I'm finding that I'm actually putting some of the prints to use in my card making and I'm quite pleased with the results! I think they give a bit of a different look to my usual cards... and that's great! If you have questions, leave me a comment and I'll try to answer it. Thanks for stopping by!