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!