Dannie's Designs

Organizing Buttons

One of my favorite parts of convention is the kick off party the evening before convention starts.  During the party Stampin' Up! has several booths that you can go to and see stamping presentations put on by other demonstrators.  Linda Heller was one of the presenters this year and I wanted to share some of her organization ideas for storing buttons.

Linda took 24 button containers, added magnets to the back, and stuck them to a cookie sheet.  If you look at the top of the photo (click for an enlarged version), you can see that she punched two holes in the top of the cookie sheet using a crop-a-dial and then threaded some ribbon through the holes so she can hang it on the wall.

Each color of button has its own container.  She decorated the top of each container with a scalloped circle that's the same color as the buttons.  On the white circle it lists the color of each button along with which color family it belongs to (S = subtles collection, B = brights collection, etc.).  Of course she added buttons to the top so she can see all of the designs she has in each color.

If the cookie sheet idea is too much for you, she also showed a much simpler idea.  You can store the buttons in the empty stamp cases that our clear mount stamps come in.  Linda punched out a 1/2" circle punch that coordinates with each button color in the case and adhered it to the spine of the case.  She has one case for each color family of buttons.

Linda also shared this great idea for showing her customers the colors and designs of the buttons.  Again its organized by color family.  It lists the name of the color family at the top; the item number, quantity, and price on the second line; and the six colors of buttons on the next two lines.  Such a clever idea!

You can take these ideas and also use them to organize your other small stamping supplies--eyelets, brads, etc.  I hope this gives you some ideas to work with.  Thanks for stopping by!

Organizing Stamp Sets

When I had my recent blog candy and asked you guys what tips you'd like to see posted on my blog, I think the most common question was how do I organize my stamp sets?  I have a very simple system that works for me.

You can click on the photo to see a larger version.  I have all of my stamp sets organized in these wire cubes.  Each cubes is about 13" x 13" x 13".  If you look closely at the cube in the top right of the picture, you can see the four round yellow circles that mark the four corners of the cube.  As you can see, I divided the cube by adding a shelf that runs across the middle.  The shelf is simply another one of the wire sides that makes up the cubes.  It's held in place by four cable ties--two on each side.

What you can't see in the photo is that I have all of my stamp sets organized alphabetically.  This is the system that works best for me.  I know some people organize them by theme, but some stamp sets fit in more than one theme.  Some people organize them by where they are in the catalog, but I don't want to have to memorize the catalog in order to find my stamps.  This system simply works the best for me.  The great thing about filing the stamp sets on their sides is that it doesn't matter whether it's a large stamp set in a huge box or a single stamp in its own case.  They can all lay on their sides next to each other regardless of size.

Now I know you're going to ask....what are all of those stickers on the stamp boxes?  Those simply indicate to me that the stamp set is retired.  I buy my stamps because I like them so I keep most of them after they retire.  I still use many of them too.  I keep my current stamp sets on the top and the retired stamp sets on the bottom.  I don't mix the current and retired stamp sets.  Each section is alphabatized.  Yes, there's one yellow sticker in the top row of that photo.  That stamp set was on the dormant list (so it has a "D" on the sticker) and now it's current.  I just need to pull the sticker off.

Now that Stampin' Up! sells unmounted stamps, I have a section for those too.  Again, they're stored alphabetically.  The top "shelf" in the wire cube is little bit narrower than the bottom shelf, so my unmounted stamp sets are stored on the bottom shelf because they need the extra height.

These wire cubes are inexpensive and are so easy to put together.  You can make them long and short or tall and narrow depending on how much space you have to work with.  I hope these pictures helped give you some organization ideas.  Click here if you'd like to see my other blog posts on organizing your stamping supplies.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ink Pad and Reinker Storage

One of the biggest problems stampers have is how to organize their stamping supplies.  It's something I definitely struggle with.  So today I thought I'd share with you how I organize my stamp pads, reinkers, and punches.

Before my dad passed away, he made this ink pad and reinker storage system for me.  You can click on the photo to see a larger version.  Each of the columns holds 12 ink pads because Stampin Up! used to have 12 ink pads in each color family.  Now that there are only 10 colors in each color family, that leaves two empty slots for me to use for some of my punches.

I have my ink pads organized by the way Stampin' Up! lists them in the catalog.  Each color family is organized in its own column with the In Colors in the center.  One of the nice features about this storage system is that there's enough room next to each of the stamp pads to place the coordinating marker. 

I have all of my reinkers organized at the bottom of each column.  Here's a closer look at how they are stored.

Each bottle has its own hole so it won't tip over.  Here's a closer look at the block without the reinkers in it.

If you know anybody who has some woodworking skills, these are very easy to make.  This is made from a 2 x 4 cut to a length of 4 5/8" long.  Each of the holes is 1" in diameter and is about 3/4" deep.  Again, there are 12 holes in each block because there used to be 12 reinkers for each color family.

You can see in the photo above that I have two of these ink pad storage systems sitting side by side.  One is for my Classic stamp pads and the other one is for my Craft stamp pads.  Above my ink pad storage I have hung two small curtain rods on the wall to hold my punches.  Of course I have all of the older style punches and this wouldn't work for the newer punches.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see  that I have some of the new punches sitting on top of the ink pad storage unit as well.

As for my small punches...I have them sitting in a drawer.  I'm not sure how to organize them.  Like I said, this is an area that I struggle with too.  How do you store your small punches?  What works for you?  Please leave a comment and share your ideas so that we can all get some ideas on how to get better organized.

I've taken pictures of how I organize my stamp sets too and I'll share those in a separate post.  Click here to see my other blog posts on organization tip for your other stamping supplies.  Thanks for stopping by!

Box of Flowers

I was blog surfing the other day and came across one of the cutest projects.  It's an individual cupcake box by Becky.  As soon as I saw it, I had to give it a try.

Even though this box was designed for holding cupcakes, it can be used to hold all sorts of small items.  I filled mine with an assortment of Primas.  I have 30-40 small baggies of all sorts of flowers to use on my stamping projects.  They're tucked in different places throughout my stamp room.  This box is a great way to organize them all in one place.  The windows on the front and top of the box also make it easy to see what color flowers I have inside.  I probably need to make two or three more of these to hold the rest of my flowers.  I love getting organized!

Speaking of getting organized...my messy house awaits me.  I need to run.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Stamps:  Kindness Wheel
Paper:  Perfect Plum
Ink:  Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Window Sheets, Whisper White Grosgrain, Crop-a-dial, Sticky Strip

Stamping Tip: Organizing 12 x 12 Cardstock

About three posts back on my blog I shared some photos of how I store my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  I asked if there was anything else you'd like to see and many of you asked how I stored my 12 x 12 cardstock.  I aim to please so I have some photos of my 12 x 12 storage.

I don't use anything fancy, just these little cube wire racks that you can find in lots of different stores.  There are more cubes to the left of this photo, but with the way my stamp room is set up I couldn't get a picture of all of it.

Here's a closer look at just one of the cubes.  You can see the blue and red circles that hold the wire cube together.  I didn't want to stack my cardstock too high so I added shelves in the middle of the cube.  This one has two shelves, but you can add as many as you like.  What did I make the shelves out of?  They're simply the wire grates that make up the cubes!  You can see it a little better in the photo below.

Remember, you can click on these photos to enlarge them to get a better view.  I used cable ties to hold the "shelves" in place (you can buy these in most store too).  The cable ties are the long white things you see sticking out in every direction.  If I weren't lazy I would go back and trim them off so it's not so messy looking, but I just don't feel like doing it.  How's that for honesty?

Each of these shelves is holding a lot of cardstock and it's rather heavy so I used three cable ties down the left and right side of the shelf (six total).  I didn't add any cable ties to the back side of the cubes.  The side ties hold it just fine.

I have other cubes that have four shelves in them and they hold my 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper.  Since these shelves don't hold as much and don't weigh as much, I only have two cable ties on each side (four total) holding the shelf up. 

That's it!  If you have any questions or need more clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.  Also, if you'd like me to share more tips on organizing your stamping supplies just let me know.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamping Tip: Organizing Cardstock

Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails on my last post.  I have the most incredible group of blog readers.  You guys truly brighten my day.

I told you I'd be back with some stamped projects, but I haven't been stamping.  Instead I've been organizing my stamp room.  I've been pulling all of the retired colors of cardstock, ribbon, stamp pads, etc. to make room for all of the new colors.  I know that many stampers are looking for tips and ideas on how to organize their supplies, so I thought I'd show you how I organize my cardstock.

First let me say that I got this idea from my upline Blythe.  I went to my local office supply store and bought one of these paper/cardstock organizers.

You can buy them in several different sizes.  Mine has three columns with 12 slots in each column.  Each of the new Stampin' Up! color groups has ten colors in them, so I've dedicated five slots to each color group.  In this photo the top five slots on the left are from the neutrals collection, the top five slots in the middle are from the subtles collection, and the top five slots on the right are from the brights collection.  The regals collection, in colors, and other cardstock are down below those.

As you can see in this close up photo, I store two colors  in each slot.  I pick two colors that look nothing alike and put them in the same slot.  That way I don't get them mixed up.  Do NOT put colors like Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink together.  They're so similar that you won't be able to tell them apart.

Yes, I have lots of cardstock!  That's just what works for me.  I usually have one opened pack of cardstock that I'm working on and another unopened pack.  I don't ever want to run out of cardstock.  I store my loose sheets of cardstock on top and the unopened pack on the bottom.  As soon as I open up a full pack of cardstock, I order another one. 

What do I do with my cardstock scraps?  I store them in the same slot with the full sheets of cardstock.  Look at the photo above (you can click on it to blow it up bigger) and you'll see the cello bags of scraps sitting on top of all of the cardstock.

These bags are the cello bags that Stampin' Up! demonstrators can order on a supply order.  I put a label on the bag with the names of the two colors of cardstock that are inside.  Any piece of cardstock that is smaller than a full sheet goes inside here.  Whenever I'm stamping a card, I always go to my scrap bag first and see if I have a scrap that I can use before I cut a full sheet.  I have saved dozens of pieces of cardstock by using my scraps first.  I also always use my scraps whenever I use my punches. 

Did you find that useful?  Do you have any questions?  Do you want tips on how to organize any other stamping supplies?  Then leave me a comment and I'll answer your questions and share more photos.  Thanks so much for stopping by!