Sunday, February 27, 2011

"Get it Together" Organizing with Style: Week 7


It's Week #7 in the LBH Organizing with Style Series.  The challenge this week is Tools, Dies, Embossing Folders, Cricut Cartridges and Punches.  Yes, I (Elaine) got the short straw on this one but thanks to the LBH Gals we have some solutions for you. This is a long post..so grab your cup of coffee or Diet Coke.
HERE WE GO!!
Let's start with Punches...
This is Tracy's solution....
Miss Tracy here, I just wanted to share one of my organizational fav's with you...It's my Punch Racks!
 (designed by my hubby):
Punches are so bulky and I hated keeping mine stuffed in a drawer or box because for me "out of sight" means "out of mind". I am such a visual person...I like to SEE all of my stuff. So my hubby came up with this amazing idea. He went to Lowes (or maybe it was Home Depot) and bought a piece of metal, then he measured the depth of the punches agaist the wall and cleverly bent the metal into shape with the help of his handy vice. He then attached it to the wall with screws and loaded it with my punches.
I currently have 3 punch bars in the Shack and I love them. Now, all of my punches are right there within arm's reach and I find that I use them so much more now.

If you aren't inclined to make one for yourself...you'll be happy to know that my dear hubby will make one for you. We will have these punch bars for sale at the LBH if you would like to purchase them for your scrap space.



This is Susan's solution:
Use an over the door shoe hanger (found at Walmart,Target or Bed Bath and Beyond etc.)  this is a great system to keep the punches handy but out of the way.

My solution put them in drawers by type.
My occasionally used ones go together, then border punches & big shapes and finally Martha's.  The borders and shapes are located in a cart closest to my scrapping table.




CRICUT CARTRIDGES
This one is a little easier.  You can stack the boxes on a shelf,there are clear plastic containers made by Scraponizer (about $12ea - stores 4 cartridges with books & keypads).

 My solution - use the ever versatile photo storage box - put a velcro dot on the back of each cartridge, put corresponding velcro on the inside of the photo box lid.  You have plenty of room for books and keypads.  You'll notice on my cartridges they have large labels - I printed these on my handy label maker   because my old eyes had trouble reading those Cricut labels.  My method allows you to store 20 cartridges for about $2.50 if you get your box on sale.  YEA!!


EMBOSSING FOLDERS
These are pretty standard sized so they are pretty easy to store. At the LBH we put them in a plastic shoe box with the plates for the Cuttlebug and Big Shot.  At home I have them in a tote that is easy to grab when I head off to the LBH or a crop.  I also put my Nestabilities in the same tote. Plastic recipe boxes also work well for the folders but will not hold the plates.

 
DIES
Depending on the number you have will depend on how you want to store them.  Sizzix makes a tower which holds all sizes of dies.  You can just line them up on a shelf.  If you search "organizing Sizzix dies" you will also find a variety of storage boxes similar to our fav photo box.  I have my Tim Holtz dies in that tote with the embossing folders since I am using them more frequently.
TOOLS TOOLS TOOLS
I saved this for last as I really don't think there is a great way to store these items.  The shapes and sizes are not consistent and how you store them will depend a lot on how you create.  I keep my embossing gun, glue gun and Crop-a-Dile close to my work area on hooks.  I keep an empty tote to drop them in if I am headed to LBH or a crop.  One of our customers Lynette, keeps all of her items in a large art bin.  The compartments are segregated by item type.   She keeps this next to her work table and then when she heads out to the LBH, she closes up the bin and off she goes.  
Here's a picture of her tote.

Thanks for hanging in there on a very long post.  A few suggestions...before you invest in new storage items take a minute and sit at your creative area.  Think about how you work and in some cases where you work.  You also have to consider if you travel to crops, the LBH or other locations.  A storage system that is portable and that you do not have to pack and unpack is great for the scrapper on the move.  

Next week will be fun...we will talk about creative ways to know what you already have.  Good luck this week. :)

Post a comment and let us know how you are doing and if you have encountered some great solutions or challenges.
We will post last week's winner early in the week. 
Tracy is out of town at her Grandmother's funeral and she has those details.  Keep her and her family in your prayers.

22 comments:

  1. Elaine,
    Your Cricut storage is ingenious! Great ideas in this post.
    Susan

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  2. wow..never thought to use a photo box..but sure does make alot of sense!!! thanks!!!

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  3. I love the Cricut idea going to go get mine done today, yea!!!

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  4. I love you guys... storage box idea...awesome... love it,,,, I got me some stock in photo boxes right now...lol... I am so far behing, but I assure you I am working on it all still... thanks ladies

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  5. Love all of these great ideas, especially retagging cricut cartridges, so old eyes can see better. TFS all your great ideas! Prayers to you & family Tracy.

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  6. I have my Quickutz dies stored in slide pages and together in a binder. I have my Spellbinders stuck to magnets glued to white cardstock and kept in 8 1/2 x 11 sleeves in the same binder. If you are interested, I could take pictures for you and email it to you.

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  7. So many GREAT ideas!!! I'm going to try Elaine's Cricut suggestion and if I ever get a real space--Tracy's idea for the punches is also a good one!!

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  8. i love that punch holder your husband made. i have a project for my hubby now. lol
    thanks for all of the great ideas. my heart goes out to tracy and her family.

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  9. There are a lot of great ideas here! For my large punches I bought an adjustable rack from the container store. This is often installed on the inside of the pantry door. It has adjustable trays which are great because you can buy as many or as few as you want & continue to add more trays as needed. I keep the smaller punches, including border punches in 2 of my stamp drawers (like map drawers) so that I can see all of them at a glance. If anyone wants to see a picture, or has ?'s about it, you can contact me.

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  10. Lots of great ideas!!! Punches are hard because they take up so much room! Mine are in a drawer... Dont have as many as Tracy! :)
    My Cricut cartridges are in a snap box.. works great for me! Keep up the great work!

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  11. I love Lynette's storage tote, that is what I am aiming for.. something I can use handily at home then just put the lid on and go to a crop. The rods from IKEA are also perfect for the punches but I love how Mr. Tracy :o) customized these brackets!!

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  12. I am gong to get a Cricut jukebox for my cartridges. I don't have that many. That's what Kathy does for hers which is awesome. I love all the ideas--I just don't have a lot yet that needs super organizing.

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  13. I have my punches stored on a rod very similar to Tracy's. If you are a punchaholic like me, I had too many for my rods so I am now storing "seasonal" punches (idea from Tracy...again:-) in the closet. I like having everything visible and only have room for the punches I use regularly. Tracy's punch organization system is great. Another friend stores her in the door shoe hanger and loves it. I may need to use that idea for my seasonal punches! I have a Christmas punch that can also be used for a vase.

    Still working in my stamps. I am about 75% done. I already love having them all sorted into categories instead of "sets"! Thanks LBH gals. You all rule!!!

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  14. I am not a tool junkie, so thank goodness I don't have much in this category to organize. Still spend all my time organizing my paper! But I do have a lot of punches, which I keep in totes, but may need to check out those bars that Tracy's hubby makes!

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  15. I love the Cricut cartridge storage. So glad I just bought more velcro dots--this will be what I work on tonight while sitting in the car waiting for my son to finish his piano lesson. I love what Robyn at mypinkerstamper does with her Cricut books, too--numbers each page to easily find the corresponding button. Will make Cricuteering so much quicker!

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  16. Thanks for all the great tips and pictures this week. They were very helpful so now I have some rearranging to do. I have much better ideas from this week's posts.

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  17. Great ideas. I will have to put them to good use in my scrap room.

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  18. Can the punch holders be as long or as long as you want them? Or what size are they? Also, do they hold Martha Stewart punches and border punches?

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  20. here are links to pics of my die cut storage system. Most of mine are flat like quickutz, spellbibders and cuttlebug. I store them in a 3 ring binder which is easy to flip through and transport.

    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n169/dettao/20110305_7082.jpg
    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n169/dettao/20110305_7078.jpg
    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n169/dettao/20110305_7079.jpg
    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n169/dettao/20110305_7081.jpg

    The quickutz are in slide protector pages. Even the alphas are. They are just put in every other row with the top half out of the pocket.

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  21. I left out one picture. I also have the large grand calibur spellbinders. I have tucked them into pocket notebook divider pages. I still need to get magnets for them. They are still pretty new. LOVE them

    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n169/dettao/20110305_7080.jpg

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