While I was browsing through some of my blogs today, I came across Taylored Expressions and I saw an awesome ideas for storing small ink pads. Then I took it a step further, like so:
Yeeeeeeeehaw!!! All of the 48 Stampin' Spots fit into that plastic case. You can get more details from my video at my YouTube channel here, or click below:
I hope you enjoy this little tip and I'll see you soon! CeeCee
Wow, I hadn't realized it's been a while since I posted and I apologize. Gen and I have been busy with new stuff for Card à la Carte and I guess I also wanted to take advantage of the nice weather we had this past week... the summer is not so great in our area this year.
I'm actually taking a 3-day break, without the family (I hope Stuuph and her Dad won't get on each other's case -- these 2, let me tell ya!!!) I'm meeting my sis-in-law Sue in Kingston. Since it's halfway from where we both live (she in Toronto, I in Montreal), we figured it was a good place to park our behinds for a few days and catch up on things... or shopping... or eating chocolate and watch movies. WHATEVER we decide to do will be fun!!!
I wanted to leave you with some photos of my stamp reorganization I've been doing for the past 3 weeks. It all started with my friend Kathy Vinski, showing me those amazing 12" X 9" plastic cases. It was like she had shown me the keys to a Ferrari Diablo!!! I fell in love and I immediately wanted to re-organize my stamp collections. Here are some photos that will better illustrate the process.
First of all, all of the stamps you'll see in the casings were either sitting all willie-nelly (sp?) in baskets on 3 shelves, some on top of my little white cabinets and some were even underneath the bar of our main room! And here's where they all reside now:
Just 2 shelves!!! First I have to mention that these are not my current SU stamp sets. The casings come in 3 different thicknesses: 1", 1/2" and 1/4". The 1" fit wood-mounted stamps, the 1/2" fit 2 stacks of EZ-mounted rubber stamps and the 1/4" fit the photopolymer stamps.
Here are my wood-mounted stamps from non-SU manufacturers, as well as all my Bellas and my Magnolias:
I love it... my shelf space is not wasted! I organized them either by theme or company, depending on the use I make of them. Here's what the stamps look like in their casings. These are some of my florals and leaves category:
And these are my Bellas, all mounted on EZ-Mount ( took forever but I'm happy I did it!). And because the backing is clingy, they stick to the plastic case. I need to stamp all the images on a sheet of paper that I'll be sticking to the outside of the front and back of the case so I know what I have in each without having to open them.
And my right shelf with my retired SU stamp sets that I've combined by theme, as well as some of my photopolymer stamps. My PapertreyInk are the only exception -- they sit in CD cases since they come with them and they have their own special place in a different corner.
Some of my retired Christmas SU sets:
and Close To My Heart photopolymer:
I still have to label some of my casings, but I'll get to it. The urgency was to get them all aligned neatly. Next I have to attack the other shelves of those 2 wall units. Lots and lots of things are gonna go! I want everything neat and tidy so I don't have to look for things when I need them. I bought a whole bunch of Forget-me-not Keepers from SU to store the rest of the stuff.
Wanna see the orginal "houses" of all of these stamps?
The empty CTMH cases, the SU cases (that's just half... I gave the other half to Gen):
Those 7 wicker baskets, which will be put to better use on top of my cupboards (I'll have fun making cute little labels for them!). They now house my glitter, beads, fibers, etc.
And the top shelf of my SU unit was full of retired SU sets and baskets with photopolymer:
Almost clean now, with room to grow! Woohoo!!! So, thanks for sticking around for this loooooooong post. I do get exciting about reorganizing. It is my favorite thing to do :-) Can't help it, I'm a neat freak!
Before I leave, here's a little teaser on what Gen & I have been working on. We're releasing another Tutorial and a hostess kit of Cards for SU Demo Display at the end of this coming week. And we're busy with another kit for Display for the Holidays Mini Catalogue as well as another Tutorial for another neat tool!
So, I'm off to pack! I'll see you on Wednesday!
Take good care,
CeeCee
As promised yesterday, here are some pictures of my studio area. The room is not all that big, measuring 8' X 10' with an tiny "hallway" leading to a sink. All the space is maximized for storage. It's not so easy on the eyes but it's functional and it's all MINE! I am intentionally posting smaller pictures to speed up the downloading process. You can click on each of them to see a bigger picture.
As you walk in...
Notice, my trustee Stampin' Up! cardigan I picked up at Convention hanging on my chair. It's always cold in the basement.
As you walk in, on the left, I have my Expedit shelving unit from Ikea where I keep my 12 X 12 cardstock and papers in Cropper Hopper's. I had to cut the top off my Cropper Hopper's as they were 1/4" too high.
The die-cutting/cutting/sewing machines area. Hubby put a neon underneath the cabinets for extra light.
The cupboard over this area is where I store all the dies as well as my Xyron machines and stuff. I love the magnetic strips system to store the Nestabilities. I saw this on someone's blog and I totally copied it. Love it!
The next cupboard is where I store all my coloring pencils, watercolors, daubers, chipboard accents and letters, Hodgepodge Hardware, etc. I still need to label the different drawers to speed up the "search" process. There is nothing I hate worse than looking for things that are right under my nose! My daubers are also identified by by color families, then by colors . The wicker baskets up top are filled with fibers (on the left) and...... my candies stash (on the right)!
This is how I store my embossing powders and glitters.
Moving right along... to the right is my main stamping area underneath the window. My Stampin' Scrub is always open and ready to use, as well as my paper trimmer, magnetic mat and ruler (Basic Grey) and my Scor-pal.
I've got extra embellishments in the purple Craft Mates and in mini rubbermaid bins. Underneath, I used to hang metal baskets from the metal bar to store different items but I decided to replace the baskets with the spice racks from Ikea where I keep the tools and stuff I use every day plus the re-inkers, Stickles and alcohol inks. It's a messy-looking system but it's more functional for me. I used to forget about the stuff I had to play with. Now, it's right in front of me and it works!
Moving to the right of my stamping station is the computer area. It is also where my stamp pads and ribbons are stored.
Over the computer area is where I keep my flowers and bits of ribbons. They are color-coordinated (yeah, I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to organization).
My rolls of SU ribbon rack underneath... with scissors and rulers at the ready. These scissors are strictly reserved for cutting ribbon.
The wall of punches! This is located in what I call the "corridor". It's a result of a wall division hubby had to do in his multimedia room next door. I tried to maximize all the space I could get!
At the end of the wall of punches is the sink area. That's the unfinished part of the studio. I have ceramic tiles leftover which I would love to put down on each side of the sink as well as a backsplah. Some shelves would be nice too.
To the right of the sink I have two old bookshelves where I store my magazines and non SU stamps. That is also a work in progress. I have to think of a better system cuz it's not working. My unmounted stamp sets will be stored in binders as soon as I have the time to do that.
To the right of that is where I keep my SU stamp sets. I bought these cabinets from the bathroom section at Ikea for really cheap and they fit perfectly since they are not deep. I need to add another section on top of these because I am running out of space. And that is after I got rid of all my retired stamp sets!
And we've come full circle. This is behind the door where I keep my other punches. Since they don't have a lever, I couldn't anchor them on the other Ikea racks so I bought a shoe bag (is that how it's called?) from Wal-Mart that hangs on the back of my door. Perfect! On each side are wire baskets bought at Ikea as well to store current files, catalogs and litterature.
Also, this is how I store my 8 1/2" X 11" cardstock. They are in the filing cabinet underneath the die-cutting station and stored by family of colors. In each folder, I have a plastic sheet protector where I keep the leftovers of the same color. It works for me!
There you have it! I feel very privileged to have this little corner that hubby built for me. Not everyone is this lucky and I appreciate every minute I spend here. Have a good week! CeeCee
So the other night, my son calls me at 1:00 a.m. to tell me that he's decided to come home after all (instead of crashing at his friend's house). Since he had to travel by public transport from downtown to the West Island, Mom was too nervous to sleep! So here's what I did to calm myself down:
I've finally put up my Decor Elements. I love it! it was easy to use; the only problem I had was having to put it up so high. It's in an awkward place. But I did it! I was so encouraged by this that I decided to keep going, so I took out my vinyl sheets (this one in Dark Gray) and cut out letters to identify some parts of workshop area. This is what it looks like:
One thing I've discovered is that the Sizzlits will cut through SU's vinyl sheets. Wow! The possibilities are now endless. It was a bit of a challenge to stick those itty bitty letters to the wall but I think I did an OK job; they're not too crooked. I am so loving this concept. I think I'll be putting more throughout the house.
On a final note, I have one last entry to show from my Color Challenge #10. Deanna sent her entry a little late, but I wanted to post it cuz it's just so cute! Here's the link to the full card.
Tomorrow, I will show you my studio corner. I've been busy re-organizing and I'd like to share some of my ideas with you. Have a great weekend! CeeCee
As promised yesterday, here are some photos of my Open House event. I had goodie bags for everyone stuffed (by Gen, thanks!) with a copy of the catalogue with specials and promos inserts, a wish list, a pen, a Stampin' Up! lip balm and each bag were personalized with a key chain I made with the new ribbons, some Hodgepodge Hardware and Crystal Effects...
Here they are, like little soldiers standing at attention, waiting to be inspected. I greeted my guests at the door and handed them their bag before I sent them on their way to the food and bevvie station set up on my kitchen island. Tons of sweets prepared by Pauline (thanks so much!) were set out and it was yuuuuuuuummy! I also had those decorated water bottles with a sachet of Crystal Light in thei little pouch (thanks Kathy for putting them together). I think that was the big hit of the night! Whoever came up with this idea is a genius!
the water bottles...
and the incentive stamps kits for placing an order. The topper is a piece of DSP cut out with the Bigz Top Note Sizzix Die, another SU exclusive, folded in halp and stapled (Gen's doing, again!).
In the basement, the demo projects area...
Notice the Big Shot section on the left-hand side? I wanted to cut letters into my vynil sheets and spell out the words, but lack of time did not allow for that. I will get to it though.
BTW, I covered my board with Veltex© fabric and I love them. All I have to do is put a "male" piece of Velcro in the back of my projects and stick it to the panel. That way, I can remove them at will without having to worry about how well they will stick a second time. And people can manipulate them and look them from up close. Love it!
My used stamp set for sale corner. I sold quite 3/4 of it!
The upcoming workshop corner, which I will add to and re-organize once my schedule is completed. I will update it also on my blog so everyone can view it. Stay tuned for more on that this week.
The Door Prize area. Everyone got to take one home!
And the Grand Prize, won by Angelle. Congrats, Angelle!
Under the watchful eyes of Kathy V., some participants were busy at the Make & Take table.
People mingling about... Sophie (Miss KoolAid) strikes a pose :-) She's so funky! Love her!
And here they are... my two amazing helpers. I couldn't have done this without their amazing help. Here's Gen (Miss Gamsol):
and Kathy V (aka, DaVinski):
and look at this, Kathy even dressed the part. Her bermudas matched two of the new In Colors. Ya gotta love that girl!
And lets not forget the Paparazzi of the evening, the Stuuph posing to show off her popsicle lips.
Thanks for all that came and all who've helped. You all ROOOOOOOOOOOOCK! CeeCee
