CUBE NO.1 - UPDATE

 Well after we pulled them apart and cleaned them up, it was time for a trip to Ikea for the drawers - 48 of them in total (24 sets).

It took us awhile to put them together, but once you did one, the rest were easy.

So here is my new Craft Studio:

DIE STORAGE

 There are so many ways you can store your dies that I cant cover everything here ... although I will try and update this post if new ideas come along.

First though, I am going to show you how I store my dies.

I use photo boxes that sit in a larger box:

They are all labelled and I have about 7 of these. I bought these when they were on special and they have worked extremely well. Some are more full than others but even with the Hexagons (above photo) only being the one set, it is easy to grab and more importantly, easy for me to put away.

Any larger dies that dont fit in these containers are stored in a larger box that sits next to these.

My Nesting Dies that I use regularly are on display, hung on a peg board. This makes it very easy for me to get to.

The following photos are different ideas that might suit you:

The above would be my second choice - they are kept flat and easy to access. They have tabs so that you can label each one, saving time when looking for a particular die. The black sheets are magnetic.

All of the above photos are using magnetic sheets which you can buy in black or white. These photos are not mine but wanted you to see alternative die storage.

UNIVERSAL CRAFT INK PAD ORGANISER - Part 2

This unit is made out of foam core (like the Real Estate signs) but is coated in plastic giving it stability.

Here is what the unit looks like when leaning back on your table, you can see the colours but unfortunately you cant put labels on the shelves as they are too small  (I love labels!).

I store my blender pads two different ways - with the Distress Inks, I velcro the blender pad underneath the ink pad, but be warned, they will stain your unit when you slide the ink pad in the slot. This doesn't worry me but for some, it might.

If you prefer to store your inks upside down or straight, you can turn this unit over so that you can do this. A lot of dye inks can be stored on an angle like the first photo without any problems. Tim Holz has stated that you can store his inks anyway you like without any problems.

The larger ink pad in the above photo is a Pigment Ink - never, never store them straight up like this, it will cause all the ink to flow to the bottom corner. Pigment inks are a wet ink, store them flat. I always store my Pigment Inks upside down as I want the ink to be at the top of the pad and not at the bottom.

As you can see by the photos above, the shelves are not wide enough to take a large ink pad straight in - they can only be put in by the shortest end, leaving half the ink pad hanging over. This isn't a problem if you are not going to move the unit.

If you do have Pigment inks that you want to store in this unit, the above 2 photos show how you should store them (although, as I said, I would store mine upside down).

StazOn, Large Archival, Momento, Versamark ... any large ink pad will need to be stored the same way as above, but for the price, its awesome!

You can see the Distress Oxide ink stains in the first photo - I bought 5 of these but have only made up 1 so far. Again, this doesn't bother me as they will always go back in the same place.

UNIVERSAL CRAFT INK PAD ORGANISER

I found this on Craftonline.com.au for $17.99. I have been looking for an affordable ink storage units for quite some time, I was ready to attempt to make a wooden wall unit when I found this.

I took photos of the steps needed to put it together as it comes flat packed. I must admit, I thought I could put this together myself but there are times where I needed a second set of hands. 

  

There are instructions included along with a small screwdriver - I won't be boring you with copying the instructions, but what I will do is reference my photos to the number on the instructions.

1 & 2:

3:

4:

5&6:

7: The next step is putting in the screws - you will have 2 left over as spares. Hint: Make sure the screw hole is lined up flush against the piece you are about to screw into.

8. The last step is to slide the shelves into the unit - it can be difficult to click in each side - 2 ends of different shelves broke on me but it didn't stop the unit coming together.

I really hope these photos help you put this unit together - an affordable and sturdy way to store your inks. Not bad looking either!

STORAGE SOLUTIONS

In my Blog, I will chat a lot about storage solutions, some that have worked for me and some that I changed because I found out that it wasn't productive or too difficult to keep putting the product away.

There is so many different storage solutions out on the market but I think sometimes we forget we can use the simplest and affordable way ... especially if you are just starting out.

So I will put up some photos and hint on what I use for the different products I use and how I store them. Some of these will include papers, pages, pens, glitters, dies, embossing folders .... all sorts of things.