Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Make Room For More Rubber and Ribbon!

I am one lucky lady who has a big room dedicated to my crafting, but with so much room to spread out, I neglected to realize the importance of organizing all my stuff from the beginning.  Once it began to get out of control, something HAD to be done!  So, recently, I started an honest attempt at getting my scraproom in order. After all, if I'm going to continue to invite all of you in for tutorials, I must clean it up. My mom would be horrified at me having company when it's such a mess!

About 6 months ago, I started collecting the Jetmax craft storage cubes.  That was a good start, but I soon realized that they weren't going to solve all my problems.  The three biggest things that needed wrangling were my ever-growing collections of ribbon, rubber stamps, and card stock.  Jetmax makes a couple of units that are perfect for the card stock, but I couldn't find a suitable home for my rubber and ribbon in Jetmax.  In fact, I've been looking for more than 4 years for the "perfect" ribbon storage solution, and my stamps had simply outgrown the space I had available for them.  Something had to change.

I'm so pleased with the 2 solutions I've found for my ribbon and rubber that I want to share them with you, but I've decided to do a whole series of how I've solved some of  my craft room issues, starting with this one about converting your rubber stamps from wood mounted to unmounted.  Thanks to the awesome new storage cases from Stampin' Up! I've started umounting all of my stamps and reducing their storage to about 1/4 of the space they took before.  This is possibly the BIGGEST space saving change I could have made, and I can't recommend it enough!  It's also allowed me to store similar stamp sets together so I can plan my projects more efficiently.
UPDATE: Thank you Jamie for sharing your idea for using the old wood blocks! Visit Jamie's blog to see what she did. I'm totally going to be scraplifting this one!

Below is the link for the video tutorial, along with information on how to order the cases and acrylic blocks.  Take a look and start wrangling that rubber!  And stay tuned for my ribbon storage solution!

Clear-Mount Stamp Storage Cases, (set of 4) $4.95  Item #119105
Acrylic Blocks
118487 Block A (1-3/16" x 1-1/4") $3.95
117147 Block B (1-5/8" x 1-15/16") $5.95
118486 Block C (2" x 2-1/4") $6.95
118485 Block D (2-7/8" x 2-11/16") $8.50
118484 Block E (3-7/16" x 4-7/16") $11.95
118483 Block F (4-7/8" x 6") $16.95
118489 Block G (3/4" x 2-1/2") $4.50
118490 Block H (1-5/8" x 4-7/16") $8.50
118488 Block I (2-1/4" x 5-7/8") $11.95
118491 Block Bundle (Blocks A-I) $69.95

Click the Stampin' Up! logo to go to my site where you can order these products and wrangle YOUR rubber!







click here to view larger on my tutorials page

9 comments:

Jamiecrafts said...

awesome job, i did a bunch of mine about a year ago, i cant believe all the room i have now. I dont have any great ideas for the wood blocks or the old plastic cases, I would love to know if you find something, i hate to just throw them out. I did make something with the really big blocks on my blog, its the "spring decor" post down about 10 :) http://cutecardsandcraftsbyjamie.blogspot.com

Terry@ a quilting blog said...

I recently did the same thing with my ever-growing collection of stamps and you are so right about how much space you gain back!! TFS

Terry

Amy C said...

Thanks for showing us this...I was a demo for a little while, but I have always been a HUGE SU! fan and I have accumulated many, many stamp sets that are taking over my room. I am going to have to go to the store and get some of that Alene's Tack it Over & Over so that I can do this with my stamp sets.

Thanks again,
Amy ♥

Gloria said...

What a terrific idea Cindy. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Audrey Frelx said...

You find and/or come up with the greatest ideas. I'm hoping something will work for me because I'm totally disorganized!!! I have to pull out almost everything to find anything! LOL!

I have gotten some things rearranged but there's so much left to do! Things for all the useful suggestions. Maybe one of these days... LOL!

I'll be seeing you!

CuddlyBunny said...

I'm totally impressed with all of you reorganizers.

Still, you'll one day hear about me being squished beneath an avalanche of stamps! Because there's NO WAY I can stomach tearing apart my stamps! Some of them are YEARS old!

Seriously. This is such a fantastic idea ... I just can't do it. You guys have CONFIDENCE!

flowerdisco said...

exactly what i need to do with some of my stamps. like the tacky glue tip. tfs!

Short Scrapper said...

Love this idea! Many many tfs -

Deb S said...

I LOVE the tacky glue idea. I purchased some mounting foam online and for some it was great- but a lot of effort. Your idea is so wonderful considering how much I really use all my stamps!!! By gotta go run to the craft store for glue!!!!!

About Me

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Midlothian, Virginia, United States
Lifetime crafter, beginning with sewing clothes for my troll dolls when I was 5. Stampin' Up! demonstrator since 2000. Wife of almost 30 years to my high school sweetheart and planning on 30 more! Mom to 2 great kids and one awesome new son-in-law. "Mom" to 3 furkids, Pomeranians Roxy and Lulu, and a Calico cat, Sugar aka "Miss Fattypants." Addicted to all things Disney!
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