File Folder Card as Gift Card Holder

Today, I have a another file folder card to quickly share today. This time, I die cut slits in it to hold a gift card inside the front cover. This one is tan and black and red.  It's part of a "man" set of cards I'm building.

I used the Envelope Punch Board by We R Memory keepers to make the file folder tabs and a die from Accucut Craft for he gift card holder slits. Here's how it looks inside:

(You could just cut slits with an Xacto knife or use a slot punch to make a slide-in slot.)

I have three birthdays to make cards for this month.  I've done one so far which I will share later (along with a free birthday card verse).

I also have a new die cut to share with you soon. I designed a teddy bear die cut some time ago on my electronic die cutter. Well, I decided to blow him up really big and make a real, steel rule die out of it.  2014 is off to a good creative start!  How about you?

Craft Room Tour Jan 2014

Here's the big reveal!  This post is picture heavy, so grab a drink and settle in!  There is also a video version of my craft room tour available on my Vimeo Channel.  I've designed my room in stations.

Stamping Station

• Microwave cart from Canadian Tire
• Close to my Heart stamps are in the first basket
• Stampin' Up! stamps are underneath
• Twine and Crochet threads in bottom basket
• Wood mount stamps are in the drawer.
• Some of my misc. clear mount and rubber cling stamps have been catalogued in a stamp binder in the cupboard.
• Non-catalogued ones are in little baskets in the cupboard
• Other stamping tools and cleaning supplies are in the bottom of the cupboard

 Above the Stamping Station

 This is my stickles board.  I store my stickles upside down.  Hubby cut some shelves this year so I could put my ink on them and sprinkle some of my room decor around (my fairy and beanie dog).  I bought curtain clips from Bed, Bath and Beyond to hold my sponges from a dowel.  Binder clips could work, but they are hard to squeeze when on the dowel.  They work if you are sliding the object off the dowel first and then squeezing.  (Close up pictures of the curtain clips versus binder clips later.)

Cutting Station

• Home of my Accucut Grandemark
• Home of my paper cutter and glass cutting mat
• Home of all my dies
• Quickutz Dies are in a QK die binder
• I have another magnetic binder for nesting cookie cutter dies

Markers, Scraps, Xyron and Stuff Station

• I keep my cardstock scraps close to where I sit because I use them a lot
• My patterned paper scraps are in a photo holder box on the floor next to the cubes
• (Larger scraps of CS and Papers are kept with the whole sheets)
• I made my marker storage for my Copics and Tria Letrasets (same makers as Pro-markers).  More on that later!
• The cubes on the left hold project parts and adhesives.  I even have one blank drawer, ready for me to expand my stash!

 Punches and Ribbon Storage

This is a Billy Bookcase from Ikea.  We've had it for a year or two disassembled.  I bought it for holding DVDs but hubby didn't like it.  So, he finally assembled it and we put it in my room!  (Close ups later!) I'm storing in it:

• plastic baggies
• envelopes
• punches
• ribbon

Workspace

•  Two desks and one table
• Seats 6 for my small scale fundraising workshops

Ikea Expedit Storage Unit

• Ikea Drona Fabric Boxes - made labels with circle punches and wooden clothespins from the dollar store
• Ikea Kasset Boxes

Closet Slat Wall

• Obtained from a store closing (with acrylic shelf, hooks and paper holders)
• Holds all my whole papers and patterns - cardstocks on right, patterns on left, patterns in middle top and metallic cardstocks in middle bottom
• Holds random other stuff on hooks
• Shelf has some shipping supplies and stuff to be photographed for the shops

Close Ups
Curtain Clips v. Binder Clips
The curtain clips are 5x more costly than the binder clips.  However, the binder clips are hard to squeeze without removing them from the rod.  So, the curtain clips work best for the sponges and the binder clips are slid on to the hooks in the slat wall.

Marker Storage

I used a 2L Chapmans ice cream tub for the Tria markers.  I covered it with paper and used a large binder clip to stop it from rolling.  I used holiday Turtles tins for the copics.  They stick out a little from the top but I can still get the lid on and it JAMS the copics in there so they don't rattle around.  I made the compartments by just making chipboard Xs.  I took two pieces of chipboard and cut a slit in one and slid the other piece in it.  The clear utensil drawers hold my Sakura stardust pens and my Close to My Heart alcohol markers (which are too long for either of my tins).  I have a spare black and colourless blender in them too.  I also have two round cookie tins below the shelf riser ready to hold markers.  I might put my BIC Mark-Its in them but I like the fold out packaging that they already come in.

Embellishment Storage
I find I have to see stuff to use it.  I had originally separated my embellishments by type: bling, brads, buttons, etc.  However, I tend to think I need something of a colour rather than I need something specific like a brad.  So, I tossed all my embellishments together by colour.  The next time I think, "I need something blue", I can go to my blue embellishment box and find all kinds of things that could fit my project!

I got these boxes at Homsense.  They have a hinged lid so I don't have to worry about losing the lid.  I originally wanted baskets because I like how they look but having a lid means I can stack them.  I used ribbon to indicate the colours inside the grey boxes and the black one holds my black, white and clear stuff and the brown one holds brown stuff.

The suitcase on top is my Christmas and winter stuff: stamps, punches, die cuts, etc.  I also have a Halloween box.  Those are two are clear themes so it makes sense to keep it all in one place.

Punches

I used the under cabinet storage for my punches.  I also uses a shelf riser and stuck my border punches in the grooves.  I don't have a whole lot of them, so this worked perfect for me!

Ribbons
I do not use my ribbons enough.  I have tried many different ways of storing them and they ended up in three different places in my room.  I still have a few hanging from the closet door, but those will eventually get used or get wound on to my new ribbon storage.

These are stacking pantry baskets from Home Outfitters!  I love them!  I used a barbecue skewer from the dollar store as my dowel.  I have some old tape spools that I used as spacers for the baskets where I didn't have enough ribbon to go across.  I like that I can just pull the ribbon through the wire to take what I need.

I even created some homemade ribbon spools.  These are made from a strip of cardstock and two 2.5 inch circles.  They are quite a bit smaller than the commercial spools but it was the biggest circle punch I had.

This tower was a little costly but pretty.  You can make a white version with baskets from the dollar store.  Here is link to that ribbon pull basket tutorial.  I have those baskets and I considered doing it but since my storage was a gift, I splurged!  To make the dollar store baskets stackable just put a piece of chipboard between them.  They should not be too heavy for thick chipboard.

Craft Room Storage Reflections

Before I reveal my latest craft room configuration, let me give you some background.  Many weeks ago, I signed up for the Scrapbook.com "Get Organized" class when they put it on for free.  It's a 27 week class with a new craft organization challenge landing in your email inbox each week.  I was just filing them away without having read them.  I was going to read them all over the holiday break.  Turns out, the links expire.  Luckily, I started reading in or about week 25, so I had a more current link to the content where I found a "read ahead" link and was able to retrieve all weeks.  So, that is the guidance I followed for redoing my craft room.

The first thing I wanted to do was rearrange my furniture.  I used a piece of graph paper to draw my room.  Then I cut out furniture parts from more paper.  It's like making a paper doll for your room.  I was able to quickly and easily move furniture around until I got a configuration I liked.  I could take a picture of it before I re-arranged it again so that I could see my top three "best" layouts before committing to one.

Week 2 was the imagine your dream space week (squeeeeaal!).  I spent a LOT of time looking at craft rooms to figure out what I liked best about them.  If you need inspiration, my favourite place to peruse is the Crafty Storage Blog.  Great ideas I saw on here include:

• Stickles homemade upside down storage
• Stickles with pipe straps (This person has since deleted their blog.  This idea is the one that I used for my storage.)

• DIY stadium style stamp display boxes
• Copic/Marker storage in wine racks and down spouts
• Copic/Marker storage in PVP pipes (pictured below)

When looking at rooms and craft room video tours, turns out the ones I loved the most were ones with the containers the same colour or the same style.  I loved the uniformity and repeating designs (like a repeating motif or theme in any piece of art).  For examples, check out these lovely rooms:

• Mary Fish of Stampin' Pretty
• Craftaholics Anonymous Uniform storage example 1
• Craftaholics Anonymous Uniform storage example 2
• Karen's Small Craft room uniform storage example (pictured below - video tour available at link)

I previously painted my room grey with the intention of accenting with teal and purple.  I haven't been able to achieve the accented look but I think it's close enough.  I settled on congruent containers instead of repeating the same one.  I tried to stick to my teal and purple combo choice but I didn't find many.  So, I fell back on neutrals: black, grey, white and brown.

Another dilemma I faced: I need to see it to use it but, simultaneously, I don't like clutter.  Well, how can I have it all put away but still see it?  That was a challenge.  I think I've reached a happy medium though.

I told my husband I wanted crafty storage for Christmas.  Then I told him I was doing this 27 week program over my holiday break but that I was stuck on week three: clean your craft room.  Ugh.  (He laughed.)  That took DAYS but it certainly helped me to mentally catalogue what I have and what I, therefore, need to store.  I read ahead through all of the weeks to get ideas of the kinds of containers would work for me.  Hubby took me shopping to pick out my new crafty storage containers.  I was able to shop with purpose and knowing I could start using them Christmas Day really helped me to get through the cleaning part.  (I got a gift card towards crafty storage from my sister too!)

I wanted to share a bit of my process with you and the great links to all the inspiration I found on the web.  I love the DIY storage ideas and also ways to make ugly storage pretty.  My favourite ideas were how to make supplies pull double duty as room decor - that makes them visible and yet organized.

A big THANK-YOU to all the crafters out there who have shared their ideas and their spaces!

I'll be taking some pictures and a video of my new configuration soon!