labeling sponge daubers

If you're like me, you have a ton of these sponge daubers! At first, I tried washing them out. Nope. Then, I tried guessing the colors, but you can't always tell what color the ink is by what color it turns the sponge dauber. For instance, Toile Pink is no where near that bright. So, finally dawned on me to start labeling them. I just snip a small rectangle out of scraps and right the name on the ink color on it. Then, tape it on. Simple. Not rocket science, but maybe it will help someone out there get a little more organized with their supplies.

ink storage

I thought I would add a post now and then with some tips that may be useful to some of you. My first tip is labeling my Palette ink pads. I saw a post on Lauren's blog where she labeled her Palette inks using one of Papertrey's label stamps. She stamped the label and put in on top of the ink pad so that she would have an accurate color representation for each ink pad. I loved this idea! I took her idea and altered it a little to fit my needs. My ink pads are stored in little cubbies. So, I wanted to be able to see the ink pad colors on the ends of the ink pads. I stamped the labels just like Lauren did using Papertrey stamps, but I cut just a little section out of the label and adhered it to the end of my ink pads instead of on top. This way, I can see what colors I have and what color I want to use at a glance. Thanks so much, Lauren, for the idea to use the labels. I love being able to see what ink colors I have and finding which one I want without having to take them all out.

ETA: I was storing my Palette ink pads upside down when I took these photos, but I now store them upright.

my new creative space

Welcome to my creative space! We are moving our daughter into her own room so I had to move my stuff out of the spare room. I had no idea how I was going to store my things until my husband decided we should design and build a desk for me to use. So, this desk and shelving is all our design and construction. This is the first wood working thing my husband has built and it turned out amazing! We took my supplies and designed shelves around them. I have shelves of varying heights that work perfect with my stuff. The little light colored table on the left is for my kids to use when they make things with me.

Here is a closer shot of some of my shelves. We designed the bottom shelves with cubbies for my ink pads and various other small things that I use frequently so they are within reach. The second shelves hold my CTMH embellishment things and jars with buttons. The other side holds my stamp cleaners, double scrubbers, adhesives, and nestabilites. The third shelf holds my ribbons on the spools. My husband designed holders for dowels to hold my ribbon. The fourth shelf holds some of my flowers. Miscellaneous things on the fifth shelf and magazines and books on the top shelf. Throughout moving my stuff, I realized I have a thing for ribbon, flowers, and chipboard! lol

Here is a close up of one side of my desk. We designed it so that my Cropper Hopper paper holders would fit. I love having all my patterned paper right there within reach. On the other side, I have my things that I use often in the top cubby, like my Cropper Hopper embellishment box with my brads and other embellishments and my new Janome Sewing machine that I got for Christmas.

I have 4 Crop in Style cubes that I had before we made the desk. They work so nicely for storage. I have chipboard things in the top 3 drawer (yes, I have too much chipboard! lol). The bottom 2 drawer holds my stamps. I have two rows of stamps in each drawer. The drawers work perfect with CTMH stamps in their envelopes and my Papertrey and other stamps in their cd cases. They aren't full so I still have room for more stamps. *wink* I have miscellaneous things in the other 3 drawer cube and the 4 drawer cube is shown in the next photo. The cardstock holder on top of the cubes was something that I found at a yard sale. I paid just a couple dollars for it, painted it white, and it works perfectly.

Here is a photo of the 4 drawer Crop in Style cube. I store my ribbon that is not on spools here on the Cropper Hopper 4x6 ribbon cards. I really like storing them this way because I can see what I have at a glance. I had ribbon jars for awhile and I loved how they look, but I couldn't see what I had. The 4 drawer cubes work great with this storage method because the 4x6 ribbon cards fit perfectly in each drawer. I use 2 drawers for ribbon, one for rub on alphabets, and the other for miscellaneous sewing things.

I'm sure I'll ending up moving things around and finding places that work better for some things, but I'm so ecstatic with how this turned out! My daughter gets her own room and I still have a place for my things. Thanks, Honey!