Saturday 21 May 2016

More organising in the art studio

We've had such a busy week at school this week... and to be honest I haven't had 5 minutes in my art studio to create anything!  I did steal a little bit of time last weekend though to continue my organising... and I LOVED it.  I think I might secretly be a little OCD about my storage solutions!

I've previously shown you how I'm using Jennifer McGuire's storage tips with most of my stamps... and it certainly works for me.  My baskets with the stamp storage pockets and dividers is fabulous and I'm finding it much easier to find what I'm looking for.  PLUS... having all my things organised really does make me HAPPY!


One thing that I hadn't worked out yet was how to store my Ranger stamps... mostly Tim Holtz ones but I've got a few Dylusions sets as well.  They were far too big for the regular stamp storage pockets and besides... I quite liked the idea of keeping them separate from the other stamps.

When Esther came up in January I had ALL my Tim Holtz stamps out on the table and we had them EVERYWHERE!

To be honest, that photo doesn't show how bad the situation really was... I had stamps missing... stamps on the 'wrong' storage sheets... everything mixed up... it was a MESS!

I REALLY liked the pocket idea and it got me thinking... what if I could use much bigger pockets??  So I went hunting and came up with the perfect solution for me.  I bought a packet of A4 heavy duty expanding pockets!  They were the perfect width and depth but way too tall so I chopped the tops off with my guillotine!

Then I got out my label maker and got organising:

Each pocket is labelled with the name of the stamp set, the individual code and how many stamps each set contains:

As I was sorting the stamps out I found that lots of the stamps weren't sticking to their storage sheets so I jumped back on the internet and searched out some stamp cleaning ideas and found two really fabulous 'home made' stamp cleaner recipes.

The bottle on the left is my Glycerol and baby shampoo cleaner and the bottle on the right is diluted Simple Green.  The Simple Green recipe I made works fabulously on some of the more difficult stains and the glycerol/baby shampoo recipe smells divine and actually conditions the stamp rubber as well!

I now have a stamp cleaning container complete with extra 'ingredients' for making more cleaning solution, an old tooth brush and my super clean stamp blocks!

Getting back to the stamps... by the time I'd finished cleaning and sorting my stamps I'd actually managed to find ALL of my stamps.... SO HAPPY!  Then I needed a container for storing all the stamps in.  My cane baskets weren't wide enough and I didn't want to hide them away after going to all the effort to have them well organised.... and then I remembered that I had an old antique suitcase that would be perfect!


I think Tim Holtz himself would be happy with this storage solution!

At the moment I've got the suitcase of stamps sitting on my big table and it's fantastic!  Best of all, there's still room to add more stamp sets to the suitcase LOL

Before I go, I thought I'd share an amusing little snippet from this morning.  Krystal came inside to have a chat and she decided to have a toasted sandwich while she was talking to me.  Within SECONDS she had TWO sets of eyes watching her and hoping against hope that she would give them a little morsel!

It reminded me of a picture I saved from Pinterest last year:

Here's our version of the picture:

Toby sat all the way through Krystal eating her sandwich... Nivea only sat once Krystal got down to the last of it... the desperation was setting in by then!  In spite of them sitting so nicely there were NO tasty morsels for puppies!

And if Toby could have opened the fridge by himself he would definitely have done this!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today... I hope you're having a great weekend xx

5 comments:

  1. Oh, Shell, you are the daughter (granddaughter!) I never had! I am hugging myself with happiness at all your superb organizational skills and tips and photos!!! And the doggie/cheese sammich bit - a riot!! Thank you for the guffaw! (I do think Krystal could have shared a coupla crumbs!) Hugs, Darnell

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  2. Amazing organisation and the suitcase is fabulous! Cara x

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  3. Shell this is fabulous storage - where did you get the basic stamp storage?? Was it local?? I am in Tokoroa, and sometimes go across to Rotovagus.
    Your fur-babies remind me of our (late) pussy cat who could beg with the best of them!
    Blessings
    Maxine

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    1. Hi Maxine :) I bought my stamp pockets through Simon Says Stamp in USA... they have an excellent service! You're so close... we could meet up for a crafting chat!

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  4. I am with you about working within an organized space. I have very few stamps - such commitment required to stamp (lol) - but stickers I have SO many & I have them organized so it is easy to find quickly, which is the key. Oh the puppies look so devoted .... to the sandwich. One of my fur girls gets her nose stuck into the frig every time it is open. Crazy cat.

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Thanks, Shell xx