Shelly Hickox DIY caddy made with Sizzix dies

I love this DIY caddy made by Shelly Hickox at the Sizzix.com blog.
Step by step photos are included on the blog, click here for the link.

Tammy Tutterow's studio

The amazingly talented Tammy Tutterow has a very well designed studio for proper work.

Look at all those dies! Tammy is part of the design team at Sizzix.com.

 And I absolutely love this spinner.

Click here for far more photos and explanation.

Nicole's DIY idea for distress ink pads

I posted earlier today a post on how Nupur had made a tutorial on how to make a DIY ink pad holder. Then i got a message from Nicole sharing her posts from three years ago. I am not implying that one copied the other, I know sometimes people come up with the exact same ideas without knowledge of each other, but since the dates are quite different I have reedited the post to include first Nicole's ideas.

Nicole made a tutorial 3 years ago on how to make the distress ink pad holder. Click here for the blog post.

Now Nicole has improved the idea and the Stampin Up ink pad shelves looks like above (made of grey card board). Click here for the blog post.

And a bigger one here.

And this is Nupur's version.

Click here for the step by step tutorial.

A good DIY alterantive

 You all remember this?

Well I saw this idea on Pinterest from Sueli on how she stores her clear stamps. But I do think it would also work for Thickers.

Using cardboard boxes and then make them all pretty.

You can see all the details here.

Before and After

 From this:

To this (after a flood):

To this:

Click here for far more photos and all the info.

Pinterest

Although I dont seem to find time to update this blog as regularly as i would like, I am extremely active on Pinterest. So, you can follow me there here.

Acrylic paint wall

Pretty nice!
Click here for a lot more photos.

Karen's clever mini metal shelf

I think this is a excellent idea, but I would have to have it painted proably red so I would not hit it all the time.

For more info and photos click here or on the photos.

How to organize and print years worth of photos

This a very very important issue, to organize all digital content, photos and file backups.

So I do strongly recommend a good read of this post by Ashley on her blog.

Brandy's Craft Room

Brandy from Brandycards.com shares her craft room in this video.

Crafters Companion's die and stamp storage cases

Leann Chivers, from Crafters Companion, was demonstrating a while back and was using this system to store her dies and unmounted stamps. The cases come in two sizes, mini and full size, and so the magnetic sheets or stamp sheets.

And, lucky me, I received some samples at my request in both sizes*.
No matter what size you go for, you need to get the magnetic sheets for the dies and the tabbed storage panels for the stamps separately.

I decided to test them I would try to see how they would work with my HeroArts stamps and Sizzix Framelits dies sets. At the time I had them on those clear cases and on an Ikea fridge box which it seems dont make anymore (at least not on sale in the UK).

In the mini one I managed to fit six complete Sizzix dies and Hero Arts stamps sets.

One thing I love about this system is that is a box, ie, no dies or stamps are going to get lost in transit as all four sides are well closed, which is not the case with all systems.

I found that it works best by alternating the stamp inserts with the dies one. One could put the stamps on the reverse so that when the page is open you could see matching dies and stamps together.

I like that it is extremely space efficient. On the shelf it doesn't take much space at all.

Overall, I liked the mini version better as it is easier to house and to look through a busy workstation.

This is extremely good for someone who has a few sets of wafer thin dies and matching stamps. In regards how it compares to the DVD boxes I showed here, well, even the mini fits about three times as many dies and the DVD would not house any stamps.

I will be honest, though. I have two minor quibbles. The magnetic sheets require a card backing or they get attached to each other very easily, which speaks of the good strengh of the manet but a bit of a pain while looking through the pages. And second,  I know I wil cut the plastic rings, while they would be great for most crafters, for me are a nuisance. But as they are plastic no harm done!

I strongly recommend this system for anyone who wants to keep their dies and/or stamps safe and with space efficiency.

*The samples were received free of charge, but I am not getting paid for this revies and all of the above is my honest opinion.

Elena Roche's tool Storage - in Spanish

Elena shares how she stores her most used tools in this video, but it is in Spanish.

Free Labels Download

Over on my personal blog I have a free download and tutorial on how I made my new storage labels.

Click here for the link.

The Scrapbook Diet

Very good article. Strongly recommend it.

PS: I did get rid of an awful load of stuf a couple of years ago when I went through a phase of wanting to change jobs - a part from those fours months in 2011 I have been a full time craft creative designer since 2006 - but as i came back to it I regretted parting with some of it. I learnt my lesson. But then again, it is my full time job and having a plethora of things to choose from is important.

HOW TO BUILD A CUSTOM CRAFT DESK

This one got published in 2010. Well Still is quite good!