"Art is my vehicle through life; may we share the ride together." Ron Wickersham

Friday, August 5, 2011

By George, I think I've got it!

In the never-ending search for the perfect storage solutions for supplies, I think I have at last found a solution for my Distress Inks and blending foams!

Originally I bought the Tim Holtz metal Distress Ink storage case, but it only holds 24 ink pads.  I now have all 36 colors and I wanted them all in one place, so I had to find something else.  I finally found this, which I am very happy with.  I think it's called Snapware and can usually be found in any of the big box craft stores.  They are stackable so you can add as many as you want to the stack (as long as you can still carry it!) and the tops have a built-in handle which folds and lays flat if you want to place something else on top.  I have two deeper ones and a slimmer one stacked together  - the top two hold 18 ink pads each and the bottom one holds reinkers and the blending tools.


Here you can see how they stack up - 2 rows of three across and they are stacked 3 high.



So what to do with all the blending foams?  I decided to get one for each of the colors and then I can rotate them on and off my blending tools as needed.  I attached a small piece of the rough side of sticky-back Velcro to the bottom of each of my ink pads.  (You can also see that I use address labels to identify my pads - this is an old address but I had leftovers when we moved!)


Then I simply added a blending foam to the Velcro.  It is always accessible when I need it and, because the bottom of the ink pad is recessed, it doesn't add too much extra height. (Did you know that The Little Blue House sells these foams individually so every time you buy a new ink pad you can get a foam at the same time!)  I also marked the bottom of each foam with the initials of the name of the ink color, just in case they get mixed up.


And here's another tip:  you can print out these color name labels from the Ranger site.  I printed two sets and punched them out with a Stampin Up long oval punch (fits perfect) and adhered two to each ink pad with Mod Podge.  I might even go back and make two more sets for the other two sides so I can always tell what they are no matter how they are turned!  You can see in the first photo above that they are visible through the storage container so I can easily find whatever color I need.



I am loving this system!  Now even if Ranger comes out with more colors, I will only need to buy another container to add to the stack!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a good find. Love the velcro idea too.

Scatter said...

Now that's clever!

Linda.B said...

That is a really good idea. Thanks for sharing it.

Linda B.

DeeDee said...

Wowsers What a great idea... did you get that at Jo'Anns? I love this idea too... and the velcro .. awesome, awesome idea.

Debra said...

This is the bomb! Love having a sponge for each color. This way there is no waste and no throwing out of sponges! Thanks for sharing this idea!

Linda Manning Findley said...

very clever .... good job lady .. Linda F

Diann said...

Thanks for sharing your system...I'm liking it a lot - you go girl! Diann

Anne said...

Yea!!!!youare at 100....My Mom and I were surfing blogs and she realized she was not a follower...she is now ...Hugs Elaine