Thursday, November 6, 2008

Storing My Spellbinders Dies

I keep my current dies in a metal CD box from Target. I put each die on a magnet, that keeps it from rubbing up against another die and keeps the parts together on the Nestabilities and Shapeabilities. If there are several parts to a die I also put them in a ziplock type craft or sandwich bag. The magnets are from my dad, he's a realtor and gives out 5x7 magnets with yearly calendars and Bears schedules on them. I've been able to grab stacks of outdated magnets at the end of the year.

I keep similar dies together in categories. I just recently added to the categories when the new dies came last week. Now, I change my mind like the weather here in Chicago, but today I'm using the following:
Borders & Frames
Labels & Tags
Flowers & Nature
Food & Drink
Butterflies & Birds
Seasons
Feminine
Masculine
Accessories ~ another word for Misc.
Geometric (Includes Nestabilities by shape)

The 12" border dies will hang out at the end of the box for now.The categories are separated by a thick piece of chipboard. On each magnet I have the die's identification information. For my Design Team work I have to make a note of each product used. It's so much easier for me to have that at my fingertips than to look it up later. I put the SKU, the die name, the type of die, and the number of pieces it has. For the regular die user, knowing which SKUs you own will keep you from buying duplicates of dies that look similar.
For dies that look very similar, and I'm talking to you, Mr. Nestability, I write on the back side of the die and also mark that on the label. I tried to remain consistant with the pen color. For the small Nestabilities, I used a red Sharpie marker, for the large, a purple. See the little scribbles?
That helps me put the sets back together when I've got dies spread all over the table. Just be careful that when you are wielding Sharpies, you are not wearing your favorite jeans. And be sure not to drop said Sharpie point down onto said favorite jeans. I'm just sayin'.
I am careful to put the dies back in their bags and in their categories so I can find them again, but I can't say that for the rest of my art supplies. We will not be addressing the organization or lack thereof in my scrapbook room.

I do need to thank Cindy for keeping my feet warm while I type. You see, its raining out. Cindy doesn't like rain and hides in the basement from it. She gravitated to the area under my desk, so we put a dog bed there. Now I have a foot warmer and I always know where she is during bad weather. Ok, sometimes she gets tired of the dog bed and sneaks onto the couch. She's all about the cozy. But she would rather be outside playing.



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