Cool Finds/Organization Ideas

I know many of you enjoy my photos of stuff I find and lots have asked about my organization (my husband would say *what organization*? ...but what does he know, LOL!) So anyway, I thought I'd show you some of my fun finds from the antique stores we visited last weekend. Last year I started collecting aprons and these darling, vintage clothespin dresses. They usually come on an old hanger and were used to keep clothespins at the clothesline. I can remember hanging up clothes before school while waiting for the bus when I was a little girl.....and standing on a stool because I couldn't reach the clothesline! My mom started us out early with chores to say the least. Anyway, this little pink dress in the middle was my treasure find of the weekend. I love to scope the antique stores and this is the first item I always look for. Then I found this old drawer that was holding tags and stuff. I dumped all the stuff out and snatched up the drawer, knowing that would work well for stamping supply storage. I now have all my clear stamping blocks, cleaner and scrub pads in one spot. Also items like scissors, adhesives..the basics that I use almost every time I stamp.
My good friend Lisa Zappy is the QUEEN of vintage. I know she collects vintage, shabby chic pillow cases. So I purchased these in her honor. I'll use them when the girls have slumber parties or when we have company. So pretty...springy..and fresh smelling now that I laundered them.
Now on to some organization stuff (I like that word, stuff). I am a huge Papertrey Ink fan (like many of you, I'm sure) and my collection of the new inks, papers and ribbon began last month. Since the collection comes out in two color schemes at a time, I thought it would be easy to start organizing it.....and keeping it organized. So I began by making file folders for the card stock. I printed my own labels and cut them out of card stock, then punched a circle of the card stock color and adhered it to the label.

I love Palette Hybrid inks so I was very happy to see that Nichole chose this brand to use with her inks. I punched a card stock circle and adhered it to the top of the ink pad lid so I could get a good visual of the color I'm reaching for.
I also punched a 1/4" circle of card stock and adhered it to the side of the lid so that I could see all the colors when my ink pads are stacked up. Does anyone know if the inks should be stored upside down? Oh, and did you know that the lid snaps onto the bottom of the ink pad and acts like a handle? Nichole shared that tip on her blog. Cool! My ribbon is lined up side by side in a wire shelf that hangs off of some wire shelving units.
When I purchase new ink pads, I always try to buy a refill inker too. It just saves time and shipping costs to do it when making the original purchase. You never know when an ink pad may be a little dry either, so it's a good thing to have the re-inker available right from the start. To color code my ink refill bottles, I stamped a circle of the ink color onto an address label, punched it out and adhered it to the bottle by the color name. I think I'll go make more labels for those delicious new colors that will be coming to my house soon! Dang that Nichole, she's SOOOOOO good!
And here's something that came to me in a light bulb moment! I have seen many versions of the Clip It Up storage that crafters have been coming up with and so I decided to try my own. I was *this* close to purchasing a Clip It Up unit to hold some acrylic stamp sets, stickers, embellishments, etc....but then it came to me. I have these Pottery Barn shelving units that have these bars (actually towel bars) at the bottom. They were pretty much unused until now. Look at all of the storage I have now! I went to Walmart and bought these ring clips and binder clips. For each hanger, I used one ring clip and one binder clip. I put 3-4 packages of acrylic stamps (like my Hanna Stamps and Crafty Secrets stamps) on each little hanger. Then I clip the ring clip around the metal bar. Easy peasy and wayyyyyyy cool! You could easily do this with towel bars(hey, take over the bathroom!) to make one for your craft room. I just love it when an idea comes to life......and actually works!! Woohoo!!
This is another storage unit I love..the Stampin' Up! spinner storage unit that houses my eyelets and brads. No more digging in drawers for the little containers. I simply stack them up and move the spinner to my work surface when I need it. Looooooove it!

Okay, that's it for today. My Sears man is here fixing the incline of our new treadmill AND we just got a new load of gravel for the drive. If you live in the country and despise muddy roads like I do, you KNOW how much a new load of gravel is appreciated!!! I better get these fellas on their way. Later, my friends!