Monday, May 10, 2010

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 20 and Distress Ink Storage

Hi! Welcome back to the 30 Days of Inspiration. Today is Day 20 and I have a card set to share inspired by these.... A few bags of my buttons. I store my buttons in these clear bags that they came in when I purchased them. They came all mixed up but I've found it's so much easier to sort all of my embellishments by color. It really makes creating go faster. I'm no longer wasting time looking for the right color in a sea of other colors.

I was inspired by the grouping of each color and wanted to do something monochromatic, all one color tone. I decided to make a Congrats Card Set...
Some more shots...
I created each card by stamping THIS stamp in VersaMark ink and embossing it with clear embossing powder onto a 4x4 sheet of white cardstock. Then I took various distress inks (Dusty Concord, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw, Spun Sugar, and Tumbled Glass) and applied on top of the embossed image. I distressed the edges, added a sentiment, and finished it off with some pearls and then attaching each square to some Hero Arts Notecards. Next, I thought I would show you how I store and organize my distress inks. I have them in this clear shoe box that I purchased from Michael's (came in a pack of 4)...When you open the lid, you see my distress ink tool, a distress ink pad, and room for me to buy more inks!! :) They are sitting on a clear/frosted hard plastic that my sweet hubby cut down for me to create removable shelves inside the box-he is the best!

(ETA: I've received some emails and comments about what kind of plastic that was used to cut the "shelves". It's a hard plastic that was scrap from my husband's work, but you can use plexi glass, that can be found at any hardware store)
When you remove the top "shelf", it reveals the next shelf of ink pads and underneath that, is the final few rows of inks...So in total you can fit 24 distress inks in there!!

And here is a picture of what I do with the sponges that is used with the applicator tool. I store them on the bottom of the ink pad with velcro so I never have to search...Here's how I did it....Super simple! I've seen many people label the sides of the distress inks with the names but I want to see the color! So I swiped ink on sticky, blank address labels and cut a strip to adhere to the side, like this...
Here is a shot of the inks INSIDE the clear box. I can see exactly what color I am looking for...
Okay, gotta run. Getting ready to go to dinner with my mom and sister. Olive Garden. Yum. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

24 comments:

Carla said...

great storage idea and I love your cards!!!!

Lin said...

Drooling over your inks, so lovely to see all the colors together! And I love your cards, what a pretty set!

Anne said...

Love how you store the blending foam on the underside of the inkpad- brilliant! I must ry this!!

Kathy (krolski) said...

Such a pretty set of cards! Thanks for the storage tips! Great system. I don't have quite that many distress inks, but I may some day. :)

Mariana Grigsby said...

Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!

Deb C said...

I really love these cards and your storage ideas. I'm going to need to try some of these. I really like the idea for foam storage. I've never seen that before.

Ayana Posadas said...

Fabulous tips!
Thanks so much for sharing them with us! You're a genius! :)

Scrapamum said...

Brilliant tips! Those cards are fantastic!

Deirdre said...

Heather, what a neat idea.... thanks for sharing. Great cards too.

Shane said...

I love your ideas on organization! You could go into business as a professional organzier...didn't we talk about that during our weekend?

Heather Maria said...

Your cards are gorgeous Heather! Thanks for the great storage tips - I'll have to reorganise my buttons and inks!

Sara said...

Pretty cards!! Love the monochromatic look!

Roz said...

OH OH OH I love the idea of storing the ink sponges on the ink cases themselves. Mine are currently thrown in a Tupperware bowl. I'm getting some Velcro this weekend for sure.
Love the cards too.
New to your blog, and I'm liking it.

Karla Anderson said...

I store mine pretty much the same way - but mine are labeled on the side with color and name. I love not having to search for the matching applicator pad - velcro rocks.

Fiorella said...

I've just found your blog through Jennifer's one. It's great! Thanks for the tips from Italy

Sandi M said...

Found you thru Jennifer. You could sell those storage containers with the shelves!!! My DI's just sit on the table & the foams are in baggies - totally not working for me. I'm definitely buying some velcro & inking up some labels. Wonderful tips!

Jill said...

Great cards, storage, and organization! Thanks so much for sharing!

Candy said...

Great cards. Love the organization information. Where do you get the plastic sheets you husband cuts to make shelves in the boxes? You gave us all the other information.

Mendi Yoshikawa said...

Ooh! I love the idea of inking a label to add to the edge of your Distress inks. I was just thinking I could take your idea plus add the name to cover all my bases. Thanks for the tip! :)

kthrow@mac.com said...

I just labeled all of my Distress ink pads as per your suggestion and am IN LOVE!! This is the best idea, I would have never thought of it and honestly, I'm using them more! Thankyouthankyou!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Very helpful on the storage of distress inks. I will have to do both of those. Thanks for sharing.
marilyn2222 @ hotmail.com

Sandi said...

Great job!!! I need to do this!
Miss you:)

Nina Watson said...

Great idea. Question, I thought I heard the ink pads should be stored upside down so the ink is always at the top of the pad? Is that true? Love the part about coloring the label, it wouldn't matter which direction you stored the pads. Thanks so much!!

Glen said...

What fab ideas Heather. Thank you so much for sharing. *Ü* ~Glen~ (UK)