Today in the US, we are celebrating Labor Day, which means it’s a day off work for me since my office is closed. It’s so nice to have an extra day off. Gives me lots of time to catch up on my Stampin Up work. Or, have an extra day to relax. Actually, the extra day gives me a chance to catch up on cleaning and organizing the craft studio.
Periodically, I get asked how I store my Paper Pumpkin kits that come every month. First, I really do my best to get the kits made up every month. So, that takes care of most of the contents. I store the completed cards in a drawer where family members can easily grab one when they need something right away. They know they don’t even have to ask, they can just help themselves.
So, the rest of the kit… I like to keep the directions and I hate to toss the left over bits. This is the process I currently use and so far it’s working well for me. I use one of our 6×8″ Memories and More album and our matching sheet protectors. I slide the directions and everything else in the sheet protector.
I like to know what the ink spot color is for each kit so I write it in the corner for each set of directions. Pardon the messy penmanship, I don’t really focus on neatness here. I just want to know what the color is later. The ink spots get stored in a separate box all together.
Then I file everything leftover on the back side of the directions. Sometimes I end up with just a few bits and sometimes I have more left over like a few card bases if I’m in a hurry and don’t have time to immediately finish the kit. I don’t worry about it too much. I will go back through periodically and finish up unmade cards.
The rhinestones, pearls, sequins, and other bits I store with my scrapbooking supplies. I figure I have a better chance of using them up there than filed away in this binder.
As crafters, we tend to go overboard saving things because it would be great for something, like those really nice paper pumpkin boxes. What do I do with them? I TOSS the box! (Actually I recycle it.) I know it’s a perfectly good box, but I just can’t save all of them. I have used a few boxes to give away cards as gifts, but for the most part, they go in the recycle bin. And frankly, I don’t lose any sleep over it. It helps me keep the clutter down.
Now, those specialty boxes… I do have a hard time getting rid of those. I keep a few of them around to use as gift boxes. September’s Paper Pumpkin box is going to be one of those specialty boxes, themed for Halloween. I think I’ll use this box to send my daughter a few treats while she’s away at college. She’ll love that.
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