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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

MFT Design Team Creative Chat

MFT has come up with a new monthly feature and we think it's something you'll really enjoy. The My Favorite Things Design Team Creative Chat is a new monthly feature, where we are challenged to explore our creative spaces and share valuable organizational methods, tools, and shopping strategies with you. You'll be able to peek into our creative spaces, ask questions, and share your own ideas in the MFT forum.  This month, we were asked the following questions:  

How do you store and organize your Die-namics?  
Any fun or helpful Die-namics purchasing strategies you'd like to share?  
How do you store extra Die-namics die-cuts? 

Visit Kim's Blog for a full list of designers that have taken up the challenge and get ready to delve into the minds of our creative team!

I have to say I LOVE my Die-namics storage "system". I'm fortunate to have a spare bedroom as my stamp room, or as I refer to it, my Girl Cave ;-) Also, fortunately, I have a double closet in that room with two bi-fold doors. I've attached adhesive backed magnetic sheets to the doors, which provides me with LOTS of area on which to attach my Die-namics dies. I'm taking advantage of unused space and they're all out there where I can see them and are easily accessed. This was important to me when deciding how to store my dies--they had to be easy to get to, preferable all within sight, and I didn't want to be flipping through albums or such. Using the otherwise wasted space was a bonus :) Here's the overall view. As you can see, I can get a ton of them in this space. The whited out space? September's dies--you'll be seeing them soon!


I didn't want to mar the paint on the doors, and I didn't want to install these in a more permanent manner, so I attached 1/4" foam core (I used THIS type presentation board, which is very light weight) to the door with 3M Command poster strips, then adhered the magnetic sheets to the foam core. I can easily remove the panels without harming the paint.


Here, you can see where I label my dies. I organize my dies according to release date. At first, I was just writing the month and year they were released on the backs of the dies. As my collection grew, that wasn't doing the job so I started using a removable label with all of the dies for each month to keep them more organized. For example, all of the dies released in January 2011, are grouped right beside and below that label. I pretty much know where each die is on the magnet sheet, and everything is visible, so finding a die is really fast.


I also label each die with the name since I place them on the magnetic sheet cut-edge down.


I do that so they're easier to remove--I can just hook a finger nail on the edge and they come right off. Easy peasy! If I attach them smooth side down, they are a bit more difficult to remove.


OK, so that's how I store my Die-namics. I don't really have purchasing strategies except you need them all, LOL! As far as storing extra die-cuts, I don't have a lot, but what I do get stored with my paper scraps, by color.

That's it for me today and thanks SO much for stopping by! I hope I've given you some ideas for storing your own Die-namics.







36 comments:

  1. Great system, Barbara! Love it. :) I was laughing at the whited out portion. LOL

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  2. WOW....this is amazing!!!! I want a wall just like yours!!!

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  3. oh wow - look at all that room to collect more!!

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  4. Hi Barbara! That's a cool way to store all your die-namics. And, I do agree with you, we need them ALL.. ;)

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  5. holy cow~!!! I LOVE how you store your dies!

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  6. Wow you have lots of space to store your Die-namics! Love it Barb

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  7. Wow! How neat for you to be able to have your dies right out there in the open so you can see them and access them quickly. I'm a "flipper" -- they're in a book (which is at the Vol. 2 stage) that I have to keep flipping through! It's a drag. Wherever did you buy the long sheets of magnet?

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  8. You are REALLY well-organized!

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  9. That's a Wonderful Idea!!!
    And thanks for all the links too!!!

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  10. soooo impressive! looove the look of this and sooo easy to access!

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  11. Looks like you have room for tons more! LOL!

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  12. Upside down and labelled....you are brilliant!

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  13. WOW! That's awesome! And room for SO many more! :)

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  14. Well, aren't you clever Barbara!!! I just love this idea, and it looks good too!

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  15. I'm awe struck! Wow! You win the award for the most organized...LOL!

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  16. Bar's storage system is FABULOUS! AND.... BE JEALOUS everyone, because I get to go there to play in a little over 7 weeks!!! :)

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  17. What a great idea--store them backwards! What a fun post!

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  18. Amazing idea! I love it. I would love to have that wall and all those lovely dies. Amazing!

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  19. OMG! I can't believe HOW MANY dies you have -- green with jealousy!! Fabulous way to save the paint too!!

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  20. Love it Bar!! If I had wall space I would totally do that! And I lol'd because our buying strategies were the same!

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  21. Love the upside down and labelled system! I also like how you have them sorted per release date! My favorite part though is all the room you have to grow!

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  22. FABULOUS system Bar! I wish I had a "wall of awesomeness" like this!!

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  23. Very cool idea, Barbara!!! :) What a wonderful room you must have!

    Thanks for sharing,

    Jennifer
    partridgelu at yahoo dot com

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  24. Barbara,

    I have something similar (on the inside of a pantry cabinet) for my Spellbinder dies (I only wish I needed something this big for my MFT dies! ;).

    What kind of removable labels do you use?

    Thanks so much for sharing!

    Crafty hugs,

    Jennifer
    partridgelu at yahoo dot com

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  25. Barbara - Love your die storage post. It is making me think of my space in a whole new way! Thanks so very much!

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  26. I love your die storage idea!TFS!!!! I am trying to utilize some areas of wall space that I will be able to do the same so I am very excited! I am a new follower and I would be honored if you would come by my blog and do the same at ACreativeJourneywithMelissa dot blogspot.com. Have a wonderful day!

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  27. Can you tell me where you bought the magnetic sheets & what size are they? Thanks!

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  28. I saw your die storage post on Pinterest and it inspired me to create a die storage system in my craft room. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. Crafty Hugs, V

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  29. Barbara, I would like to know where you purchased the magnetic sheets. Nancy

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    1. Hi, Nancy, I got them at Hobby Lobby.

      Hope this helps!
      Barbara

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  30. Love and interesting ideas. Thank you for sharing.

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  31. where do you get that big of a magnetic sheets??

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  32. I have never seen that big of sheets even at Hobby Lobby

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    1. If you look closely you'll see there are three 12" x 24" sheets on each long section,

      HTH!

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Thank you for your kind comments--they make my day and I appreciate every one!