What PL storage solutions are NOT working for you?

What didn't work for me was keeping the cards in the boxes, plus I had cards that I had cut up from 12x12 sheets of paper, plus ones I made myself. I had different sets in different places.

I bought these "Really Useful Boxes" from Staples (and you can get from other places). I think it was the 9 liter box and I bought it on sale on one of those Black Friday specials.  I cut a small piece of foam board to make a divider about 2 inches high to divide the box into two sections (divide the width--wide part_- in half) and snugged the divider in. I then bought these 4x6 library tabbed dividers by 7Gypsies from Joann and I put washi tape on each tab and then on top of the washi tape, I made a label with my Avery label maker (use the small lettering) with the name of the PL kit or the theme for the cards. I put the 4x6 cards in front of the tab divider and I divided the 3x4 cards in two sets and put those in front of the 4x6 cards. I can fit 3 complete kits, plus several of the mini kits in one box. I like keeping the 4x6 and 3x4 cards together.

www.staples.com/Really-Useful-Box-9-Liter-Box-with-Snap-Down-Handles-Clear/product_673234
www.joann.com/7-gypsies-librarie-drawer-naked-tabs-24-pk/11420874.htm [HASH]q=7+gypsie&start=7
store.scrapbook.com/pp-7g-17926.html --4x6 tabbed dividers--(I can't get the other link to work)
store.scrapbook.com/pp-7g-17904.html  --3x4 tabbed dividers

I like that the lid box has a latch on it so the lid stays secure. I hope this makes sense.

Patter Cross posted how she organizes her PL cards using a Raskog cart from Ikea. She separated her 4x6 cards from the 3x4 cards and also separated the title cards from the others. I prefer to keep entire sets together and I can just fan through quickly to see what I want to use. It all depends on how much product you have and how your mind organizes things (do you think color, or set, or size?).

 If I get to an IKEA store, I may use her idea of the gray cart and washi tape border. Instead of library cards, 7gypsies makes a smaller version of the tabbed dividers.

triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2013/05/organizational-friday-raskog-cart.html
triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2013/04/organizational-friday-cards-for-pl.html

Keeping kits in their boxes didn't work for me either... I ended up buying the CTMH tote (medium size, I think it is), and it's much better for me... The cards stand up so you can flip through easily, holds 4 full kits easily, made dividers out of card stock with the names in there, has a lid and handle, blah blah blah... It was $20 well spent... (The core kit boxes are useful for keeping large cuts from my Silhouette in though...)

I don't do well with the cute bowls holding embellishments that I often see in videos... Maybe it's because I have too many embellishments - I don't subscribe to a club so if I buy a pkg of embellishments I have the whole package and not just a few... For most things, flat things anyways, I use those small ziplock bags you can get at Michaels... I take the embellishments out of their package, toss the plastic box/square bit, and cut the cardboard backing so that it fits in the ziplock bag... That way I can still keep track of manufacturer/line, but there's not as much bulk... I have some wire baskets (think they're called locker/gym baskets?), and I stand up the little baggies of goodies in there... I'll put a binder clip around those I want to keep together - like from the same collection etc... When I get down to just one or two of any kind I'll add them to the 'mixed bag'...

I don't have a lot of desk space to keep stuff out on... Plus I have a cat and dusting cat hair off scrapbooking tools and embellishment is as fun as it sounds... I don't keep thing out as much as I see in videos either... Just isn't practical for me... I have cabinets from Ikea that I bought when I set up my room and pretty much everything goes in there in baskets or drawers... I did buy a Martha Stewart desktop organizer from Staples... I do keep that out - it holds packs of small letter stickers (Tim Holtz Label Letters, BH PL stickers, and Simple Stories letter packs)... I also keep my acrylic block and a set of basic letter stamps there too... Oh, and a little calendar where I scribble what happened each day (I do PL monthly, so that's all I need)...

I did also get a Martha Stewart tray with a drawer thing at Staples too, and I tuck all my found bits for PL in the drawer so they don't get lost... Just in case you were checking out her stuff - I do find that useful too...

I also do have a Raskog cart from Ikea - top has tools like ATG, tiny attacher, paintbrushes; middle has 6x6 paper pads; bottom has my most used punches... Not having space on my desktop for tons of storage, it ended up being the best option for me - I roll it in/out if the closet...

Hmm... Oh - didn't like keeping my PL supplies separate from my scrapbooking supplies... If I come across something that's absolutely perfect for PL, I'll tuck it in with that drawer thing with the ephemera of the month... But otherwise it just took up too much room to have one basket for PL embellishments and another for scrapbooking... I guess my PL cards are sort of separate because they're in their own container, but there's no way I could mix them in with other papers...

If I think of more I'll pop back... It's helpful to think about it in terms of what doesn't work


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I also ditched the boxes. AND I didn't like storing my kits by collection. I was finding myself spending way too much time looking through all my kits looking for the perfect card to match whatever I was working on. So I end ed up going through them all and sorted the cards by color. LOVE it this way, but I also don't tend to use all one collection for a spread or album. Works for me,

I also don't store anything special for PL separately. I use my cards on traditional layouts and my other stuff on PL spreads. The only exception is itty bitty alpha stickers. I pulled those all out of my stash and put them with my PL cards.

I bought a drawer organizer from staples. I take the cards from my kit and have them in the organizer with a post it note as a label/divider between kits. I have two of these, actually. They were about $9 and are sturdy. I don't need a lid. I need my cards out where I can see them!

Nothing is working at this point~ lol.. I just keep getting larger and larger boxes every time another cute collection comes out~

The Raskog cart is great for the top layer only. I just can't use the two lower shelves because the cards are difficult to see. I have 6 of the large collections and 8 of the smaller collections. I ended up going with a plastic bin from IKEA that works perfectly and is clear and very sturdy. I need another one already, but this holds a ton of cards. I also ended up storing by color and not by collection. I like to use the cards on larger layouts to use them more and color worked for me. The plastic inserts that come in the kits also didn't work. I thought there was a lot of wasted space. I am considering getting the CTMH case for travel with the cards. Will have to see.

If anyone is interested, I've found two websites that custom make PL storage containers. One is www.stampnstorage.com, the other is www.organizemore.com. They have lots of options in different sizes, just a little pricey.