Hit the wall with combo products
 

I am normally a little OCD with organization bc I know I cant possible remember what I have. Once I hit 30 things back in the stone age (lol) I could not remember with my pea brain already overloaded with real world stuff.

But I have hit the wall now.

It started for me with stamp/dies sets. Ok...fine. They get their own boxes bc I have a stamp index so I just noted it was a combo so I would go look in those boxes. Besides I can not put them with stamps as I keep those in binders.

But now...
We have die and stencil sets
Embossing folders with dies
Triple threats stamp/die and stencil (thank you Altenew)
etc

I don't have indexes for anything other than stamps. If I want those things, I just pull the box and make a choice.

I .....just....cant.

I am not going to look in 10 different boxes for flowers. Noooo.

So I broke ranks with myself today and put die/stencils into the die box. Layering stencils went with stencils.

What are you guys doing about combo sets for storage? Into the cat box for the dies like I did today? Are they getting their own boxes or they go into established boxes?

Like you, I’m having to find a new way. If it’s a stencil/embossing folder combo, it goes with my embossing folders. The EF wouldn’t fit well in my stencil binder. Stencil/die combo goes with stencils because I’m not likely to use the die without the stencil.

Any combination involving stamp sets will go with the stamps. I just keep mine in bins so they usually fit plus stamps are my go-to starting point.

...And you have to add embossing folders with stencils...and stamps with stencils, dies, foiling plates, letterpress plates...all bought separately so you can pick and choose...

I also am a little frustrated with how to put the combos in my drawers. I have new arrangements for storage and am having to change things up. But I have a pouch full of those mixed things that I don't know how best to store. Grrrrrr...!

I'm going to watch this thread as well. I need a little direction/suggestions/something.

Do you put the dies and stencils in an envelope or sleeve? If so just put a label in that sleeve saying “has die set / has stencil / stamp set” that’s what I do so if I am using a stencil that has such label I go to the set I the die/stencil place.

I store in the refrigerator bins in 4mil thick ziplock bags that I buy in various sizes on Ebay. And I store by company. My favorite sizes are 6 by 9 and 8 x 10 but I have other sizes. The whole combo goes in one bag. I do not want to hunt around for the components of a combo.

I am sorry, I should have said that. I do put them in pouches. No way would I separate those kinds of sets. But I don't keep regular stamps in pouches. I have them in binders.

Right Fiona! Everyday as we get new product like foil plates, we also get more combos.

I have boxes now that are stamp/die combos by category but as we are saying, now there are so many other kinds of combos and I am dreading the thought of a "stencil/die" box, Embossing folder/die (or stencil) box, etc....No. I like the stencil/die into stencils and EF/die or stencil in with EFs. That's two of them...

You are lucky Pam to have such a good memory. I could NEVER remember what I have by company. I know people do it-I just cant.

I'm new to stamping, and made the habit of getting coordinating products before I had a die cutting machine (my first purchases were the dreaded Altenew triple threats, lol), and Miss Adriana's method/logic is what I settled on at the beginning.

I was gonna change it up and start separating everything (just so I had all of my dies on magnetic sheets in binders, instead of some dies in binders and some dies with the stamps [which I put in cute little wooden book boxes] ), but now that I'm reading this thread, I'm not so sure I wanna do that.... :-? I mean, if all y'all are going from separated to united, then I don't want to go through the trouble of dividing everything up, only to go, "Good grief, what was I thinking? I should've listened to the ladies online."

My thoughts in separating went kinda like, "Well, I only ever get like 5-10 minutes to craft, at a time, and I gotta put everything away quickly after each mini-session, so it's not like I *ever* stamp and die cut at the same time, anyway. If I separate everything, I make more room in my book boxes for stamps, and I can get those blasted dies off the sticky double-sided permanent tape nightmare package."

Hmmmm.

Devil's advocate here: I'm a separator. Stamps stay with stamps, dies with dies, stencils with stencils, letterpress with letterpress. I don't foil, so one less item to deal with. Since I cut samples of all the dies (except nesting sets like ovals or rectangles), and have a stamp index, as well, it's easy enough to note that there is a stencil or embossing folder or whatever that goes with either. I mix and match and some things cross over just fine and some can be stand-alone, but I would never use them that way if I kept them with their "friends". I reinvent the wheel with my storage often enough already (my husband and wavejumper can attest to this), without figuring out new systems for combos. Everyone has their triggers for memory on these things so, as was already mentioned, thinking about how you would look for it should guide how you store it.

i keep all my emails from online shopping and I have an excel spreadsheet with my stash recorded. Dies on a tab. Ink on a tab. Embossing folders on another. And so on.

Well here's my thinking about separating sets...it is one thing with sentiments-all the happy birthdays together kind of thing...but when a die is for a specific item in a set...I don't want to lose it, which I expect I will if I separate. If a stencil is cut for the images in a stamp set-I can not use it as a stand alone.

My thoughts in separating went kinda like, "Well, I only ever get like 5-10 minutes to craft, at a time, and I gotta put everything away quickly after each mini-session, so it's not like I *ever* stamp and die cut at the same time, anyway. If I separate everything, I make more room in my book boxes for stamps, and I can get those blasted dies off the sticky double-sided permanent tape nightmare package."

Dame-if you only have short bursts of time...I personally would keep the sets together even if you are not going to do all the stages at one time. It would be more time for you to run around and find all the parts. Just me. But I have always been the kind of person who wants to gather stuff once and work vs getting up and down. But that's just me Some people feel that is too cluttered for them.

This is why often what we do can be similar but also unique to us and how we work, how we think of things-ie by subject or by company? And have to tailor to ourselves. But I have gotten so many good ideas here that I can just tweak a bit for myself-OR-and possibly more important-I read what failed and can avoid that pitfall.

I don't have that many combos but I don't like going backwards and re-designing my storage. I have done it too many time already so I would just like to figure it out once and be done.

Pam-I have a lot of excel sheets but that often is not totally clear about what the item is...so many companies' names for stuff is super vague-like how Penny Black can call a flower stamp "devotion".
I would be more inclined to think that is a faith stamp. The sheets really help me with shopping to avoid duplicates (assuming I typed it correctly) or flag me that I already have 5 Happy Birthday word dies or whatever.

My spreadsheet would let me know that the company is Penny Black, the set was named Devotion and that it is a flower. However I only use my spreadsheet to know If I bought something not what it is, so I avoid duplicates.

I have a new craft room that I'm just unpacking (after moving from PA to AL to be closer to our grandchildren and their parents) and after using big refrigerator bins for stamps and a binder for dies, I'm working on putting everything in smaller bins I bought at Dollar General so that I can move what I want to my desk more easily. With this system, a set of stamps, dies and whatever else stays together in a bin for combination sets. The refrigerator bins and die binders are just getting too heavy.so I had to break them apart.

I don't have a spread sheet of my stamps and such, but I am working on a breakdown of what sentiments I have and what stamp set they're with, so that I can find the right words for the card I'm working on.

I'm 63 and I hope this is the last time I change my organizational system!
Tracy

Congrats on the new room Tracy!

That is true-bins of dies I used to just move no problem now are getting heavy-I am in my 60s too.

Ooooh, dang, that's a very compelling argument for keeping my coordinating stuff together....

When I started getting a number of stamp sets with dies/stencils, I wanted to store them together, so I purchased some large clear plastic envelopes from Avery. I put the dies on a magnetic sheet and keep them and the original packaging in the Avery pouch, along with 6 x 6 DSP. I keep the stamp set with the pouch and bind them together with a large rubber band. Then they go on my shelf. No more searching for the coordinating dies for a particular stamp set. That works for me.

How I Organize
 

Like you, combos, have made a new challenge. I was already finding difficulty because I categorize stamps and dies by topics and holidays. But now I am deciding to keep everything that’s Halloween whether it’s a stamp or a die, or a stencil, or an embossing folder, in the Halloween section. Everything that’s Christmas goes together. Finding the right name for some sections has been challenging too. I have a section for textures and frames and shapes and borders. I have friends who store things by Brand. I can’t remember what brand my stencil was for my stamps were. Some of them I can but too many I can’t. And I have a section that is too big for miscellaneous. Can’t wait to read everybody’s ideas.

Oh, man, I totally admire those folks who can organize by brand/company! The only company I can instantly identify is Altenew.

I mix and match companies all the time (I have favorite butterfly stamps from a different company -- dang, I can't even remember which one, at the moment -- that I use with nearly all of my Altenew flowers), so having things organized by theme is much better for me.

But yeah. Serious respect for the Brand/Company Organizers!!!

Organization
 

Nice! Thats how my brain works too!

Organization
 

i need to do a breakdown of sentiments too. Several of my sets have mixed categories. One set has birthday, get well, fathers day mothers day, sympathy, missing you, etc.

Hushonic

Gee I store by category....and the idea of putting everything to do with Halloween in one place has an appeal....it would mean a huge change over. hmmm

See this is the problem. I just cant decide. (sigh)

I store by category/theme, as that is how I stamp. I have a theme for the birthdays of the month as well as for any holiday---Mother's Day, Easter, etc. But, because all the components of our craft are so different in how they need to be stored, they are also stored by type of items. All stamps go in the same cabinet, the drawers organized by theme. I only have stamps on wood blocks. If I buy unmounted stamps, I mount them on blocks. Just easier for me to stamp that way. All my embossing folders are in a basket separated by theme, as are my dies, stencils, patterns, each in their own basket. I don't buy combos. I did once, and immediately put the stand alone dies (no stamps that it went with) in it's correct section. Then I gave away those that went with the stamps. I'm not a big fan of the extra "white" edge around the stamp and actually love to fussy cut close to the image. Don't have many stencils, but I treat them in the same way. Never even considered stencil/die or embossing folder/die etc. combos and have none. I'm am different from many of my card making friends as I'm a stamper at heart and use dies for shapes and embellishments mostly. Many of my friends have gone to more of an "assembling pieces" or production style of card making and often don't even stamp a greeting. Seems too manufactured to me as I make my own background paper by stamping images or embossing a texture and stamping my focal points. I think I'm a dying breed from what I'm seeing on line. But whatever floats your boat!

I do the same as above with embellishments. And all paper and ink, etc. is divided by ROYGBIV.

I'm apparently the same dying breed as you, lol. I'm not a fan of the extra "white edge", either, and prefer to fussy-cut things as a result. I do own quite a few dies, but they are all nesting shapes or embellishment-type dies. The one die set that I have that goes with a stamp set is Tim Holtz Crazy Birds, as those little legs are difficult to cut. I agree that cards made entirely with dies, while beautiful, seem "manufactured" as opposed to handmade. Not a slight to those who make them - I know that there is skill and time and patience involved - just not my cuppa. I organize by theme, too...

I agree about little bird's legs and antenna, too. If possible I stamp the image on the main piece, then stamp it again on an extra panel and fussy cut just the body. Then I can adhere the fussy cut piece over the original stamped image and the legs or antenna or stems show perfectly without my having to cut them out. Doesn't work in every case, but often enough not to need a die.

I do that, too, but I needed to cut the entire bird(s) out for a project i was doing, so I did need the dies in this particular case. They cut very close, so there''s almost no "white space", so I was pleased.

That's good to know. Thanks!

I have limited space (bedroom/craft). I store my stamps with their dies, dies, stamps are in sleeves and are with dividers that are marked what is in the spot. Like I do female, male, children, sentiments, animals, etc. I find this works best for me. They are in bins from Scrapbook, etc.