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Y'all are great with ideas, so I'm turning to you for help ...
I have a lot of little packages of stick-on pearls, rhinestones, "goosebumps," "sparklets," etc. from lots of different manufacturers. Right now, they're all in a plastic storage box, along with some stick-on rose buds, stick-on daisies, etc.
I'm looking for a way to organize all this stuff so that it's easier to find what I'm looking for by color. I've thought of using sandwich-size ziploc bags, one per color "family," (pinks, reds, yellows, blues, etc.), but I thought I'd throw this out there and get your ideas.
Anyone solved the exploding embellishments dilemma?
I have to start by saying much of my stuff still needs to be organized but one thing I have learned is that whatever system you decide upon has to work according to the way you think and/or use the item being organized.
In my case, I think about inkpads by brand so I have a drawer for StazOn (but it also has my Ranger archival pads), Brilliance (most of these are pearlescent colors), Memento, Ranger (this drawer holds Distress and Adirondack inkpads but is overflowing so I will soon have drawers for Distress and Adirondack), and Chalk (various companies).
However, when choosing an embellishment I usually look for a particular color and then decide if it will be a button or a rhinestone etc. so my embellishments will sorted by color (for now they are stuffed into a drawer). If space permits, I hope to have sections within each color drawer for brads, flowers, buttons, pearl, etc. to make things easier to see but expect that some categories (and possible some colors) will be sharing the same space. Flowers might end up lumped together since I do sometimes know I want a flower and then decide upon the color.
I hope this rambling is at least a little bit helpful.
I don't have an enormous amount of embellishments, but those little packets really do make a mess if they're not contained somehow, don't they? Since I switched my stamp storage to Tim Holtz folders, I was left with a good number of the plastic DVD-style cases like the ones from Stampin' Up and Amuse Studios. I have embellishments in those now. One case will hold quite a few of those little packets. I have one for clear rhinestones, one for colored rhinestones, one for pearls, etc. They're all in a DVD box that I can flip through any time I need to find them.
That does make sense. I already have my buttons organized by color "family," so organizing my embellishments by color would definitely make sense.
My normal "process" is to envision a "look" -- layout + color family (brights, pastels, etc.); then find the papers to reflect that. As I start pulling together the papers, I begin to see where embellishments might work: ribbon or twine, lace, buttons, and finally pearls, brads, etc. So those little embellishments are the last thing I pick out, totally based on color. Organizing them by color definitely is the way to go, unless I drastically change my "process."
Speaking of buttons, here's how I've organized them:
I don't have an enormous amount of embellishments, but those little packets really do make a mess if they're not contained somehow, don't they? Since I switched my stamp storage to Tim Holtz folders, I was left with a good number of the plastic DVD-style cases like the ones from Stampin' Up and Amuse Studios. I have embellishments in those now. One case will hold quite a few of those little packets. I have one for clear rhinestones, one for colored rhinestones, one for pearls, etc. They're all in a DVD box that I can flip through any time I need to find them.
Oh, I like that idea! I'm already using DVD cases to store my cling stamps, so I have a BUNCH of the empty cases as well as some empty bins. I'll play around with that idea! Beats using ziplocs, for sure! Thanks!
I have all of my embellishments in drawers like THESE. Attached are thumbnails showing a button drawer, a ribbon drawer, and an embellishment drawer. The containers in the embellishment drawer came from a bead organizer case like the last pic. I (obviously) have them organized by color. If I don't have a lot of one color, I combine them with another color that's next to it in the ROYGBIV lineup - like yellow and orange, for example. If I have A LOT of a color (red and pink), then I have multiple drawers for them. I can find ANYTHING in seconds! If I want to take things with me, I still have the cases that the small containers came in. I can fill a case and off I go!
Need ideas for embellishment storage ...
