Organizing your dies or any tools is pretty critical to making your crafting experiences easier. Recently, I re-organized all my dies, and I’m so happy with the results. Now, it’s easier to find the dies I’m looking for and keep track of the dies in each die set. My old method worked fairly well, but now I’m loving my new system.
Stand Alone Dies
I purchased envelopes and tabs from Stamp-n-Storage. The envelopes protect smaller dies from falling off my magnetic cards and getting lost. Plus, one of my problems was organizing my shapes dies. Now, I have them organized by Circles & Ovals, Squares & Rectangles, Hearts & Stars, and Mixed Shapes. Here’s what my box of dies looks like after the upgrade.
I did have to find a new box since my first generation Stamp-n-Storage box was not wide enough to accommodate the new die envelopes. My other problem was when I lost a die, I wasn’t sure what was missing. So, I had to look it up in an old catalog or online to see a photo of the complete die set. Now, I have a catalog photo or online snip printed out and inserted in the envelope on the back side of the die set for ready reference.
Stamp / Die Bundles
Actually, the biggest change for me was moving dies that went with stamp sets into the stamp cases with the stamps. For photopolymer sets, I keep the thin plastic sheet that the stamps are shipped so the magnetic sheet won’t stick to the stamps. For rubber stamps, no cover needed. Plus, I have the printed index inside the front flap of the case just like in the general dies envelope.
I’ve always included the number of dies on my labels. This way, I can do a quick count of the dies before putting them away. But, I can’t believe I haven’t done the index photos sooner. Organizing your dies in a way that works for you is definitely worth your time. I’m loving my new system!
Happy Organizing!
