How I Store My Vinyl & HTV - Rolls & Sheets
Showing posts with label Organize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Organize. Show all posts
Organizing My Craft Supplies - Paper Storage
How I Store Paper In My Very Small Craft Space
8.5 paper is stored in a file drawer, with enclosed file folder dividers holding scraps
12.5 paper is stored in cardboard storage boxes, with folder dividers I made from the cardboard backing from cardstock packs. [More details below]
Although we have a spare bedroom upstairs, I prefer to keep my craft area in a corner of our laundry room. The reality for me is that if I stored everything away upstairs in a closed off room, I'd never use it. With it down here beside the kitchen, I have quicker and easier access to it. I can have the machines cutting while I'm cooking, or folding laundry, and I can walk out to work at my desk for a few minutes without feeling like I have shut myself off away from my husband. It's what works for me - and that's the key, figuring out what works for you. There is no one answer, we all work differently!
For a much more detailed look at my craft area, see the post here:
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/01/where-my-cricut-lives-see-my-laundry.html
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/01/where-my-cricut-lives-see-my-laundry.html
In this small space, I have an old office armoire that I picked up at a thrift store. It holds two cricut machines, our printer, & all of my paper and vinyl. Baskets on top hold more supplies. I also have a desk and dresser in this area, and a closet where more supplies are stored - but the bulk of what I use is accessible right here, beside the ironing board, which is convenient not only for dropping all sorts of odds and ends as we walk through the back door, but also for htv projects, once I clear it off. :-)
The bulk of my 12x12 paper is in cardboard holders. I do keep one clear 12x12 box of "seasonal paper", that I rotate out. So right now I have spring and summer papers in the cardboard storage, and fall and winter [Christmas] are in a clear 12x12 box. Sometime around late August/early September, I'll switch those.
These are $6.49 for 4 at Hobby Lobby, regular price.
I thought I would try the cardboard folders, and then if they worked for me, I'd upgrade to plastic ones eventually. But so far, plastic ones are pricey, and cardboard versions are not. Also, many of the plastic ones appear to be a little flimsy... So rather than upgrade to plastic, when my cardboard ones started to wear out, after about a years time, I simply replaced them with new cardboard versions.
After about a years wear and tear, right before I replaced them...
I have plans to cut down cardboard [again, from the backs of the packs of cardstock] to reinforce the fronts of the cardboard boxes. That's where I tend to grab them to pull them forward, and that's where they began to wear out and tear last year.
But I did just see these on Amazon. This is very tempting to me. 6 for $35. I love the wheels - but I wonder how well the plastic will hold up, I don't know how flimsy they are... https://amzn.to/3Wdnoha
This is my very much not fancy divider system for the 12x12 cardstock.
It's a piece of cardboard from the back of a pack of cardstock.
I've glued on 8.5x11 cardstock to make "folders" to hold the scraps.
Then I put small tabs at the top to indicate the colors. blue is stored on one side, red on the other, in this one.
My 8.5x11 cardstock is in the bottom file drawer of the armoire.
To sort my 8.5x11 cardstock, I use accordion style file folders - the type with enclosed sides. I glued cardstock to the top of each to color coordinate. Cardstock scraps go inside the folders, full pages behind the folder.
I used to store my sticker and iron on paper here, but as I got more and more into paper crafting, those moved up to the 12x12 storage box, so that I have more room in this drawer
I keep a tray on the pull out drawer under my maker, where I toss all of my scraps
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Every few weeks, I pull out my paper trimmer and trim up all of my scraps - both paper and vinyl - then I sort them and put them away. Ok, so it's not every few weeks. More like 3 or 4 times a year..
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My Favorite Cardstock Brands, & Where To Find Them
The replacement blades I use
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Reminder - as an affiliate for Amazon, if you click on a link in this post and make a purchase, I may make a small commission. It in no way changes the price you pay, either way.
My Font Categories
The first step in organizing my fonts was to create my own categories. These do not need to make sense to anyone else, they are strictly for my own reference. They may not technically be the correct description of the font. That doesn't matter. This step of the organizing process is all about how I see the fonts. Because I may not be able to find them if I have to remember terms like serif. :-) Your categories may be completely different! Think about what works for you. I'm including a break down of my categories, along with visuals of some of the fonts I have in each category, below.
Each category gets its own folder. I don't hesitate to put the same font in more than one folder - font files are generally pretty small and do not take up much space.
Where My Cricut Lives - See My Laundry Room Crafting Space
A look at where I craft, and how I store and organize my supplies
This photo is the very bare bones - it was right after we finished the space. You can see the one ceiling tile is not even replaced yet. :-)
Tips For Sorting SVG Multi Bundles
While I LOVE all these massive free bundles from Creative Fabrica - dealing with the files once they are downloaded can be a bit overwhelming. Her are some tips for saving your files, and finding them later, without having too much of an overwhelming mess.
My Cricut Craft Space - Projects In Progress
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| Organizing all of my cricut "in progress" projects I know some of you likely only ever work on one project at a time. I admire that. But it's not how I work. :-) Very frequently I will sit here at my desk writing about local history while a variety of Cricut Projects cut. I may design and plan while my husband watches tv in the evenings, and then send them all to cut a day or two later. Sometimes my daughter will "babysit the cricut" for me, feeding in the various materials & colors to cut. Other times, she will help weed projects. I have always had a mess of projects in progress. I've recut pieces that were lost, more times than I care to admit. |
Quick Links:
- My [old] Cricut Craft Space (not yet updated since we've redone the room)
- How I Store My Vinyl Scraps (Also old - Same concept, but I now use two separate scrapbooks, and they are binder style instead of post style)
- Dollar Tree Plastic Folders - thicker, $1 each
- Dollar Tree Plastic Folders - thinner, 3 for $1
- Projects In Progress Printable Planner Sheet
- The font I used to label the folders is the free GT Herina. Be sure to use something other than Design space, such as the free fontlab pad, if you want to see those pretty ligatures appear.
Last week we ripped apart our laundry room to solve a plumbing issue, and in the process, redid my entire craft area. As I organize my new space, I asked how you all store your transfer tape - those pieces we use over and over again. I am currently using a clipboard for mine, but someone recommended these plastic folders from the Dollar Tree. And that solved an entirely different problem for me!
For the last two years, I've had a basket where I tossed pretty much everything. Projects in progress, stuff that needed weeded, vinyl scraps, transfer tape, even an assortment of tools. Impractical, and a mess, I was constantly frustrated by it and could never find what I was looking for.
I'm still using a basket. It's just organized with these plastic folders now! Three of the thicker folders, $1 each, 13 inches wide by 9x5 tall, are labeled WEED, APPLY, SORT. Two packs of thinner folders, sold 3 for $1 at the Dollar Tree, are labeled "Projects". The projects folder have all the items for a project such as the Amazon ornaments, where there are print then cut stickers, boxes cut and ready to be folded, and vinyl to be applied to the outside. My "APPLY" folder is more for single cut projects. Say a name for on a cup, or a decal to iron onto a tote bag. If a project has a lot of colors and pieces, I put it in it's own PROJECTS folder instead. A lot of paper projects, especially the 3d paper projects, go straight to a PROJECTS folder, for instance. One project per a folder.
I found this old office armoire, which looks like it may have come out of a hotel room, at our local thrift store. There's a counter to the right where I work most of the time, but this closes up and hides all of my cricut supplies, most of the time. The top shelf holds my rolls vinyl and the two binders of vinyl scraps & 12x12 scraps.
Each of these folders has a piece of cardstock inside. That's mainly to help the folder stand up a bit better - they are pretty flimsy. But they also work as dividers. I put htv on one side of the cardstock divider, and "regular" vinyl on the other.
My "SORT" folder is for vinyl scraps - this is where I toss them until I pull the binders down and sort the scraps into the pages where they belong. Originally I had one 12x12 scrapbook for my scraps, but when that got ruined in the above mentioned plumbing issue [frozen pipes - flooded the room] that necessitated the remodeling of this room, I replaced it with two binder style 12x12 scrapbooks [These are made by Stampin Up] that I had found in my attic. I now have one binder for htv, and one for regular vinyl - each color is in it's own page protector.
Inside of the "APPLY" folder, behind the cardstock divider, is a pack of "Index Dividers" - also from the Dollar Tree. These are typically used in binders. I am using them to hold htv projects. because they are plastic, I can stick the weeded htv right to the divider.
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In my Planner, I keep a "Projects At A Glance" Planner Sheet.
You can download it to use yourself, for FREE, here:
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Quick Tip - How To Quickly Organize All Of Those Free SVGS
Quickly Sort SVGS From Bundles Using the Search Feature
At the top right in any windows folder, there is a search feature. Type .svg in the search box, and it will show you all of the svgs, You can select all the search results, move them to a new folder, and delete everything else.
When I first updated to Windows 11, the search feature stopped working for me. I would type svg, and see no results, even though I knew there were svgs in the subfolders. I used the suggestions on this site to troubleshoot the issue, and it now once again works great:
- For Free Cloud Storage, Try Dropbox, One Drive And Or Google Drive
- Folders By Theme - Christmas, Baby, Farm, Etc
- I delete everything but the svg (many like to save the pngs too - they work great for print then cut)
- Consider renaming files with designers name, and a C if it has a commercial use license
- Download this extension to see thumbnail views of your svg files
Sort by File Type
Choose View, Sort By, and select type
Now you can easily select all the zip files, and unzip them.
Unzip Your Files
You can usually select all the zip files, right click and choose "extract all".
If that is not an option, you may need to download software to unzip files
- winzip - Free trial (although it will continue to work after your trial is up, you will just get a nag screen every time you use it)
- 7zip - Completely Free!
"The __MACOSX folder is created when a Mac user creates and archive (also called a zip file) using the Mac. If the Mac user sends the zip file to another Mac user, the folder will not appear - this is a hidden folder. "
In other words, delete it, it's not needed.
Delete the Extras
I delete almost everything, except the svgs. PNG files can be better for Print Then Cut Projects, so a lot of people prefer to save those as well as the SVGs.
View SVG Files as Thumbnails
By default, your svg files may look like html files. You can download a simple extension that will fix that, and then you can scroll through thumbnail previews of your svgs - making it much easier to sort them!
Sort into folders by theme
Then just drag and drop your svgs from one folder to the next. I use my own made up folder system, and it's constantly evolving and changing. The general idea is
0 Holidays
2 Project Type
4 More complex project type, non cricut projects, etc
Then assorted random categories, mostly for vinyl svgs.
I like to use cloud storage like dropbox - because then I can access the files from any device, and they are backed up if my laptop crashes. Now that my collection is so large, I store them on a wifi enabled external hard drive, and on dropbox I keep a "Cut Now" file, of the projects I want to work on in the very near future.
Each of my folders looks a little different inside - some have a lot more files than others, and the more files, the more subfolders I add to organize them. For instance, my St Patricks Day Projects can all just be in one folder. But for Christmas, I have subfolders for cards, shadow boxes, luminaries, layered paper decorations, paper villages, wreaths...
Here's a more specific look at my Valentines Day Folder
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Facebook Page - For Tips, Tricks, & Free SVGS
https://www.facebook.com/fieldsofheathercrafts/
Facebook Group- For Questions, Support, Sharing Projects,
and LOADS More Free SVGS in themed posts with links in the comments
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1121399284857845
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Facebook Group- For Questions, Support, Sharing Projects,
and LOADS More Free SVGS in themed posts with links in the comments
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1121399284857845
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An Index Of All Of My Cricut Related Blog Posts
My Cricut Craft Space
I keep promising myself I'll get better pics of this area, but I never do, so this is what I already had, in answer to a popular question on facebook groups about small space craft organization. This is my space, how I organize it, and the tools I use.
This area is part of my laundry room. I'm standing with my back against the washer and dryer to take this photo.
The ironing board is where I iron on all of my htv, and I often use this as a table/work space for other projects as well. Yes, I know everyone says you cannot use an ironing board. I don't know what to tell them - I do. No problems. I use that iron sitting there, a silicone baking sheet inside/or under the item, parchment paper on top of the transfer sheet, and I iron. I've done at least 100 projects this way now - and none of them have peeled. I don't wash them special either - everything goes right in the regular laundry here, washer & dryer, unless it's nice enough to hang the laundry outside.
Before I got a cricut, I had a much larger sewing desk here. I had this old sewing machine cabinet (there's a sewing machine IN that stand, that I never use, as well as the one on top that I do use often) in the attic, and it replaced the desk so I had room to add the dresser for my cricut craft supplies. I use my sewing machine so much more now that I have a cricut! Pillow cases, curtains, tissue covers, key fobs...
The cabinet over the sewing machine is full of blanks. I do not sell - we just have a large family. On the inside of the door are sticky notes with project notes. Usually lists of things I am currently making, with measurements. I now have two command strip hooks under the cabinet, holding all of my cricut mats. (only one hook is shown here)
See that yellow fabric tape measure with the scissors, under the cabinet? Hands down, my most used tool with the cricut. I measure everything before designing, there's never a project where I don't use that tape measure!
To the left is the counter where we have always kept the cats food dish. It keeps the dogs out of the catfood, but it also means that the cat jumps on this dresser, then on to the counter, to eat. He likes to sleep here a lot, so cat fur and cat foot prints are constantly an issue here. :-)
I never use the bluetooth option on my cricut. It's so convenient to just plug it in, I just haven't bothered. We use Bluetooth a lot here - Bluetooth speakers, and data transfers.. I notice the connection sometimes drops, especially in this room, so I just don't risk it not working well when using the cord is so convenient.
On the left is fabric for current or near future projects. Here currently is fabric for dog bandannas, pillow cases, and capes. I have more fabric in a closet in the downstairs bathroom. On the right is the contact paper (for transferring designs), freezer paper (for stencils), wax paper (for storing htv designs that are cut but nor ironed on) and some contact paper and fabric paper that I bought to play with but haven't actually used yet...
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/linkable-shop-light-honeywell-led/prod20590154.ip
The shelves over the windows hold more blanks and supplies.
That's my space! I do keep a weeding tool, small scissors, and small garbage can beside my favorite chair in the living room. I do most of my weeding in front of the tv. I tried one of the light tracing pads for weeding, but it really isn't much help for me, I prefer overhead light. I think I'd like an ott overhead light, but I haven't purchased one yet..
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My cricut Projects by type (with tutorials)
My Cricut Cheat Sheets
More Cricut Resources:
About Me & My Cricut
Tackle It Tuesday - Jewelry Storage
In February I'm working through storage & Organization for all appearance related items. Last week was make up. This week was jewelery. I still have my closet, dressers, and nail care to go.
This is all of my jewelry, gathered up from no less than 4 rooms and 8 locations around the house. I know, I know. But when there is no good system for storage, things can get out of hand quickly. I've tried a few systems over the years. One of the large jewelry cabinets hidden behind a full length mirror, craft boxes to sort earrings, regular jewelry boxes... so far nothing has worked well for me.
After sorting it all out, getting rid of about half, and putting the items I'd like to save, but know I will not wear right now (gold hoops will come back in favor eventually - but for now, I really only wear the silver ones..) in that white craft box to pack away, I came up with this solution:
The key to the success here is location, location, location. :-) All of my jewelry is now stored beside the mirror I use to get ready each day. I tackled this project last Tuesday - and although it's only been a week - I am in love with this. Before I would set jewelry on the cabinet right outside this door, all the time. I'd take off earrings while sitting on the couch and let them on a stand, etc.. but this is so conveniently located that I haven't set jewelry anywhere but away where it belongs for the past week. Awesome.
I don't wear the pins frequently - but to keep it easy to access them, the burlap is hung on picture hooks. (Cup hooks would work too) so I can pull the entire thing down, remove the pin I want, and put the entire thing back up there.
The necklaces hang on a $3 tie hanger (belt hanger? I don't know for sure what it is!) that I removed the hanger from. I found it at Dollar General.
My earrings are on an old chain that is broken and tarnished.
Then in the little flip down drawer on our medicine cabinet, I added some scrapbook paper to the back, then inspired by the bottom photo of this post, I found mini cupcake liners in my pantry and used them for holding the earrings that will not hang over a chain well. While in the pantry, I noticed a thread holder - a very old metal one - on my sewing desk, and I stuck that in here to hold rings.
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Photos that inspired me:
I love all the old frames re-purposed to frame jewelry.
Right now my bracelets are stored in two small baskets hanging on the wall - but I might eventually do this.
I think I'm in love with the luxury of this much space just for accessories. I love all the different containers here.
I doubt this would be too practical - but I've always loved metal graters, so it amused me
If you had the space, this would be a pretty cheap and quick option.
Another take on the frame idea - She has a silver one on her site too, and she shows you the thrift store dog photo she started with. :-) I love that she used a kitchen towel from the Dollar Store for her backing material! http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/2012/03/shoe-jewelry-organization.html
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