How I organize my Spellbinders and Cuttlebug Folders

Hello everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your spring. I am in a "spring cleaning" frame of mind lately. So I have been trying to organize my craft space a little better. I recently not only moved all my store inventory to a new location, but also moved my own personal scrap space. What a lot of work. Up until now I have been storing my Spellbinders and Cuttlebug Folders in a basket. I have been browsing blogs and forum boards for months trying to decide how I wanted to store my own. I have always been the "out of sight... out of mind" type of gal. But after giving it some thought I realized I really didn't need to see my Spellbinders. I use them on 75 percent of my cards, and certainly wont forget they are there since they are a staple in my cardmaking.

So taking all the ideas I saw into consideration, here is what I came up with.

Here is how it all starts out: A KaiserCraft Binder.  I used the A5 size (8.25" by 6"... MSRP is 6.99), but they also come in 12 inch.   These binders have pocket inserts that also come in varying sizes.  I used the DL sized pockets (8.25"X4") (a pack of five MSRP is $4.49)  for most of my Spellbinders.  However, some of the wider spellbinders needed the A5 size (MSRP is 5.99 for a pack of 5), as did the cuttlebug folders. 

I used old chipboard from paper packs or wherever else I could find it (free), and applied three pieces of magnetic tape to them. (A pack of 1/2"X30" is MSRP of 1.09, and I used almost five packs)

  You could decorate the chipboard with some pretty paper, or paint it. Time was of the essence for me, and since I am the only one who will see it, nothing fancy for me.

These pockets are excellent because they have "zip" type closures, so even if the dies were to become loose, they would not fall out of the pocket. You will see I stuck a picture from the Spellbinder package in with some of my dies. I didn't keep them all, but wish I would have. I think it is nice to have that visual reference, along with the name of the die.

How many dies did I get in my folder?    Well I put two dies in each pocket (you could squeeze a third in there), in addition, I used one to store my plates, rubber mats and the accessory type stuff you need to use the old sizzix with the Spellbinders. I put four cuttlebug A2 size folders in one pocket. (You could squeeze more in there but I wanted to be able to see them all.) So all told, I have 14 spellbinder dies, 4 cuttlebug folders, accessory mats, etc and some extra chipboard store in one folder, and it shuts!!

I store the folder over on the counter where I do my die cutting, of course if I fill another binder up I will have to have a shelf put up above and put the binders there. Now I am hoping to be lucky enough to get many more Spellbinders... so yes dear husband will be putting up another shelf for me!

So that is my little organizing system. I think it works well because it really doesn't take much space.   You can flip through the binder  and easily find what you are looking for.  

Cost for one binder as shown with pockets and magnetic tape:

Magnetic Tape-5 packs-4.95

One binder-6.49

Pockets-1 pack of A5 and 1 pack of DL-9.78

Interested in trying this?  I do carry all the supplies in my store  for you to make your own binder storage system.   I have it put together as a package deal for 19.99 (buying the items separate would be 21.44) Please let me know if you have any questions.

Michelle