Organization: ink refill storage

 I used to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator--several times, in fact!

I think Stampin' Up! is a major gateway to stamping. It wasn't my first time seeing/using stamps, but having a demonstrator at a "party" show us how to use the stamps together to create cards was a lot of fun! 

Eventually I signed up to be a demonstrator, but...I'm just not the salesperson type. Stampin' Up! gets this, and they also encourage the "hobby demo"--the demonstrator who is really just a demonstrator to build their personal stash.

I also have a real "gotta have it all" mentality. This means that I tried to have all of the colors of ink pads (yes, I even found the Rocket Red and Luscious Lime--the 2 original SU!-brand ink colors that were the first to be discontinued).

I also faithfully bought the ink refills, although I never refilled my ink pads...until this week! I had some of the 1-inch cube pads ("spots") that needed ink.

Anyway, I have accrued a LOT of refills, and I needed a good way to store them so that they were easy to find. Here's my solution:

Tote box with ink refills

I priced different containers, and wanted something economical--this was it! 

I put my SU! reinkers in alphabetical order (starting at the bottom left and moving up toward the top left--imagine it turned 90 degrees to the right).

I labeled each one on the cap with that ink's color name. I highly recommend the Ultra Fine tip Sharpie pen--most of mine were done years ago with a standard fine tip, but they are hard to read. The finer tip is thinner and so more readable on a small surface.

I read once that you should put some of the ink on your finger and then touch it to the tip of the cap. I did that one a number of mine, but you can see that...it's not so great. The colors on top look very different years later, even though the ink inside is just fine. Some people suggest using a hole punch to punch out a bit of sticker paper colored with that ink-or to try somehow to put the name on the tip. Good luck with that!

The tote is just barely (and I do mean barely!) tall enough for the reinkers. Some totes and boxes I saw were too tall. I actually took one reinker bottle with me to the stores to find a good fit.

For the separators between rows, I used the "backer" board from 12x12" decorative paper packets. These were packets from Stampin' Up!--the white sturdier piece that has the name of the paper packet. I cut 2 1/2" x 12" strips. 

Some people really prefer to have every single item separated. If that's you, I'd recommend making a grid--or buying one like this from Stamp n Storage. I've learned over the years--after buying lots of items with separate slots--that I'd rather just have some channels or sections instead of a complete grid.

Here's a look at the label on the container so you can see exactly which one it is:

Label on tote box

Here's a link to it--I got it at my local Walmart store in their papercraft area. Yes--it's under $7! Their price was so much lower than for similar storage boxes at other stores, and holds over 150 refills.

I will say that the latches on the front are pretty wimpy. Sometimes the one on the left on my box won't stay latched closed. That said, I was just so happy to find a box that would hold so many refills--and without taking up a lot of space--that I can deal with that. It usually closes for me! Since reinking isn't a common situation for me, I would have been happy with just closing the lid on the top without any latches. 

I hope this is helpful. Have a great day!

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