Over the past couple of weeks I’ve shared the ways I store paper in The Fungeon (that’s the fun, mystical name I’ve given to my very plain, cinder-block basement). You can see those posts by clicking on the links below:
- Paper Storage in The Fungeon: Card Stock (part 1)
- Paper Storage in The Fungeon: Card Stock (part 2)
- Paper Storage in The Fungeon: Designer Series Paper
I received such positive feedback from the paper storage ideas that I thought I’d like to share more. Today, I’m going to share with you how I store my punches, inks and other miscellaneous items. I’m very particular about my punches, and I’m really happy with my method for storing them – easy to access, easy to see, easy to reference, easy to return to their proper place. Easy.
First – Let me orient you a bit to layout of The Fungeon. Here’s the desk where I stand to stamp. The desk doesn’t normally look like this – it’s normally covered from side to side with stamps, punches, papers, trimmers and scissors that let you know I’ve been working. Because I stamp downstairs, I don’t have to clean things up when I have company coming over – I just don’t let them come downstairs. 🙂
To the left of the desk, there’s an industrial trash can where all my scraps go. No garbage or food goes in that trashcan, so I can take my time to fill it up. To the left of that is my desk where I host webinars for my team members and do “businessy” stuff.
To the right of the desk, you’ll see my paper filing cabinet. To the right of that is an industrial shelf with my punches, inks and miscellaneous tools – all in easy reach with a couple of steps from my desk.
Here’s the middle section of the shelf:
I keep my punches in these square trays I found at Target (see them here). They are sturdy and fit on the shelf perfectly. I store my Envelope Punch Board and Gift Box Punch Board behind the trays, and I store my Stampin’ Trimmer to the left of them – the first thing I can get to from my desk.
Why do I store them like this? I like to be able to see the images on my punches – when stored standing on their sides, the images are how I’d expect to see them in a punched image. The butterfly is right-side up, the bird is resting quietly and the ones with dimensions (oval punches) are perfectly presented.
Because I have a little extra room in the bin on the right, I keep a couple of small items in a box lid and my address stamps in an old clear box.
To the right of these bins, I keep my tag topper punches and border punches. I store them on their sides and slide them right into the slats in the shelf. It’s not a perfectly beautiful way to store them, but it’s wonderful for a quick reference when I need them.
On the top section of the industrial shelf, I keep my inks and other miscellaneous things (snips, Stamp-a-ma-Jig, paper piercer) that I need on-hand. I purchased this spinning carousel in 2003 or 2004 – long before Stampin’ Up! offered an ink carousel. I’m able to easily store my pads, refills and markers in the built-in slots. The colors are organized in alphabetical order by color family – with In Colors filling in the spaces at the bottom. I’ve added punched circles of card stock along the sides to more easily identify the slots for the colors.
To the left of the ink carousel, I have a caddy I purchased at a craft store – lots of stuff gets piled in here, but I know exactly where to find everything:
OH! See that little blue ribbon hanging off the back of the shelf? You might not know this, but I earned a VERY PRESTIGIOUS award last summer – you can see more about that here – go on over and scroll to the bottom of that post. 🙂
I hope you’ve enjoyed these posts about The Fungeon. I’m so happy I am able to share them with you.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Brian
Weekly Deals. The Weekly Deals were announced yesterday. What a great lineup! Check them out here:
I love the tours of your Fungeon Brian! I have the same white carousel on my desk. It also holds my scissors, adhesives, stapler, rhinestones, pearls, sticky strip (on the hooks). It’s great.
We need to see a picture if the Fungeon in action. You know, all in it’s messy glory. 😉
Thanks for sharing. I love how you store your punches.
Love this ! I am headed to Target and Walmart today to get a few organizational goodies and you gave me a couple of ideas just at the right time ! Yay ! Also have that white turn around thingy …..major heavy ,but sturdy and turns good …..also like The Pampered Chef one I have because it turns easily . I love SU punches because they are not only just so sturdy ,but you can store them easily . Oh, I stand to stamp also !
Another fun posting …. Thank you !
Hi Brian:
I like your punch storage system better than mine. I have mine stacked one upon the other by size. It’s fine until I want the one on the bottom of the stack! LOL I too have the storage carousel that you, Kelly and Sonny have. It holds a lot of stuff but because I stamp on a card table (which is put away when I’m quilting) it seems I’m always trying to find a new place to put it.
Your Fungeon is fabulous just like you Brian. Thanks so much for sharing your storage ideas with us.
Brian, love the tours of the Fungeon!
Thanks so much for sharing your organization, Brian! Wish I had your space to work with! I have my most-used punches in a t shoe hanger on the door. It has 24 see through pockets for punches with the basic shapes; the rest are in a drawer. My inks are stored in a wall unit originally intended for cassette tapes, and I use a Pampered Chef turnabout for scissors, etc. It’s much lighter than the heavy “real” craft one and it has more bins, which I have labeled.
Thanks, Brian, for the tour. You always have great ideas about storage that I can use.
Love, love love the way you store your punches! Mine are in drawers and it’s a chore to fine them. Enjoyed your earned trip pics!
I love seeing how other crafters organize their working space, and yours sounds so wonderfully put together, Brian! Is there ever a chance we can see a broader picture of your space? I have a difficult time with spatial awareness when trying to fit puzzle pieces into an unknown area. So, please? Would you show us a bigger piece of the pie sometime? Thank you so much for listening.
I wish I had a Fungeon! Man after my own heart
LOVE your punch storage. I love my punches but they’re getting out of control….and HEAVY to move around. I just checked out the Rubbermaid Bento box “lid” and am wondering if it is the same as the “lid”? I’m trying to figure out what nests, etc. Can you, or one of your fans help me?
Yes, Edie! That’s right. It’s a tray that can also serve as a lid (there’s a link above, just under the first picture of the punches).
I followed the link and Target calls it a Tray. My local Target does not sell the Bento line, so I wandered over to Amazon and the Rubbermaid website. There’s talk that the product nests with other Bento products, but the information as to what it nests with is difficult to find. On the other sites, there is no listing for Tray, but there is for Lid and the Lid looks very similar to an upside down Tray. This may be something that is more easily understood if I could walk in to a store and actually work with the products. Online….not so easy. I was hoping someone could help me better understand the product line because it looks like something that would really work for what I hope to accomplish…which is store stuff so I can acquire more stuff!
Great organization ideas! I REALLY like the way you store your border punches. I store my punches much like yours, but in a drawer, whereas my border punches are just tossed in a larger drawer. I’ll have to figure out a way to make room in a smaller drawer so I can see what the punch is, rather than hunt and dig for what I’m looking for! Thank you for sharing all your great ideas. I’ve used a few of them and wow, what a difference!
Oh, I love your punch storage! I have mine on shelves, but they get disorganized so easily! I’m thinking if I have trays like yours, I can pull them out and see them better! Thank you for the tips and wonderful tour!:-)
Edie, the link above shows all the dimensions (interior and exterior) for the item, does it show these at Amazon or Rubbermaid? I hope so, and that this helps you a bit.
Brian, loving these insights! Thanks for sharing them with us xxx
Thanks yes, I saw the dimensions too. I may just be lazy, and was hoping not to look at every one of the items, write down the dimensions, and then figure out which products would nest. Then there’s the added frustration that I’m pretty sure the Tray and Lid are the same thing. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll figure this one out….just hoping to spend less time figuring so I had more time to craft. The organization needs of this hobby are daunting.
Edie, The line of storage bins includes some small bins and a large, square bin. This “lid” is sold separately from the bins but fits down inside the top of the large bin perfectly. As such, it’s a tray or a lid to cover the large bin. I have some of the small boxes from this line and the trays. I hope that helps.
PERFECT! That is exactly the information I was looking for. It sure would be easier to walk in the store and play with the products to see which size works, etc. Now I have written down all the dimensions and I think I could be a product rep. One calls it a tray, another a lid, and then another a topper (and yes, I know that’s another word for lid). It makes me appreciate you even more, when you give recipes, dimensions. Thanks!
I also love to see all of my punches, ink pads and markers. I have found some really awesome storage items on thrift stores and garage sales. But I just love your ink pad carrousel, it’s truly fabulous.
Thank you for sharing your amazing organization in your awesome Fungeon.
Hi, Brian: Thanks for the tips on how you store ‘stuff’. Inspiring, as always. I have two important questions that you may answer in any future video tutorial (or do it the behind the scenes way and email me the answers privately):
1) how long (on average) before your work space is completely covered with stampin’ stuff again? Mostly so I can judge the speed of my creeping cover of craft goodies after I clean off my stamping space!
2) who is filming your videos for you these days? Is it still your mom? If so, she has improved tremendously!
Hugs!!
Hey Yvonne! Fun questions! (1) it takes about 3.5 minutes for things to go from magical beauty to horrendous disaster. I’ve only shown you parts of the room because I can’t clean it ALL up at once – I’m sharing it in parts and then snapping pictures at that time. 🙂 (2) Mom only filmed the intro to a couple of videos a couple of years ago – she doesn’t live in Atlanta, so I don’t get to see her often (although she’s coming for a visit this weekend!). She filmed those with my iPhone. Since I moved upstairs to film my videos, I’ve moved to an iPad – it’s a much better result (and I’m glad you noticed).