Aug Exchangers - White Space

Here are three people who share my love of white space.

Kathy did a good job of pulling images off the stamp and choosing the right kind of lettering to complement the drawing.

Heidi (middle) has a sheet of the magic stamps. I can't wait to get some. They are so pretty. The rubber stamps and cursive lettering go nicely with the stamp.

Jessica S (bottom) must have a spirograph. Now that I have grandkids, I have an excuse to buy one. I'm not sure if my kids ever had one. My brother and I had a Magic Designer which was all metal but made similar designs. Yes, you can buy them on Ebay. They range in price from $5 -$15. But the packets of paper are hard to come by. I see one listing for 6 packages of paper for $200...which is ridiculous. You need to insert a round piece of paper into the device. It would not be that hard to cut paper to fit - but, I guess cutting circles is too challenging - oh wait - there are fancy computerized cutters these days - this digression is mostly for the benefit of the BigHelpfulBrother.

Bonus Post - Weather report -18 F or -27 C

Either way, it is very cold here - so I am getting lots done on two jobs. During break time I pulled out all my gray markers. There might be more. I have not done a thorough gathering of the grays. But it was enough to do a tap-tap-tap design.

TIP: Do all the left taps first and then go back and do the right taps.
There is a consistency that happens when you do many strokes at the same time. It's fine to go back and forth and do both sides at the same time - but the end result is slightly different. I guess I could show that - maybe during break time today.

Experiment with the orientation of the envelope. I would NEVER - and I mean NEVER make taps with the envelope in this orientation. I would have to curl my right hand around in a very uncomfortable position.

Place your hand on a piece of scratch paper and just let the brush marker hit the paper in a very natural position. That will tell you what direction to place the envelope. I guess it is time to try another video.

To the right is a Ceramicron pen. It's the new version of technical pens. Needle tip. Dreamy. It's what I used for the outline.

And they aren't all brush markers - some are wedge tips, so the motion for making a teardrop shape is a little different than a brush mark stroke. There is even a Crayola in there.

In case it is not obvious, the top envelope is step one and the bottom one is step two.

Nov 2018 PTEX to Finn and Fatima.

The color of marker and the stamps were so perfect. I got this far and then it took quite a while before I could decide on what to do next.

Fatima's pleased me just that way. All it needed was a second stamp. Phillip's was a problem waiting for a solution.


****

Photos of these after I finished them are currently in hiding

Aug Exch from GraceH - Clear

I parked this clear envelope up on the wheels of the truck so you could see through it. It's probably not the best way to display the envelope - but I couldn't think of a better background. I really wanted to do a video. Hopefully - someday I will be able to do all the videos of my dreams....

It's a very clever idea and very generous of Grace to use 3 stamps. The panel that is mostly white with a blue edge on three sides is the carrier sheet for the stamps. So, she had to write on that slick paper.

Tidy or Not

Comparison is the thief of joy.

An oldy but a goody.

When I posted photos of my studio which were, to me, a hideous mess, I had more than one person either leave a comment or email privately to tell me how tidy my studio was compared to theirs. I get it.

When I was a young, single, 20-something, I had a two bedroom apartment and the second bedroom was such a mess that I would forbid anyone from entering. It was chaotic. Later, with too many people in a 3 bedroom house, I had to tidy up out of necessity. My personal art was put on the back burner and projects with kids took over. None of the three kids had much interest in art, so that was probably a blessing in disguise.

I have visited homes where people's art supplies and projects have taken over the whole house. The spouse of the artist usually just shrugs and says, "Well, I have my thing." That thing might be a sports car in the garage or fishing trips or whatever. If your creative life is a mess, don't worry about it, you are in good company. Francis Bacon's studio has been preserved for posterity and is a monument to messy studios. Google it for more details if you are interested in seeing it in person. Alexander Caulder's desk is also famous. It is said he had a mental note of every item and could pluck out whatever he needed, with ease.

Caulder's desk

Bacon in his studio. 

One thing I will add, however - you might consider tidying up (just once) and seeing if you actually like it. I only say this because I was nudged into tidy when I started to see clients and I ended up feeling much more creative when I rode the roller coaster of making a mess while in the middle of jobs and then taking the time to put everything back in order and starting over with the proverbial clean slate. I am a convert - but I have no issues with people who choose to stick to their natural ways.

Again - I am not trying to nudge anybody in any direction, just sharing that it is not always clear which changes are possible vs. impossible. I am surprised at the number of things I have accomplished/changed in the past decade that were things I thought were never-gonna-happens. Surprised, shocked and amazed. It has inspired me to be less stuck in my rut. But it has also caused me to put certain items into the category of never gonna happen and I mean it and we are not going to talk about it and if you keep pestering me you will regret it.

It is hard to believe that I was ever meek and mild. You can thank my kids for fixing that. Honestly - I had no idea what I was getting into. My sibling was a tiny little adult when he was born (that is what our mom said) and I imagined that I would have tiny little Donalds when I had kids. Wrong. They were half Jean and half Mr. Wilson. Big problem. But, we all survived and I am proud to be Mean Jean. Hunter actually tells me that I was not mean enough. But, he majored in reverse psychology. His minor was relaxing.

Hopefully this does not sound preachy. Bottom line - feel free to find comfort in being who you are -while at the same time - be brutally honest with yourself about which changes are truly impossible. I just read a post by a woman who looks like she must be in her 20s or 30s at the latest. She declared that she has made peace with the fact that she COULD never (WILL never) achieve the level of penmanship that she sees on InstaGram. She is wrong. I am not going to argue with her -- but I know for a fact that she is young enough to have plenty of time to improve her skills. She just doesn't know HOW. Yet. Maybe she'll figure it out.  So - be very careful about deciding when and where you are *hopeless.* Stretching -both literally and figuratively- is right up there with breathing. Maybe not an essential - but it's hard to find anyone who cautions you to "Don't stretch. Stay in one place, motionless." I think you hear that right after you go flying off a ski-jump when you are 85 years old and it's your first day on skis.

But, I could be wrong. This is just one little opinion during my morning coffee.

Nov 2018 PTEX to Chuck - hatching + Mr. Wilson's Birthday

Chuck is a master of fine lines so I thought I'd do some sketchy ones. I do not have the patience that Chuck has. That's not true. I have some obligations that prevent me from having the time to devote to the kinds of lines that Chuck makes. It is possible I will do some serious Chuck-style-appropriation.

I am not crazy about the black stitching - but I do like the overall design. It was certainly fun to do.

I can't remember if the name for little lines is hatching. If you cross them, they are cross hatching. But is seems like there is a different word for the little lines....maybe it will come to me.

I reshot many of the Nov envelopes after I had the addresses on. It's more work to block out the addresses, but I'd rather give an impression of how the finished envelope looks.

Personal note to Mr. Wilson - added on Feb 3rd after you opened the Cheerio card:
If you (George) are researching why you received a reference to Cheerios - and found this post - please be advised that it is a scathing post, fueled by my morning coffee. My readers know that I lapse into silliness and poke all kinds of fun at my family. If it's a problem, you should start your own blog and write all kinds of retaliatory posts. I'm sure they would love reading them. In fact - just send your offerings to me and I will post them on my blog. I know that the number of quirks I possess far out-number yours.

Return to the post that invited people to send you birthday greetings.

Mr. Wilson's birthday is a week from today. If you are going to sign up for the February exchange - you could go ahead and send him a birthday envelope this week and it will count as your February envelope to me. It is a huge sacrifice for me to offer up the Feb slot to Mr. Wilson. He has been a repeat offender in no-food-in-the-living-room rule.* But, he has been trying hard on some of the other rules, and really does enjoy getting mail. Especially in February, the most pitiful month of the year.

Here is my problem. If people send him a special birthday envelope, then I miss out on the really cool idea they had for everyone else. So, if you want to show me how much you love the exchange, you may send me an image of the design you come up with for February. Just send an image that you sent to someone else - and I will blot out the address.

Better yet - don't do anything special for his birthday - just send whatever your Feb design is. That would be easy. And I am sure he won't care if the envelopes are late. It's just as fun to have your mail spaced out.

*P.S. To be clear about one thing, I am not the one who cares about food in the living room. Mr. Wilson is the one who grew up with a mom who put housekeeping above E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. else. She was in good company. My mom was the same way. Although my mom lived in a primitive dwelling during the dust bowl, so that explained why she was traumatized by dust. But, the MIL grew up on the east coast - and I'm not sure what caused her affliction.

I'm just noting that Mr. Wilson came with some unrealistic expectations on housekeeping and I would not have any problem at all with the whole program if he could/would just keep his food contained. In fairness, he is a powerhouse when it comes to cleaning and tidiness. But, he has some kind of mental block about food and I find it in the most obnoxious places. Maple syrup hiding on the inside of the fridge handle. AAAARRRggghhhh. Perpetual stickiness on the faucet handle. Peanut butter on the floor. Cheerios under his desk. And what kind of maniac will use a gas range as a breadboard when they toast their English muffin? Sorry. It's been a rough week.  I manage these daily events by recalling the fact that he was willing to clean up any and all bodily fluid deposits made by the kids. Oh.My.Gosh. That's gonna be quite a chapter in my memoir. Note-to-self -- post that really pretty award I made for him after the gallon of barbeque sauce incident.

August Exchange - 3 kraft papers

Three people went with brown kraft paper in August.

Fatima did the pretty white ink design on the top. Chuck did the art nouveau design in the middle and KateR did the gothic dragon theme on the lower level.

It's fun to see three very different styles that all look great on kraft paper.

The touch of white on Chuck's and Kate's is very nice.

Studio Tour - Bonus post - Regular post below

Because more than 2 people sent emails commenting on how my marker storage post gives the impression that I am sooo tidy, I am going to share a real world peek into the stuio. This is the mess I left last night after a day of working on a total of three wildly different jobs -plus- I rewarded myself by taking time to get back into shooting videos which may lead to tutorials. Wow. I have my own YouTube channel.

Plus, if I ever have to move - I will be happy to have a visual reminder of this faux-studio. I'm sad that I have only a couple photos of my actual dream studio from the good old days.

Overview - and shout out to the person who suggested that I commandeer a spare bedroom. This is it. A whopping 10 ft x 8 ft. 80 square feet. the dream studio was 1500 square feet. What is that - 5% of what I used to have.

That is a twin bed to the right. There is a three foot space down the middle. and a three foot space along the wall (to the left) with the tabouret just barely peeking in behind the doorway. I am my 6-drawer unit of markers and pens a tabouret. And now I am crazy-disturbed. Whatever happened to my official tabouret. I had a really nice one. Dang. This is going to really bother me.

The tabouret in the middle of the 3 foot path to the closet.

It's handy to roll the tabouret over to the desk.

The tabouret will fit in the closet if I need space for visitors. I can fit chairs for one or two people in that space.  More people could join us if they want to pile on the bed, but that has never happened and the thought alarms me.

To the right of the desk are two filing cabinets, a printer/scanner and the official tub of files that are current jobs. Right now, there is a stack of envelopes waiting for the list to arrive. All of my stamps are in the smaller top drawer on the left cabinet.

That is one crazy messy desk. I keep the cutting board on the desk and my actual work space is not much larger than a sheet of paper. It's crazy to have such a small work space - but I have adjusted to the situation and it should inspire anyone who thinks they need more space to realize that you can adapt to just about anything. I put that bridge on the desk out of desperation to get the computer up and off the work space. It was a leftover from another desk. Then I added a shelf across the top of the bridge to make room for that large TV that I inherited from my mom. I figured it would be fun to have a TV in my studio. It's pretty luxurious to just flop onto the bed and turn on Netflix when I am too lazy to drag myself to another room. It is sort of a Rube Goldberg desk. Speaking of Rube Goldberg's senile aunt, is anyone wondering why there is a bottle of mustard sitting on top of an iPhone?

This is my setup for making videos. Before I added that shelf, and had just the bridge, I did not have that mini-ledge to contend with. The mini-ledge is now my OCD place for storing only those tools that have earned the privilege of living on the desk full time and are not confined to lids or drawers. Prior to the "pencil tray" I could just place the iPhone on the edge of the bridge - with the lens hanging over the edge -  and it would stay there. Yesterday was my first time making videos since the additions of the pencil tray and I had to find a weight to hold the iPhone on the pencil tray/ledge. Rummage through the kitchen. Find mustard. Note-to-self: we do not eat that much mustard. Replace it with something smaller. Mr. Wilson must have purchased that bottle. All kinds of strange things are showing up now that he is semi-retired and learned where the grocery store is. There will be a new blog with the weekly story of what shows up. BigHelpfulBrother (or any other reader) may offer me other ideas for an aesthetically pleasing weight. A brick would be too heavy. Maybe a can of Spam. It can't be round. Maybe a tin of pennies. There will be a prize for the best idea.  Don't get excited. The prize will be an envelope.

A detail to show what a slob I can be. Those crumbs of dried ink that fell off when I opened the ink should have been cleaned up right away. They were the first job of the day and are right next to the actual writing zone. Only an idiot would leave them there all day. And now it is the next day and they are still there. How many people have spotted the bottle of Windex that is always within reaching distance. Honestly. I am embarrassed.  Embarrassed about the ink flakes. Not embarrassed about the Windex. 

Just more clutter.

Right behind this cup of colored pencils is that pile of ink flakes. The end of the desk has other important stuff that I can reach without getting out of my chair. There is something to be said for this step-saver studio. 

There is my best friend. I must be related to the dad in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

On days that I actually work, the bed looks like this. Sometimes there are stacks on the floor. The floor is a storage unit - a very short one. Noticing the lids, I looked around to see how many lids were out at one time.

Five or six lids today. That is probably an average amount.

A Taco John bag that I might send to Eric in France. I am so excited about the black item. I've struggled with having a pocket sized purse and finally took a piece of leather and folded it in half and stitched the ends on the machine. It is beyond perfect. I can't begin to tell you how much it has enhanced my life. Previously I used a broccoli band and that was a disaster. All I need are a few cards and some cash.

This is a bit out of order - it's the space where visitors may be seated. I have to bring chairs from other rooms. Those two prints belong to Skip. The white part is a reflection from the window. He bought them in high school and since this was his room, I painted it to match the top print. The name of the color is Saffron. I was never a big fan of orange - but I must say - this room has been one of my favorites and I learned to love orange. It was the only color that was on my don't-care-for list. I feel so much better that I am now fond of all colors. Although - a lot of it depends on what is next to them. You can poison a color by surrounding it with an enemy-color. Although ---you can force them to be friends if you introduce the right third-party. But, that is another topic. I'm curious if there are any two colors that could never, ever, ever, work together - even with a correct third-party. 

At the head of the bed is a drawing done by Hunter in elementary school. I cut it out and put it on the neutral background. It is a favorite because the assignment was to fill the turkey with the letters in your name. I am assuming that was assigned. I should ask him. Maybe it was his own idea. I doubt it. But if it was - he just knocked my socks off.

At the end of the tour, I realized I had not includes a photo of the south wall and it would give another perspective on how tiny my space is. The mirror helps to visually expand the room. It would have been cool to have it cover the entire wall - but not practical or even safe considering I had it installed while the kids were still young enough that they were throwing things from time to time - and one kid had heaved a cast iron gumball machine at the door to that room. Technically, he was heaving it at his sister, but she had the presence of mind to close the door when she saw it coming. And - yes, we took that incident seriously and yes, they do have anger management lessons for little boys. Although they call it poor impulse control. Anyhow, I stayed in the closet while taking the picture because it is still pre-hair combing today. I won't look any different after I comb my hair - but I'm shy today. I'm pretty excited about doing my whole life's story to leave for my kids. It cracks me up that none of them are even aware that I talk about them. It's probably best that they are off doing their own thing.  At some point, there will be another post of the studio when it is tidy. Although, that sounds really boring.

Nov 2018 PTEX to several people

This style caught my eye and I had printed out an exemplar that kept hovering at the top of the stacks. The photo of several of them all at once shows the progression from - orderly, within lines - to loose and bouncy. The exemplar does not have lower case, so I just made those up as I went along.

I really have no preference between orderly or loose. There is so much potential for adding details.

As previously noted, Nov was the month where I was thinking I could find something I loved that worked on the shimmer envelopes.

None of these are uber-loveable. But they don't make my eyeballs cringe.

***
Some of these have already been on the blog. I stuck them in on the 15th - and that post shows them with added details.

Aug Exchange from Grace E and Patty

Two watermelon themed envelopes in August. Top one from Grace E. She used some manly vintage stamps.

Below, Patty tied the frozen treats in with the watermelon which was a good idea. Once again she has a fun border around her stamp, a detail that I love and keep forgetting to use. Although it is September 12th when I am writing this, so maybe by the time this pops up I will be bordering my stamps with regularity.

One more peen and marker storage post below.

Bonus Post - Chuck's Pen and Marker Storage

Chuck kindly shared photos of how he stores all his pens, pencils, markers.

He gets them from Dick Blick - and they com in 24, 48 and 120. That is a cool feature. A person could know how many they have. I'm curious what the count it at my house. But, will set that curiosity aside as it is not useful information.

Chuck has way more patience than I have.

Thank you for sending the photos --

Final Chapter - Pen and Marker Storage (Bonus Post)

Today's regular post is right below.

A question came in on Monday about why Sharpies are the only markers that should be stored point down. There is a short answer in the comment section, but the question deserves a longer answer. 

Those of us who have been around forever tend to have opinions and dish them with authority. I recall reading that the double ended markers are best stored horizontally so that all the ink does not run to one end - which is what would happen if they were stored vertically. When I got my sets of 48, they came in a nifty partitioned case that held them horizontally. Looking for this image has made me long for a new set. I never enjoyed sliding them in and out of the case. So, it would be nice to buy the set without the case - hopefully it would cost a bit less.

Recently, I read something from Sharpie that said, store Sharpies point down - which was new to me. I felt like I had read that horizontal storage was better in general. So the question from a reader nudged me into asking the AllPowerfulGoogle - and the various hits were:

-vertical

-horizontal

-it doesn't matter

This proves once again - you can find anything you want on the APG.

The Copic website recommended horizontal.

I did not have time to research all the different brands - 

and I concluded my short answer on the blog with:

I like my tools in trays as it is easier to find what I am looking for.

Mugs are the most popular way to store tools, but I find it very difficult to find things in mugs.

Colored pencils are the exception. 

There is enough of each color that you can spot the one you want pretty easily.

But, if I did a lot of colored pencil work, I would have them in trays (lids)

and in rainbow order.

I can't stand a jumble of colors.

When I want pink, I want all of them to be next to each other - to spot the one I want.

So my *store them flat* rule is more about personal preference than actual recommendations from the companies.

I'll try to be more careful about dishing rules for life. I do not want to be that kind of old person. 

However - the topic of being creative -means- being messy has been around for along time

and while I was never the messiest artist - I have found a lot of value in being more organized.

The Kon-Mari Rant

There is a fair amount of criticism for people who are compulsive about being organized.

Heaven knows, I was not overly organized in my early years. 

My parents were - and they hardly ever had to go on a mission to find hiding items.

I remember one time the BigFriendlyBrother and I were at their house - and they were not there.

They moved several times and this was not a house we had ever lived in.

We needed something - and said "Gee, where do you suppose that would be?"
We pondered.... where had that item been in the house where we grew up - 

and bingo - there it was.

I was not that way as I was hatching and domesticating my offspring.

But, I kept a general idea of where things were.

My family marvels at me. They can call long distance - and I can talk them through a sequence to find things.

I am not kidding - this is exactly what I said - last year when I was out of town

and my younger son had to write a check to pay taxes - because Mr. Wilson had used up the 4 eFiles that you get with TurboTax.

Hunter had misplaced his checkbook - and he thought to call me and ask if perhaps he had left any checks at our house. (Note to self: find out if he has found his checkbook at his current house - as April 15th is right around the corner. Note to readers - if you knew Hunter you would appreciate why I am not more drill-sergeant and tough-love with him.)

My end of the conversation went like this:

go to the shelves at the end of the kitchen

look on the far right of the really skinny shelf

ok, now try the cabinet to the right and look on the top shelf

ok, now go to the laundry room

face the drawers - no the wooden drawers

look up at the two wire shelves

look at the top shelf

look over to the right

see the plastic container

look just to the left

see the blue book/box thing

yes, I know I am brilliant

what?

how much?

this was one of those boxes that looks like a book, but it has a lock on it

he had it in college

when he opened it - there was a stack of cash

there was also a blank book of checks

even I did not know it was there - but it was a good guess

of course - everyone is happy to find cash they had forgotten about

I wish I could remember how much it was - in his serving and earning tip days - he would sometimes have an alarming amount of cash in a neat stack - 

Sadly - my ability to find stuff only encourages them to be less interested in remembering where things are.

I am currently working on an inventory system so that I can leave them a logbook when I go to that 

big scriptorium in the sky.

I might have to tuck some poignant notes in amongst the flotsam and jetsam.

Like the lady in Bridges of Madison County who left the ridiculous story for her kids.

Avenues of Polk County.

No affairs with National Geographic photographers in my book.

But, I do have a story about the Iowa State Fair (which was mentioned in the book) that is one of my all time favorites Wilson Family Stories.

Oh.My.Gosh.

It involves me knowing where the car was in a huge lot at the Iowa State Fair....

What kind of people don't pay attention to where they parked the car when there is a toddler in tow.

This is a two parter.

I'll work on it....

Bonus Post - Birthdays

Back in December I invited readers to send a snow or birthday themed card and/or envelope to my older son's girlfriend in Tahoe - which by the way has been getting a ton of snow this year.

JanetR sent the snow themed set and Alyce sent the happy yellow balloon. Sadly - the balloon was returned to Alyce - stamped undeliverable. This makes no sense. The others arrived.

Both of these cards have some very stealworthy ideas. JanetR ideas are for people who have tons of time. Alyce mentioned that she had very little time to spend on her card - but I think it shows that the amount of time spent does not make or break the overall package.

I apologize if other people sent me images of mail that they sent to Hyong and I have not gotten it on the blog. If you want to see it on the blog - just resend the image. Thanks.

If anyone wants to send George (Mr. Wilson) a birthday card, his birthday is Feb 4th and I am not putting his name on the exchange this month. My younger son's birthday is Feb 17 - so he is going to get the card-shower this year. Sign up for the exchange starts on February 1st. Please DO NOT sign up now - just because you are excited about the next exchange. I'm excited, too, but if I get early sign-ups - I just lose them.

Today was a good day for a bonus post because the regular post - is probably a bit redundant.

Aug 2018 PTEX to GraceH - quote on the left

The emboldened words are better words to be emboldened.
This one might be better than the other two. But that O in DO looks like a 6. I'm surprised I let that one go out. Although, as I recall, there was a lot of chaos last summer. Happily, whatever it was has faded away and now there is new chaos.

I am writing this on October 26th. Do we all remember how difficult October was? Me whining about all kinds of inconsequential stuff as actual stuff of consequence was going on.

I'll be curious to note - when I read this in January...did things get better...or worse.

***
OK, I am reading this on Saturday of this week. All I know is that I have no idea how many of these *quote on the left* envelopes I have posted - but I think there are too many. Sorry. There are a few bugs to work out, but my new system is almost in place.

I also did some research on my question - who has the longest running blog on the internet. I found an article about which blogs were the first and it's a nice article. The punchline at the end is priceless.
https://www.cnet.com/news/blogs-turn-10-whos-the-father/

I still don't know who has the longest running blog - and I've lost interest because if someone has been babbling for decades - it might be a really boring blog. Plus, I'm working had to not make comparisons. So, my focus is to continue to post ideas that will help people dabble in mail art. That is a worthwhile project, IMHO. My interaction with all y'all has been and continues to be uplifting for me.

More Pen and Marker Storage (Bonus Post)

There will be a third and final chapter tomorrow.

A few penpals emailed that they enjoyed seeing the storage photos. So I thought I would add a couple more. Figuring out how to draw on the photos was fun. Although very difficult to use my finger as the pencil. I couldn't find any kind of stylus that would work. Can anyone tell me if such a thing exists - where I could write with a pointed object on an iPhone.

The arrow points to the 5 boxes (plus one lid) of ZIG markers. Having sets of 48 markers was a luxury - but they are more than 10 years old - probably 15. I've replaced some of the colors - but they have given me years of fun.

Jan gifted me about 30 Copics - and it's been a fabulous gift. Someday I might treat myself to some more.


Below, you can see two of the lids I use to keep current supplies corralled. The one on the left is the December lid. All the things I pulled out during the December and January mailings. It's time to put them away with their brothers and sisters. To the right are the items I pulled out to go with the new Love stamps.  I'll keep ading to that lid as I do the Feb exchange envelopes.

Below the lids is the bottom desk drawer. I forgot that my colored Pigmas are down there. Under the Pigmas are all the tools for cutting, scoring, etc. Since there is that one open space in the plastic drawers, I can probably move the colored Pigmas over there.

I have my name on a lot of the supplies. I use those free return address stickers. I needed to mark things so that I wouldn't lose them during classes.

Below is a stack of lids. Some of them are candy boxes. Any kind of flat box or lid will work. These are nesting - so they do not take up much space when not in use.

Below I have them stacked criss-cross.

If there are several projects going on at one time, each project can be in a lid and it is easy to find the one you want because you can see what's in each lid. It's a stack of stuff - but has dividers vertically - so it less likely that anything will get lost in a big pile.

Also - if the stack is getting too tall, I know it is time to buckle down and finish some of the projects.

Criss-cross stack

And last, but not least - the two giant under-the-bed storage units - I put my shoes in the corner for scale. That's a lotta stuff. But I've visited other scribes who have way more than what I have.

One more post on this topic tomorrow.