STORAGE SATURDAY, Card Stock Storage...

Today's Storage Saturday is in response to a couple of questions from readers.  One wanted to know how I store my card stock.  I have touched on part of this in the past, but I will be happy to share again.  I have tried several different systems before settling on my current methods.  While these work well for me, they may not be for everyone.  I tried paper racks which looked great, but light fades the paper even though I have absolutely no direct sunlight in my room and dust was a problem even with page protectors over each stack.

Ultimately, I decided on a hanging file system for my 8.5" x 11" card stock.  I find lateral filing cabinets the easiest to use.  I found a 42" wide cabinet at an office superstore which fits all my card stock in the top drawer perfectly.  Mine is immediately to the left side of my desk chair and easy to use without having to get up.

I use legal size hanging file folders, so that there is plenty of extra length.  This keeps my card stock from getting dinged up and allows me to file my 12" x 12" scraps in the files as well.  In each hanging file, I also have a plain file folder in the front in which I keep the matching color scraps.  This way, I can easily check the scrap folder in each file first before getting out a new sheet.  See next photo

Another great tip is that I keep a large paper clip on the front of the hanging folder if I have an extra pack of the card stock.  When I use the extra pack, I remove the clip.  That way I can tell at a glance which colors need to be reordered.

I use color coded tags for my hanging folders to make finding the correct color a snap.  I have updated the file I shared with you all last year with the newest In Colors.  If you are interested in printing off your own labels for hanging file tabs, I made these labels and printed them off using Avery 5567 Hanging File Tab Labels.  Be sure to print using the highest quality.  Note:  I do not use them folded over like a tab as I find them too flimsy for that.  I cut them on the fold line and get two labels out of each that I then insert in the plastic tabs.

You can download my the PDF file HERE.   There are four sheets to print - each sheet will look like those below and the labels will peel off.  If you don't have the labels, you could just print it out on paper and cut out the color portions to insert them in the plastic tabs.  Thanks for the reminder to update this file, Janet!  Hope you all find these useful!

I would love to use a similar hanging file system for my 12" x 12" card stock.  However, there are not many makers of these and I haven't found one that will work for me.  Either they are too small (I have a LOT of paper) or too ugly, etc.  I have yet to find anything attractive that matches my decor.  So I opt to keep my 12x12 card stock in the 12x12 Paper Holders from Stampin' Up! (#105528, $7.95).   Right now, I keep the Paper Holders in cubes.  With one cube for Smooth Card Stock, another for Textured Card Stock and another for current DSP and retired DSP.  I did have metal tags labeling each Paper Holder, but since they retired, I took those off and am trying to come up with new ones.

I use lots of 12x12 Dividers (#105529, $5.95/4) for each color or DSP to make everything quick and easy to find.  In the photo at the left, you can see the dividers in one of my retired DSP Paper Holders.  For DSP, I organize them alphabetically (I don't know what happened to this one!).  For Card Stock, I organize them by ROYGBIV (rainbow) order.  I like being able to go to the Reds when I need a Red and see them all together to chose one from.   For more on ROYGBIV organization, check out another post on that subject HERE.

Sorry for the LONG post, but I hope that helps some of you to organize your card stock.  I always feel better when my stampin' supplies are color-coded and organized!  Enjoy!