Powered By Blogger

Monday, July 22, 2013

Lone Wolf Designs product spotlight: Artbin magnetic die case and magnetic sheets

Hey there!

You all know how much I love organization, right? I mean, I even wrote a guest post for Operation Write Home on organizing your craft space... but if you could see my office right now, you'd be shaking your head at me. Yes, I know, best of intentions and life getting in the way and all that aside, I really do LOVE an organized space.


Now, here's the hard part - I am my father's daughter. I will cobble together a CHEAP solution with what I have or can get inexpensively and a lot of the time, it works fabulously and I could care less that it's not pretty and all pinterest-y. Case in point: I use shoe boxes (sans lids) to organize socks, tights, bathing suits, etc in dresser drawers. It's cheap and it works great. I use shoe boxes and smaller boxes a lot in my craft room drawers because of my super deep drawers!


So when I started buying all these wonderful Spellbinders dies, I looked around (read: googled and asked blog friends) how to best organize them. The one idea I really liked was to take empty CD cases, adhere a strip of magnetic adhesive, and label them. It was easy, pretty inexpensive, and I could easily grow my collection this way without a lot of cost to organize them.


Now, in my office I have these really deep drawers:

I know. They not intended for crafting storage, but they are built in so I work with what I have.


And yes, you are seeing shoe boxes inside, because it totally works to keep things organized. Right now the dies and the embossing folders (I'm not that good. I recently decluttered and sold a whole bunch!) share a shoe box.


I label the outsides with the titles so I can easily see what I am grabbing.


But this is the problem: the dies slide around. The magnetic strips in several are loose or completely falling off of the plastic. I've had them fall out as I put cases back into the drawer because the CD lid is slightly broken or they are 'off' and one die doesn't adhere well. 


They just don't stick well, and the cases are slowly breaking over time because I use these dies a LOT. And you know what? It's kind of hard to repair a CD case. And it's not worth replacing, really.

This is how they looked as I took them out of the drawer and laid them down for a photo. Nice, huh?

And this one? The largest die doesn't fit in the case, so I've kept it tucked away. I'm quite frankly kind of amazed that I haven't warped or dented it because, you know, things happen (read: kids get into mommy's stuff) and these dies are pretty thin. 


It's just not a great solution. It worked well at first, but now... not so much.


So I was very excited to see that Kris of Lone Wolf Designs can order the Artbin magnetic die case and sheets. I read some reviews online and they were overwhelmingly positive, so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't mind spending money on a better solution when it helps me not lose things or damage them. It doesn't make sense to me to spend a bunch of money on GOOD crafting supplies and then not take care of them.


This is the case, which comes with a set of 3 sheets and you can order additional packs of 3 sheets.
The case with the starter sheets.
An additional sheet pack. No surprise, I'm going to need more!

WOW. You should see (and feel) these sheets. They are THICK and have a real heft to them. They are very magnetic and my dies didn't move at all once I put them on the sheets!


I went back to my post-it notes to make labels for the sheets. I didn't want to write on the sheets themselves (what if I sell a set or two later on?). A tiny touch of scotch tape to make sure the label doesn't fall off and it's all set!








They fit very securely in the case.

Loving how they don't slide around!

This case has a very sturdy base with feet so it can easily stand as well. 



To open and close the case, you slide those copper latches on top.
Genius, right? No cheap latches that will break off later!

There's a lot of room in here for multiple sheets, which is great because I want need more dies. 

Best of all, I won't lose one due to it falling out and getting dented or bent because I didn't notice it falling... and that pretty, clear cover is just dying for a vinyl label. Now I just need to convince a crafty friend with some electronic die cutting thing to make me a pretty label... :)

Recently Tami also reviewed some Sizzix folders that she used to organize her dies. If you don't think my system will work for you, be sure to see how she put hers in order. :)

You can find these and many more products for your crafting projects at 25% off MSRP at Lone Wolf Designs, LLC. All you have to do is join the Lone Wolf Designs Discount Retail Sales Facebook Group. If you haven't joined us yet, you are paying too much for your craft supplies!

Jen

4 comments:

  1. Jen, you sound like me. I like to find cheap organizing solutions and was just telling someone yesterday that i intended to try my own magnet solution. You've convinced me otherwise. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post, Jen! If I had the space to store my dies like that, this solution would totally work for me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah nuts I might need to order one of these....looks awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just picked up two of these last week-end. Haven't moved my dies into them yet but soon. Also, I noticed you are from Marshfield, WI. Wow, I live in Black River falls, WI. Not too far at all!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!