Movie Storage

I loooove movies! I also happen to live in a mountain area, in a little pocket that, for some reason, doesn't get reception. I'm talking no cell phone reception, no TV reception, and the mountain behind our house blocks us from the satellites. We can't get high speed internet either, only a 26k dial up connection that isn't worth the money we would have to pay for it. So what do I do? I watch movies and do crafts. And while I do crafts, I watch movies. This means that I have what most people would consider an extensive movie collection. We're talking closing in on 600 movies and TV shows on disc and my collection is still growing. Hey, I have to pass the time somehow during the winter when I can't go outside and it's a 45 minute drive into town.

I'm sure some of you have figured out the downside to having so many movies. Where in the world do you put them all? I had bookshelves full of movies. It seemed like my room was being over run with them! We have a small house with little to no storage room. My sister keeps her movies out in the living room, and so to keep our collections separate I have mine in my bedroom. Well, I finally got fed up with not having room for my craft supplies (I'm sure you can see where that's going to go, too!) so I found an alternative solution to storing my movies.

I went onto amazon.com (a dangerous site for some of us) and ordered some CD sleeves and a double wide CD box (shown below). I took all of my single disc movies and put them into the CD sleeves. I'm a little OCD and so my movies are in alphabetical order. To make them easier to find in the CD box, I made dividers out of card stock and these wonderful little paperclip flags I found.

I labeled them as #, A-S, THE, and T-Z with letters P Q, U V, and X Y Z together on flags. The box would hold about 175 movies on each side for a total of  350 movies!

 As I stated before, I put all my single disc movies into the CD box. All of the other movies that are multiple disc sets such as TV shows or blu-ray/DVD combos I left in their cases. I freed up so much space with the single disc movies that I don't feel overwhelmed with what is left on my shelves.

For the most part, you can see the movie title through the clear window in the CD sleeve. Every now and then you get a disc that doesn't have a name or picture on it. For these I simply wrote the name of the movie on the outside of the CD sleeve.

To make for easy movie searches, I printed out my movie list. What I've done is created an excel worksheet that lists the name of the movie, genre, leading actors/actresses, rating, and format (DVD or blu-ray). I even have a column for if the movie has been borrowed and who has it. I highlighted all the TV shows which are in one bookcase and then highlighted in another color the movies with multiple discs which are kept in a DVD stand. It's easy to peruse the movies in this list then be able to quickly find them where they are stored.

When a movie is being watched, I put a small post-it note in the space where the movie belongs so I don't have to search through that alpha section to put the movie away.

I hope this helps and happy organizing!

DIY Ink Pad Storage

 I'm always looking for new ways to store and organize my craft supplies. One day while trying to figure out if I could do something with the two bamboo place mats I've had sitting around for years, thinking I would just end up throwing them out, I thought, "You know, if I just had some elastic I could thread it through the bamboo and make some kind of holder out of these." So, the next day I headed off to the craft store and got some elastic. This is the result.


Supplies:
           1/2" elastic in the color of your choice
           bamboo place mat(s)
           needle and thread to match the color of elastic
           ink pads you will be storing (or markers, paint, etc.)

Start by figuring out the spacing you will need for your ink pads. You don't want the elastic too loose or the ink will fall right out. You also don't want it too tight or you will have problems getting the ink in or out. This is the hardest part. Once you have figured out the spacing, take one end of the elastic and loop it through the end of the place mat and sew the end together. Start threading the elastic through the bamboo. Sew the other end on. Repeat as needed across the place mat. I did two rows, but if you have smaller ink pads (like the square distress ink pads from Ranger) you may get three rows on a mat.

 Put in your ink pads and viola! Your done! I stuck a binder clip on mine and hung it from a command hook attached to the side of the bookcase that hold my craft supplies. I also found that the mat will fold nicely, as shown below, and can be stored on a shelf in this manner.

Please note that the elastic will loosen when you remove an ink pad. I haven't had problems with my ink pads falling out when I've removed just one from a side, but if you remove too many they may start to fall out.

Happy crafting!