Do You Like Dies?

Years ago I got some sets of the Nestablities dies and I quickly decided it was way too much work to cut and emboss those suckers and they sat in a drawer until I decided to sell them. That was about the only experience I had with dies until I got a few Spellbinders last year when I was in Florida and I really liked them because it was just cutting them out. I also got a set of My Favorite Things stitched circle dies that I loved. Well I certainly am learning to love dies even more now!

My crafting benefactor that has sent me so many things over the years recently sent me some of her dies, actually two different batches!

This is the first batch and it had a windows, doors, trees, flourish, branches and other different dies. I don't think this included all the dies she sent but you can see there is a large assortment of dies for me to use.

The second batch she sent had a lot of Christmas dies, enough that I could probably make a different card every year for the rest of my life and still not use all the dies! I told my friend Carmen that she needs to come for a visit this summer so we can make Christmas cards. There were also several sets of frame dies and numerous others.

My dilemma was trying to figure out how to store the dies and also looking up all the names for the dies because, well we all know I have to know the name so I can inventory the dies *okie's need of organization is such a curse at times*. I bought a package of comic book boards thinking I could use them for making mini albums and pulled those out to see how they would work, and they worked great! The only problem was that I had already cut every die out of white cardstock so back to the craft closet I went and got out some brown Neenah paper that I had bought for making envelopes, which will be another post sometime soon, and pasted the paper onto the comic book boards...problem solved!!

I used magnetic vent covers, cut to size and adhered those to the back of the boards for the dies to stick to. The plastic cases they are in are Iris storage cases that I got at Staples years ago and I think I paid like maybe $2 each for them and they work great!

I tried to label all the dies with the manufacturer and the name of the die when I could find the names and I did find the names for most of them. This way when I want to use it I know what I am using and if I need an idea I can do a Google search with the name.

The containers fit in one of my Closetmaid cube storage units that sits right behind me when I'm at the craft table. It makes it nice being able to turn around and just grab a container and flip through the dies. 

I'll be posting some cards that I have made using some of the dies and I can tell ya that after making those cards my addiction for dies is pretty much set in stone now!