Ink Pad Storage

As your scrap stash continues to grow, storage and organization becomes increasingly important. Ink pad storage is important not just in terms of organization and ease of use, but also for longevity of the ink. There are many ways to store your ink pads, depending on how many you have and how frequently you use them.

I asked my friend Kay Norman how she stores her ink pads. Kay has been stamping for about 20 years and has a lot of ink pads. She stores them in plastic drawers on shelves at her work area, always storing the pads upside down so the ink remains at the surface.

She uses her distress inks most. Since they all have the same black packaging, she has labeled them for easier reference. She keeps her stamps on storage shelves at her work area to have them accessible while she works.

Since Kay has so many inks, she maintains a stamped color key of all her ink pad colors. This way, she can match her papers more easily. She simply holds the patterned paper or cardstock up to the color key to help decide which colors match best. She has one color key for each ink collection and keeps them in a page protector so they stay neat and clean.

My friend Mary Eason also has a lot of inks. She likes to keep the ones that she uses most in metal racks in front of her work area. She keeps small ink pads easily accessible in the plastic drawers.

Personally, I have fewer ink pads. I keep the large ones upside down in a cloth drawer and get out the ones I think I will need for a project. I use the small ones more frequently for inking the edges of papers. Like Mary, I keep them accessible on a shelf next to my work area.

If you need some help finding a rack to store your inks, the Scrapbook.com Superstore has a variety of products which can hold different numbers of ink pads.

As you create your ink pad storage scheme, you should consider how many ink pads you have and how frequently you use them. I hope this article has given you some ideas for keeping your ink pads accessible and organized.