Updated - My Storage Method for my Die Cut Ephemera/Paper Die Cuts

I have updated the way I store my images that are already fussy cut as well as I how store the images that aren’t cut out yet. Because of the way my brain works, fussy cutting images as I need them doesn’t work for me. But I came up with a solution that does work for me and keeps everything easily accessible.

This will seem like a lot of work to some, but if you are a person that needs to see what you have easily, this might work for you too. Because I started doing this after I got a couple of books, it is not a big deal for me.

For me, after the first couple of books, flipping through all the books to find an image was frustrating because I couldn’t remember what book I seen an image in. I can’t even imagine what it would be like now by having all but 3 of her books!

When a new book arrives, I remove all the pages from the books and scan the book from cover to cover (more on that later). Then I sort them into categories – backgrounds, main images bits & bobs, words, etc. on pages that have multiple categories, I cut the pages apart. I grab some hanging file folders, label them and put the files in a rolling file cart.

I have two drawers – one of just images and the other of backgrounds. The backgrounds are sorted by size and put into ziplock bags within the main background folder for that book. In front of the drawer are folders of images that won’t fit the 8.75 x 6.25-inch bins. Behind those are folders sorted by book then by category. For instance, Autumn Stories – Faries/Kids, Autumn Stories – Bits & Bobs, Autumn Stories – Animals, etc.

Most of the time, I grab the folder that holds the people/fairies first and take it to my chair in the front room. Then as I am watching/listening to my TV shows, I fussy cut.

I have the bins sorted by category/book for the most part. Things like rocks, planets, etc that aren’t specific to book, are put in one bin. But using Moss Stories as an example, things moss covered rocks, moss covered animals, etc, they are in a bun labeled “B&B – Moss stories” – B&B meaning Bits & Bobs. Within that bin, the images are sorted into small snack sized ziplock bags.

Back to the scanning. One of the reasons I scan the books is so I can print out extra background if I am making greeting cards (to give to family/friends) if I want to use the same background again. The other is that I can’t do fine hand movements to draw lines around the images for my ScanNCut to easily see. So, I use a graphic program to put an outline around each image, then print it out and have my ScanNCut cut it out.

Link to photos of my storge method for images

I think the pictures will help explain what I am talking about, but I am more than happy to explain it more if you need additional info.

Judy