Craft Room Organization - Ribbon & Online "steals" sites

I have recently started buying spools of ribbon.  Of course I will have to blame this on American Crafts and Hobby Lobby.  When I noticed that Hobby Lobby carried American Crafts brand, I went from aisle to aisle looking for it.  I noticed in the ribbon aisle that there packs of 5 spools of ribbon.  The first pack i picked up was the Teen "BFF" line.  Oh how cute, when i turned it over to look at the price, I though ouch $4.99 for ribbon.  Well i bought the one package and that was it i was hooked.  The very next week, Hobby Lobby ran and 40% special on all ribbon.  I went back and bought a bunch more.  So needless to say I have a lot of American Crafts ribbon.  And thanks to sites like Craftysteals.com, Scrapbooksteals.com and Peachycheap.com, my American Crafts addiction is thriving greatly.  More on these sites later.

I also found a bunch of Martha Stewart adhesive ribbon at Tj Maxx and Marshalls.  Even though these packages only give you a small length, they are adhesive on the back and make create quick boarders on pictures or a way to secured velumn and clear accents.


So on to storage solutions.  Since I store my American Crafts products by collections in clear envelopes, the ribbon makes it very bulky.     So In the above picture you will see a two tier fruit basket I found in the home decor section of TJ Maxx.  I got this right when the dorm room season started.  My small (dollar rolls and 5 spool packeged) rolls are stored in the top tier and in the bottom holds larger AC spools (their stationary and wrapping paper collection - i find these at Tuesday morning) and Martha Stewart ribbon cards.

Below you will see another two tier smaller fruit basket.  This one holds all of the American Crafts solid "Haute"  & "Essentials" ribbon.

This storage solution works for now as I am able to see what I have and makes pretty decor.  I have noticed that once I remove the plastic strip holding the ribbon tight that the spools start to unroll and get tangled.  I might have to consider another storage option for this.   These baskets can always be used for punches which was the original thought.  

"Steals" sites

I recently discovered a handfull of sites that offer "one deal a day" on scrapbooking and crafty supplies and a discounted price.  Everything is at least 50% off most time in the higher 60%'s.  These sites are a great way to get your hands on complete collections or bulk lots.

Craftysteals.com and Stitchsteals.com

They offer one new deal a day each but also have a past steals page that in case you missed a steal.  Combined shipping is offer on today's steal and past steals.  Combined shipping is not offered on the two sites together, they are independent of each other. Beware that craftysteals deal sells out quickly, espically when they offer current issues of "Cards" and  "Scrapbook Trends"  magazines.  Unity stamps are also a hot item on this site.    If you have a family member or fried who is a sewer or knitter, then Stitchsteals.com is a great site.   If you are a sewer and scrapbooker, most time the two sites compliment each other.  Craftysteals will offer a scrapbooking collection and stitchsteals will offer the coordinating fabric.

New deals get posted somewhere between 1:00 am and 3:00 am my time (Louisiana).

Peachcheap.com

This is another site that offers great scrapbooking supplies.  There site has a deal a day and i have not been able to find a past deal page.  They do have a sister site, sideofpeaches.com that offers more trendy hair accessories, purses, belts, etc.

New deals get posted around midnight my time (Louisiana)

Scrapbooksteals.com, Babysteals.com, Kidsteals.com

This group of sites is very similar to craftysteals.com, offering the same type of deals and also have an archive page of past deals.  There is no main link on the site for the archives you just have to know the address: scrapbooksteals.com/archives.  Babysteals and Kidsteals are great sites if you have young ones in the house.  Mainly speciality products and popular musthaves.

New deals get posted 10:00 am my time (Louisiana)

I do recomened all the sites above, but just a word of warning.  THEY ARE ADDICTIVE!  Last months credit card bill was a lot more than i normally spend.  I will say popular deals tend to repeat on all the sites once the company gets more products in stock, so don't be too disappointed if you don't get it right away.

Now that I am offically and "enabler", I hope that at least you got some great ideas.  Stay tuned for my next post on using a pegboard to store bulky items.