Organizational {Friday} Ink Swatches Revisited

Years ago I created a swatch book that kept all of my ink swatches. Click here to see that post. I love that swatch book and have used it well. The problem has become that I have gotten so many more inks and I could not easily move around color swatches to keep them in "color order" when adding a new ink. I also had swatch sheets for each manufacturer. I knew I needed something that I could easily add, move, compare, and remove swatches as needed. This all led me to today's "swatch re-do."

I love my embossing folder swatches so I thought this would be a great way to also organize my ink swatches. If you missed that post, click here. Using my embossing folder swatches as my example, here is what I came up with for my ink swatches.

Swatch Cards

I knew when creating the swatch cards that I wanted to use white cardstock so I would get accurate color swatches. I also didn't want to use my expensive cardstock so I went with the Neenah Bright White cardstock. I purchased a ream inexpensively at amazon.com here. I have had this ream of cardstock for a while, and I use it for many things.

I cut the cardstock into 2 1/4" x 2 7/8" pieces. I then grabbed my inks and began making swatches. First, I swiped the paper across the ink giving me a strip of color. I wasn't neat about it at all. I then used a stamp I purchased at Hobby Lobby to stamp the image. I like this stamp because it has both cursive and print. I thought it was a good representation of how the ink stamps. The stamp is made by Stampabilities and cost $3.99. I of course waited until Hobby Lobby had their stamps on sale then purchased it. I think I paid a little over $2 for it. Cute isn't it?

After stamping the image, I then wrote the manufacturer and color name on the bottom of the card. If I have the reinker, I also put a letter 'R' with a circle around it. Now it is very easy for me to tell if I have a reinker for my ink pads. Once the card was created, I put it in my container.

The Container

I had a 7Gypsies Mini ATC Library drawer in my studio that I was not using. I decided this would be perfect for the swatch cards. 

Here is what I store in each section:

Section 1: yellow, orange, pink, and red swatches

Section 2: green, teal, blue, and purple swatches

Section 3: brown, grey, and black swatches

Section 4: blank cards, a tag with the size of the cards typed out so it's easy to cut more, the "just because" stamp, and ink refresher.

I didn't put tabs identifying what was in each section because the colors look so pretty. I didn't want to cover up the color. It's also very easy to see the cards I want to grab and look through.

I put this tray on my art journaling table right next to where I store my inks—in the Stampin' Things units I have. Here is an older picture of my unit. The art journaling table is not in this photo. I couldn't get a new photo yesterday as we have had very dark, cloudy, and foggy days this week. I like having the swatch cards right next to the inks. It makes it all very simple to refer to and use.

Doing this project helped me rediscover some inks I have not used in a while. I know I will get much more use out of all of my inks now that I have swatches of them all in an easy-to-use format. I hope you have found this helpful. Enjoy!