Jan 28 2010
Tool Time – Organizing and Keeping Sponges for Each Ink Color
Today I have a little Tool Time segment for you on sponge organization. I gave up along time ago trying to keep a sponge for each color of ink I have, until I seen this cute and quick idea. I am not sure who to give credit to since I have heard this idea from a few different sources. But it is such a good idea I thought I would try it and share it with you.
Supplies:
Stampin’ Up! Sponges, Item #101610 – cut into wedges
Stampin’ Up! Round Tab Punch, Item #108340
A scrap of each color of card stock that matches your ink colors. If you don’t have colored card stock to match your ink colors, smear ink on white card stock.
Stapler
Stampin’ Up has card stock that matches all of their ink colors, so using the Stampin’ Up! tab punch, punched one tab out of each color card stock that I have in ink. Pardon me, but I have them all, lol. By the way, so should you. 
I know I am an enabler, I hear that often.
Next fold the tab over a wedge of sponge and staple it. The colored tab not only lets you quickly identify the ink color that the sponge is designated for, but also gives you something to hold onto when sponging.
I have this plastic container that has dividers in it. I found it to be perfect to store my sponges.
This little project only took me about 30 minutes to throw together and will hopefully save me a bit of time and money.
I hope you enjoyed this little Tool Time segment. Let me hear from you in the comments section if you have great craft organization tips to share.
May your day be filled with lots of belly laughs.
Until my next post. . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Hugs,
Michelle
Get ready for Brayer Workshops! I am coming to:
Monroe, Louisiana (just a couple of seats left)
Jacksonville, Florida
St. Louis, Missouri
Mechanicsville, Virginia
Raleigh, North Carolina
Colleyville, Texas
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Boise area of Meridian, Idaho
Riverside, California (Southern California)
Salem, Oregon
Wheaton, Illinois
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Rockville, Maryland
North Chili, New York (near Rochester)
New Johnsonville, Tennessee
Kenova (Huntington), West Virginia
Helena, Montana
Middleburg Heights, Ohio
Venice, Florida
Grinnell, Iowa
Piedmont, Alabama (Near GA border close to Cedartown)
Auburn, Washington (near Seattle)
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Savannah, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
North Liberty, Indiana
Saledad, California
Here is a link to my workshop calendar where you can see all of my travel schedule and to get info on beginner and advanced Brayer workshops: http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/workshop-calendar
Link to my Stampin’ Up website where you can order all of your must have Stampin’ Up products from me 24-7: http://michellezindorf.stampinup.net
Frequently asked questions answers: http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/frequently-asked-questions/
66 responses so far
What a great idea! Love it, must give it a try myself. I too have all the ink colours – in the Stampin’ Spots – and almost all in the larger ink pads too! I know I am addicted. I have sponge daubers labeled for each ink colour and stored in a similar divided container, but I still like using my larger sponges at various times. I too cut them up in wedges to save money and to allow for various colours! TFS
I LOVE your card with the Chocolate bunny he’s/she’s adorable, so real looking sitting in the grass. Please keep on sharing your ideas, tips and cards I find many things that I didn’t know or even thought about.!
Nancy
Holly Moley what an idea!!! Sure does make my empty half gallon ice cream bucket look shabby in comparison! I need to find a lid for this ice cream bucket as my two kitties think it is great fun to “play” with the spunges; they are everywhere!
Clever!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. An awesome idea.
Great idea! TFS it!
This is great! Thanks!
very clever very very clever indeed
Hey… This is a great idea, thanks
What a clever idea you have there Michelle!
Why didn’t I think of that
Hugs,
Jolanda
Thanks for the tip!
Michelle,
This is a great idea!!!
Another great tip! I have punch and all the regular cs colors, so I just need to organize my sponges.
Awesome idea, I will be doing this!! I use sponges all the time, thank you for sharing.
Michelle, you are so clever! I am leaving work early today to go do this to my sponges! Don’t tell the boss!
Wauw!! What a great idea to store your sponges this way, thanks for sharing!!
Michelle,
I have to say that is the BEST idea I’ve seen in a while. Some time ago, I purchased the cosmetic white sponges and used a sharpie marker to write on them….keeping each color separate but not in the most {adorable} manner shown here! Thanks for the great tip!
Have an inky day!
Michelle Polizzi
What a great idea.
How awesome is that!!!! Thanks for the great idea
great idea – thanks for sharing
Melba
Mickey – Thank you for sharing this great idea. You are an amazing artist!! I appreciate all of your talent and love to recreate your tutorials. Thank you so much!!!!
What a fabulous idea. Glad I found your site, you do gorgeous work.
O,K, FIne…now I HAVE to have the tag punch. You are such an enabler. LOL. I hardly need anyone to twist my arm. This is a great idea I will share with my SU demonstrator!
What a great idea. Now I have to go to Michaels and buy one of those plastic container thingys to put all my sponges in. Thanks alot Michelle : ) Oh yeah, now I have to order more sponges so everything will be all tidy!
What a super simple, but GREAT idea!
Thanks.
Great idea! now there’s no need to scrub-a-dub-dub ‘em or worry about mixing colors. =)
~I think I’ll start with all the colors I use the most… bashful blue, Not quite navy blue, Night of Navy blue, bordering blue…something about a sky, mountains and water…did I mention blue. oh yeah, and a little yellow for SUNSHINE!
~Carissa and KJ
These sponges look great…..BUT what happens when you have to wash these to reuse or do you not reuse?
Oh my goodness! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I have such a hard time organizing my sponges. What a great idea!!!
You mentioned that awesome idea in our Phoenix workshop and it’s on my to-do list. Thanks for the pictorial.
I am in awe of this idea. I wonder how long it would have taken me to think of this myself!! Thanks for sharing! Glad to see you’ve added the Elk Grove workshop – now I don’t have to go all the way to Wheaton again! See you again – but not soon enough for me!!
Great idea. You are the greatest.
Clever!!! Now I have to get the Tag Punch!
I think I remember another idea you had where after you used a sponge you threw it in a basket, then once it was full you put all the sponges in a lingerie bag and threw them in the washing machine. This one sounds alot easier than the new idea, plus no need for storage. But keep the ideas coming—it’s all Good!!
what a clever idea and so cute!
Hi Michelle,
Would you like to come an organize my room for me????? This is such a cute idea- definitely a “why didn’t I think of it?”- so simple, yet so useful!
Great idea! TFS
such a great idea, I just grab the ones I have in the drawer and hope they are the right color, tfs
Love this idea!
Great Idea Michelle, love anything that helps me get more organized.
Happy “Almost” Friday
What a great idea!
I love ths sponge idea. But I assume then that you don’t wash your sponges. I think that would ruin the paper.
That is one of the best tips I’ve seen in a while. I have everything to do it. It’s going to make things much easier for me. Thanks, JIL
Michelle..I think this is the best ‘cheap’ tip I have seen in a while too.. I was wondering how to do the sponge thing. I remember the lingerie bag and washing machine trick too.. Michelle does that not harm your washer in any way? Don’t want it to hold the ink in the lines and the colors somehow get on my clothing..
So how often do you wash the sponges when you do it this way? Or do you just use them until they are ‘horribly dirty’ and then toss out?
Thnx for the ideas….
JOY
Nifty idea – you enabler, you! Love it!
Clever idea with the sponges. TFS.
so you gave up on the dollar store sponges?
Great idea – thanks for sharing.
Loving this idea! My ink collection is quite large and my sponge collection is growing. I’ve been just storing the sponge in a drawer along with the ink pad that it was used with, but I like this idea more.
Clever, Clever…but what will we ever do without inky fingers?
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one fabulous and super creative idea. Thanks for sharing this organizing tip. I need all the help I can get.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Sandra
Thanks for this neat idea!!!!! I will definately do this!!!!!
Patricia
What a great tip. I had never sponged before I took your class. I even went to the dollar store and got sponges like you use. I can’t wait to start making tabs. Thanks so much!!
Good plan on the sponges. I think I’d write the color name on the paper scrap also.
aka Puffdog
You are the clever one……I love it~~
Just wanted to let you know it was Larraine Ingalls at Leadership who shared the idea with Shelli and swapped the sponges. Shelli demonstrated it on stage. I think Larraine would be honored that you shared this great idea.
What a clever idea! When my ink collection grows, I’ll try this out! thanks for sharing
What a great idea~
Ok, that is absolutely brilliant!! I have mine in wedges, but I’m always picking them up to see what color they might be….I have all 48 colors plus all the in-colors each year, and I don’t have a wedge for each…but I use one for similar…your idea is so much better! I see a nifty little project for myself in the future! Thank you!!
This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely brilliant! I have a stampin event for 41 people in April and this will help everyone keep their hands clean! I am definitely adding some sponges to my next demo order so I can have a set of these. I was always just guessing and thankfully I only had a mishap once but my fingers always get all inky so that’s a bummer.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful tutorials. I look all the time but must admit I’ll all thumbs with my brayer.
Michelle! Your cards just make me smile
Thank you so much for your wonderful turorials. This sponge idea is fabulous. I have never heard of it so I am so glad you shared. The little sponges do look adorable…
oZHdlW aseearmzrcmj, [url=http://ylbuqtslesjg.com/]ylbuqtslesjg[/url], [link=http://whdyyoohwetk.com/]whdyyoohwetk[/link], http://gfyjddfetfxc.com/
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wow! Thanks for the wonderful tip! LOVE your site!