Video #719: Although these small drawer units are mostly used for keeping your makeup all tidy, they also work great in a craft studio.
In this video I show how I store some of my craft supplies in an Acrylic Cosmetic Organizer, made by MelodySusie.
When you have lots of craft supplies, it is important to keep them organized. If you want to organize the stuff in your craft room or studio, in something that is not only efficient and useful, but gorgeous as well, these large capacity acrylic units are worth a look. They are actually made for storing makeup and cosmetics, but they work great for studio supplies as well.
Melody Susie is the same company where I got my UV and LED combo lamp for curing UV Epoxy Resin.
This large capacity organizer is bigger than similar products on the market, with its measurements being 218mm high x 279mm wide x 144mm deep. It comes with two different interchangeable organizing top units. Most of the other acrylic organizers I’ve seen, are 190mm high x 245mm wide x 144mm deep, and they only include one top unit.
I found the quality of the acrylic and its finishing to be very high. You can tell how nice it is by the weight and smooth feel. It’s like a piece of sparkling jewelry to organize your stuff in… whether it is glitters, inks, and crystals like I stored in mine… or if it is jewelry, nail polish and make-up in your bathroom. A pretty piece no matter how you use it.
It is what I would consider a luxury item, since the retail price is a little on the expensive side (over $75). But Melody Susie is currently selling them for around $50 on Amazon. However, if want to pick up a unit right right away, the company was kind enough to offer a 20% discount coupon that is valid from Feb 8, 2016 to Feb 18, 2016. The direct link to this product on Amazon is posted just below the video on this page. At the Amazon checkout page, you can use the 20% DISCOUNT CODE >> V4JZQDZE to knock down the $50 sale price even further. Last time I checked, there was even free shipping.
- Related Resource: MelodySusie Large Capacity Organizer on Amazon
- Related Video: UV + LED Combo Lamp MelodySusie Brand
- Related Video: MelodySusie 12W LED Light Product Review
- Related Video: How I Organize By Zones in My Polymer Clay Studio
- Related Article: Tips For Storing Polymer Clay
Do you have any suggestions for videos on tips, techniques or products you would like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments section below!
My goal is to help you to learn quicker and easier ways to bring up the professionalism in your polymer clay art.
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Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Loved this Melody Susie Acrylis organizer Cindy.
I like my craft stuff to be on hand and easily seen, so any storage made from see through Acrylic works fo me. I have some smaller ones in the bathroom for my nail art polishes and they look so pretty and colouful and can see at a glance what is there. I keep them in a tall cabinet but they slide right out when I need to use them. I will have to look round in stores in UK as think with shipping this large unit would be a little expensive. But good to know more storage items are being made in good quality Acryic….Cheers xx…
Thanks Elaine for commenting! Yes I would imagine a unit like this shipped from the US to the UK would be expensive because of it’s size. I do agree that the clear units are nice to see your stuff through and that they look pretty sitting out. Cheers Back! :)
My goodness Cindy, we never know what you are going to come up with. What a great organizing unit. I would probably need about 10 of them to organize all the stuff I have.
Yeah, I know what you mean Dixie Ann! I put a collection of different supplies to show the versatility of this unit, but like you I would probably need ten to put all the things I have into the one unit. I now have it only filled with glitter, embossing powders and Pearl Ex powders to keep all like items together… plus show them off a bit because they are so pretty in their containers and the acrylic organizer really showcases them nicely.
I also recently just got a revolving metal bin unit that is very industrial looking which I think looks awesome beside the crystal like look of the Acrylic Organizer. A yin and yang… feminine/masculine type contrast is always interesting to me. You’ll probably get to see the new revolving bins and the new arrangement of supplies in this unit, in the backdrop of the videos coming up… though I won’t be doing a feature on the metal one for a little while yet… I don’t want to over do it with too many organizing videos in a row. :)
Hi Cindy, going a little off subject here but storage is behind this. I have watched about 2 thirds of your studio cam videos and I am really enjoying them. You show a lot of products and things you get on sale and what they are used for. I have gone out and purchased a lot of these but I have a question on the Heidi Swapp MetallicTexture Pastes. I really like these pastes but she also has an Art Screen Ink which is similar in the same colors including a white. They both look and feel like a paste but one is labeled an ink and the other a paint. They don’t look much different and was wondering if you can tell us how we would use the Inks? You showed how to use the paints and I love the silkscreen you did in your book. I did get the pastes but the Inks are 50% off on closeout and would hate to miss this sale if they can be used with PC. Can you please advise! I don’t want to duplicate my purchases. Thanks so much!
Hi Dixie Ann, it sounds like you’re having the same sales as I am at my Michaels right now. I wonder if they are just bringing in new colors or getting rid of the line all together? Any way I have a couple tubes of each of the Art Screen Ink and the Metallic Texture paste and to be honest they seem very similar. The ‘ink’ is the same thickness as the paste though I found the texture of the ink to be slightly more gel like and the paste to be smoother but I was comparing the Gold Texture Paste with the Teal Screen Ink and the Teal appeared to have larger metallic particles than the Gold so it could have just been the particle size that I was feeling. Also since I haven’t really played with it much, I don’t really know whether there is a difference in the dry time or how dimensional the products are. They do seem to have a nice quality to them though, so if they were cheap enough, it may be worth having both kinds. I don’t have time to do any real testing on it just yet, so I’m sorry I can’t give you more info than that.
I am happy you are enjoying the Studio Cam Videos.! The longer I am in this business, them more I realize that the real joy is in the WHOLE process. The dreaming, the setting up, the supplies, the learning, the creating, the improving, the using/wearing, the gifting/selling of what you make and the bonding with others. You can’t really separate them from one another. They are all part of the deal… and the Studio Cam Concept really dives into that whole studio experience. It’s not just about tutorials any more. It’s about living a creative life with polymer clay!
Hi Cindy, FYI, Michaesl is dropping the line, Hobby Lobby doesn’t carry it and I couldn’t find any at JoAnns. I did some research online and the ones selling it are also discontinuing it. So if your Michaels has some left on sale I would grab it. Only $3+ for the tubes both in the ink and the paste. I just love this stuff. It’s excellent quality, has a beautiful sheen and a short drying time. I got all 4 colors in both lines. I’m working on some Story Beads right now and am contemplating using it on them. I couldn’t tell much difference between the two either except the Ink seems to dry a lot faster than the paste.
Good to know Dixie Ann! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi everyone! Has anyone come up with a clever way to store their Kemper and similar embossing spring punch cutters? You really can’t tell what they are until you look at the bottom. I have a lot of them and haven’t figured out a good way to store them except putting them all in a baggie or loose in a drawer. You then have to look through all of them to find the one you want tho. Any ideas? Thanks!
G’day Vickie,
I use a fishing tackle box with the dividers arranged so the sections are big enough to hold each shaped set of cutters. It still means looking for the right compartment but it’s easier than searching through loose ones in a drawer. I suppose I could write the name on a sticky label on the back of each section though :-)
Another way I’ve heard about is to roll out scrap clay to make a chunky block; press the cutters into the block; cure as usual. That way there’s a spot for each sized cutter and you can make a block for each shape set.
Cheers,
Chrissie
Those are some good ideas Chrissie! I don’t have any Kemper Cutters yet (I know hard to believe but it is true), so I haven’t had to come up with a way to store them. Thanks for coming to Vickie’s rescue! :)
Thanks so much for the idea. It’s so nice that the community here will actually take the time to answer other people’s questions. Wish one of the polymer clay companies would come up with something that hung on the wall. My space is so tight that it’s no bigger than a walk in closet so I use up as much space on the wall as I can tho I have big windows that eat away most of the wall space. I like the idea of dividers in the tool box so that you don’t have to go through all of them to find the one you want. Thanks so much Chrissie!
With space (or lack thereof!) a big issue how about tying a suitable length of fine string to the shaft of each Kemper cutter, make a loop on the other end of the string and hang them by sets to nails or hooks on the wall? Or use different coloured embroidery threads?
If any other ideas come to mind, I’ll pop back and add them, Vickie :-)
That would certainly pretty up my wall – ha. It’s a good idea but I would prefer to find something where the cutters and embossing cutters can sit in a way that I can see at a glance which one is which. Great idea tho – if you hung them with colored embroidery threads it could be done in a way that looked pretty cool. I have limited mobility due to a back injury so my lower back is painful all the time and I have nerve damage in both my legs. Therefore I need to find ways to display things on my desk and on the wall behind it where I can reach everything from where i’m sitting. Otherwise I have a hard time if I have to get up and down a lot so my space is very small and I am mobility challenged – ha. In a big room I would line up desks along the wall and roll my chair around to get to where I needed to go. In this small room I can roll my chair but only so far. Thank you for the good idea Chrissie!
Hi, Vickie,
Just as Chrissie mentioned, I used some scrap clay to make holders for my Kemper cutters. I didn’t make mine as blocks, I wanted to be able to see the full set all at once. So mine are more like strips, and i played a little with the shapes. The longest one is for the round cutters, it’s about 7″ long and a little curvy. I put a little yellow circle of clay in front of the space for each cutter and wrote the size of the cutter that goes there.
I have made three of these holders so far, for the round, square, and triangle cutters. I am thrilled with them…. they are convenient, easy to use. For the way I work, the more i have my tools visible and easily accessible, the more I use them. That might sound sort of obvious, but I seem to need the visual trigger to get ideas. Plus, for me, when I make something that I will use every day, I get a great deal of satisfaction each time I put my hands on it.
So, whatever technique you use, have fun with it!
Fran
That’s a good idea Fran – you should post a picture of that somewhere. Maybe when Cindy gets her new website up there will be a place for sharing pictures – that would be awesome. I have the tiniest space imaginable for a work space – only about 7.5 x 8 feet and two of the walls have windows and one wall is a small closet. I got so excited when I discovered polymer clay that I have been collecting just about every tool you can imagine even tho I have little time right now to work on projects because I have a stinky “real” job too – LOL. I too like to see everything so I don’t have to hunt it down but with my desk area being so small I was hoping to thin of something I could put on what little wall space I have. I guess a polymer clay base could be figured out that could be hung on the wall too. Different blocks or strips of clay that have a hole drilled down at an angle to the handles of the cutters could slip down into the hole and you could see the bottom end shape. I’m gonna think on that for a while and see what I can think up. I was thinking about asking my neighbor to come up with something for me. He’s an elderly guy who loves to keep busy and does a lot of wood work. Maybe I could talk him into making something for me. I’m kind of surprised that Kemper or the maker of these plastic embossing cutters hasn’t come up with a good way to store them. There’s money to be made in that idea – somebody, Cindy maybe???? LOL I don’t know what the future plans have in store for Cindy but would actually like to see her get into the retail end of things too. Course that means a lot of work with packaging and shipping and storing items so not sure she’d be interested in that – I’m sure she is super busy as it is. I will keep thinking on it and if I come up with something I will let you know. Thanks so much for sharing your info with me – gave me some ideas! Thanks Fran!!!!
The first thing we need to do is get this darn website done… then we can think about other things. :)
This too shall pass….
:-)))))
Thank you Chrissie! :)