Repurposing a Stampin Up! Ink pad tower

Who still have these becuase they just can't stand the thought of getting rid of them yet?!

picture from pinterest

In the early days of my stamping, I loved my Stampin Up! Ink Pad holder. All my pads right there on my work table right in front of me! They are a bit expensive but I saved my pennies to purchase it. But like most of us, over time my ink pad collections grew while the tower did not.

At one point it held the odd distress and Staz-on ink pads, but eventually I outgrew the tower, again. So, it sat in the corner of my spare bedroom collecting lots - and lots - and lots of dust! Lord this thing is a dust magnet! LOL

Anyway, since my family is now practicing social distancing during the current Covid-19 Pandemic I have been cleaning up and out my craft room and supplies. I thought about donating but decided to give it another shot at usefulness by creating some small drawers and turning it into rotating storage for my embellishments which I have also been going through.

Here's what you are going to need if you want to try this yourself. I also created a sheet showing the score lines and cut lines which will be at the end of the post. Please note that all measurements are in inches.

• 12 sheets of 8.5 x 11 card stock
• Optional - add 4 more sheets (16 total) to make boxes for the top of the tower
• Bone Folder
• Labels (Optional)
• Paper Trimmer
• Punch for a Tab (I used a tab punch from Stampin Up! cut in half)
• Scissors
• Score board
• Strong glue or adhesive tape (I used Art Glitter Glue)

To make the drawers, score 12 of the card stock sheets as follows

Score on the short side at

.75"

3.50"

5"

7.75"

Turn

Score on the long side at

.75"

4.75"

6.25"

10.25"

Using the paper trimmer, cut the card stock into four 4.25 x 5.50 (4-1/2” x 5-1/2”) pieces (A2 size)

Using the scissors clip a small wedge from each corner to facilitate a clean closure

Using your bone folder, create nice crisp folds along the score lines

Next, start folding in and glueing the corners

Almost finished drawer

Adhere tabs on the bottom

Thats it! All done. Now you can add a label. I do suggest that if you are planning to hand write onto the drawers to do so before glueing into shape.

If you want to make the boxes for the tops you will need the extra 4 pieces of card stock.

Cut into 8.50" x 8.50" square

Score at 2.50" and 5.75"

Turn

Score at 2.50" and 5.75"

As with the drawers, trim a small wedge from each corner and use your bone folder to create nice crisp folds. Then start folding in and glueing.

Here is the layout for the drawers

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial!

(Hugs) Cara

Cabinet make-over ...

It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.  Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.  ~Alan Ball

Good morning!

Today I am sharing a make over.

I have been hunting for a way to store my embossing folders and thin metal dies which I currently have located in several different containers spread out all over my craft room ... drives me nuts!

While out and about several months ago, I found this 5 drawer cabinet at a local resell shop for $20.00. After some quick measuring I purchased it and dragged it home much to my husbands consternation! The nice thing about the drawers is that they pull all the way out making it easy to get to things towards the back of the drawer.

Since the weather has been awesome lately, I asked my dear husband to drag the cabinet to the back patio so I could begin the process of cleaning and repainting it.

Not pictured here is the marble slab that was attached with some sort of silcone to the top of the cabinet. If you look closed enough you can see the circles where the silicone was blobbed on. My husband threw that away as it was damaged and unusable for any other projects.

I pulled out the drawers, tighted up all the tracks, washed, sandpapered and washed again. Once dry I used a Glidden paint/primer mix but I was not happy with the coverage and finished up going over the cabinet with a couple cans of white spray paint ... I'm think now that the paint might have been old as I've never had that issue before.

I was originally going to leave the cabinet all white and change out the hardware to some red handles but while rumaging through my spray paints I found a left over can of red spray paint from another project which I decided at the last minute to use on the drawers. Love how it turned out!

Here is the finished cabinet. 

Although I might add some red details to the cabinet trim later as well as metal label holders (I think I have just enough red spray paint to cover them). I have yet to decide. What do you think?

I used foam board to divide the drawers in half. Next I need to make new index tabs then I can transfer my embossing folders and dies and clear out a lot of boxes!

I have sizzix strip dies and sizzlets but those are stored in another cabinet that works perfectly for them so I am thinking I will use the smaller top drawer to store all my embellisments that I have in several shoe boxes on a shelf. 

Overall, I'm really happy with it and can't wait to get it into my craftroom.

Thanks for stopping by!
(Hugs) Cara