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I apologize if this has been asked before, I couldn't find a thread about it. How do y'all store your little steel dies? I seem to have acquired a few in recent months, and need a system so I'll use them. The Sizzix/TH ones now come with a plastic pocket; and before I invest in more of those I wondered if there's a better way.

I use the Avery Elle envelopes for my clear stamps and dies. I put the dies behind the stamps (if I have the set). I'm a flipper-searcher. I can find things much faster that way. (Jennifer McGuire)

pamcook wrote:I use the Avery Elle envelopes for my clear stamps and dies. I put the dies behind the stamps (if I have the set). I'm a flipper-searcher. I can find things much faster that way. (Jennifer McGuire)

So Pam, do you keep all your clear stamps and dies together? Or just the stamp sets that have dies to go with them? I have a couple of sets of stamps and dies, but way more of each that don't go with each other. Would have to think about the pros and cons of integrating them all - although sorted by category as I do I would be seeing all my options in one place. I'm a flipper-searcher as you are.

I have a separate bin for those dies that don't have stamps. One bin is stamp (with dies if I have them) and another bin for dies without stamps.

I was using DVD cases with magnet sheets in them for my steel dies that came without cases, but now I have way too many to keep doing that... so I switched to the Avery Elle plastic sleeves, too... I got some chipboard pieces (the weight of cereal box cardboard) and glued some magnetic sheet material (or magnetic strips or whatever I could find) so there's a magnetic surface inside each of those plastic envelopes/bags/sleeves whatever they're called...

I wouldn't buy more of the TH plastic envelopes... the little dies seem to slip out of those no matter what I do to keep them upright.... so those suckers go in one of those Avery Elle things, now, too...

nchoney wrote:I was using DVD cases with magnet sheets in them for my steel dies that came without cases, but now I have way too many to keep doing that... so I switched to the Avery Elle plastic sleeves, too... I got some chipboard pieces (the weight of cereal box cardboard) and glued some magnetic sheet material (or magnetic strips or whatever I could find) so there's a magnetic surface inside each of those plastic envelopes/bags/sleeves whatever they're called...

I wouldn't buy more of the TH plastic envelopes... the little dies seem to slip out of those no matter what I do to keep them upright.... so those suckers go in one of those Avery Elle things, now, too...

Good to know Debi; those TH/Sizzix envelopes aren't cheap, and take up more room than the Avery Elle envelopes do. I do have some of those envelopes but not any magnetic sheets, will have to check the dollar store or something. Someone suggested locker 'wallpaper' from there.

I keep mine in the Avery Elle plastic pockets too, and flip through them. I have them divided by company which works if I can remember what I'm looking for
I do put some with the stamp sets if they fit.

At Home Depot or Lowe's or a hardware/home improvement store look for the magnetic vent covers. They are cheap and easy to cut and I tape them to a sturdy piece of cardstock, or cereal box type material like Debi does. I like those TH/Sizzix envelopes but they do take up a bunch of room. I have the Stamps of Life stamps with matching dies in them since I got some from them.

Amazon has the vent covers too.... https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss ... NIM6J3B5N7

Ok, I just looked at the link to vent covers. I never heard of such a thing, what is the point of them? We might need them to keep heat down and cooling up-if that is the point! Do they really work?

mpizzazz wrote:Ok, I just looked at the link to vent covers. I never heard of such a thing, what is the point of them? We might need them to keep heat down and cooling up-if that is the point! Do they really work?

If you have floor vents they might be of use. But the magnetic cling factor isn't generally enough to work on ceiling vents.

Thanks to Nancy turning me on to these magnetic sheets I've been storing my dies with them. The magnetic sheets are found at my local Home Depot near the water heaters. These photos show the Avery Elle plastic envelopes but I also like and prefer the Ellen Hutson brand which are a little thicker. I store my dies on these sheets. If I have stamps with matching dies they get stored together and then are kept in their specific categories...like all my coffee and bird stamp/die sets are together with all the stamp sets that don't have dies in those categories.

I also have the Avery Elle Envelopes and use them for stamps mainly. Love them but I keep my dies in a case and use the magnetic sheets that come with the case. I have this stuff all packed but will see if I can get a picture in the morning. I find that the magnetic sheets are much sturdier than the vent covers but do use both.

mpizzazz wrote:Ok, I just looked at the link to vent covers. I never heard of such a thing, what is the point of them? We might need them to keep heat down and cooling up-if that is the point! Do they really work?

They're used to help cover vents in rooms where you don't want heat or a/c. Before you think about doing this, though, please remember that your home's H/AC system is designed to work more efficiently with all vents open. Closing one or two won't make any difference in the electric bill, either. If you're having a problem with thermal dynamics (hot air rises/cold air falls), remember to rotate the blade spin on your ceiling fans when the seasons change. That helps push the heat off of the ceiling or pull the cool air up, plus the motion of the fan blades have a cooling effect.

Sorry, I've heard this lecture so many times I can recite it in my sleep.

Sorry for the but thanks for the replies about ceiling vents and covers.

We used to switch the blade direction on the ceiling fan, Pam, but with an open stairwell to downstairs right under the fan, it didn't help much. I do open and close the vents depending on the season to get hot air down or cool air up. That doesn't help much either.

Got photos of what I use for my dies.
Open & holds a lot of dies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UJ74g36Ho4

For anyone who hasn't seen Jennifer's video for die storage.

Cheryl, I remember your die storage from the beach. Those Art Bins are expensive here, plus I prefer open bins that I can pull off a shelf and flip through. They're great for traveling, though.
Thanks to Nancy here and someone on another forum who mentioned the vent covers. Home Depot here (Canada) only carries one size, one style - not the bigger sheets that you can cut to fit. But I can work with the 4x10 size with the vent grills printed on them They are thin and easy to cut, and perhaps not as attractive, magnetically speaking, as the Art Bin inserts but inserted in envelopes will work fine - much better than trying to peel those thin dies off two-sided tape without bending them.
I have some Avery Elle envelopes - which work great with the Fuse, BTW - but they aren't big enough for the couple of Altenew sets I have. Which brings me to the observation that the envelopes the matching dies and stamps come in aren't the same size - making it impossible to store both together in the same packaging without trimming or folding the insert. In the case of one set the illustration is not only helpful but pretty much necessary to figure out what bits to use, so it's not going anywhere. Don't know why companies can't put a little more thought into these things - unless of course they're also trying to get you to buy yet another product for storage.
Farley, I'll be checking out the Ellen Hutson envelopes before buying anymore of the Avery Elle ones.