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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Not Technical - Not Tuesday

This Is Definitely Not Technical
And it is Definitely Not Tuesday

I was trying to get this done yesterday,
but life happened and the blog post didn't happen.

Does anyone else out there sometimes feel like they are drowning in clutter?

I have a lot, and I mean a lot
of paper, magazines, books and printed ebooks that is beginning to overtake me.
I have a fairly large studio,
but I have a wide range of interests and things just start to stack up -
literally!

So I have two ways to try, and I stress the word TRY, to keep it under control.

Did I mention I'm tight!
I don't like to spend money on something I can make for myself,
so I've been making these magazine holders this way for about 20 years or more.
They work great in my studio.


 Cereal Box
Brown Paper
Tape

Are you getting the picture here.
The large cereal boxes will even hold my art books as well, 
so I'll be making more of these.
 I cover them in brown paper that I use for the back of my paintings.
You could put nice labels on them,
but hey,
they aren't in stacks on the floor and shelves,
so this is pretty good for me.

Now here's what I did for some of my art books that cost a little bit of money,
but they look nicer.

Large binder, 3" or 4" works great.
Then I bought a pkg of Magazine Holders by Rubbermaid.
I got them at my local office supply shop.
They come in a pkg. of 12 and the last time I bought them they were about $3.95 per pkg.
You can put a whole years worth of magazines in one and then you're done in about 10 minutes.

These are books from Northlight and they are heavier than magazines,
but it still works.

Not a clear pic, but you at least know what you're looking for.


Here's the holder in one of the books.  It wouldn't go to the half way point in the book
because the book is thicker than a magazine, but it will still work.

The holder then fits right in the binder and you can take out any book or magazine you want.

 I made front and side labels for the notebook.
The one has two sizes because I wasn't sure which would fit on the end binding.

I just used a template for a flier in Publisher.
Erased all the stuff they had except for the picture and the color blocks at the top.

I could have put a picture of one of my own paintings in place of the one they had,
but I love sunsets and sunrises so I used theirs.
I printed it on cardstock paper so it would go into the front and side plastic cover 
without incidence.

 
Finished product.


Here's how they look on my shelf.

The cereal box holders are cheaper, but the notebooks look really nice.
But I have a lot more books to do something with,
so I'm sure both ideas will get used some more.

I told you it was not technical,
but it is something I need and use.

I need to go eat some Cherrio's

5 comments:

  1. The magazine binder is brilliant! Ha, I'm sure with your outstanding ability to organize, your studio will soon be tidy very soon. Good post!

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  2. Thanks Diane. I appreciate your time and comment. I can't work in a mess. I need a minimal amount of order.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh you are much more organized than I am, great ideas. I just keep saying I need a bigger studio but organization is probably what I need most. It's more fun to paint,lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've never seen the magazine holders before. What a great idea! I also like your idea for re-using cereal boxes.

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  5. too funny Barb. You're right, it is more fun to paint, but I can't paint with toooooo much stuff stacked up around me.

    Nancy, I forget who introduced me to the mag holders, but they are great. I really like recycling stuff like my cereal boxes.

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

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Ghent, Kentucky, United States
I'm a nature artist and I love to paint old barns, rivers and lakes, trees and fence rows and flowers. I work almost daily. You can purchase paintings by contacting me at slgraves6@gmail.com and there is also a tab across the top of my blog for available paintings and one for small paintings with buy now buttons. You can also purchase through my Etsy shop using the name of Fine Nature Art. . Thank you so much for stopping by.