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Browsing around a gift store downtown a few weeks ago I spied a lunch bag I loved, but left it there as I didn't need one. After I got home I realized I could use it to hold craft supplies so looked the company up online. Imagine my delight to discover that their baby room storage containers perfectly fit on Ikea Expedit/Kallax shelves; I'd completely passed by the baby display in the store. The company is 3 Sprouts - here's the cute bin I bought, together with a peek inside at my foam stamps. I do like things that are amusing, but practical. You can see my current ink pad storage on an Ikea Kvissle letter tray beside it, together with a Betz White felted pincushion made from an old sweater. The 3rd picture is my bookcase of craft books and art journals which I recently went through and purged. Those binders contain old Big Picture class handouts; borrowing an idea from The Frugal Crafter I covered the spines in paper to help them blend into the room better. I still haven't decided what's going in the lunch bag, but will share it when I do.

Wow this looks so nice and neat! Love the hedgehog. Now I'm interested to know what you use the foam stamps on? Something other than cards or LOs?

paddlegal wrote:Wow this looks so nice and neat! Love the hedgehog. Now I'm interested to know what you use the foam stamps on? Something other than cards or LOs?

Well, you are only getting close-up views of the neat parts LOL. Layouts and art journal pages, no cards. The Art Foamies are a fairly new addition, intended mostly for art journaling - haven't played with them all yet. The others are a decade old or more; I purged a few but did keep quite a few. And even used some recently on a scrapbook page

Oh, the hedgehog is really cute!

Looks great Keitha! I love the hedgehog too, very cute!

Looking good!

that hedgehog is too cute - we need to remember to look outside the craft world for good storage options!
I love that letter tray deal, I can't ever get my husband to go to IKEA. (Ours is in a less than desirable town)

nancine wrote:that hedgehog is too cute - we need to remember to look outside the craft world for good storage options!

Indeed! I'd say probably half of what I use for storage is leftover or re-purposed from something else. I even have some fabric bins that had been in the nursery, and when I didn't need them for diapers any more, they got migrated to the craft room. Those came from Babies R Us, and the size was perfect for holding 12x12 kits. Most 12x12 craft storage bins are barely big enough to hold paper, and they certainly don't fit an entire kit that's still in a bag. But nursery storage was just the ticket.

nancine wrote: I love that letter tray deal, I can't ever get my husband to go to IKEA. (Ours is in a less than desirable town)

Oh I'd love to have Ikea, Target, Traders Joe's, etc near me. There is NOT a lot of shopping here in Findlay. We just got a Big R store in the old Sears building at the "mall". So now we have 3 farm & home type stores on the same road within 1/2 mile of each other.

1/2 hour north there is civilization...Costco, Target and Michaels, not to forget other good shopping stores.

Sorry Ikea is not located in a good area for you. Funny they built there.

The last time I lived in Wisconsin, the Joann's was about 30 minutes away in a less than stellar part of Milwaukee. In the parking lot were special spaces for cop cars to park. The area had a lot of stores, traffic, so I never felt out of place.

Oh, you poor things! Here we are in the middle of the East Coast megalopolis and our county is invisible to retailers. We have two local Food Lions and a Walmart. At least we do have farm markets and an Aldi. It's over an hour north or south to a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or Ikea. Costco, JoAnn, a mall, are 45 minutes away in Delaware. This is why I don't shop.

I like your storage ideas. Everything looks very nice and organized. The foam stamps are great for gelli printing.

Cool storage, especially the ink pads.

As for what is close by... I have Costco, Joanns, Michaels and Hobby Lobby 10-15 minutes away, along with 2 Wal-Marts bracketing Yakima, and a decent mall for clothes.... but the closest Trader Joe's is... Issaquah I think? 2 hours away. IKEA is somewhere around Seattle but I've never been. Whole Foods... went to one once in Southern California I believe. And the nearest In-n-Out is easily a full day's drive away. And it's an hour to get to Barnes & Noble!

Marianne, when we lived in Gallipolis, Ohio many years ago, everything was an hour or more away, in Ohio and West Virginia. We had a wonderful Big Bear grocery store and a store several steps under a Walmart. This was us coming from Detroit area where there was everything.

I do feel for you living in such poor shopping conditions. I know not everyone lives in a shopping mecca like my sister Rose in Naperville, IL. She is right where she wants to be, lucky girl.

I can't feel too sorry for you gals. Here - and I'll use that term loosely to include the Greater Toronto Area with a population of 6.4 million people - we have Michaels for crafts. That's it. Costco and Walmart. Thankfully, Ikea - for me an hour away. Target was here for all of 10 minutes; they were idiots and crashed and burned - Canadians are not stupid. A range of good grocery stores, although we don't get nearly the product choice found in America. I'm familiar with JoAnn and Hobby Lobby, search them out when I travel in the US, which is not on the agenda for the immediate future. I've been in a Trader Joe's once and Tuesday Morning a handful of times, again both on trips south of the border (which is the Canada/US border for me). We do have Toys/Babies R Us. I'm a fan of online shopping and just ignore the shipping, duty and taxes I have to pay for the privilege to get what I want. Usually - Cheap Joe's wanted $43 shipping for a $31 order the other day. Um, no thanks.
I'll confess I don't get the fascination with In-n-Out Burger, if that's what you're referring to. While in California a few years ago at Scramp Camp a couple of the gals were raving about it so we went for lunch one day. I've got photos of us outside the restaurant, and a souvenir burger paper (clean one, which I politely asked for even though the kid thought I was crazy) for a layout. He even gave me a paper hat, LOL. You could say I was underwhelmed with the burger; I'm thinking there must be something addictive in them which, with my only having the one, didn't affect me.
But I will say, despite the retail shortcomings which are to be expected given our country's population of 36 million vs. yours of 323 million, there are many things I love about Canada and am happy to call it home.

Keitha wrote: I'll confess I don't get the fascination with In-n-Out Burger, if that's what you're referring to. While in California a few years ago at Scramp Camp a couple of the gals were raving about it so we went for lunch one day. .

Okay, I must've missed something you've told before, but Scramp Camp?! Where I am going next month with my Westie pals? Lucy had to be the one raving about In & Out

I guess it was a camp I missed? I've missed a few in the last years - heck one year I was even an organizer! What "location" did you attend and who is your "contact" in the group?