Foam Board Ink Pad Holder

I am on a reorganizing kick in my craft room.  I have 5 of the acrylic Dzyntec storage cubes that I have been using for many years.  I really like them because they store 12 ink pads, and there are three little drawers that are divided into 12 compartments.  I store my reinkers, daubers, and matching brads in them.  There is also a drawer to hold markers.  Basically, every color family has it's own little container, and I love having it all together.  But they take up a lot of room.

I was looking through the SCS galleries for a new way to store my ink pads, and I came across wenchie's gallery.  She has a variety of holders and storage items that she has made out of foam board, and I thought I would give it a try.  I really liked the clean lines of them, and it would be really cheap.

If you're wondering why I haven't been stamping lately, it's because I have spent days making my ink pad holder.  Being a perfectionist has its drawbacks, but it also pays off with a project like this.  Figuring out the dimensions probably took as long as it did to make it, but now that I know what I am doing, I can see myself making other projects in the future.

I cut all the pieces using my quilting rulers and a craft knife. Then I cut the end pieces where the shelves will go.  I was careful to not cut all the way through the back paper so the foam could be removed, creating the slots.

I also cut holes in each shelf and the bottom for the vertical supports.  Measure four times, cut once.  That's why it took me so long, but I never made a mistake!

I started the assembly by hot gluing the vertical supports into the base.  If you do this, make sure you lift it off of your work surface before the glue sets so it doesn't get stuck!

I checked the shelf height with the end pieces temporarily in place.  Then I put a little line of hot glue around the vertical supports.  Most of the slots were cut to fit pretty snug, so a lot of gluing wasn't necessary.

Starting the next shelf.

Shelf pushed all the way down the supports.  My shelves were spaced 1" on center, so it was easy to line them up using my quilt ruler.  As soon as I got the shelf in place and level, I ran a little bead of hot glue around the vertical support.  (No, I did not use a carpenter's level, I just eyeballed it with the ruler!)  Each shelf was done in this manner.

Ta-da!  After all the shelves were in place, I glued on the ends, top, and back.  The top is a shelf to hold all my reinkers.

Here it is with some of my SU! ink pads.  The reinkers are all on top, my markers will fit in one of the slots, and my daubers fit perfectly on the bottom shelf in the Dzyntec acrylic holders.  I still have room for the 10 In Colors, and any extra ink pads I want to hold on to.  The best thing is that this has a much smaller footprint than the 4 Dzyntec holders everything was in before.  Only the brads need a new home, and I'm working on that one. 

I am really pleased with how this turned out.  Now I just need to make another one for all my Staz-on and various other ink pads.

I think I'll stamp something first, though!

K

ETA:  For more detailed directions and the dimensions I used, see my other post here.  To see all of my foam board projects, you can click on the "foam board" label on the left side of my blog.