New Distress Ink, My little ritual

Most people I know who collect craft supplies such as Distress Inks have their own little ritual for cataloguing and organising them. As I've purchased quite a few lately I've been thinking a lot about how I go through the same routine every time I get a new Ink - so much so that I've got it down to military precision (well, almost).

You may have already seen my colour chart that doubles as storage for my blending pads posts and it's really filling up now, so each new ink has to it's own place. I also have colour charts in both my A5 folder and pocket Filofax - not to mention the task of labelling of the ink pad itself.
 

 

Firstly, I open up all the new inks that need cataloguing (I usually buy 3 at a time on offer so it pays to be methodical) in this case I'm using the example of the 'Spring' limited edition seasonal inks. Each ink gets new blending foam pad from inkssentials at ranger. And I start by filling in the large colour chart. To limit the ink colour to the correct square I use post-its to mask all 4 edges. This is always my first proper taste of what the colour will actually look like so its quite exciting. Once dry I pop a square of sticky-backed Velcro in the centre (which will grip to the back of the foam pad once I've finished).

 

Next I take some scrap paper (here I used 3 unused pages from an old Filofax) and ink once in each colour. From this I cut 3 pieces: a 5cm by 1cm rectangle, a 1 inch butterfly punch, and a 1.5 cm bow punch.

 

The Butterfly fits perfectly in my resized A5 (sadly the seasonal inks have to go on the back for this sheet as I didn't originally allow for these). The bow fits into the boxes on my pocket filofax sheet (with extra boxes added here for the seasonal inks).

 

The 5cm by 1 cm strip goes on the side of each ink - this way I can see the colour easily when they are stacked, and quickly compare colours when using them together. I also take a silver pen from my papermania metallic bullet tip set and write the name on the side so they are easy to identify and there is no accidentally 'getting the wrong lid on the wrong ink' situation.

And that's my little ritual ... I feel much better for having shared, lol. This post also marks on official halt on Distress Ink purchasing still Christmas :( But apparently people need present ideas. That said when I started looking into Halloween cards and craft I have realised how I am seriously lacking I am in Oranges... [must controll buying impulses, must controll buying impulses]