Iris Multi Media Organizer Box

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Reported by Dana Vitek

If you are anything like me, your stamping life changed with the sudden swamping of the marketplace with, say it with me now, PHOTOPOLYMER STAMPS! Also known as acrylic or clear stamps, these bad boys have changed the way I create. Unfortunately, they create something of their very own... a storage dilemma. The popular stamping message boards are full of threads with newbies asking about the best way to store clear stamps (and cling-mounted rubber stamps too, let's not forget about them). The general consensus: empty CD cases!

Brilliant! So smart, that I immediately bought 200 empty CD cases, assuring my husband that a bulk buy was really the cheapest way to go, and certainly I'd have plenty to share with other stampers who were as desperate for storage as I was. Ahem. So, how do I store my 180 CD cases full of clear and cling-mounted rubber stamps? I present the Iris Multi Media Organizer Box:

The first pass of moving and organizing my stamps filled about 50 CD cases which I was able to fit in a re-appropriated CD rack stolen (permanently) borrowed from an old roommate. It did its job, but it was out in the open. My daughter would often toddle by, remove anywhere from 17 to 48 CDs at a time--depending on her mood--and leave me cursing the fact that my basement craft room still wasn't finished. When I came across the Iris Multi Media Organizer Box, I knew I could finally keep my kids out of my stuff, oh happy day! To be fair, my husband found and bought the first batch of these boxes for his computer geekery stuff; I promptly dumped them out to keep the ill-gotten gains for myself.

The boxes themselves are typical Iris quality plastic with tight-fitting lids. They measure 9 1/4" x 17 1/4" and are 6 3/4" deep, so it's a pretty sizable box. According to their website, they can hold 57 CDs, but I have 60 in each of mine. I like round numbers. Here's one of them:



The best part about these boxes is their compartment-size flexibility. They come with two dividers, and three different slots for those dividers, so they can be customized (within reason) to what you're storing. Do you keep your stuff in large DVD cases? They can hold 26 DVDs (maybe more, that's just what their website says). Or, you can take the dividers out entirely
to make a big bin that is (gasp) big enough to hold your 12" paper cutter (that's really more like 15 inches) and all of your rulers:


For you folks in a hurry, here's the executive summary:

Pros:

• Plastic storage with a tight lid keeps out dust, buggies, and children with grabby hands, if you have any of those issues in your work area.
• Transparent, so you can see their contents at a glance without even opening them.
• Movable dividers to customize the space specifically for your stuff.
• Stackable.

Cons:

• Price. For what is ultimately a plastic box, it's pretty spendy. I've seen them for between $8.99 to $11.99. I paid $15 for a three-pack at Costco and felt the sweet satisfaction of getting a good deal.
• Transparent (yes, I know... it can be both), so you need to keep them out of direct sunlight if you're storing photopolymer stamps or anything that can fade, like cardstock or designer paper.
• As much as I really, really want it to, my Tonic guillotine trimmer just won't fit. But, since it was hardly designed with that in mind, I can't really fault them for it!

You can find the Iris Multi Media Organizer Box at office supply stores (like Office Depot, and a quick Google search turned up these other retailers: stacksandstacks.com, huney-do.com, and spacesavers.com.

I definitely recommend the Iris Multi Media Organizer Box for storing your CD cases (whatever might be in them), and other random stuff as well. Do you have this storage system, or do you have something that works even better? Leave us a comment and we'll check it out!