Ink Pad Storage + Ink Swatch Printable

I have a TON of ink pads of all different brands! I needed a brilliant ink pad storage solution for all of those ink pads and I found one. Now, do you need an ink pad storage solution when you have fewer ink pads? Yes! Staying organized in a way that works for you allows for the creative juices to flow. And this ink pad storage solution I found can work for anyone!

Great, but what about picking a color from all of those ink pads? We know that the lid of an ink pad isn’t an accurate reflection of the ink color. That’s where an ink swatch book comes in handy.

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Ink Pad Storage

If you’ve read any of my previous posts or about me section, you’ll know that I started stamping and card making when I found Stampin’ Up. I had ALL of the ink pads, reinkers, and markers. At first, I kept them in several photo storage boxes but that wasn’t exactly convenient for finding various colors. Then, I made an ink pad storage rack out of foam core board, but I outgrew it quickly and it wasn’t the most sturdy thing ever constructed.

Thankfully I found Stamp-n-Storage Ink Pad Holders! These things are amazing! Since I started with Stampin’ Up! ink pads I wanted a solution for those specifically. The Stamp-n-Storage Combo Holder fits the bill perfectly!! It holds my ink pads, reinkers, and markers. I still have all of those ink pads, plus a few more. I have the one that holds 60 ink pads, reinkers, and markers. See…

Soon I branched out into other brands and considering I have ‘full-set syndrome’ I amassed a rather large collection of ink pads. I went back to the Stamp-n-Storage website and found the Slim Ink Pad Holder. This ink pad storage solution is amazing! It holds up to 120 ink pads!!! That’s just crazy! That’s just one of three Slim Ink Pad Holder storage units I have. The others aren’t yet completely full. The ink brands pictured are Simon Says Stamp ink and Altenew inks.

Note

Notice that I have labels and swatch colors on the end of all of my ink pads. This allows me to quickly find the ink I want and have a true representation of the color. I used Avery mailing labels. I typed two ink names in each label, printed it, stamped the swatch, trimmed them down with my paper trimmer, and adhered each label to the corresponding ink pad.

A few more things to note about Stamp-n-Storage ink pad storage solutions:

The various ink pad storage solutions come in a multitude of sizes to meet every need
Stamp-n-Storage has ink pad storage units to fit into your Ikea shelving units perfectly.
These ink pad storage units are super sturdy!
I love that you can leave these units unfinished or paint them.

My Favorite Ink Pads

Having a favorite ink pad is like picking your favorite movie…it changes over time. Stampin’ Up! ink pads were my favorite for a long time. I mean there are a bunch of colors and everything coordinates so perfectly. What I soon discovered was a Stampin’ Up! ink pad has to be reinked often and a lot. This did not thrill me at all which lead me to seek out other ink pads. Here are my favorite ink pads.

Altenew – I LOVE Altenew ink pads. These ink pads are just amazing! The color smooths out on any paper. There’s little to no texture left behind on the stamp, just ink. The colors are beautiful and usually are in sets of four lightest to darkest colors. That makes for easy layered stamping.
Hero Arts – I really like the Hero Arts ink pads. There’s a wide range of colors that smooth out once stamped.
Lawn Fawn Jet Black Ink – Since I Copic color so much I have to have a Copic friendly ink. Right now (and for a while now) Lawn Fawn’s Jet Black Ink has been it. The black is really black and it doesn’t smear. I’ve tried several other Copic friendly inks that either wasn’t black enough or the ink took a very long time to dry else the ink would smear.

You may want to check out this article of Understanding the Six Commonly Used Inks in Stamping to learn more about the different kinds of inks.

Ink Swatches

With all these various ink pads in so many beautiful colors, it can be a challenge to know which color to use on a card project. I created an ink swatch watch to help solve this issue. I used coin collectors storage sheets, Neenah Solar White cardstock and metal book rings to make a swatch book.

Just print each template out on the paper you usually use to make a card. Next, grab a solid image stamp. It doesn’t’ matter what the stamp is just as long as it is a pretty solid image. Grab your ink pads and take a few minutes to stamp each color into the corresponding square on the ink swatch template. You can either cut the square apart and use the coin collectors storage sheets or leave the page whole and slide it into a regular page protector. Also, if there’s an ink brand that isn’t included and you would like one made, email me at hello@jillcameroncreations.com and I’ll be happy to make one for you!