Did you know that Stampin’ Up! carries just over 50 different colours of card stock in its Annual Catalogue ? If you have all of those colours in your craft space, then you know that that can be a lot to keep track of. When I am brainstorming a card or paper craft project, I end up with half of my card stock collection on my desk as I try to figure out the right colours to use. Then, once I have decided on the colours, I have to spend five minutes putting it all away! It’s such a pain in the butt!! But now, I have a new system for viewing and choosing colours… and I love it!!

I saw an idea from Ardyth Percy-Robb (@ardythpr1) on Instagram and had to watch her YouTube video on how to make magnetic card stock swatches. It was pure genius and I started making little squares of card stock immediately!! I modified my swatches slightly from how Ardyth made them, but the concept is the same.

I started out by cutting 1″ squares of every colour of card stock that I had and also cut 1″ squares from an adhesive-backed magnetic sheet. Then I printed out labels (return address labels, 1.75″ x 0.5″) with the names of each cardstock and trimmed those to 1″ as well.

To assemble, simply put a square of cardstock on the adhesive side of the magnetic sheet and add the corresponding colour name to the back. This can be a bit time consuming, but the end result is totally worth it!!

Now that you have a full inventory of all the card stock colours, how are you going to organize it? By hue…

…or by Stampin’ Up! Colour Collection?

After trying different arrangements, I decided to organize my swatches by hue. They live right in front my desk on a magnetic board and are only an arm’s length away! They are easy enough to rearrange if I decide to organize them a different way later on.

I love being able to see all the colours at once and if I need to know the name of it, I just flip the swatch around! I also love being able to take the swatches off to mix and match colours without creating a big mess!! It’s now so easy to experiment with new colour combos!

If you are an avid Stampin’ Up! crafter, then you may notice that I have used the 2019-2021 and 2020-2022 In Colors for these swatches. I still need to make the swatches for the new 2021-2023 In Colours and will share an update next week when the colours are available for everyone to order.

Happy crafting and swatch making!!

Leah