Stencil Storage DIY Project

Stencil Storage: Hi, I’m Deb and I’m part of the Plannercraft DT. This month, I thought I would post a how-to regarding storage of stencils.

I’m always struggling to find the ideal storage for my various craft supplies, it’s too big, too small, too expensive or just not practical. So when I saw Sam Calcott’s DIY stencil storage on her YouTube channel I had to give it a go. 

This is a donation promotion as part of the Chocolate Baroque DT with some of their latest releases. Thoughts listed herein are entirely the authors own opinion based upon using the supplies in practice.

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Stencil Storage Instructions

Ingredients

• Kraft card
• Patterned Paper
• Lamination Pouches
• Binder Rings
• Snaps/Velcro dots

Tools

• Hole punch
• Laminator
• Craft Knife
• Trimmer

Choosing your project size

I don’t have many stencils but the ones I have are a variety of sizes. I wanted my folder to be able to store all of them, so I decided to go as big as my laminator pouches would allow. Make this project using my measurements first and then create another to your requirements.

Each page has a storage pouch on each side. You need one piece of 8” x 8” craft card, one piece of 8” x 2” craft card, two pieces of 8” x 4” patterned card and one laminating pouch. Use your paper trimmer to prep all of your pieces first to minimise power usage.

Get the Laminator heating up

Line up the patterned paper on bottom of either side of the 8” x 8” craft card; then place into the laminator pouch. Next, place the 8” x 2” craft card in the pouch leaving a small gap (approx ¼”).

Run it through the laminator and then trim away the excess laminate; make sure not to cut too close to the card stock to ensure the laminator sheet doesn’t come apart. Using a craft knife, slice the laminating pouch along the top of the patterned card; be careful not to cut through the backing card, only a light pressure is needed to cut through the laminate. Cut the laminate on both sides to form two pouches.

Using a craft knife I sliced the laminating pouch along the top of the patterned card being careful not to cut through the card, only a light pressure is needed to cut through the laminate.I have cut the laminate on both sides to form two pouches.

Running the page back through the laminator will seal any parts of the laminator pouch without sealing the pouch opening.

The stencil slides into the pouch, I’ve only put one in but you can fit two in easily.

I put two Tim Holtz stencils in one pouch, they are a bit higher than the top of the page but I’m OK with that.

Make additional pages as required for the number of items you need to store. Next, punch holes in the spine sections – the 2″ wide strips.

Putting it all together

Make front and back covers. The front is 8” x 10” patterned card and the back is 8” x 11¾” which allows for a flap closure. I laminated both pieces and punched the holes before adding binder rings to hold all the pages together.

Use snaps or velcro dots to close your folder. 

Here is my completed project; it’s a great design. The addition of the spine piece on each page allows the stencils to lay flat and don’t bend when the pages are opened. You can now make it any size with as few, or as many pages as you like.