Taming the Templates.....Attention Miss Carole

(Note: Okay everyone it's your lucky day.....  I just heard from Carole Samples and she said if you will email her direct she will send you the information on ordering the templates from her..... fancwerx@inebraska.com
 They are available nowhere else and she has the machine that makes them...)

I've always kept my Carole Samples templates on a big ring as suggested but it was difficult finding a number and awkward to put them on and off the ring in order.. When I got to her class I looked around to see what others were using but it was rings everywhere I looked ..Plus the black marker numbers were hard to read on the purple templates.. So I knew I had to have a system that was user friendly to ME!!

So I set about to work out a color-coded system with rainbow colors...  I divided the templates into subgroups with 5 to a group.... 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, etc.  First I tried colored pearl cotton on each template and it probably would work but I wasn't satisfied...

I decided that I wanted to use colored tape but didn't want to buy seven rolls for just a few inches of tape so I did the colored rectangles on my computer and printed them on a sheet of good quality labels.. I divided each rectangle into 5 approx. pieces 1/2" x 2"   and put the numbers in order by color.. starting at one end of the rainbow ....red

The hole  for a metal ring was covered by the tape but I could punch it through... But I don't see ever putting these on a ring again.. They are so easy to sort and read this way.... Eventually I will make them a travel roll but I will use them at home 99% of the time... What I need now is an color-coded organizer for the drawer and that is next on the list..

Even gathered in a bunch you can see how easy they will be to sort... Sorry it's out of focus... trying to hold camera with one hand while photographing the other is a bit shaky.... Near the middle you will notice a blue label with a tiny white strip on it also...  I am starting to add that extra strip  to my favorites (about 12 so far) to make them even easier to find...

Now that part of the problem was solved I needed a way to see all the configurations at once to make design decisions... So I put all the templates on the scanner with their new lovely colors...

I divided them into groups, scanned them,  and reduced them so each color group would fit on a 4x6  index card... These cards will be laminated and put on a metal ring... I did reduce them further and got them ALL on one 4x6 card but they may be too reduced to be usable....but worth a try..

This is a work in progress and will need some fine tuning but I am loving it so far...  I should be able to study the cards and snap out the right template in seconds.....

I'm hoping Miss Carole is reading this post and I know she'll notice that I'm missing template #23 and I want her to know that Morris is not responsible...  I'm hoping it will show up when I actually get my work area sorted and cleaned...

In case you haven't kept a count this is post #997  on this blog and I will have something special on POST #1000....