Swaps - Day 29 of 31 days of organizing

Swaps and Finished item storage
When it comes to storing these, the items stored don't have to be swaps (read more about what a swap is with this link), they could be items purchased or assembled.  These are just items that don't have a home(project) to go to.  

Packaging be gone One aspect of swaps is that they generally have some extra packaging.  I decided a long time ago to discard the packaging for two reasons.  One they take up space and second they make it hard to see what you have.  It isn't just about me being able to see but also I have shown off the wonderful items I have received.  BECAUSE I THINK THEY ARE REALLY COOL.
Who made it
BUT I do record who I got the item from and what it is.  I have learned to be very descriptive in the what so later it is easier to figure how the who.  I like to give credit to the who when the what finds a home.  I do this using Access, but a spreadsheet in Excel works too.  That is what I used before I switched to Access.

Here is my swap boxes.  I call them swap boxes although they do have items I have assembled from kits and therefore not really a swap item.  
I have each end labeled so that when I put them on the shelf, I don't have to worry which way.  
These boxes are fishing tackle type divided boxes.  Some have pre-set divider sections that can insert a divider in the slot and some have non-removable dividers. My preference is the removable ones.

Organized by Theme or Room
I organize the boxes by theme or room.  The one above (an old photo) has bedroom and living room furniture in it.  If I did a specific themed swap, then I usually have those grouped together for when the project gets done.
I do not usually put these items in with the kit they might go with.  Well unless they are both specific.  For example, if I had a project box started for the themed swap,I might. Like when I did an attic swap and we got an attic kit, the attic swaps and that kit were all housed together.  But if a finished item/swap could go in different projects and haven't decided which one yet, then it goes in these general boxes.  I do that because I may end up not using in the original intended project idea.  Could be it doesn't fit with my theme after all, don't have enough room or whatever.

For the most part these items are just inside the divider sections, really small items may get added to a small plastic box with mini-hold on them, but not all items.  If I take the box to show off (like after a big swap), then I use mini-hold on all the items.  But these are all for short trips.

One solution I might consider if I didn't have these plastic boxes, is make my own from cardboard. This would be similar to the trays I have for beads.  However the trays I made for swaps would be deeper to accommodate more items.  But I could still do the stacking within the larger box.  I would definitely add sections to give structure to the trays to keep an upper layer from crushing anything below.  The trays would need tabs at the end for sure to make it easy to lift them out.

Come back tomorrow for more organizing solutions - 2 days left in my 31 days.

Happy Miniature Organizing!
Preble