Quick Tip: Craft Room Organization

Stay Organized: Quick Tips
Keep a can, bucket or basket handy to place the things you're using when your done with them. This will help in two ways. A basket is easily carried around the room to put your items back in their spaces. A tin can, like the one below, can hold items you still need to use for your projects that you aren't ready to put away. Doing this keeps your workspace clean. For small items that may fall through basket holes I just use a small can or box that sits inside the basket. Another way to avoid losing anything is to place cardboard, paper or cloth in the bottom.  

  Happy Crafting! 

Repurposing: Turning a Queen Bookcase-Headboard into a Craft Desk and 6 Organizational Tips for Your Craft Room

      My craft area is not some white, light filled, dream room. In fact I'm surrounded by dark stained woods, so I have overhead lighting and multiple lamps to make sure I can see well. My desk is made up of a big slab of pine for the table top, two file cabinets to hold it up and a queen headboard is being used as the tower to my desk. Yes, I said queen headboard. It's screwed into the pine and the wall and is heavy as heck, so it's not going anywhere. It was my daughter's headboard. She decided she didn't want it anymore and removed it from her room. In the end I found a good use for it and was glad she didn't want it. It holds a lot of the craft items that I use daily and was a nice step up from the small desk I used that shared space with my computer, junk mail and bills.

In the photo below I numbered the different items I keep on it and while going through it I was surprised how much I have stored on there.

1. Small flowers with stems  2. Metal embellishments and items for mixed media collages  3. Moss and leaves  4. Holiday embellishments  5. Wire and wire crafts  6. Wood embellishments and Popsicle sticks  7. Plastic embellishments  8.Small stuff like beads, rope, strung pearls, glass pieces, sand and buttons  9. Ribbon for card making  10. Pearl-Ex Powders  11. Lace spools and larger ribbon  12. Alcohol inks  13. Glue  14. Craft scissors  15. Embossing powders  16. Paper punches  17. Containers of small items like loose pearls and brads  18. Regular scissors, rulers, hole punch, tweezers, etc.  19. My homemade glimmer mists and paint sprays  20.  Hot glue  21. Glass cutting board.

6 Tips:

Tip 1:
Make sure your hot glue gun has a special place of it's own away from your other craft items. I use a small glass cutting board under it that I bought for a dollar and the lid of a glass candle jar to catch all the hot glue drippings. There is a plug-in strip attached to the right side of my desk behind the hot glue gun and by having it so close and the chord secure I know that no one will trip on it or knock it off. If your looking for a hot glue gun with a small nozzle and high/low temp option, I got mine from Walmart and love it. The one I chose is the Ad Tech for around $10.00. It says cordless, that's not really the case. You'll have it plugged in 99% of the time but it is convenient when you can unplug it at the gun handle for a few minutes for hard to reach places.
Ad-tech-2-Temp-Full-Size-Cordless-Glue-Gun


Tip 2:
I use an old glass cutting board from my kitchen on my main work surface. It doesn't easily break, can take heat, paint, inks glue, gesso and they all come off of it. There is a rough side and a smooth side, use the smooth side as it cleans up easily. If you have glue or paint that has hardened on it just take it to the kitchen sink and use a spoon to clean the surface while running under hot water, it will come off easily this way.

Tip 3:
I talked my son into giving up a few of his Connects pieces and they worked out perfectly for organizing my small spools of ribbon because they're quite light. I was afraid it would not be strong enough, but I use the ribbon constantly and have not had a problem. In fact if I need to remove a spool I find it very convenient to pop out one side of the Connects holder, take the spool off and reconnect it. The connects hang from cup hooks on both sides and one in the center.

Tip 4:
A Lazy Susan is perfect for holding glimmer mists and paint sprays.

Tip 5:
I found some pie holders at the thrift store. They came in a stack of three. I don't bake pies and didn't know what I would do with them, but knew I would think of something eventually. Well, they're perfect for holding bottles of acrylic paint. I placed it on a Lazy Susan as well, stored it on a shelf beside my desk at arms reach and it works great.

The photo below I found on a Google search and is from MarthaStewart.com. Which leads me to mention that I've heard Martha Stewart's paper punches are the best out there. If you have used them, please let me know about your experience with them. They looked very pretty hanging in the store.

Tip 6:

If you have the same size bottles of paint which when all stored give you a level surface and you're short on room you can stack the pie holders. Just make sure that what you put on top is not extremely heavy and can be easily supported by the paint bottles.

-You can also paint them to go with your decor or decorate them with something that gives you inspiration-

That's it for now, but come back for more craft storage tips as I will be posting them soon.

Helpful Tip: Craftroom Workspace Organization and Convenience

     Working on a craft project and tired of the mess it generates?

     If you're like me you work on multiple projects at one time. If I get stuck on a project I set it aside to work on another and return to it when I feel refreshed and inspired again.

     Place your loose items you will be using for a project in a container. Use one container per project to store items that you made for that project and items that you do not currently need for another. For example, I make a certain type of flower(s) and pick my colors and embellishments for each project ahead of time. Having those things contained and organized makes life a lot easier, because my work space is free of extra clutter. I still may need to grab something that I decide to add as I go, but I don't have to run around my craft room nearly as many times when I've got glue, tape, ink and everything else stuck to my hands and fingers. I'm also not looking for those loose items I've already gathered that end up pushed underneath a piece of card-stock or worse have fallen to the floor and are now under the wheel of my chair.

     When you're ready to work on it again, all the items you've prepared and made will be neatly tucked away and readily available. I place my project container on a low stand beside me so the contents are easily viewed, accessible and out of the way.

     I use a basket for items I'm finished with. As soon as I'm done with something I place it in the basket. When the time comes to place the items back in their original storage spaces it's much easier to have my basket to carry them around in. For this purpose, a small cheap plastic basket with a handle works great.