Note: I am in the midst of reorganizing my craft room. When complete, I will be posting pictures to share right here. In the meantime, I thought I would share some storage tips that I wrote up in a blog post for Skipping Stones Designs.
I don’t know about you, but whenever January rolls around, I am always inspired to reorganize and refresh around the house, and my craft room is no exception. I want to share with you a few ideas of everyday items that I picked up from the Dollar Store, Home Improvement Store, Housewares Store and lastly the sewing and craft store that help me organize and display my supplies.
First of all, I am a visual learner and I have found over the years, I need to be able to see my supplies in order to remember to use them. I love die cutting, and it is a staple that I use on most of my cards and projects, so I needed a solution that enables me to store all my dies so that I can see them, and since dies are pricey, I also needed a solution that would protect my investment from getting lost. Enter the home improvement store:
These are magnetic vent covers that I picked up from Home Depot and nailed to my wall. The come in packs of three for under $5.00. I have 3 sets shown in the photo above. Since dies are made of steel, they stick to the magnet sheets. I love being able to see all of my dies and it makes in very easy to find what I am looking for!
Next up, stamp storage. For most of my clear stamps, Skipping Stones included, I like to store the stamps on the acetate sheet that features the printed stamp images. (Makes it easy to tell if one of the stamps has gone rouge off the craft table.) My solution for storing clear stamps is as follows:
I picked up some clear stamp storage sleeves from Hobby Lobby and can fit 4 Skipping Stonesset in each sleeve. (Two on the front, and two on the back.) Everything is still visible and accessible.
When not in use, my stamps live in a small crate container that I picked up at the dollar store. These little crates are also fabulous for storing other crafty items like 6 x6 paper pads and your cutting plates and embossing folders. At only $1 each, why not pick up a few?
Punches. So big, heavy and bulky, but I love them so. My solution for storing punches came from a shopping trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond a few years back when I picked up this over the door shoe and accessory organizer.
Love this so much because it keeps all my punches tucked away but still visible. The over the door feature also provides a nice knocking sound to alert me if small children or a spouse are attempting to enter the “mom cave.”
Finally, what's a crafty space without a little eye candy? I picked this piece up at JoAnn’s last year and have been using it to store my ribbons and trims.
A quick twirl of my friend above with usually find me whatever color ribbon I am looking for. Plus it’s decorative and really adds something to what might otherwise be a utilitarian space. The only down side I have discovered to this method of storing ribbons is that my kitties think this is the best. cat. toy. ever! Occasionally, I will find a piece of ribbon halfway down the hall that one of the kitties attempted to abscond, but it doesn’t happen enough to be a deterrent.
So, there you have it, four ideas for storing craft supplies using everyday items that may not say craft storage to you. Whether you have a corner, a shared space, or an entire room dedicated to your hobby, I hope you find an idea or two that you can make work in your own way. Don’t forget when looking for solutions to take a look at other types of stores (home improvement, bedding, etc…). You may be surprised at what solutions present themselves to you!
Happy Organizing!
Katie
