Craft Organization

I love this quote. If you are like me then you know how messy your crafting space becomes after creating a masterpiece of any material. This seems to be a common theme among crafters and I am no stranger to a messy, disorganized crafting space. I never intend to leave projects out, yarn in baskets, or fabric in piles, and I never mean to forget to put back my scissors or glue, but somehow or other when I am busy in a project I forget all about organization. I finish what I can for the day and in happy exhaustion I go to sleep, vowing to deal with the mess in the morning, but for most people the morning cleanup never happens. You mean well, but our lives get in the way.

I have often felt like a failure when it comes to being organized in my crafts. I know how to be organized, but the practice always seems to get lost along the way. Finally, after struggling for far too long, I realized I needed a different method. I didn't have a lot of money to spend on containers, fancy storage furniture, and a spacious craft table. This lack of funds for storage always frustrated me and I always reasoned that if I just had the money then my crafting space would be perfect. Unfortunately, well actually fortunately depending on how you look at it, I realized it wouldn't matter how much I spent on organization if I still didn't put thought into what I needed. I needed to sit down, to think about what I had, and what I needed to organize these items. It doesn't matter how much storage you have if your contents are not organized.

For some people this may seem overly obvious, but for me, and I know others too, this was not obvious and realizing this simple truth has been a breakthrough in my organization. I am not anywhere close to being as organized as I should or even as organized as I want to be, but I am making progress. This year, at least this month, I am focusing not only on my business, but on my crafting space as well. I am determined to organize my crafting supplies and finally be at peace with my crafting space.

Alright, now onto the organizing. I haven't done a huge amount of organizing this year, but I have taken a few steps in the long process that is organizing. I recommend thinking about, and maybe even writing down, the crafting supplies and materials you have, products you know you'll b getting soon, and the storage you have on hand. Some people are blessed with a spare room in their house for crafting while other people only have a spare corner in a room to use as crafting space. Personally, I would love a large spare room for crafting, but right now I only have a corner. It is really more than a corner, but not quite a whole room. When I was planning my storage and organization I needed to think about the room as a whole and how much space I was willing to set aside for my crafting supplies. Of course, the actual space set aside was largely determined by my current supplies, materials, and future needs.

After I had a good understanding of what I actually had I began to think of design. This is where creativity can be problematic to progress, but I am constantly being inspired by a new design. If you are like me then I recommend you don't Google craft rooms, unless you absolutely need inspiration, and instead draw the space you would like, being realistic to your abilities and resources. Before you become too attached to your design, you need to remember up be flexible, because you may need to make adjustments along the way as you begin to organize. The inventory you took earlier is helpful when you begin design for this reason. A large craft table seems like a good design, but without any storage underneath it may not be functional depending on your inventory. My own design has changed several times as I start organizing various materials.

I don't recommend purchasing any storage containers until you have done an inventory of your materials. Otherwise you may purchase too many, not enough, or the wrong container for your needs.  I say this from experience. I found these great little baskets, they were only a dollar at Target and I bought several because of course I would use them. I bought the baskets partly for function, but mainly for style, and unfortunately the  function the baskets provided were not ideal for my needs. This has happened more than once and sometimes it worked, but most of the time I end up with more clutter. My advice? Wait, find out what you need, and then buy the containers.

Now, the containers do not need to be expensive, but they do need to be functional to your need, you can always customize their appearance later. I recommend checking out the dollar section at Target and the Dollar Store for affordable storage. Another surprising find for affordable storage was Home Depot. In the nuts and bolts section are great containers for storing buttons, beads, and embellishments for scrap booking. Compare their $4.97 24 compartment container to JoAnn's $9.99 container and the only difference you'll find is the price. I personally have 8 of these containers from The Home Depot. The boxes have a lot of storage and are great for organizing my buttons and beads. I have also used these boxes to organize my small sewing notions, small balls of yarn, and the small details of packaging for my business.

Plano 24 Compartment Organizer

 Initially I only bought 3 of these containers because I originally intended to use these boxes for storing my buttons. These boxes took up more space than the single jar I used before, but provide much more organization. I organized my buttons by color, type, and then stored the matching thread underneath the corresponding buttons. Another way to organize your buttons is to sort them only by color or only by type. The success of these containers led me to buy 4 or 5 more.

Medium Stacking Bin

 During Joann's after Christmas sale I found these medium stacking bins for 40% off, which made them $2.99 each. I wasn't looking for any specific storage when I found these and have been really happy with this find. I thought they would work perfectly as storage underneath my desk. I initially only bought 2, but then ended up buying 6 more. The bins are able to stack 2 high and 2 wide on the shelves, which allows me to have 4 bins on each side of my desk.

I have yet to use all of these bins, but will be filling each of the bins up in the next few weeks. I am using one of these bins for ongoing project supplies. Last month I was painting T-shirt designs regularly, which meant I was constantly pulling out various fabric paint and brushes that I needed. Now that I have these bins I am able to store the fabric paints and brushes in the ongoing project supply bin until I have finished my project(s). Another bin I am using to store drawing supplies, such as pencils, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. I am still going through my supplies inventory for how best to utilize the other bins. 

I am not a stamper, but these bins would work great as storage for sorting ink pads and rubber stamps. I know stamping companies offer special storage, but I think these bins are a good alternative for small stamping collections. Another possible use for these bins is to store children's crafting supplies, such as pom poms and pipe cleaners. These bins are easily labeled, which make them great storage bins for children.

I have many other ideas for organizing crafts and will be posting these ideas, along with pictures of my own crafting space evolving into an organized haven, in future posts. Until then, please post your own storage and organizing ideas. I would love to read how you organize your craft room.