Saturday, June 19, 2010

In Need of Craft Room Organization!

I had a wonderful craft space in our last house. After months of organizaing and re-organizing I got to a point where I loved the space and I knew where everything was. And then we moved. :( My craft room was the only part of that house that I really liked.

Now we are in a house that I really like, with a craft room that's a shared space with a guest room. So, it's a space that does double duty and there's not a whole lot of space to be had, yet I have a whole lot of stuff that needs space!

I need to purge some of my stuff, and I did purge a lot before our move, but see, I'm just into so many different materials and crafts that it's hard for me to purge and consolidate. I love everything from sewing, to jewelry making, stamping and scrapbooking to altered art and other miscellaneous paper crafts. Then, of course, there's all the kid craft supplies, pipe cleaners and pom poms, tempera paint and playdoh. So how does one maintain an organized space that lends itself to creativity and productivity when one dabbles in so many different mediums?

I need some guidance. I've been scanning through images on google of other people's craft rooms, and how sad is it that most of them look familiar because I frequently scan through photos of craft rooms?

I need my space to be organized and efficient because crafting is how I stay sane in my sometimes stressful world, and digging through piles and bins searching for something I know I have is just frustrating. It keeps me from creating the piece I envision and it causes frustration rather than giving me the therapeutic benefits I get through creating and crafting.

So, I'm wondering, if you have multiple crafts that you enjoy, how do you organize your supplies?

I have quite the collection and I'd like some tips for organizing:

- beads and jewelry making supplies

- patterned paper

- rubber stamps and clear acrylic stamps

- ink pads

- acrylic paint and paint brushes

- fabric (this gets out of hand sooooo quickly!)

- various types of adhesives

- paper punches

- double point markers that have to lay flat

- knitting needles

- yarn

- Cricut cartridges

I read an article earlier today about taking stock of your supplies and making an inventory list and writing down all of your supplies on a piece of paper. Ha!!!! Seriously! I realize it's important to know what you have, but I clearly have too much stuff because it would take a whole notebook for me to write my list of supplies! The thing is, though, I really do use my stuff. I have intentions (that will come to fruition) for all of my supplies. So, between now and the time I actually create them, I need to create a better system to organize them. I'd love to hear your ideas! Better yet, add a link to your craft room if you've got pics!

* I've made some progress in my organization and I've found a great storage idea for Cricut cartridges and a few great ideas for storing ribbon. I'll be sharing those ideas in the next couple of weeks as I continue to make progress in organizing my space, but I'd still love to hear ideas on storing other supplies! :)


1 comments:

Kristin said...

Good timing! There was a blog event just last weekend in which over 500 blogger's studio's were highlighted. You can go to Where Bloggers Create (mydesertcottage.blogspot - or there is a link on my site under the party date) to check out all kinds of spaces - there were so many great ideas that I can't wait to try out. Great speaking with you today, Kristin xo