A Return to Methodical Organizing

In a previous post, here, I talked about skipping “Chapter 14: Organize Your Crafts” of the book Organize Now! because we were going to be moving soon. Well, it’s been over a year since we moved and I can finally say my craft organization is done! Welcome to my craft room! (Another photo-heavy post!! Sorry for the loading delay!)

I like to hang my fabrics for visibility. I am doing much better at sticking to my “no project, no fabric” (I have to have a SPECIFIC project in mind if I buy any fabric) rule, which explains why I have a relatively small amount of fabric.

Alright, the closet isn’t immaculate, but my theory is this: those are mostly projects in this area and as I finish the project, it will leave the closet. So the best way to reach optimal closet cleanliness is to finish the projects. So, this is ok.

But, the rest of the room is perfect! My old stereo is easily accessible – I still use it quite a bit! And it’s lovely having ALL of my crafting books right here with me! (The closed closet door clears up that closet mess)

I work hard to keep my leg room clear, otherwise I avoid working at the table and that leads to messes everywhere else in the house (ie: the kitchen counter).

And here is the best part: My peg board! It has all the tools and notions for all my crafts (other, bigger and messier tools are in the garage). I get all a-twitter at the color ordered items! Oooo!

Closer look at the color scale of supplies.

All of my machines are out and ready to use, although, I am planning on sewing covers for them to reduce dust and to keep little fingers from spinning knobs or getting poked or cut on needles or knives.

Some closeups:

I decided not to decorate my tin cans since I wanted the rainbow supplies to be the focus of color interest.

Here are all my leather working supplies. I made a quick leather strap to hold my alphabet stamps and a shelf with scrap lumber for the other tooling stamps.

The part of this whole project that took the longest was deciding how to store the craft paints. I wanted to be able to see the colors, but have flexibility for waxing and waning supplies. It also needed to be able to fit with the other color items (a wooden divided box was less flexible) and it needed to be CHEAP. I bought 100 4″ pegs for $20, so most of the paint hammocks cost $0.40.

I had the same cost issue with the ribbons. Everything I could come up with cost between $2 – $6 for each one and since I had 10 rows of color I wanted, that was $20-$60. WAY too much for my taste! So, with $0.40 worth of pegs and about $0.33 for wooden dowels, I ended up spending under $8 for the ribbon holders.

I finally spun all my embroidery floss onto paper bobbins and, with $1 at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, got me a dozen shower curtain rings to corral them. Each serger thread cone is on it’s own 4″ peg.