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Darleneh710
12-26-2007, 05:32 PM
I am sure this has been posted several times before..but now that Christmas is over...I need to know how you all organize your craft spaces. My room is a huge mess and I need to organize, organize, organize! Any help or suggestions would be helpful...
tia

Swanie78
12-26-2007, 05:52 PM
Well as soon as my dad leaves in 2 weeks I'm pretty much gutting mine and reorganizing. I have a second Expedit (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40047675) to set up.
Ill be moving my desktop computer to the closet in there (I never use it but have to leave it set up for the internet and phone modems). That will free up a whole corner where I can move a book case that takes up room when you first walk in the door.
Ill be buying a smaller table and putting it almost in the middle of the room. Im hoping this will help me clean up after crafting because I wont be able to stack things as tall and balance piles without the wall support...LOL!
The smaller stuff goes in baskets in the Expedit, otherwise I just stack things on/in the shelves.

Vintagegal
12-26-2007, 06:07 PM
I use iris carts that I got from Office Depot. Some have six drawers that are of equal depth and height. Some have only four drawers, and the bottom drawer is deep. The ones with deep drawers are on the bottom. The ones with six drawers on the top. I organize my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock by color theme (reds, oranges and yellows together; blues together; greens together, etc.) The six-drawer carts also hold adhesives, special tools (e.g. xacto knife, stamp positioner, etc.). There's also a drawer that's just for acrylic blocks. The deep drawers hold my paper punches; another holds acrylic paints and other liquid mediums; and another holds envelopes.

I use a CD case to hold my unmounted stamps (which go into CD jewel cases).

My craft room is ALWAYS messy because I'm bad about putting things away when I'm done with them. And, I tend to use a TON of stuff when I create; so inevitably it looks like a tornado has hit my craft room when I'm working.

webzmacs
12-26-2007, 06:15 PM
Well as soon as my dad leaves in 2 weeks I'm pretty much gutting mine and reorganizing. I have a second Expedit (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40047675) to set up.
Ill be moving my desktop computer to the closet in there (I never use it but have to leave it set up for the internet and phone modems). That will free up a whole corner where I can move a book case that takes up room when you first walk in the door.
Ill be buying a smaller table and putting it almost in the middle of the room. Im hoping this will help me clean up after crafting because I wont be able to stack things as tall and balance piles without the wall support...LOL!
The smaller stuff goes in baskets in the Expedit, otherwise I just stack things on/in the shelves.

This is so cool! I've love to see a picture of how you set everything up in it!

teabear
12-26-2007, 09:37 PM
It's a constant battle for me. I have skinny shelves on the wall from Ikea that hold my wood mounted stamps. I think they are like art all by themselves. I have 2 white melamine workbenches from Home Depot under the shelves. There are big cupboards underneath to hold a ton of stuff and a nice standing height workspace on top. I mostly stand to stamp, but have a counter high stool also. I have all my metal embellies, like brads, paperclips, charms, eyelets, etc. sorted by color in spice jars. I have my flowers sorted by color in different spice jars. My pens and pencils are sorted by warm and cool colors in canning jars. I have a tiered spice holder that's made to go in a cabinet that holds my inkpads. I bought a wire spice jar holder at Cost Plus World Market that Debbie showed here to hold my alcohol inks. I tend to sort things by color because that's how I create or how my twisted mind works. I have all my ribbons sorted by color in huge ziplocks and that isn't working great. I think I need huge jars for my ribbons, since I like to see things. Buttons are in canning jars, too, sorted by color.

scrappinnuts
12-26-2007, 09:41 PM
It's a constant battle for me. I have skinny shelves on the wall from Ikea that hold my wood mounted stamps. I think they are like art all by themselves. I have 2 white melamine workbenches from Home Depot under the shelves. There are big cupboards underneath to hold a ton of stuff and a nice standing height workspace on top. I mostly stand to stamp, but have a counter high stool also. I have all my metal embellies, like brads, paperclips, charms, eyelets, etc. sorted by color in spice jars. I have my flowers sorted by color in different spice jars. My pens and pencils are sorted by warm and cool colors in canning jars. I have a tiered spice holder that's made to go in a cabinet that holds my inkpads. I bought a wire spice jar holder at Cost Plus World Market that Debbie showed here to hold my alcohol inks. I tend to sort things by color because that's how I create or how my twisted mind works. I have all my ribbons sorted by color in huge ziplocks and that isn't working great. I think I need huge jars for my ribbons, since I like to see things. Buttons are in canning jars, too, sorted by color.


I would love to see your Skinny Shelves from Ikea for the wood mounted stamps...and pictures of the other parts of your space... I asked Santa for someone to come to organize my space...but I think he forgot!

teabear
12-26-2007, 09:45 PM
LOL Terry. There are some pics in my gallery about a year ago when hubby first put up the shelves. I'm still shoveling out my mess now, but will post new pics when it's a little more cleared out.

logcabincreations
12-26-2007, 10:07 PM
It's a depressing sight to walk into my craft space....which is a corner in our unfinished basement--I'm sure you can imagine the ugly concrete walls and floor and the hooks sticking out from the concrete where the forms were put up to pour the concrete when we built our house (only 22 years ago!!). ~~SIGH~~ I have one long folding table and one "makeshift" table that's really an old closet door laying across something else, and all of my supplies are in boxes and storage tubs ~~SIGH AGAIN~~ Someday.....

midnitecreations
12-26-2007, 10:38 PM
Mine used to constantly look like a tornado went through my studio. Problem is, it only hit my side, not my DH's (his always looks organized). I gutted my side, and donated a ton of stuff that I didn't want. It was really tough in the beginning, but by the time I went through 1/2 my stuff, it got really easy. i was quited tired and didn't want to think about where I would put it all! lol. Then we bought a divider shelf from IKEA that has 12x12 cubicles in it, and paper trays at one of the scrapbook stores. Lots of pretty boxes (photo boxes) to sort like items and they all fit in the shelfs. Now it's really easy to clean up. If there is a place for the stuff, then the stuff goes back. If I have no space for my new stuff, then I give away something I haven't used in ages. This way I don't overflow my space again.

teabear
12-26-2007, 10:41 PM
That's the best tip of all, Renu. Clear out what you don't need. I'm working on it.

midnitecreations
12-26-2007, 10:50 PM
That's the best tip of all, Renu. Clear out what you don't need. I'm working on it.

Thanks Tami. It's a bit hard in the beginning, but it really does get easier. I even did some yard sales where I sold a ton of my stuff. This way I had money to buy new stuff! lol

JBgreendawn
12-27-2007, 10:34 AM
I would say group like things together to begin with. Because then you can see how much storage containers youmay need? its hard to say what you need exactly for advice, but i organize by color mainly. I used to have each thing by itself, like only ribbon here, or only buttons there, but now i have color boxes because when i am playing i don't think that can use a button i think that needs something red, then i rummage through my red goodies.

hth,

Darleneh710
12-27-2007, 10:37 AM
It's a constant battle for me. I have skinny shelves on the wall from Ikea that hold my wood mounted stamps. I think they are like art all by themselves. I have 2 white melamine workbenches from Home Depot under the shelves. There are big cupboards underneath to hold a ton of stuff and a nice standing height workspace on top. I mostly stand to stamp, but have a counter high stool also. I have all my metal embellies, like brads, paperclips, charms, eyelets, etc. sorted by color in spice jars. I have my flowers sorted by color in different spice jars. My pens and pencils are sorted by warm and cool colors in canning jars. I have a tiered spice holder that's made to go in a cabinet that holds my inkpads. I bought a wire spice jar holder at Cost Plus World Market that Debbie showed here to hold my alcohol inks. I tend to sort things by color because that's how I create or how my twisted mind works. I have all my ribbons sorted by color in huge ziplocks and that isn't working great. I think I need huge jars for my ribbons, since I like to see things. Buttons are in canning jars, too, sorted by color.
Tami, I must say I like the sorted by color system you have going on. I usually sort by color myself..I just ran out of space!

Darleneh710
12-27-2007, 11:45 AM
Wow! thanks for all that great tips and ideas everyone! I did buy myself a paper solutions paper rack that holds 12x12 paper...I love it, but still have a lot that I dont have space for and those are in my vertical paper holders which I cant stand lol...Maybe this weekend I can start doing some sorting/cleaning lol
thanks again for all your help
:notworthy:

toao
12-27-2007, 11:59 AM
There are some posts here on my blog about organizing: www.shack-a-lackin.blogspot.com/search/label/Organization Hope they help. I'm a major organizer in my studio, so if there's something in particular you need help organizing, PM me and I'll help if possible. Believe me, I have (over the years) organized and re-organized all of my supplies. Sometimes I find a newer and better way to organize something that I thought was just fine before.

Mary