Welcome to Day Twenty Four of the 31 Days of Organizing Tips series! I'm so glad you've joined me. Throughout this series I've been sharing organizing tips that will help you on your journey from overwhelmed to organized. I'm including lots of pictures and links for ideas that I've found around the web that relate to the topic each day. You'll find a complete list of all the posts in the 31 Days of Organizing Tips tab above, or at the end of this post.
Today's tips are to help you organize your craft supplies. Whether you are lucky enough to have a whole craft room or your craft supplies are stored in a closet or cupboard, they can easily become overwhelming. Who wants to take time to keep supplies organized when those very materials are designed to lead you to creativity?
But sometimes it's hard to be creative when you have to spend time looking for something that you can't find because your craft materials are unorganized. Or, you go out and buy more of something and then find out you already had a bunch stashed away.
Creativity and organization don't have to be mutually exclusive. By following a few simple organizing tips you can stop feeling overwhelmed. And having all your craft supplies organized can free you up to spend more of your time crafting!
Before you start organizing, purge your supplies (you knew I was going to say that right?!). Do this periodically so you can make better use of what you have. Crafty people tend to see a potential craft in everything and want to keep all kinds of stuff because they plan to make something with it. Be realistic. If you haven't used something in several months you probably won't. If you're not ready to part with it right away, set it someplace to use within a few weeks or a month and then if you don't use it for a project you can feel better about purging it.
Now, here are some tips for organizing the craft supplies you're keeping:
1. Make sure you have a place for everything. For example, look at all the amazing places to store items in this room. She has a designated spot for every item in this room. {Isn't this room beautifully organized?!}
 |
| Source: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/photos/scraproom/new/ |
2. Keep all your supplies in one location, including any tools you typically need. That way you won't have to spend time gathering things from several places when you're ready to craft. Check out all the crafting materials organized in this beautiful craft room! You really need to click the link below the picture to see a bunch more pictures (close-ups) of all the jars, bins, baskets, and other storage containers she used.
 |
| Source: http://raisinguprubies.blogspot.ca/2012/05/cute-place-to-make-stuff.html |
As if that wasn't enough inspiration, here's another part of her room! Also, she later labeled all her bins and baskets and you can see pictures of those here.
 |
| Source: http://raisinguprubies.blogspot.ca/2012/05/cute-place-to-make-stuff.html |
3. Group like items with each other. This pictures shows how kids' craft supplies can be organized by grouping materials. She used a variety of different storage methods in this kitchen cupboard, but labeled everything, including the stacking trays. Check out her post for more details on everything she fits into this little space.
 |
| Source: http://www.thesunnysideupblog.com/2012/07/organized-craft-cupboard.html |
You can also group colours of paper, material, or even beads into containers. That way when you're working in a particular colour you can easily find what you need.
 |
| Source: http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.ca/2012/09/organizing-craft-cupboard-big-reveal.html |
4. Use containers that allow you to see what you have and that keep items in their place.
 |
| Source: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.ca/2011/02/reader-space-craft.html |
Here's another example of organizing craft supplies with containers.
 |
| Source: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.ca/2012/03/reader-space-crazy-cool-craft-closet.html |
 |
| Source: http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.ca/2012/09/organizing-craft-supplies-my-craft.html |
5. Be creative in finding solutions to store various types of materials. For example, you can store rolls of ribbon, washi tape, and pattered duct tape on rods.
 |
| Source: http://www.craftytexasgirls.com/search/label/craft%20room |
Or you can use a small shelf or a spice rack to display your paint.
 |
| Source: http://lauravegas.typepad.com/photos/my_studio_in_detail/index.html |
6. Always put everything back in it's place. This is the key to staying organized.
 |
| Source: http://cindytobey.blogspot.ca/search/label/My%20Studio |
Feeling inspired after all those amazing ideas? Whether you have need to organize supplies for sewing, scrapbooking, or general crafting, these tips can help you work out a solution that will work for you!
And in case you looked at some of those pictures and felt overwhelmed because you don't have space for a beautiful craft room, let me assure you that IF you are organized, you don't need to have a large space to store all your materials. For example, I love how this wardrobe was converted into a craft area!
 |
| Source: http://senseandcentsability.blogspot.ca/2011/01/scrapbook-armoire.html |
And Jen from I Heart Organizing stores her boys' craft supplies in these 2 ottomans!
 |
| Source: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.ca/2012/06/our-secret-craft-storage.html |
 |
| Source: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.ca/2012/06/our-secret-craft-storage.html |
 |
| Source: http://fromoverwhelmedtoorganized.blogspot.ca/2012/07/our-new-craft-and-activity-area.html |
Please remember to pin from the original source for all of these lovely pictures!
For Day Twenty Four, gather and purge your craft supplies and then choose one of these tips and put it into action in your craft area. There are lots of cheap or DIY organizing ideas so don't let money hold you back from being organized with your creative supplies!
{Note: If you're getting overwhelmed with all the ideas in this series, please understand that is NOT my intention! :) This series is designed for me to write every day for a month, not for you to completely organize your house in a month. That thought overwhelms me! So, feel free to skim and pin/bookmark these tips now and then come back later when you're ready to tackle a particular organizing project. I'll add a button or tab to the blog at the end of the series that will make it easy for you to find all the posts. Hope that take some pressure off!}
Tomorrow we'll look at more tips for organizing other spaces in your house. I look forward to going through the rest of this series with you and hearing your tips too!
How do you organize your craft supplies? What's the best organizing tip you've implemented?
Have a great day and happy organizing!
Here are all the posts in the series:
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
{Note: If you're getting overwhelmed with all the ideas in this series, please understand that is NOT my intention! :) This series is designed for me to write every day for a month, not for you to completely organize your house in a month. That thought overwhelms me! So, feel free to skim and pin/bookmark these tips now and then come back later when you're ready to tackle a particular organizing project. I'll add a button or tab to the blog at the end of the series that will make it easy for you to find all the posts. Hope that take some pressure off!}
Tomorrow we'll look at more tips for organizing other spaces in your house. I look forward to going through the rest of this series with you and hearing your tips too!
How do you organize your craft supplies? What's the best organizing tip you've implemented?
Have a great day and happy organizing!
Here are all the posts in the series:
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
