If you’re as crazy about crafting as I am, you might have craft supplies of all kinds scattered throughout your house. I swear there is even a skein of yarn on a shelf in my bathroom! Even worse, I’m always wanting to try something new, so I have everything from thousands of skeins of yarn to beading supplies, candle-making equipment, resin pour molds, and even tie-dye kits piled in my craft room. (Is this the time to mention I also have everything I need to sew, paint, color, and make origami? Whoops!)
Either I have a serious problem, or creative genius just requires mass chaos. Still, about once a year, I take the time to sort it all out to see what supplies I have and get all excited about a craft I’d set to the side months ago. After years of trial and error, I’ve finally found a few sure-fire ways to store my craft supplies, so I’m not wasting money buying duplicates just because I can’t see what’s at the bottom of a bin full of buttons (for button mosaics, hehe).
Here’s the secret: make sure everything has a place! It sounds simple, I know, but when you get into a craft frenzy (that’s not just me, right?), stuff gets scattered and lost. Let’s break it down!
Sort out what materials are needed for what craft and consider their size. Like with my buttons, a large bin wasn’t doing me any good, especially when there were thousands of buttons, all different colors, and sizes. Instead, I bought several smaller containers that fit in a rolling cart and sorted the buttons by color. Now I know exactly where to look when I start my next button mosaic. (Side note: Sorting all those buttons is a fun task to get the kids involved in!)
As for the yarn, I’ve found that either a cube shelf storage unit (mine is 8×8) or those closet shoe racks you hang with your clothing work very well. I sort by either brand or color, depending on whether or not it’s a specialty yarn. I also wind all my skeins into cakes and use a safety pin and small bag to hold the label to the cake. This makes them easy to stack and keeps them visible when hunting for that perfect color and material.
My sewing stuff gets its own special table in the corner so that everything is readily displayed, with a pegboard to hold my rulers, rollers, and scissors along the wall. I even have a very nice iron clipped in place.
As for the rest of my many endeavors, they each get their own clear plastic bin with a laminated sheet taped to the top, so I can mark off what is inside and what I need to replace soon. For instance, once I run out of wax for my candles, I mark it down on top. Those are nicely stacked along one wall and labeled along the side, so I know exactly what to remove from the stack.
While I can’t guarantee that the yarn in my bathroom will ever find its way into my craft room, I at least feel accomplished and ready to tackle my next major project!