Beyond Basic Backgrounds

Craft Space Organization-Tips And Ideas

Are you seriously tired of your messy craft space? Have you ever like me, bought a tool, a stamp, or something else only to find out that you already had it? Do you spend too much time trying to find supplies? Are you just plain frustrated? If you answer even one of those questions with a yes, it is time to get reorganized. 

Why should you spend the time to get reorganized? Mainly because you will have more time to craft when you know where everything is! You will have more money in your craft budget when you are not spending money on stuff that you already have! 

So, where to start? First, decide if your space is totally out of control? Is it partially organized or just a big mess?

Next, decide how much space you actually have. Do you use a kitchen or dining room table? Is your space a closet? Do you have part of a room or a whole room? Think about unused space that you might be able to use.

A shoe bag on a wall or behind a door makes sense (BHG)

Help! My Craft Space Is A Complete Disaster!

Box It - If you feel totally disorganized with your space, then it's time to get really get to the basics. That means stripping your entire space. Get several cardboard boxes and literally strip the space. Mark the boxes in several categories like tools, glues and adhesives, paper, and more. You can gather them into the categories that appeal to you. Once you get the room completely stripped, you are ready to start re-organizing. Label the boxes and take them out of your space.

Junk It-As you are going through your things, it is time to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. It may be time to sell, donate, or get rid of those things that you do not use, or maybe time to get rid of. Evaluate every item. 

Look For It- Look around your home to see what you might have available to use to organize your space. Look for containers, boxes, baskets, jars, ect.

Dream It- Look at your space and really dream about what it could be. Take pictures of the room or space as it is now. Jot down the things that you think would make it more organized. Really think about what and how you could better use your space. 

Once your space is completely empty, you can look at the space with clear eyes! You can see the possibilities! You may decide to move furniture! This is the time to rethink your space! This is the time to think about painting, new lighting, flooring, etc. Minimally before you go further, it's time to vacuum your space, dust, and clean the windows!

Organize It

Using recycled glass jars to store just about anything

Another decision to make is to think about how you can organize your space. Again, think about the space that you have and how you will use that space. Be realistic. If you have a whole room for your space, then it is relatively easy, though it will take more time. If you only have a closet, then it will be more important to be even more organized. If you have less space than that, then you will need to be really creative with your storage.

For example, I ran out of space to store my somewhat 17 scrapbook albums. When I looked closely in my house, I realized that I could use a shelf in a hall closet. It made a huge difference. And they are all lined up on one shelf.

The Dollar Store in your community can be a huge and affordable location to purchase items to help you organize your space. You can get a lot of storage units for very little!

Decide Each Space -No matter how much space that you have to work with, it's time to give some real thought about your space.

1. Gather like things together if you have not done it yet. Separate things. Stamps, tools, ink pads, paper....you get the idea  Label those boxes and take them out of your space. Boxing things and labeling them will help you later. Sorting them ahead of time will help you understand what you have.
2. Boxes should not be allowed back into your space until you are ready to organize them. That means that they should be organized and placed into labeled containers ready for their special space.
3. Now, with any organizing tools or storage units you have, start placing your items.                 

Think about using wall space

Zoning Your Craft Supplies

If you do multiple different crafts, it makes sense to keep all the things for that craft in one section of your craft space. That does not have to be any more than a box or bin of materials in one location. 

For example, I am a paper crafter for the most part, but I also knit. All of my wool, needles, and accessories are in a knitting bag organizer in my craft room closet. That is how simple it can be.

Even if you only craft in paper, you can still zone supplies

Craft Cart

• Use a sectioned craft cart. All of my scissors and craft tools are on the top section of my craft cart
• The second shelf has all of my double-sided tape, foam tape and foam dots
• The third shelf has all of my glues.

I also have another cart where I keep colored pencils, erasers, and tools. I also keep unfinished projects on that cart as well.

The point of zoning is to know exactly where to find the things that you need so that you can spend more time crafting and less time searching.

Creating Your Zones

Creating your zones does not have to be a major chore, First think about the crafts that you do. Then grab all the things for that craft together. Then decide how you are going to store them within the space that you have. I consider these my hobby zones.

My major craft is paper crafting. So most of my craft space is taken up with paper, tools, and supplies. I zone by item or category,

I select my zones within my craft space. Zones can include:

1. Bookbinding Supplies
2. Buttons
3. Card stock and other paper
4. Colored Pencils
5. Cutting Mats
6. Dies
7. Die Cutting And Embossing Machines
8. Electronic Cutting machine
9. Embellishments
10. Embossing Folders
11. Envelopes
12. Foam Tape And Dots
13. Glitter
14. Glitter Glue
15. Glue
16. Journals
17. Ink Pads And Reinkers
18. Markers
19. Paper Flowers
20. Paper Tags
21. Paints
22. Pens
23. Ribbons
24. Scissors
25. Stamps
26. Stickers
27. Tape
28. Tools
29. Washi tape
30. Watercolors

You can customize your zones to fit your needs. The point of zoning is to have all the things that you need in one space so that you can find what you need when you need it.

What containers can you use to zone your craft supplies?

There are so many options when it comes to storing your craft supplies. As you are looking at your space and thinking about how to store your space, consider what you might have available in your home. 

• Think about unused baskets or boxes
• How about recycling glass jars
• Zip lock bags
• Plastic containers

Check out your local thrift store. You can find lots of useful containers and storage aids at very reasonable prices. 

The dollar stores have real bargains for your storage needs. You can find all kinds of plastic containers and storage ideas. Though we are all hearing that their prices are going up, you can still find some real buys.

Using A Scraprack

One of my best investments ever was my scrap rack. The scrap rack is a customizable system that you can use to organize just about anything, It has a base made of metal that is built to hold a lot of material. The base has strong velcro on it. Then there are specially designed looseleaf-like binder sections that hold the scrap rack pages. There are quite a few different custom pages that you can use depending on your needs. There are also dividers to separate your sections.

In my scrap rack, I have divided my sections into types of things, seasons, and rainbow (these are all things of a particular color). So the point is, I can go to my butterfly section, or my sentiments section, or my birthday section. I can also find all things Christmas in my Christmas section. I can also find all things pink when I am designing a pink scrapbook page. 

Craft Magazine And Digital Ideas

We all collect magazines and digital tutorials and the like. We have them in piles and scattered throughout our spaces. We save them because there are ideas and techniques that we want to save. More than not, the magazines that we pile up and the tutorials and ideas that we save, have only a single project or two that we might be interested in doing at another time. So, it's finally time to get all that stuff under control.

The best idea that I have found is to cut the clutter. That starts with going through those magazines and printed material. I cut the things out that I want to save. Then they go into a three-ring binder. Want to be more organized? Use dividers and sort them by category. Things like stamping, card making, scrapbook ideas, and the like, You decide what works for you.

If you want to keep all the magazines intact, just place them in upright magazine holders. Just mark those by what magazine they are.

You can also create an "inspiration board" with clippings and ideas.

Fast Organization Tips

1. Use a large pegboard on a wall to create an organized space. You can use all kinds of organizational tools. Look at the pegboard tools and get organized fast'
2. Wrap embroidery floss and ribbon on snap clothespins and place in a container
3. Tin can organizers. Measure around a tin can. Cut scrapbook paper to fit around the tin. Use double-sided adhesive tape to adhere to the paper. Go wild with colors and patterns.
4. Sort buttons by size and color. Store them in jars or zip lock bags
5. Use a paper towel holder to stack ribbon and washi tape
6. Have a bulletin board near your workspace to place ideas, notes, and other items
7. Store stencils in a loose-leaf binder or a scrapbook. Use page protectors. Organize them within the binder by size  or manufacturer

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