Perhaps if I did not spend so much time reorganizing and moving things around in the craft room I would get more projects done??? One can only hope....
DH recently had surgery and when he came home from the hospital I spent lots of time on the Chromebook looking at videos on YouTube from crafters and their craft rooms and how they organize things.... But the catch was I was not going to go out and buy all new furniture or new bins and start from scratch - happily I only added three drawer bins from Walmart to this new layout.
Started by making a list of things that were working and things that were not. I already had certain "stations" in the craft room - IE Jewelry making items together, solid card stocks together, any kits I have are all in one bin, inks are together, etc... but it was the odd things that were the problem -- glittered and plain craft foam sheets, my label maker in one place and refills/batteries in another, vellum here and there, and so it goes.... so as I saw storage ideas on videos that I thought could work for me I would write those down and then think what bins/cubbies I already have that I could use for storage, etc..
Began over at the Alex units - when I bought those I put in the drawers items I thought I would keep there and over time some of the items have ended up in a smaller storage area or the collection of a type of item would grow out of the size the drawer allowed and so it goes.. I moved my cubbies that I have had for many years over to put on top of the Alex drawer units and then I put the cubbies that are meant to hold card stocks or plastic bins on top - here is what that area looks like now:
I had the smaller bins by IRIS for many years so I just reorganized those and labeled them so I know what is inside. For now they are in the cubbies but I plan to move them around to alpha order by the label. Years ago when I got the Alex units I used the DYMO label maker to label the fronts of the drawers but over time the labels have yellowed. Since I would be moving things around anyways I went on Amazon and found clear adhesive label holders I could stick on the fronts of the Alex drawers and these label holders have a clear pocket so I can put my printed label inside this holder and easily change the labels out if I should have to move anything around. Here are photos to show these labels:
These photos are the drawers I have my punches in and some drawers will have two or three theme punches in there so it is nice the label holder is large enough to hold my labels.
One crafter had shown storage she used for her paper pads - luckily I do not have too many of those but I liked her storage -- but not an easy task finding the bins. They are Mainstays - Walmart brand - and they are clear drawer bins that are for closet storage and are stackable and I was happy to be able to locate three of these bins but not at all the same store.....
I used one drawer for Halloween, one for Christmas, and one for Floral and I was happy the clear label holders I used on the Alex units also work on these clear bins:
Things are coming along -- am half way done with the new labels on the Alex units - have moved things around and right now have Post-It notes on the front of the drawers so I can label the drawers with their new contents. Have three empty drawers on my old cubbies I moved but already know what I am moving into them ... as DH heals I am able to spend more time in the craft room so soon enough things will be back to normal in this craft room. Happy with the new changes and from what little crafting I have been able to squeeze in putting things away is much easier now.... which is half the battle.....
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