Organization: Crafts

My first task was to organize my crafts and the kids' crafts.  The challenge: space (we don't have much) and money (we don't have any).  I love all of the cool organization tricks on Pinterest but I no longer have the luxury of a walk-in closet for my crafts.  I have this:

My initial thought was to pull everything together.  Figure out what I had.  Try to figure out how to store it and eventually make it happen.  I figured I was in for the long haul because it would take some money to contain all of our crafting stuff.  I was wrong!  I made this happen in one day (the kids helped me finish after dinner) with no money. 

Here's the before:

Well now!  Aren't you the messy one!  Let's just close the door.  What's that?  You can't close the door? 

Remember last year I confessed that I have a lot of cleaning supplies?  Well I'm down to my last three bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles!

Here's how I usually craft.  Get an idea, purchase supplies, create craft (or not), throw leftovers on top of everything else, realize that I already owned everything I needed to craft, growl, REPEAT.

And here's the after:

This is my stuff AND the kids stuff!  I have a whole basket of assorted glue (what?).

PROBLEM #1 RIBBON
Dear Ribbons,
Stop jumping into my cart at Michael's.
Love,
Mama Lou

I bought these bins at Joann's a few years ago.  Good idea in theory but I'm too messy for this kind of thing to work.  So the bins graduated to craft storage and the ribbons went their own way....

My solution for my ribbons came from  craftystorage I kept the (surprising quantity of) unopened ribbons in one of my plastic boxes.  I wrapped the small cut pieces around clothespins. Then I unwrapped the already opened spools and rewrapped them around box tops.



 PROBLEM #2 ODDS AND ENDS
When I pulled everything out of the closet and added the kids' stuff I realized that I owned more do-dads than I knew (pompoms, googly eyes, grommets, glass beads, and on and on).  The clear jars of the inventory will help me see everything (although I will always be tempted to purchase googly eyes at Michael's).

I will finish the game room closet as I tackle Legos and crayons.  These two items (crayons and Legos) are attempting a whole house take-over.  I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!

In conclusion, the total cost of this project was $0.  I searched high and low for clear glass containers in my cabinets, cupboards and closets.  I mostly used old jam jars that were hanging out in 25 different places.  And  Kevin may or may not decide that he needs to start drinking his beer out of XXL beer steins (after 8 years).  At that point we will have to relocate the foamies and misc dollar store items.