I apologize for not getting another blog post up until today… I took Valentine’s Day off to spend with my family, expecting to get back on the cleaning bandwagon on Wednesday. Then real life interrupted, as it so often does, and I am just now getting back to it today.
So, here we are… It’s Friday, and I’m ready to go at it again! Let’s get on with it, shall we?
Okay, so I absolutely *love* www.bhg.com! They are, without a doubt, one of the best resources for organizing tips… as well as the inspiration and motivation to get yourself there! I love looking at the spaces they show on the site (and, I am always asking myself, “how *do* they do it?”)! I long to be THAT organized, and am keeping my fingers crossed that I will eventually get there.
That being said, I’ve been poring over the pictures for storage ideas and inspirations, as well as talking to one of my followers who is in the organizing business, about bead storage… I have so many beads, I’m not quite sure what my best method of organization will be for them. Presently, they are in boxes, bags, muffin tins, old printer’s drawers, shoe boxes, etc. But, I honestly don’t know what all I have. As I’ve gone through things trying to purge, organize, and clean, I keep coming across bead strands and bags of beads that I had forgotten all about! How sad is that??!
I have tried a couple of different methods for keeping particular types of beads together, so that I can easily look through them and decide which ones I want to use for a project. For example, my briolette beads, are in bags that I’ve hole-punched in the corner, and I keep them on a binder ring so that I can flip through them. This method works fairly well, but the problem I have now, is that I’ve got so many bags that I am up to two binder rings that I’ve married together, just for the briolettes. Not to mention, that all of my binder-ringed bags have overflowed into a cardboard box that is *not* attractive at all, much less organized, in any fashion. Let me show you what I mean…
These bags hold my briolette beads, and have been hole-punched to keep them all together. I used to hang them from nails on my shelves until they became so numerous and heavy that I couldn't hang them anymore!
This box became the place to put them all, and as you can see, it's not very pretty, or very organized, for that matter.
I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me. So, the plan of attack for today, is to take stock of what I have and try to come up with a system that works better. I’d like to be able to see what I have, and not have them lost in the confusion that is my studio at the moment! In perusing ideas, and trying to be creative about it, I thought about using a peg board but I have no place to hang it, no free space on the wall. (As I said before, my studio is only about 10 x 15, so space is pretty limited, and *wall space* is at an all-time premium)! Other thoughts and suggestions were storage bins with little drawers (like the yellow one in the photos on my first post), and see-through shoe boxes. I also saved and re-purposed some large restaurant-size cherry jars, but those jars of beads just seem to sit on my shelves taking up space and I don’t actually use them or even think about them. I’d probably use them more if they were right in front of me, or at least within eye-view. Any suggestions you might have are welcome. I’d love to hear how you are organizing YOUR craft space! Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!
‘Til next time, and more “after” pictures…
Peace, Love, and Creativity,
~Lisa~
dangerouslyorganized 
Hi Lisa,
I’ll shoot some shots of my “jewelry” corner in my craft room. I use the 1.99 plastic divider bead boxes from Michael’s. They have several versions, and some are higher, but the ones I use are just $1.99. I have about 24 of them (yes, I’m sick, I admit it). I have them stacked in three columns on the back of one of my craft tables against the wall. When I want to take beads down to my friend’s lakehouse (an hour away) so we can play for the weekend, I get those fabric storage boxes (square) from IKEA $4.99 in their closet org. section) and stock them two x two on up. I fill up TWO of these boxes if I take everything.
I also have another work surface (a kitchen island top) and against the wall I have four metal bulletin boards (also IKEA) that have the IKEA kitchen spice jars (metal, round, come 4 to a pack) affixed to them. Those jars are magnetic and I put my larger items (old findings, old jewelry, charms, etc.) in those (anything that won’t fit in the plastic bead storage boxes). It’s VERY organized (and I try to keep it that way so I’ll be inclined to work in there). I don’t have a lot of space to do it, but I managed to do it.
Let me “tidy up” the area and send you some photos for reference.
Oh, and each plastic bead box has one color dedicated to it—or shades of the same color, that is. I love, love, love anything blue, so I have at least 4-5 boxes dedicated to just BLUES! My findings (earrings, backs, etc.) take up 2-3 different boxes.
Thanks so much for the input, Cindy! That does sound like a good plan, and I’ll anxiously await those photos!
I have quite a few of those plastic divider boxes myself, and I mostly use them for my different types of findings, larger focal beads and pieces, and charms. I’ll check into those IKEA boxes as well (I *love* IKEA, don’t you!?), as they sound like they’ll hold quite a bit of stuff… I also have a bunch of cigar boxes and printer’s drawers that I’ve collected over the years, but I’m trying to refrain from using the cigar boxes for beads since they are not see-through. I don’t want to spend my crafting time just looking for what I want to use. I spent part of this afternoon cleaning out a giant printer’s drawer (of mostly dust from being under the futon!) and am hoping to use it as a “file” of sorts to put my bagged beads in by color, shape, etc. Then, I’ll just need to find a place to store it that is accessible, but not hidden away. This organizing thing can be a little tricky, for sure!
Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Peace, Love, Creativity,
Lisa
P.S. I, too, have an affinity for blue… especially aqua blue!!! I’d need an entire chest of drawers for all my blue beads… Hmmm… Wait a minute… I think I could actually do that… LOL!
Do you have a Simply Organized store there? Here’s agreat one for the garage that would serve most any crafty purpose: http://simplyorganized.net/garage.html
I still like the mason jar idea of screwing the lids tight to the underside of a shelf, then screwing the clear jars into them. You could have any number of sizes, from baby food to canning size.
Hey Lester P!
Thanks for checking out my blog!
I don’t know if we have a S.O. store here, I’ll have to look into that… I do already have an organizer similar to the one you sent the link for, that I found at Walmart. I haven’t used it for anything yet, though. (Aren’t I pitiful?)
I did manage to get quite a few things gone through today, and found a bunch of beads and goodies that I’d totally forgotten about buying! I can forgo a trip to the bead store anytime soon, since I can just shop in my own studio… LOL! Lord knows, I’ve found plenty of stuff to keep me busy!
Love you, little squeex!
Lisa
I’m thinking?????
LOL! I’m racking my brain!!! I’ve got a few ideas in the works… More on that in tomorrow’s post! 🙂
Lisa