More Organizing Ideas

I mentioned several ideas for organizing your craft supplies on Tuesday but didn't cover everything. Actually, I don't think that I could ever cover everything because organizing ideas are as varied as each person's own imagination! Here are a few more tips that you might find helpful.

If you have a room or even a dedicated space, you might consider putting up shelves. I love the metal/plastic shelving units that are designed for closets. They have a shelf with a bar along the bottom designed for clothes hangers to hang from. That bar is great for ribbon!

Of course, you can buy ribbon holders at many craft stores but one cheap alternative for ribbon is to put pieces and small spools in plastic bags. You can get the small craft bags at many stores or just use the zipper style bag that we use for our kids lunches. I use my small handheld hole punch to punch a hole in the thicker top area of the bag. Then I put all of the same color ribbons on one large book ring. These rings will open and then you can put them around the the bar made for clothes hangers. Keep all the same color on one ring. That way when you are working on your project, you simply that the ring off the bar and carry all of that color over to your project to see which will work best.

Another great storage unit is the plastic drawers that come on rollers. These are made in a large number of sizes and often will fit under a table.

Plastic shoe organizers are great for stamp sets, punches, tools and other items. They can be hung on a door or wall or placed inside a closet out of sight. An added bonus with these is that you can see where everything is.

File crates that you can find in office supply stores or general department stores make good storage units also. While this one looks a mess, they can be organized quite easily. These are made with a rim on the inside to hang file folders. You can get hanging file folders to use in organizing your stickers, papers or other flat items. You can also use them to organize your scrap papers. By putting file folders in the crate and labeling with colors or paper types, you can file all of your scrapes so they will be easy to find when you need that little piece of blue or green.


I hope that you've gotten a few ideas on how to organize your paper crafting supplies. When your items are organized you can get a lot more work done than when you have to spend all your time looking for your supplies.

Next week, I'll show you how to make your own folders to hold 12 x 12" paper. Be sure to check back again on Tuesday!