Creative Space Options

If you have organized your supplies as suggested in past articles, you may have run into a common problem - NO MORE ROOM!  That happens to most of us when we begin to put away all our stuff and simply run out of places to store things.  Let's discuss some of the creative ways you can maximize your space.

 If you love punches, and simply don't have anywhere else to store them, have you considered a shoe bag on the back of a door?  The pockets are deep, usually clear, and they hold quite a few punches - especially those oversized punches that take up a lot of room. Another storage solution would be towel bars that can hold "thumb punches."  These are the punches that have a lever and the lever fits over the towel bar and holds the punch, plus it displays them nicely on the wall so you can readily see what you have.  Another option would be a rolling cart, such as those by Best Craft Organizer. They have half size and full size storage carts with 1", 2" and 3" drawers. I bought a 2" drawer cart and stored punches in it.  Before utilizing this system, I put non-skid shelf lining in the bottom of each drawer to keep the punches from sliding around when the drawer was opened.  

 How about ribbon - do you have more than you know what to do with?  Take a shoe box, or photo box, or even something smaller, depending on the amount of ribbon you have.  Use chipboard to cut appropriate sized cards out of.  The cards should fit inside to box vertically, but not too tight, to allow room for ribbon.  Start with one color combination or style of ribbon and tape the end to the card.  Start wrapping the ribbon around the card and secure the end with a straight pin (I like the large head pins because they are easy to see and remove). Continue wrapping each ribbon until you are done.  This system holds a lot of ribbon in a small space.  I made a box about 5 inches wide, 5 inches high and 10 inches long and it held 250 yards of ribbon!  Pretty impressive for such a small space!  I also keep a "cookie jar" - large clear cannister with lid, on my scrapbook table to hold small bits of ribbon and lace that are left over from other projects.  Then when I want just a small piece, they are easily visable right in front of me.

 Buttons, brads, charms, and small embellishments present another problem.  They take up a lot of room if left in their original wrapping.  I found that if I remove the packaging, and sort by style, type or color, I can store a lot of embellishments in small jars that sit on a shelf.  Because this storage option is clear, it is easy to see what you have and find when you need it.  I love to use old spice racks, and jars bought at thrift stores and re-purposed for this use. You can also use small baby food jars to hold lots of embellishments. For me, clear storage is best because I want to know what I have and where it is without a lot of looking and wasting time.  Perhaps this can work for you, too!

Next Time: Scraplifting - What is it?