Organization

As I ponder the reorganization of my studio it occurs to me, I am a slob! I tend to save too much stuff. I admit it's hard to pass by those 'too good to miss' sales. I'm always saving things because I might need them later. Consequently, I have a small space with a lot of supplies. The solution...organization.

So I gave gathered a few ideas meant to help with the storage of all those beloved arts & crafts supplies. Hopefully, this will help all of us to streamline our creative areas. Please feel free to email me with any suggestions or tips you may have at pwmblogeditor@gmail.com and I will share in a future issue of the blog.

Some tips for storage and organization.

Cling Stamps - These are the polymer or acrylic stamps that come without a base and you usually use a clear acrylic block to stamp them onto your projects. I have recently started using these in my painting and mixed media projects much more frequently and they have started to take over the studio.

The solution, suggested by a friend, is to buy a zippered binder and heavy-duty document holders. A heavy-duty hole punch is required as the holders do not come pre-punched.

Use a separate page for different themes and holidays.

Paint - The joys of paint storage. Those lovely little 2 ounce bottles of glorious color speak to us and we never seem to have enough. I rejoice in my collection of hues, constantly adding to them.

Over the years I have tried many different ways of storing the paints. Obviously, storing them in the proper temperature goes without saying. I have a turning paint rack which was given to me which I love but I have way more paint then will fit on it. I have found that placing the bottles on their side with the bottoms facing out and stacking them works well for me. I use old fashioned bookends for dividers.

Wood and other surfaces - Perhaps the most varied but numerous things to collect, they tend to outnumber other items. The wide variety of shapes and sizes tends to make storage harder.

For some, consider one of those cube-shaped storage pieces that you can use baskets in. You don't necessarily need the baskets. Place shapes in cubes according to size and shape. For smaller pieces, like wood turnings or mini canvases, use some of those wonderful decorative boxes with the flip lids, found at places like Joann Fabrics, Dollar General and Michaels. You can also store items like jewelry findings and embellishments in these fun boxes.

Canvas - I think I have an addiction, I have so many shapes and sizes of canvas. From mini to huge, I just keep buying them. I tend to store them upright, side by side on a shelf. The smaller ones go into boxes, as mentioned above.

Patterns - Books go into a bookcase I keep and I recently bought cardboard magazine storage boxes from Ikea to better support the thinner softbound type and magazines. Pattern packets can be stored in two ways, either put them in a similar size decorative box or open them and store in binders with clear sleeves.

Brushes - Two words, utensil holder. I use a pampered chef round utensil holder to organize many of my brushes. I also use decorative jars for some. Like paint, I have a lot of brushes and seldom, if ever throw any out.

I'll let you know how my journey into an organized workspace goes...

Smiles!