Welcome back, grab a beverage, settle back and let’s have a go at today’s Challenge; ‘Organising your Craft Space’.
If your craft space is organised just the way you like it that’s great. I am not looking to judge anyone or expect you to change anything that already suits you. But for some of us a hobby that started in a small way, has now taken over half the house. You need to get it sorted but don’t know where to start. If your New Year’s resolution was along these lines…or you are fed up of taking days to find things, read on.
Getting Started
For every item in your craft stash, ask yourself four questions;
Do I love it?
Do I need it?
Do I want it?
Does it work?
If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any of these it stays, if the answer to any of them is no, then consider getting rid of it. Why loose valuable storage space to something that isn’t of use to you. Swap unloved stash with other crafting buddies or consider donating it to residential homes, hospice’s etc who have a craft programme and could do with the supplies.
So what do you do with the stuff you want to keep?
Choose storage that works for you; stackable boxes or drawers store a lot without taking up too much floor space. If you need to start right now, but have no budget, you can get shoe shops to save empty shoe boxes for you and collect them at the end of the day.
Fishing tackle boxes are great for small ink pads as they have several layers of shelves inside and hold loads.
DIY stores have divided boxes great for small embellishments. Have you seen those clear plastic boxes made for peel offs, they are available in all sorts of sizes, the A4 one is not only perfect for storing card/paper but can hold 24 large format ink pads, 12 in the A5 ones. There are also 12″ formats too for scrapbook card/paper/
Here are some examples of how my stuff is squirreled away out of sight. The small boxes on the top shelf are microwave/freezer boxes from Lakeland Limited and contain embossing powder. It is MUCH easier to just spoon over your project and tap the excess back in to the box.
Organizing your stash
Put items into groups of similar objects;
Paper and card
Ink, embossing powder and heat tool
Stamps
Depending on the amount of storage space you have available to you, consider separating card from paper then sorting plain from patterned etc. Ink could be divided into pigment and Dye based pads. As for stamp storage personally if you have the space and budget allows the smallest way of storing mounted stamps that I have found is office drawer units. I got mine from Staples and it has 15 drawers. I then have space to put stamps into groups by their image, Floral/Christmas/Lettering etc.
Now depending on how much stash you have, this is likely to take a while. Take it in small steps, and give yourself a crafty reward each time you finish a drawer or area. Whatever storage you decide on, LABEL the contents on the front panel of it so you can easily find your stuff again.
I was essay girl today wasn’t I, still there were pictures this time 
Thanks for reading and see you next time
Billie x
