Studio Clean Up Challenge - Day 2

You're back! I'm so glad you want to hear more. I received several emails saying some of you are well on your way to seeing your work table!

OK, let's start with a caddy. I purchased the one above at a flea market for $60.00. I have no idea if it was worth what the seller was asking but it fit the bill for me, it's after all vintage metal, it has a handle and it has 3 different compartments. I like to have something that keeps my most used items handy and off to the side on the table that I work. I keep pens and pencils in an old german mug in one of the compartments as well as stamp blocks, my Character Construction stamps and my favorite ink pads. Because I have small kids I keep adhesives and scissors elsewhere.

I don't know how your space is set up but I have three dressers that I use. The dressers I have {from Ikea}, had drawer organizers that you could buy that fit the drawers exactly. As you can see in the picture below I have a place for paint, both acrylic and watercolor, as well as glitters and jewelry parts. Most of the time I put like things together but you'll have left over space here and there and it's fine to fill in with whatever supply will fit. I recommend these organizers as they would work great in drawers or on shelving.



I've done the same here with adhesives and scissors. Just a note here - if you have a ton of scissors that you don't use or decorative scissors that have become dull and tear your papers, throw them out! This goes for adhesives too. Anything that is dried up should be discarded and anything that is not your favorite should be used up or thrown away.



Jewelry bits keep nicely in old muffin tins or old metal ice cube trays. I like the shallow ones because they can sit atop books or boxes and slide out when you need to get something from one of the compartments. These are plentiful at the flea market.



Larger drawers or shelves can house various items such as tags, fabric, fabric scraps and paper trimmers. I don't have any interest in having these items out to be seen so it works nicely that they can be put away, out of sight.



Baskets! Get some baskets in various sizes, mine are from Cost Plus. I like it that they have the same kind and color of baskets in various sizes. This chipboard mess might end up in my "give away" pile yet but for now it's hidden in a basket so I'm not too concerned with it.



I know I've posted pictures of my inspiration board from Pottery Barn before. You don't have to have a board, maybe you want to keep items of interest in a binder or file folder. I liked the burlap background for this board and wanted to see what's pinned up on it. Paula at One Lucky Day gives a nice tutorial on her blog about making your own inspiration board. The use of an inspiration board gave me a place to put all the little bits and pieces that I wanted to keep but had no place for.



You can make interesting and fun push pins by taking quilting pins and adhering buttons or ephemera to the flat face of the pin head.



Don't quit on me now, it's about to get fun! Tomorrow we're going to talk about creative ways to store supplies.