Hi, my name is Pam and I have too many craft supplies.

Welcome to the meeting.

Today we will discuss how to tame your supplies and get them to work for you.

Storage Solutions

• Boxes: Perhaps it's tempting to make your craft room look like a perfect Pottery Barn photo and put everything in gorgeous rattan or wooden storage boxes. You do you, but I think this is a horrible idea. For one thing, you will most likely be inspired by seeing your beautiful supplies, no matter how attractive and unified their storage containers are. Secondly, once you really have a lot to store, being able to see inside the boxes easily makes it much easier to find what you're looking for, freeing up creative time for you!

• Drawers: Like opaque boxes, these conceal your supplies from your view until you open each one. Use with discretion, and make sure they stay organized and labeled. Best to use drawers that can only hold one layer of supplies, so the supplies to not become stacked and hidden.
• Cabinets: I love cabinets. With a cabinet containing clear boxes, you can have the best of both worlds--hide your supplies when not in use and keep them on display when in use and the cabinet doors are open. I would love to upgrade my whole craft room to cabinets. Hey, maybe some day I'll be able to afford it!
• Shelves: These are great for holding your boxes, and they can be either mounted on the wall, which may save a bit of space, or standalone units. Be sure to arrange the boxes on the shelves in categories, such as sewing, felting, beads, paints, drawing tools, etc.
• Jars: I love the way jars look with mosaic tiles or beads in them, but I just can't get myself to commit to using storage that is 1. round so it doesn't stack and 2. glass so it breaks. If you can make this work as a solution, I'm extremely impressed! I just lack the gumption!
• Pegboards: Love these! I guess some people don't like the way they look but man! They are such an excellent way to keep all your supplies visible and also follow the "a place for everything, and everything in its place" rule the professional organizers usually adhere to. I have all my tools at home on pegboards and now the studio has pegboards too! Cheap, infinitely reconfigurable, sturdy, effective, and basically lasts as long as you want!

The orange rectangle in the back of our studio is a pegboard!

• Magnets: I've never seen anyone do this but technically if you put some sheet metal on the wall you could use magnets the same way you use pegboard hooks. I would love to see this if you've tried it. I use magnets to display my earrings for sale. The following is a flexible magnet card on a sheet of steel.

• Carts: This is great if you need to move your supplies around, perhaps because space is at a premium. There are many types of craft carts around and I've heard some of the popular ones actually are not very strong so be sure to read reviews before buying.
• Over the door organizer: When trying to cram all your supplies in the space you have, this is always an option.
• Workstations: By far the most expensive option here... sure we all want a pony am I right? Just kidding but yes, of course I would love to have custom workstations in my super fancy lab instead of a table someone left at my house after a garage sale in 2010, but this just isn't that world.
• Labels: I command you to use these. If you do not put labels on your craft containers, even if they are clear boxes, I will come to your house and glare at you until you label everything somehow. Don't let that happen.

How to Organize?

Sometimes it can be difficult to decide: should you organize by type or by color?

I'd say the answer lies in how you tend to use your supplies. If you like to make a bunch of things in all different colors, all at one time, maybe organize by type and let all the cord ends of all colored metals be in one box. But if you're more likely to want all the gold findings to be in one box because you don't usually mix metals, then do it that way. Experiment to see what works best over time. If not...

Reorganizing

It seems like I have to reorganize my craft room at least once a year. I usually do it in January, since it always becomes horribly messy during the holidays. When your tables are full of unfinished projects and supplies, and you can't find the measuring tape, that's a good time to consider reorganizing. 

Stock

I feel motivated to talk about how much of each item you should keep on hand. There are some things you'll need to buy regularly, such as wire and cord, and you should keep plenty of that on hand. But the fact is, you do not need every single size of cord, wire, or jump ring. By experimentation, you can discover what are your most-used items you can't do without. One of mine is glue. If I'm running low, I just order some. But for supplies I don't use as often, I usually add them to a "List of Needed Jewelry Supplies" on my phone so I can make a big order when I have the time and money. 

Hope this helps at least somewhat to tame the supplies beast!

--Pam