Crafting naturally involves a lot of small things that need to be contained in some way so that our craft rooms don’t become crazy places covered with little bits and scraps.

Yes, you can make your own adorable storage, and I’m really going to do that someday, but I was looking for something a little more sturdy to hold some things in my mixed media storage area, which has been sitting on the floor under my desk.

Translation: I wanted a way to keep the three-year-old from using my good pens.

I found the Viewtainer spill-proof containers at my local Home Depot. They come in a variety of sizes from 2 by 4 inches to 2.75 by 12 inches and 13 colors, though you’ll find fewer choices at the hardware store (I think they had black, gray, blue and red at my store). They normally come with split lids for easy access to whatever’s inside, but you can also get full lids or hanging lids, neither of which I saw at my store, but you can order them online.

I picked a couple of black ones to try.

They’re Not Kidding about the Lids

My first impression of these containers is that they are very sturdy, made of thick but flexible plastic with rubbery tops and bottoms. You squeeze the top to get the slit to open up to put things in and take them out. With a solid lid, the container becomes air- and water-tight.

The lids are quite secure and it’s actually kind of difficult to take them off (if you squeeze on the clear part really hard you can get under the lid and nudge it off), which is a good thing if you’re trying to keep materials away from children. It’s a little inconvenient when you’re loading something big like that spool of twine that couldn’t go through the lid hole.

But if you’re putting something small in there, the lid can be formed into a funnel-like device that makes it easy to load and unload.

Using the Containers

I like these containers for things like twine and ribbon that can get messy when left to their own devices. You could also use one for a small ball of yarn if you were working with a novelty yarn that just wants to fall apart in the ball. It would also keep the yarn clean and away from cats while you worked with it.

It was awkward to try to get a single pen out of the container when I wanted to work with it, so that’s definitely one application where having a solid lid might be better. Either way you can just take it off while you’re working and put it back on when you’re done.

These containers range in price from $2.89 to $6.98 (except for the 26-inch long one; it’s $9.79). Replacement caps are available, with or without tethers, so you can alter your bottle in whatever way you need (hanging lids are not available for individual purchase).

Of course these would be great for things like buttons and beads if you didn’t mind having a bunch mixed up together. You could also store paint brushes, markers or crayons, pipe cleaners and other kids’ supplies in them, especially if you have younger kids and only want those things to be accessible when you’re around to help open the containers.

I’m not sure I’m making the best use out of mine right now, so I’d love to hear what you would use them for.

Sarah