Product Review: {Recollections Washi Tape Dispensers}

Who doesn’t love Washi Tape? I know I do – it takes everything I have to keep from “collecting” every pattern and color out there! I have still managed to get my hands on several styles that I just couldn’t do without – wink, wink! I didn’t really have a good way of storing my rolls, until I came across these at Michael’s:

 

Here is another style:

 

And here are the two styles connected:

 

If you’ve read my other posts, you already know what a fan I am of the Recollections storage product’s. Especially when they put them on sale all the time! At the time I purchased these, they were 60% off. Sixty, as in 6-zero! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them 60% off before! I know there are a zillion ways to store/display Washi Tape collections, but this particular product fits me and my storage needs to a “T”!

Be sure an let us know how you store your Washi Tape! ~ Doris

The Craft Closet {Hazel Hamman}

Hallo to all of you. It’s Hazel from Sunny South Africa and here to share my Craft Closet with you. I’m not a curious person and normally I wouldn’t put something like this on my blog but part of being a contributor at Craft Storage Ideas is to share your space (and systems and ideas) so here we go!

First of all, it really can’t be called a studio as it is so small. I had to stand outside to take the pictures but it’s more than enough for me. We live in a big, open plan house and since both the boys left home, I have ample room but I love the idea of having everything contained to specific spaces and then I craft all over the place. You will see that most of my furniture is on wheels. When all the children and their friends are at home, I tend to hide in the craft closet but if my husband is working on his ipad or watching TV, I’ll use one of the tables we have nearby – even the deck outside if I feel like it.  Let’s start the tour:

X1Who would mind the size of the room if this is the view over the park that greets you every time you walk into it?

This is a view of my scrap space. I have two of the same desks – they started out in life as changing tables for my (now) 25 year old son, then my husband used them in his home office and when he upgraded to a full scale office, I snitched them. That’s the only thing I did to my room – painted everything with leftover paint in pretty ice cream colors. On the ends of the desks I’ve got fabric bags – in them goes all my scissors, measuring tapes, rulers – you name it – I have it on hand.
x3And my sewing corner. I try not to move my sewing machines around so most of my sewing gets done here.

x4Above my sewing desk are all my sewing goodies. I use these plastic tubs all around my house – the pantry, bathroom, garage, office, etc. No, I don’t like plastic but I hate dusting and we don’t get nice wire baskets down here.

The little drawers on the bottom shelve houses all my different threads and to the right the punched out shapes that I use for packaging. It is much easier storing scraps like this and you are much more likely to use them if they are pre cut.

X5These two drawers came from my father’s desk. When they downsized the desk was shortened to fit into their spare bedroom as a dressing table and I snitched the drawers. I use them in craft exhibitions – just take them off the wall, use and afterwards they go back. Girlfriend #1 (the interior designer) didn’t want me to paint them but they just looked too drab and dingy so out came the paint brush. You can see – I left the fronts and the handles intact to humor her.

X6A while ago I shared with you a cutting table made out of storage cubbies. Well, this is my take on it. I used crates that we normally use in the winery. My husband secured them together with cable ties and added the wheels. I made jackets for my trolleys – in the pockets is magnetic sheets so that my nestable dies stick to the outside. I love this as I roll the trolleys around to where I am and everything is available at a glance.

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My inspiration board. A painted garden trellis. This comes off the wall for craft fairs as well.
x8This is on the shelf when you enter my craft closet. The old sewing machine was a pressie from Girlfriend #1, the windmill was my son’s from days gone by and on the far end you can see the patterns that I’m currently using.

X9I do have an additional closet that is part of my living room furniture where I store my scrap supplies. In there is paper, hardware, stamps, dies – everything to keep my paper addiction satisfied. Nothing is labeled but I know exactly what I have (and I use it!)

Last of all – I also utilized the ceiling space. There is a condude running all the way around the room and I used trouser hangers to hang my items for craft fairs up there. Packed and ready for shipment and I can see what I’ve got at a glance.

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You will notice that I don’t have a computer in my craft closet. My husband and I both work from home and we have a separate office (just off the open living space) where all the computers and printers are. Everything is on a wireless network which means that I can work on my laptop anywhere in the house and my photo’s print on the office printers. Works very well for me.
That’s it – it’s small but it’s all mine. I hope you have enjoyed your tour of my craft closet. I’ve never shared this on my blog but plan to do so while I have all these beautiful pictures. You are welcome to follow along as I reveal where everything goes and how I did it. I’ll link them all up to one post – just a click away and all will be revealed. Just click here.

Thanks for coming to Craft Storage Ideas today. Me and my fellow contributors love to have you over. If you want to know something, please let me know in the comments and I’ll gladly answer. Have a great day and please check back to see what’s interesting or new on the storage scene.

Hazel

Organized Clear Stamp Storage

Always hunting for stamp storage ideas that are simple and organized, I was thrilled when I stumbled across Jennifer McGuire’s recent post!  Using plastic containers originally designated for storing soda cans in the refrigerator, she discovered a way to store her clear stamps with the help of either Office Depot CD sleeves or Avery Elle stamp storage pockets:

A girl after my own obsessive compulsive heart, she labels each and every pocket with an electronic label machine for additional efficiency when looking through her stamp sets:

I love that these clear sleeves make it easy to see what stamps are in each set when searching through your stash!  I think this may just be the solution I’ve been looking for!  Go take a look at her post where you’ll find even more information, including links to the specific products!

 

Melissa

Craft Room: Our Home Away from Home

Hello! I am so excited to share today’s craft room with you. I recently stumbled upon this room by a sweet comment from the blog’s owner on my own blog, Laura’s Crafty Life. This room is gorgeous and so beautifully organized and decorated!

Maria, from Our Home Away from Home, has done a great job incorporating DIY builds, craft supplies and fantastic decor items to make this a truly inspirational place to be!

The first thing that struck me was how beautifully the red accents jumped out against the backdrop of white furniture. She made a lot of these items herself from items she thrifted and re-used.

Her husband built the shelves and cabinets for the room. (Handy guy!)

 

I love how she organized her crafting supplies to make them easily accessible and also a stunning part of her decor.

 

 

If you get a chance, head over to Maria’s blog to check out the reveal. So many amazing details! She is still not completely done and I can’t wait to see all the finishing touches.

Laura

Recollections Craft Accessory Organizer: Product Highlight

Hello fellow crafters! It’s Cicily the Pink Dalmatian Scrapper with today’s product highlight. I always enjoy seeing everyone’s variation on the Recollections Craft Accessory Organizer, I even have one myself. So I thought I would share what some fellow crafters have done with the product to personalize it for their accessory needs.

My mom pointed out to me that her latest wall mounted organizer was slightly different then mine and when I went online to get this picture, sure enough one of the shelves is missing and there’s no longer bead-board in the back. So you may notice that difference between some rooms. I wanted to point that out in case someone rushed out to M’s and was disappointed with the change. The Recollections Craft Accessory Organizer is a wall mounted shelving unit that has multiple shelves & cubbies to organize your craft goodies. The wall mount keeps everything off your crafting space & the minimal depth means items aren’t buried and lost in the back.

This is my Embellishment organizer. Recollections does make containers to fit in the cubbies, however I didn’t care so much for the price or the fact that they were plastic. I measured the openings and found jars and glass containers  from Walmart and filled them with my goodies! I also added a metal strip to the bottom and usuing magnets hang Stickles & stamping tools.

Recollections Embellishment center

 This is the new style of organizer (my Mom’s). Also using the jars from Walmart & other assorted glass containers. IMG_3092

 

Here’s one that went opposite from me and used it exclusively for ribbon.

 

 Have a small crafting space? Here is one used in a closet!

I love all the color &  decorated containers.

Have you seen CSI’s very own Dorris Weeaks craft room? She has 3 of the organizers! Click on the picture to go to a CSI tour of her room.

Here’s a closeup of the 2 she uses for stamp display/storage and how she modified the shelving to hold more. Click on the picture to go to the tutorial on how she did this.

There are so many options and ways to organize your embellishments within the Organizer. These are just a few ideas. Let us know if you have a unique way to use your Recollections Craft Accessory Organizer.

Genevive Rulona {Thoughtful Crafts}

Good morning!  I’m thinking you are going to love today’s guest post!  Here’s Genevive!
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I’m Genevive Badilla – Rulona, a Filipino based in Singapore, wife to my very supportive and loving husband Benjo Rulona, and mom of two adorable boys Rujim and Miguel.  I am a teacher by profession but motherhood and scrapbooking changed my career plans. I am now a busy stay-at-home-mom, taking care of my boys, maintaining my online craft store, ThoughtfulCrafts.
Welcome to my “happy place”. So thankful to my dear husband for approving and supporting my hobby and passion to the point that he allowed me to use part of our dining area as my studio. I used to be in this room but I decided to shift outside so I can use the bigger table when I have workshops (yes I conduct a class of four here!), but more than that, I like to see my kids while doing my stuff and they won’t think their Mommy is hiding in her room all the time haha..
1. What kind of budget did you have when organizing your space?
 
We are just renting this house so all the things you can see in my craft room are movable and temporary. As much as possible I don’t want to spend too much on storage. Apart from the fact that I am quite a stingy person haha! But I feel so blessed to be able to work as scrapbooking instructor and design team at Made With Love, a local scrapbooking store and so most of my stuff are freebies or bought using our  DT vouchers on top of huge discounts during sales! My greatest splurge so far is whenever I go to Ikea where I practically get anything white — from the white billy book case to white baskets and boxes.  I also like to go to  Cash Converters (a second hand store in Singapore) where I got these glass containers to hold my buttons and flowers…
2. What was your greatest challenge?
I must turn the lights on when I work and I must go outdoors to take photos of my projects. So when I will have my own place someday, that’s the first thing I must keep in mind!

3. Are you a “organize it once” kind of girl, or are your storage solutions constantly evolving?
 
I think  I’m an “organize as I go” kind of girl and yes my storage solutions constantly evolve. There are times when in the middle of creating something, I just think of an organizing Idea and I do it right there and then. Like when I thought of this twine basket. I was cutting some  dress form die-cuts for a project when I just thought using it as  twine spools. It turned out cute :)  
 

4. What is one thing you’d like to improve about your storage/organization?
 
If we will be blessed to have our own place in God’s time, I would like the wall to be painted white instead of orange, I will get rid of those boxes under my work table (by using up those papers fast!) and think about a better way to organize my punches. 
 
 
… see my son’s art work on the wall :)
… latest projects on a, this was a  grocery basket given by a friend last Christmas :)
…out of sight, out of mind. I use washi tapes all the time and I believe it’s because they are right in front of me when I create.
 
…putting up this shelves was a fun experience for me. I felt like I was altering a giant printer’s tray :)
 
… I put all my dies at the bottom because they are heavy.  These bookcases will curve over time when you put heavy stuff on them.
… those white boxes hold my ribbons and embellishments.
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I really do love Genevive’s room!  It’s perfect!  And I love that it’s not hidden away, but in plain sight so she can still interact with her family!  Be sure to visit Genevive’s blog for more details about how she works!

Craft Room: {scrappingklo}

Hello! Welcome to my latest craft room feature! This room has to be one of the most well-thought out, highly functional rooms I’ve come across! Scrapping Klo designed and had this room built to her specifications. I hope you’ll find it as inspiring as I do!

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Closet-turned-AWESOME- storage!

What an awesome transformation here, making the very most from the inset that is the closet in this room! But just wait – it gets even more amazing!

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Pull out drawers in cabinets make for concealed, yet handy, storage.

Those aren’t just cabinet doors, they are each carefully designed drawers, that accommodate everything imaginable!  Check out the photos here for more details.

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More storage

This is her storage adjacent to her computer work station. Once again, the use of slide out drawers and platforms makes using and storing her equipment and supplies quick and easy!

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Wall mounted work station

More ingenious, space-saving ideas – the wall mounted work station. Not only does it provide a great space to actually work on, it doubles as wall storage for all her paints and glitters, etc. Be sure to check out her blog to find out how you could have one of these for your very own!

There are just too many amazing ideas in this one craft space – you need to check it out for yourself! Just follow this link for a really great “tour” of Scrappin Klo’s craft room.

See you next time! ~ Doris

Doris

 

Product Highlight: PVC Drawer Organizers

Once again, I’m Hazel all the way from Sunny South Africa and I’m here to share with you my first product review.

I have to tell you – this assignment had me in a fit of giggles and I know my fellow South Africans will agree with me – we just don’t get “stuff” out here!!  A week ago I read about someone complaining that they don’t have an IKEA in their state. Well, we don’t even have one in our country and to be truthful – I don’t think there is one on the whole continent!!

I do buy online but a lot of the stores don’t ship to Sunny SA and even if they do, the postage is HUGE – most of the time more than what the actual item costs.

I sat down to review my options and couldn’t find any official craft storage products that I own that has not been reviewed by Craft Storage Ideas.  So I decided to review something that I bought locally, not specifically intended to be used as craft storage but that I use a lot all over my house to store stuff.

Here it is:

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They are PVC drawer organizers and I buy them from a local home ware store.  I store my stamps, paint, dies, left over paper strips, kitchen utensils and clothes in them.  You get different sizes and mostly I fit a smaller into a bigger one – this prevents the stamps / dies from falling over if you take one out.

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Some more things that I love about them:

Interlockable  – makes carrying much easier.

Clear – makes labeling unnecessary.

Very, very cheap.

A standard stock item in homeware stores which means that you can always fill up on stock.

Folds flat – if you don’t use it, fold flat and it doesn’t take up any space.

Long enough to fit 12’ paper scraps.

Easy to clean – just wipe with a damp cloth.

Easy to assemble – just fold on the crease lines and lock tags into slots.

Next time you need a storage solution, first “think out of the box” – you might just find the product that works well at a fraction of the price.

That’s it from me.  I hope you have enjoyed my take on a product review. Please come back to Craft Storage Ideas as my “ teammates” and I have a lot more to share with you right here.

*For our US readers, here’s a link to a similar product – drawer organizers.

Hazel

Contributor Team Studio/Space Tour: {Doris Weeaks}

Hello everyone, and welcome to my my little slice of heaven! I am very fortunate to have one of the spare rooms in our home to use for my crafty endeavors! Over the years, as my obsession with scrapbooking has grown, so has my collection of craft supplies. Like many of you, my first “major” scrapbook purchase was a Crop In Style wheeled tote. As you can guess, it didn’t take long at all to outgrow it and to start longing for my own little scrappy space. My first dedicated area was a corner desk in our tiny den. You can see that I made sure to make the most of every square inch of space!!!

Scraproom - Downstairs (1)

My very first craft area

Once my oldest son graduated and moved out, I was able to take over his bedroom and convert it to my craft room. We had allowed him to paint the walls a dark blue, and I decided to go with it, rather than repaint. I was too excited to have my own room to wait a second longer to get everything set up! Fortunately, I had white furniture, so it brightened things up a bit!

scrapdesk (3)

My son’s former-bedroom-turned-mom’s-craft room

Over the next few years, this room was arranged and rearranged as my craft and scrapbook collection grew. As I’ve mentioned before, I have an addiction to all things storage, and I’ve tried just about every type of storage product that’s ever been created! Fortunately, some of the local scrapbook stores in my area started having “garage sales,” and I’ve been able to purge supplies and storage products along the way – otherwise, I would need my own scrapbook HOUSE!!!

Speaking of house, a little over a year ago, we moved to another home in our same area. We love our new place, especially because it has an amazing floor plan, one that allows my husband to have his own study/office, and I get to have my scrap room downstairs, and in an area of the house that is away from the main living areas. Knowing we were going to be moving gave me the perfect opportunity to be thinking about setting up a craft room “from the ground up.” I spent a lot of time, checking out craft spaces on CSI and Google, coming up with ideas that would work with my existing furniture. Even though it’s been tweaked a time or two since we first moved in, here is my (I think!) amazing craft room!

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View of current craft room from doorway

The photo above is taken from the doorway looking in. You can check out my posts on using the Jetmax/Recollections “cubes” and accessories from Michael’s, and for modifying their embellishment shelves to allow for extra stamp storage, to get more information on how most of my storage is set up. 

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Closer look at main craft area

Believe it or not, that’s still my original corner desk! A few months ago, I decided I wanted to raise the height of the desk, which I accomplished by purchasing two 3-shelf and 1 corner shelf closet organizers from Lowe’s and just sat the existing desk on top! Sometimes, I even amaze myself with my crafty ideas!!! Of course, that meant I had to get my hands on an office chair that would sit high enough to work with the “new” desk! Fortunately, I found one on Craig’s List, that I was able to cover with cute zebra print fabric from Hobby Lobby. LOVE IT!

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Large workspace with Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine

This is a close up of my latest revamp. Previously, my electronic cutter station was the Deluxe Craft Table from Michael’s (of course!). Because I am one of those crafters who has to have all their supplies visible and handy, much of my horizontal workspace is limited. I found myself moving things from place to place, even using my paper cutter in my lap, just to be able to work on a project. Obviously, this created more frustration than creative juices, so something had to give! I took drug my hubby with me to Home Depot, where the helpful men in the orange vests were willing to cut a piece of laminated MDF board down to 4 ft. by 6 ft. section for me. They also sell this stripping you “iron on” the cut edges, so you end up with a nice, finished piece of table top! I simply sat it on top of the Deluxe Craft Table, added the extras you see here, and I’m good to go! Ahhhhh! So nice to be able to spread out and CREATE! 

I love, love, LOVE my Silhouette Cameo! Now that I’ve gotten rid of all the “Bugs” in my craft room (wink, wink!), I have so much more space, especially when I can just set my laptop on the shelf above the Cameo, connect them to each other, and away I go! Which brings me to my latest obsession:

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Over-the-door shoe rack for storing vinyl collection

VINYL!!! Yep, this is my vinyl collection, neatly stored in this hanging storage rack from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I started out with the adhesive craft vinyl, which is on the left side, but decided to use some of the iron-on vinyl to make some baby “onesies” – yeah, big mistake! Now I have to have every color and pattern out there!!! I gotta say, I am having so much fun with it all, and the Cameo makes coming up with designs and cutting them a breeze!!!

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Sewing desk area

And, finally, here’s my sewing table. On the right are my mason jars filled with buttons. On the left are my containers and drawers with embellishments. The spinning rack on top is from Hobby Lobby and has most of my alphabet sticker sets and miscellaneous stickers clipped on it. The shelf above is my collection of silk flowers, separated by color. The top shelf holds my cork board and my flat screen television.

Well, that’s a “quick” tour of my happy place. Thanks for coming along for the tour! If you have any questions regarding more specific ways I store embellishments or other craft products, please let me know! You can comment on this post, or send me an email (@ djweeaks at att dot com). ~ Doris

Doris

 

 

Papered Cottage {Shellye McDaniel}

Happy Tuesday!  Are you having a good week so far?

It’s my pleasure to introduce Shellye McDaniel to you.  Shellye is currently designing for a few of my favorite manufacturers including Authentique, Bella Boulevard, Doodlebug Designs, Little Yellow Bicycle, Pink Paislee and Simple Stories.  She has been an avid crafter her entire life, and a scrapbooker for the past sixteen years.  If it involves paper….she’s all in!

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Hello!

Our laundry room is big … yes, I’m in with the laundry!  I often find myself using the Cricut or Sizzix next to a stack of folded towels on top of the clothes dryer.  My vision is to install a new counter top over the washer and dryer and extend it to where a smaller counter top is now.  This would grant the added space that’s needed for die-cutting machines and allow me to stand-up while I scrap.  One of the perks of being in the laundry room is that it houses a full wall of built-in cabinets…perfect for storing bins of design team supplies and seldom used items.

The washer and dryer are on the opposite wall of my desk.

 

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom doorway view

 The green bins that I have above the desk house paper pads (8×8 and 6×6), packaged stamps, and small embellishments and in the last bin the file folders holding rubons and letter stickers.

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom Main

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom Bin1

I also use wire Locker baskets (in a previous photo) and in one of those I have the medium punches.

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom Punches

For storing embossing folders, I’ve adapted a 6×8 binder and the solid 6×8 page protectors…makes it so much easier when I’m trying to find a certain pattern.  I also embossed the design on a paper so that I can reference the design.

Shellye McDaniel- Scraproom Storing Folders2

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom Storing Folders

I like to see the pretty things, so I’ve gathered all sorts of glass and apothecary-style jars for spools of baker’s twine (wound around wooden clothespins), ribbon and straws.

I also added a few more photos of things that I’ve organized like letter stickers, embossing folders, punches and straws (my new obsession!).

1. What kind of budget did you have when organizing your space?

Honestly my budget for organizing is like that of my clothing budget…I’d rather spend money on crafting supplies ‘n stuff!  When I first settled into my scrap space, I did purchase four large, heavy duty drawer systems that I found at Wal- Mart; it has been my greatest expense so far at around $250 for all pieces.  My husband was kind enough to build a temporary work station.  To that I added inexpensive shelving to the walls and pre-fab cubbies for paper packs and kits.

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom 3

2. What was your greatest challenge?

Ribbon.  I have collected more ribbon over the years than I will ever, ever use!  I have one drawer that stores spools of ribbon and then six glass jars that display ribbon by their color family.  I have a metal locker basket handy that I use to keep smaller pieces and frequently used ribbon in.

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom 5

3. Are you a “organize it once” kind of girl, or are your storage solutions constantly evolving?

About two-times a year I like to purge and then reorganize. But I’ve been known to tear the room apart, only to put it back the same way.  I don’t mind organized chaos while working on a project, but too much sitting around tends to overwhelm me, hence the need to ‘hide’ things in tubs and bins.

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom 6

 

4. What is one thing you’d like to improve about your storage/organization?

My next project is to organize my scraps of paper…my system now (large Ziploc bags) is not working for the obvious reasons. I have seen several ideas on Pinterest for either a hanging file folder or labeled drawer system.  I’m really looking forward to implementing one of the two!

Shellye McDaniel-Scraproom 7

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What do you think?  Isn’t Shellye’s space lovely?  And what do you think about using her laundry room as her crafty space?  Brilliant, I think!

To see more of her space and work, please visit her blog!