or
Keepin' It Real
or
My Dirty Little Secret
It is a New Year. Usually I don't have New Year's Resolutions (as you will see from the photos below), my life is just lived a bit more haphazardly. Remember that girl up there in my header is me---skipping along, stuff falling out of the wagon and while I never want to let go of the shear bliss of creating, it is time to let in some organization.
I would love to open this up for a group project as I am always willing to receive help and take advice. However, I remember not too long ago when I asked for your best organizational tips many of you seemed as befuddled as me (hehe). I will put it out there again. What should I do? How do you do it?
I will post a new photo of my room the 1st day of each month this year. Hopefully this will document the progress I have made! Any companies out there that want to take me on as their personal project---don't hesitate to apply!
Turn away now if you are squeamish!
The Room
The Closet
A crazy shaped nook built into the wall where I stuff fabric
I have started reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
I realize by posting these photos Martha will never want to be my BFF! I do feel the need to explain the photos (my husband even said he was embarrassed for me)----it takes so much stuff to do all the projects here at Skip to my Lou, the room is too small, I don't have money to buy more organizational aides(and obviously don't know how to use what I do have), I have three kids, I am so busy, on and on.........but really!
Help!
Thanks for taking the time to visit me today!
Oh thank goodness that I am not the only one. I don’t have a craft room, though. Just the dining room which is smack dab in the middle of the house! The thought of unannounced company puts me in a panic.
I think you have a lot of great components of organization. The thing you might want to do is organize on a monthly basis by getting rid of some things and rearranging the others. It helps you keep stock of what you have so you don’t overbuy, donate what you wont’ use and it can be inspirational! This way things don’t get out of hand, either.
I don’t see a bulletin board – you may want to add that so you can organize your projects, or even a calendar.
Finally, I’ve been thinking a lot about something I read in Mary Englebreit magazine that Amy Butler said. She said that she doesn’t bring something into the house unless she absolutely loves it. Now that doesn’t help with some craft necessities. However, it may very well help with people like me who keep adding to their fabric stash just because of a good deal, or vintage, or cute.
Can’t wait to see your transition!
Also, I fold my fabric this way:
http://sassypriscilla.typepad.com/sassy_priscillas_craft/2007/06/fabric_folding_.html
I did it a couple years ago and it stays that way. I think it is amazing (and not my own idea).
For patterns, I put them in comic book sleeves with the comic book backing. It keeps them stiff and neat and also archival safe!
This was an awesome post. Thanks for sharing! Its hard to be an organized creative person!
That book looks like a good start. I can’t say much because my room looks worse than yours BUT I know that it can be done. I do have pockets of organization in my life. I have used the FLY Lady and the Slob Sisters and have had a lot of help from them. They understand the disorganized mind. They know how we think and how to work with it instead of telling us just to put things away they tell us how WE do it.
) We aren’t lazy just busy.
I think I should take your challenge to take a picture of my craft room but and very chicken. It is frightening.
Hi cindylouh,
I’m a newcomer to Skip to My Lou, but I thought I’d chime in anyway. Except, my comment kept growing, and growing, and growing. Before I knew it, it had grown into it’s own blog post:
http://thepassionatemind.blogspot.com/2009/01/treatise-on-organizing.html
I hope this helps, and that it’s not too redundant (as I’ve used up all my bloggy time typing that, and have to go make dinner instead of reading previous comments! lol)
Hth, and thanks so much for the great projects you’ve posted here!
I so know the pain of a messy craftroom! I finally (cross my fingers) have a place for everything so it’s much easier to clean up when I’m done with a craft frenzy.
I love flylady (especially her advice to set a timer). I also really love Julie Morgenstern’s book, “Organizing from the Inside Out.” I think I only read half the book before I could get to work and that part was a fast read. Definitely worth buying in my opinion, but the library has copies, too. Once I did a room or two using her system, FlyLady got much easier for me.
best of luck to you!!
Oh thank goodness, I’m not the only one!
Thank you!
I have no advice but LOTS of sympathy because I’m in the EXACT same place. I odered the David Allen book. I wish us both luck!
About FlyLady: people seem to love her scheme or hate it. Just so you know ahead of time, in case you’re one who doesn’t love it.
About #6 plastic: don’t cut off the sides! (someone up there suggested that) They make some of the neatest effects. I used cup shaped ones from a store bakery muffin container, and was quite surprised and pleased when they went flat as they shrank. It makes it all the more magical to watching kids…
I think that you should fly me out and I will do it for you! I am just a simple stay at home mom but I work really hard to keep things in order. I would organize it for you as long as you would work me on a good/normal budget for boxes and containers to keep you all together when I am not there! I live in Washington. Let me know I am serious! –emily
Labels and Bins!!! Keep it simple and Go with a a kindergarten classroom model. If everything has a home and a label it’s easier to find and put back. Your kids would even be able to help out. Second tip is to purge, I know it’s really hard with art supplies but some need to move along. Fabric folded in wire baskets, clear under bed boxes, or stacked in fat quarter piles or rolled up like towels would be nice on your fabric shelves and of course, stacking them in a color spectrum, “rainbow style” is pretty to look at AND lets you know where to find what you’re looking for. I love cleaning and organizing, I wish we lived near each other, I would hop over and come play with you!! xoxox pink and green mama
I want to thank you for the interesting, inspiring, and entertaining bits I’ve been reading here for the past few months. This site is on my daily blog check and I really love it.
That said, I think if YOU want to have a less cluttered space then maybe you could make it your project to create a work of art out of the place where you create art. I think that you have demonstrated an ability to create amazing things, this could be a snap for you if YOU want to streamline things and beautify a space where you spend a bit of your time.
here is an inspiration pic from soulemama for you… mind you on occasion I have seen even her immaculate studio in a cluttered condition…
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2007/05/come_on_in.html
That said, sometimes clutter stimulates creativity IMO… I think what you have been doing obviously works so really, with all the beauty coming out of the room does it really matter what the room itself looks like?
Oh my… Thank you for posting this! I think everyones craft area gets messy. What do I do about it?? I remember every thing has a place and every place has a thing. And I don’t start another project until I clean up the last. Good luck!!!
I feel your pain. I just posted about my reorganization attempts yesterday.
Organization is my priority this year too. I love the idea of posting a photo a month.
That really puts the pressure on to have some progress to report every single month-lol.
Good luck and happy new year.
one more great book…”Organizing your craft space” also by Jo Packham. More great pictures and ideas.
I love using apothecary jars for everything from colored pencils to scissors to small containers of paint. The jars come in every size and you can find them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. They also look great lined up on a shelf with all the goodies in each one…
Thanks for keeping it real – I needed to see someone else like me. I too am a crafter – a homeschooling mom crafter at that – so our home is teeming with things my DH is itching to throw away.
I’ll be working alongside you to organize. This will be fun.
First, start with the towel hanging on your chair, throw it in the dirty laundry:)
Then, Grab a trash bag. If you’re anything like me, you like to keep stuff, but you have to learn how to throw/give/recycle it away. Fill up one trash bag of stuff that you will get out of your house one way or another.
You have lots of organizational baskets/cabinets. Empty them all out and group stuff that belongs together, then start putting them all back away.
The Key????? Only do TEN MINUTES at a time!!!!! Before you sit down to begin a Skip to My Lou project each day, FIRST clean/organize for just ten minutes. Time yourself. Then be done for that day. Trust me, even with the mess you make afterwards, you’ll really start seeing a difference. Happy organizing!
Ha! You are so much more organized than I am! I WISH I had shelving in the closet so I could actually find things. The only reason that RIGHT NOW my room is cleaner is because it is also the guest room and we just had guests.
A couple of thoughts/questions:
1) Craft supplies are such odd shapes and sizes so it’s hard to figure out what will organize them best, but still look nice. I like reusing food or paper containers but often these are ugly or don’t allow you to see what’s in there (especially for the little ones). I think it doesn’t matter so much if you have doors or some other cover over your storage but for me I don’t.
2) Do your mesh baskets work for you? I’d be more inclined for something closed so things wouldn’t poke out the mesh holes…thinking plastic so that it could also slide off the shelves easier?
3) Good luck!
You are lucky… I don’t even have a dedicated room for my sewing! I’m feeling a bit of sewing room envy right now. I love the color! I got myself a label maker, and I love it. Here are a few ideas… I see you have a lot of shelves. I would use clear stacking bins with lids, put like things in them, and label them. Also, in you closet you could add more shelving on the back wall to make it more U shaped. Have you tried over the door shoe and jewelry bag storage? They are great for smallish bits. I am a visual person, and I need to see what I have so I do not buy extra. Can you hang your thread and bobbin storage unit on the wall? You could add a lazy susan style art cart in between you sewing table and desk. If the top is fixed position, you could put you TV on top… bonus! Bags are not your friend. They wrinkle fabric, you can’t see what’s in them, and they get lost easily. I need to take my own advise, ha ha. Good luck!
Wow. It looks like you’ve already got a ton of good advice but here’s some more.
I like to color coordinate my fabrics, that way it’s easy to see what I have and well, it’s just darn pretty to look at. I also bought some accordian filing systems – they’re inexpensive and hold lots of those little pattern pieces, templets, graph paper, patterns off the internet, etc. Those have been the best thing ever. Also I used to store my fabric in hanging shoe holders in the closet – inexpensive and not permanent.
Good luck with your organization! I’m tackling my room too!!
I could scare your pants off if you looked at my craft room! I try to keep organized but it gets out of hand because I do more than one craft at a time, and the next thing you know they are all laying out all over. As for the shrinky dink containers… if you cut the rippled sides that aren’t used off, the flat tops and bottoms can be stacked. That at least looks neater and leaves room for MORE pieces!
I think this is pretty normal–mine looked like that b4 it got turned back into a kids’ room again. i keep saying that i’m one of those people who thrive on disarray, but its so a lie.
so on that GTD-IQ test, I am a 1!! I am SO a Responder/Victim. Well, now that I have been analyzed so thoroughly I’m off to drag children out of bed for the day.
Oh, I love you! Thank you for posting; it makes me feel better.
We moved into our home a year ago this month (Wow!), and all of my craft and sewing stuff is sharing a room with a computer that doesn’t work, our eliptical trainer, boxes of stuff that my MIL insisted we take from her closets (my hubby’s childhood memories stuff) plus furniture that we weren’t sure quite where to put.
So, yesterday I decided to claim the space. I cleaned off two shelves on the bookshelf and added my paper. I put the old computer in the closet and took back my craft table. I brought over an old chest of drawers and made it a printer stand and stashed a bunch of my supplies in the drawers. I even added a small power strip to the tabletop so I can plug in my glue gun, sewing machine, etc. I was so excited! Last night, I actually went up there and started on my Valentines cards.
There’s so much more to be done, but the biggest challenge is getting started.
Oh, for my spools of ribbons – I took one of the pants hangers that we got from the drycleaners and put it in the closet. With a little tug, the metal part separates from the cardboard part so I can slip my ribbons on and off easily and they’re contained in the closet. I also have several fabric closet organizers that I need to take up there.
Thank you so much. It makes me feel a bit better that I’m not the only one that needs some help (and time) to get things organized …. and then somehow KEEP it all organized.
Every time I think (operative word THINK) things are looking good/organized – someone decides that we NEED something else and brings it home, decides its NOT QUITE right and changes things without saying anything, or the like.
I think I’m going to start smacking fingers/hands that try to “help” when I don’t want it or ADD to the mess with things that they “need” but don’t have a place to put it.
Boy, good luck. I empathize. Creative people are messy. Period. I do agree that streamlining would probably be more productive. I am going to use all the advice you have gotten. Good luck, cant wait to see “after” pics!
just emailed you a fwd from better homes and gardens- all about organizing a creative space! lol… came in with good timing.
Good Luck! I have a little embroidery shop, and boy does that craft stuff get unorganized quickly!
We have recently organized the fabrics into color order in clear plastic drawers, it’s helped a little.
Still, it’s a major daily battle. I just try to stay focused on my craft and when I’m stuck – I clean up. This is probably not the advice you were looking for. But, I happen to stumble onto your site and it’s really nice! I’m having fun looking around. When I saw the pictures of your craft space, I felt right at home.
Best to you, Nancy
[...] The ridges on the sides give a nice space to color! Yes, I know it now throws a kink in your organizational advice to cut off all the sides of the plastic containers so the plastic could be stored flat. We burned [...]
I’m so happy that I’m not the only one who has a secret craft room. It was disasterous after chrismtas projects. So I’ve started the process as well. I’ve posted in my blog as well the before and after pics.
my craft room is lined up in bags next to my bed…at the foot of my bed in a storage ottoman…in the living room piled all over the train table…
it’s taking over the house…my yarn…my material…my beads…
well, one day…some of my kids will be moving to college. then i can take over their rooms!!
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for the comment on 30days and Tip Junkie. I love this post of yours- why do you think I did that organizational post? Um because I am the one who needs help. I bet I could at least match these pictures if not outdo them….I am working on my craft space right now. But I’m not brave enough to show the pictures.
That’s why I love that book I found.
Anyway- thanks for checking in and clutter sisters unite!!
[...] Saturday a friend came over and helped me with my craft room. She was amazing. It became quite apparent that I could have never done this without her. I [...]
You know, I can relate to you`r stress-related cleaning. One thing that helped me was thinking 1: Do I NEED it? 2: do I collect one pretty thing, or many pretty things? 3: I need more space 4: Who can I give things away to as an gift or to get ridd of some things? I don`t like to toss away stuff, and are a fan of recykling.
I`m a crafter myself when the situations are awailable.
but it is good to see that you managed to organise the stuff into order. Isn`t it fun to go in there now?
So when you say you got stressed I know what you mean
Sorry if the english is a bit off, I`m norwegian.
So I just wanted to give a little support and understanding. Happy crafting, Heidel.
I think you’re great, never mind Martha. Anyone who puts tissue paper in all her sweaters before she folds them and puts them in her drawer is not someone I’m interested in. I don’t have the luxury of time to do that and I don’t have the money she has. I saw a tee shirt that says ‘Martha doesn’t live here’ and I think we should all wear one. Martha is fine, for Martha, but we can’t all be Martha (thank heaven, that’s a good thing).
I bought a number of clear plastic boxes with plastic lids and a pack of lined library cards. I divided my hobby items (multitudinous) into categories and put them in the boxes and wrote on the cards what was in the boxes. I taped a card to the front of each box. I can see through the boxes as well as reading the cards. I’m often not great about keeping up with my boxes, but things are much better since I started that. Of course, I have some hobbies that don’t fit into boxes and that’s a whole different story. I’m still working on that.
The bottom line is that life is short and not always beautiful. You have to have some fun and enjoyment. When you are a creative person, you need to express that. The people who have responded to you here love what you do and it’s great that you share your passion for making things with everyone. You’ve spread some joy and happiness around to other people and there’s a lot to be said for that. In 50 years from now, no one will remember what your craft room looked like. If they do, they are more likely to remember the wonderful things that came out of it and smile. I’ve enjoyed your site immensely. Thank you.
Hi Heidel!
What a wonderful thing to open this today and see it for the first time! I’ve spent the past 6 months organizing my basement craft area. I began by taking everything OUT, and starting with a blank slate. I went quick. I made 3 piles, Definately Want, Definately Don’t and Maybe. I hid the Maybes inside a box. Having to decide right then bogged me down, so I did them last. I also took everything out of the store packaging.
My storage consists of rolling plastic caddies, bookshelves, and a 5ft. long set of old kitchen cabinets that sit on the floor. I have baskets, and clear shoeboxes. I got some stickie mail labels (Leftovers from work) and labeled everything. I let go of all round continers because they waste space.
I realized I had too much in one place. So, less-frequently used items such as iron, sewing machine, toaster oven, large paints, rolls of wallpaperr, fabrics and foam core are in a different section of the basement. My area now has the Immediate Gratification things in it. I also did not let myself put up a second craft table. Since the first one gets covered, the second one would, too.
I do jewery, sewing, painting and drawing, and re-use and repurpose everything I can. Almost all containers came from thrift or someone’s trash. I also keep trays of all kinds, Everything having to do with a project gets stored on the tray. I wish I had a photo to share, as I’m happy with my results and I sleep better at night, too. I’ll be sending good vibes your way. Beth in Kansas
[...] some update photos of my craft room. I will continue to post these the first of each month to see if I can stay on track. There are [...]
hehehe,
i have to laugh!!! my daughter and i started our business 2 years ago. she is 21 and the oldest of 9.she was living in an apartment next door.well she , her husband, and my 2 yr. old granddaughter moved home a year ago.so now there are twelve of us in my house.as hard as i try to be organized it seems like i am the only one trying!!! lol.my craft room is my haven,so i have a nice two door cabinet to keep my fabric in,on the outer door ,i bought closet organizers and put all my ribbon in it.three drawer organizers are the best though because they are all stackable and come in all sizes all i can say is one thing a day at a time and good luck!!!
Just came across this old article… I was wondering if you found a solution? Have you took an updated picture??