Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Craft Supplies!

So, you buy supplies for a craft project for your child's class and have left over googly eyes. Probably a few pipe cleaners too. Then you decorate for a girl's baby shower and now have tiny pink flowers and lots of sheer pink ribbon left over. Oh, and lets not forget about the remaining teeny tiny clothes pins that were so cute holding up baby socks at the same shower. And you were nice enough to buy all the leather rope and primary colored beads for a cub scout project and they only come in 5 lbs bags! WHERE do you put all this stuff?

Years ago, I'd store it in the original bag and put it in a craft drawer. But in a rush to complete another school project, I almost always bought more googly eyes because it's just too much work to dig for the old ones! Right? Here is how I solved that problem. I think that anything can be gorgeous if you display it beautifully! All of the above mentioned items are mixed into this wall and they don't go together at all but look at how great they look!

Here are a few pointers:

-Buy many different sized containers. This wall has 4 glass containers. The big candy jar bins (4 each of 2 different sizes) hold chunky ribbons, stamp pads, stamps, beads, large tabs, handheld punches, etc. The tiny jars hold all the tiny things you end up with from brads to flowers to tacks to clips. The taller medium jars are perfect for smaller ribbons, those googly eyes, smaller tags, pins for sewing, etc. The toile bins hold things that are too tall to fit in the bins and provide a pop of color that tie into the rest of the room behind the teeny tiny jars. The basket holds scrapbooks that I've made at expos and hope to complete someday! Shelves are from http://www.ballarddesigns.com/ .

-Make sure you buy enough containers and get some extra! In two years when you have a few more things, you want to have matching jars. If you want more and have none and they are no longer available, it will start to look junky if you start a new jar in a row of all matching jars.

-What makes this wall cohesive is that they all coordinate. All are clear glass with simple lids. They aren't all from the same container line but they still work together. Imagine if the tiny jars will all silver and contemporary looking and the medium bins were all white that look like cookie jars and the big ones were clear glass. Everything would be stored but it wouldn't look as cohesive and wouldn't have as great an impact.

-But I don't like matchy matchy, what about me? If you like the vintage look of old jars that don't match, go for it! I love that look! But there is still a trick to make it cohesive. You should make sure you have a wide assortment of different sizes and different shapes. What doesn't look as good is if you have say 10 jars that all match and then 3 or 4 that are different. Or 15 jars that are all the same tall size and 3 that are short. Varying the styles, shapes and heights so that they all are different but so that the variety is balanced makes it a cohesive collection!

-Labels. I am a bit obsessed with labels. But I didn't label my jars! Why? Creativity and art are always evolving and I don't want to be stuck with labels that are an issue to change every time I decide to add or take away an item. In a year, if I start using more brads but stop using letter stamps, I'll just switch things around instead of having to deal with label changes. Also, they are clear so the item is a "label" in itself.

This picture is what this area looks like from the side. My "office" is a little less than 7' wide but runs the entire length of the house. In it is a desk with computer, lots of cabinet storage, this craft area, my kids school display area, a window seat with a tv above it, a pantry and our mudroom. It is truly a "multipurpose" room! Just so you know what else is in this wall section, the built in below that is curtained covers 12x12 paper storage towers and more craft items that aren't as pretty (rolls of tape, kids scissors, gluesticks, etc.). The very top shelf is full of magazine bins that I have shown you in another post.

This wall is really the epitome of how to make a space PRETTY NEAT!

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