Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

New Year’s Resolutions are so tantalizing, with their promise of a brand new year, a brand spanking new clean slate, and the opportunity to start over on a few things. I’m pretty consistent with them–every year I start over on the same things!

But this year I wanted to focus on resolutions specifically for crafters, narrow down the promise to get organized. For instance, organize those piles and shelves of craft supplies, and the jumble of ideas jotted on slips of paper or tucked into dim nooks and corners in my brain.

Hey! That’s two resolutions right there:

1. I resolve to organize my supplies, and my crafting areas.

2. I resolve to organize how I go about crafting.

Step one, for a lot of us, involves sorting, categorizing, and storing all the bits and pieces, large and small, looking at what you have in supplies, for instance, and then sorting by the type craft they’re used for. I’m getting more specific as time goes by.

For example, I have a small, plastic chest with three drawers to hold scraps of fabric, pin backs, colored craft wire, and an assortment of small buttons for making fabric flower pins. Pull that chest out, and everything needed for that craft is at my fingertips, with the exception of scissors and wire snips.

Another option is to use gallon-size resealable plastic bags. I have one right now that contains everything I need to make wrist warmers/fingerless gloves. Zipper bags are just so versatile-they hold odd shapes, can be packed in together for storage-within-storage, fold flat when they’re empty, and can be reused.

There are all sorts of storage systems you can get for things like beads. I have my eye on these, as my beads are getting completely out of hand:

Use large tins or shoe boxes for leaflets, booklets, and patterns. If you cover them with pretty paper, you can set them right out on a shelf, and add a bright touch to your crafting room. I’m liking these black ones, because they present such a nice, blank slate:

An over-the-door tie rack will let you hang strands of beads, hanks of floss, or jewelry you plan to de-construct.

Stand scissors in a pretty vase, and use a pretty dish on your sewing table to catch all those little things you want to keep handy. A decorated tin can is the classic pencil holder, and baskets are good for just about anything. Stand spools of ribbon on edge in a shallow box, or thread them onto dowels in a drawer.

For thousands more organizing tips, try Get Organized Now  and/or Fly Lady. They are wizards there!

Those are just a few ideas for the tangible stuff of crafting, but what about your time and ideas?

Start with a schedule. I’m going to try to reserve early morning for computer activity (checking email, connecting with other crafters, listing items on Etsy, etc.), mid-morning to early afternoon for housework and errands, and the afternoon to crafts. It won’t always be possible, but that is my goal. If you’re going to do something similar, try to make your appointments, play dates, shopping, and the like fall into the earlier part of your day, so you can be back in your creative space when you want to be. If you have children in school, you may find mornings work better for creating.

I love it when I spot or come up with a new idea, but I know for a fact that if I don’t write them down, they’ll just disappear. How do I know that? From looking back at my little notes and slips of paper with ideas sketched or jotted down, and thinking, Oh, that’s cool. And I’d forgotten all about that one!

Resolved: To have a pad and pencil in my purse at all times. Better yet, to carry a camera wherever I go.

I also have a file on my computer labeled “Crafts and ideas”. If I run across a great idea, I take or scan a photo, and park it in that folder, for later reference.

And for all those fabulous instructions found in magazines, there are notebooks, labeled by category-Crochet, Garden, Beading, Cooking, etc. Page protectors are our friends!

I’m reminded of the little placards that say, “A messy desk is a sign of genius.” Won’t argue that one, but a tidy desk is sure nice to work at. Now, if I can just keep it that way…