Create Space

If you’ve ever done any amount of crafting then you probably already know what I’m about to tell you: Crafting requires a lot of stuff. There’s the Mod Podge, the foam brushes, the extra glue sticks and scrapbook paper. There are piles of fabric scraps and tiny containers of pins and embellishments and spool after spool of ribbon as far as the eye can see.

And thanks to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, that stuff can get a little out of hand if you don’t have a system for organizing it. In fact, it can get so bad that it looks a little something like this:

Oh my. How embarrassing for me. (It’s no wonder my husband gave this table (and me) the side-eye and a huge sigh of defeat on multiple occasions.) Oh, and in case you didn't already notice--my craft table lives in my basement/laundry room/storage room. Glamorous, I know. :)

And in addition to being down-right ugly, this pile of crafting chaos was preventing me from seeing the supplies I already had—which is a recipe for a buying stuff you don’t actually need disaster. Something I am trying very hard to avoid this year.  Not to mention that I couldn’t even take my brand new sewing machine out of its box because there wasn’t a place to put it, let alone set it up and use it.  Something had to be done.

I wish I was kidding when I said I looked for that cupcake carrier  no less than 5 separate times before remembering that, oh yeah, its on top of the sewing machine that is STILL IN THE BOX. Of course! Why wouldn't it be there? Makes perfect sense! Oy.

So over the course of the last couple of weeks I have made some small changes in my crafting space to make it one that is both more visually appealing and functional. I’ve worked hard to do this on a MAJOR budget and to use what I had to make it work. I’m going to show you some small projects I did for the space and work up to the “big reveal” of how it all came together later in the week.

For starters, I want to show you all a (super) simple transformation that took something we would have otherwise relegated to the Goodwill pile and made it fit and functional for another space.

This little mail holder (from Walmart) used to live in our kitchen (back in the old days before the re-do) as a collector of mail, wedding shower invites, spare keys, and other odds and ends that landed on the counter as we came in the door each day. In short, it was a catch-all for junk.  And it drove.us.crazy. Rather than helping us to stay more organized, it became a crutch—the reason we didn’t sort through our mail, file our income tax statements right away, or put that $0.13 of spare change in the spare change jar. So we took it away—and now? Our countertop stays clutter free. Funny how that works, huh?

At any rate, it was just sitting downstairs among the crafty mess and so I figured why not give it a new life with some spray paint? Besides, it gave me a chance to use this puppy for the first time:

And hoo-boy, did he make things a lot easier! Shout out to Mr. P for hooking me up with that little gem for Christmas! J

A few coats of primer and Heirloom White later, and we were in business.

 Now this little guy has a new life—holding my craft paints and Mod Podge, and those little drawers are the perfect size for holding my pushpins and little pieces that are harder to corral.

Ahhhh, organization. I do love you so!

Are you tantalized by the possibilities of the "big reveal" yet? See how I gave you just a little taste of what's to come? Oooh I just love the drama of it all!

Stay tuned tomorrow for how I turned old Gerber snack containers into Ballard Design-like organizers!

The Copycat Rundown:

Total Cost: FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Yeah, baby.

Total Time: About an hour including drying time for the paint.

Would we do this again? Yep!

Credit: Me!