Storage Tips for Embellishments, Beads, Ribbon, Craft Knives and (other) Small Stuff
1. Purchase a multilayered tackle box. It’s perfect for small embellishments, it’s portable and easy to store.
2. A pill organizer or empty spice jars are perfect for storing brads, eyelets, snaps, small jewels, etc.. You can sort them by colour and size.
3. Empty, junior size baby food jars are super for buttons sorted by colour or size.
4. A multi-drawered woodworking workshop container for nuts, bolts and screws is a terrific organizer for x-acto knives, blades, bone folders, small tubes of glue, metallic pens, tweezers, erasers, etc.. Just make sure that the drawers are deep enough (i.e. about 6.5 inches)
5. Save those toilet paper and paper towel rolls! Wind your ribbon and/or lace around them and secure ends with a pin or tape. Multiple rolls will fit nicely in a shoe box.
6. If you have ribbon that comes pre-rolled on cardboard with a hole in the middle, purchase a long piece of doweling that will fit the hole and a couple of mounting brackets. You can then mount the doweling under a shelf, place all of your rolls on the doweling and you will be able to just “spin” off the amount of ribbon you need. Alternatively, you can rig up a shoe box in much the same way or thread the toilet paper/paper towel "ribbon/lace" holders from tip 5 onto the doweling holder.
7. Another idea for ribbon storage is to take a plastic hanger, cut through the plastic (about an inch down from the top) and thread your rolls onto the hanger. You can then hang it in a closet!
8. Old prescription bottles make nice little containers for small embellishments. Glue a sample on the lid and you will be able to use the coloured prescription bottle containers as well.
9. Ice cube trays (as a drawer organizer) or empty styrofoam egg cartons are another way to store small embellishments such as photo corners, paper clips, jingle bells or small gems.
10. Store your craft knives in an empty can! Cut a piece of Styrofoam to fit the bottom of the can to hold the knife (and not damage the blade). If you wrap an elastic band around your craft knives, they will “stay put” on your art table.
More ideas from blog readers…
A big thank you to my playmates this week, Moonwillow, Nelly and Susan for submitting the following tips for this week’s Thrifty Tuesday Art Tips. Take a minute to visit their blogs and say thanks. I am sure they will appreciate it! They will each receive a page of old scanned photos they can use in their personal art as a thank you gift from me!
Moonwillow at The Starving Artist Blog sent these ideas:
For storing bottles of all the stuff I use a lot… glue, glitters, re-inkers, black paint, white paint, etc., I use a small lazy susan on my table. I picked it up at the junk store for 1.00 and it works great. ... I just added a shelf to my table (6ft long) and I am looking for baby food jars to use just like men do with the nails, screw, nuts and bolts. I will attach the lids and put my stuff in like beads, charms, etc. and screw the jars on to store right within reach. The shelf is held up with little plastic bins that have been secured together and bolted on. It added height and doubled my shelf space. I got a bunch of plastic shoe boxes at the dollar tree to put stuff in...
Nelly at Bella Nelly Paperworks says:
I repurposed a pampered chef spinning utensil holder to hold scissors, brushes, some punches, pencils, rub on sticks. Also, a pampered chef item is their stone wooden rack. I use it to hold magazines/books I keep close to my desk to refer to. They're both very handy and I love to use unusual items to store my things. Here's a pic of the utensil holder:
https://pamperedchef.com/graphics/products_425/2171_v.jpg
Susan at When I am Laughing says:
My friend and I recently found "See and Store" containers, which would be great for embelishments, beads, eyelets, etc. These round plastic containers have magnets on the bottom. They stick to the provided metal stand. The stand is great, because it is shaped sort of like an angled L and sits up on the small end, so takes up less space. The small end of the L can be screwed on to a counter top or table as the set up comes with the screw. I found these at the container store, but they were on sale, and I still consider them thrifty because the set up saves space. If you shop at a container store or office store, always check the clearance section. It often has items that can be repurposed for art storage.
Thanks for checking in today. Please leave a comment if you have found these tips helpful! I appreciate your feedback and it helps me gauge what to do more of, less of or eliminate!
Next week’s theme
Still More Storage Ideas. Click here to send your ideas along to share with your fellow artists!
10 Post it notes down… many still to go! LOL. See you Friday!
Sharon
