![[img] Craft room organizing tips](https://blog.papertreyink.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/iStock-622533686.jpg)
Last month we sent out a survey asking you for all your best craft room organizing tips. We had 245 individuals fill out the survey with tons of great advice. We are always in awe of our customers’ talents, creativity, and organizing brilliance, and we can’t wait to implement some of your tips in our own craft rooms!
Of the 245 individuals who responded to our survey, over 70% of you said you have a designated craft room while 12% work in a craft area in a common room and 3% work at the kitchen table. Many of you are clean freaks too! Over 17% of you reported cleaning or organizing your craft room on a daily basis. About a quarter of you clean at least once a week and another 20% clean at least once a month. Only 3% said that you clean once a year or never. Now, that’s impressive!
Now, here are some of our favorite craft room organizing tips that will help you keep your craft room clean and organized every day of the year!
“I like to re-purpose all types of containers. I once received a fruit arrangement by mail and along with it came this little wooden box divided up with various chocolates. It made a great little embellishment organizer. I also like to use old letter stickers from my scrapbook stash to label white binders where I keep a few larger stamp sets.” – Sandy F., Naperville, IL
“I have a designated space for everything and put everything back in its designated space after each crafting session. I organize stamps by occasion, so when you are about to make a card, you have all your stamps for that occasion at your fingertips. I keep cardstock swaps of color combos stapled together. I precut and stamp many flowers, birds or other elements and keep them in labeled envelopes, e.g., Gran’s Garden.” – Lisa Mendoza
“I have two pieces of advice – 1) Everything that I use often for stamping is close to hand, like ink, scissors, adhesive, and pop dots and 2) I took all my white and colored cardstock (8 1/2 x 11) to Office Max and had them cut it in half. I keep a stack of white handy in my work area and a stack at my Big Shot cutting area. All the colored cardstock fits into a pretty storage box that I can easily pull out when I need it.” – Laura G., Dexter, MI
“I keep all my stamps in cases and organized in white bins by type. I also purge once a year and donate or give away items I no longer use.” – Tara B., Long Beach, CA
“I am not sure I have anything special or extraordinary. I just know it works for me. For stamps and dies, I love the PTI card insert that comes with the stamps. I use this as the main part to my stamp storage. I add the stamp set to the inside of the card insert before adding it to a clear sleeve. I do not type a name or anything. I use the card as it comes. I add the coordinating die set directly behind. I have an acrylic tray that holds new PTI sets on my desk (six months or less).” – Betty W., Rocky Mount, NC
“Because I do not have a dedicated craft space I have to get very creative. My coffee table in my living room is actually hollow inside. The “lid” acts as a table top. I remove the lid to access a ton of crafty goodness. I also utilize a lot of stackable storage containers. I have a dresser in my bedroom that is only used to store stamp sets. Actually, my entire PTI collection is in that dresser! I have been a customer since the beginning and I have it jam packed full! Every single spool of ribbon (over 300) has been taken off the spoon and is draped on plastic tabs and hung on a hanger. I have them all hanging in a clear garment bag.” – Valerie M, Bedford, TX
“IKEA Alex 5-drawer units are great. Label, label, label! Also, I keep an inventory of all my supplies and exactly where I keep them, and it hangs it in my craft area. It alleviates wasted time looking for things. I use Evernote to keep an inventory of my stamps, dies, and stencils. Each Evernote entry also has a picture of the product, so I can see if it fits my needs without pulling it out of storage. It is so easy to search for a product by theme in Evernote using the tags I entered. Last, try to find a place where you have easy access to your paper trimmer and die cutting machine at all times – this is a huge time saver!” – Cynthia M., Mineral Point, WI
“I put all my stamps in DVD cases, all my dies on Stamp-N-Storage magnet cards, and all my ink pads in Stamp-N-Storage ink pad holders.” – Lynn W., Lake Helen, FL
“I organize everything by color! When you walk into my craft room, it’s all organized in rainbow colors! After that, it’s organized by ‘category’ meaning stamps, dies, papers, embellishments, inks, etc.” – Ashley N., Richmond, RI
“Having moved from a house with a dedicated craft room to a one-bedroom apartment, I now store my stamps (100’s) in pizza boxes on shelving in my walk-in closet. My dies (100’s) are in plastic boxes in a 6′ living room closet right next to my ‘studio’ which is across one 14′ wall in my living room! All boxes are labeled, and I can easily grab a box for what I need – it also helps give me a break to have to get up from my desk!” – Jan C., Salem, OR
That’s a lot of great advice! We love seeing the different ways that work for each of you from Excel and Evernote to color-coding to baskets and storage bins, your creativity and organizing skills are impressive.
Great new addition to your site! Organizing is ever evolving for me and I love hints and tips from others!
I have to say I would be lost
If I couldn’t find everything.
I repurposed many types of boxes. I number them and then take pictures of what’s in the box on my phone in an app called “Craft Cabinet” an Apple app. It prevents duplication also.
All I can say is WOW – such organized ladies. I’m afraid they’d be horrified if they saw my work area. I am so jealous when I see neatly organized craft rooms but somehow I never manage to get to that state. I keep trying. Yesterday I tossed all my Quilters Newsletter magazines which dated back to 1982. You see the problem.
So many creative ideas. It’s always interesting to see how other people organize. I recently moved and my craft supplies were stored all over the place. Now I’m blessed to have a dedicated craft room and have been amazed how much stuff I had accumulated in little nooks and crannies. I anticipated having lots of extra space but the reality is I’m having a hard time getting organized again.
Love all the hints.
My PTI stamp sets are in a photo box and dies on magnet sheets
But the rest of my area is a mess. But I can always find my PTI
Can we see pictures next time? I’d like to see this topic be a regular on the blog.
Thank you to Sandy F for the idea about using old letter stickers to label your storage! I love the idea of repurposing old things that have been sitting around unused to help me be more organized.
Great tips! I love to organize. We moved to a new house last year, and I have to admit, I was heavily influenced by the fact that this house has a dedicated craft room in the walkout basement! A counter height work surface on one wall, IKEA built in cabni to in the other wall. Love it! And it is very close to my coffee bar…bonus!
Loved hearing all the ideas for storage. As for myself I have 3 fold up tables in a u shape in a designated room with Iris carts that glide underneath which hold in the first one all my inks, glazes, embossing powders etc. in a second one are 6 drawers with everything I use on every project. The third cart has all my punches etc. fourth cart
has drawers with embellishments and paints. Everything is labeled. I would love the ikea cabinets but they aren’t in the budget yet. Very organized and cleaned at the end each day.
Organizing our stuff is a huge part of the fun and inspires creativity. Don’t forget colored folders to hold corresponding scraps… I frequently access those for paper piecing.
LOVE all the great ideas! I’m in the process of re-organizing all of my stamps, which includes un-mounting wood block mounted stamps, then storing them in DVD cases. Like Cynthia, I love the Ikea Alex 5-drawer units. Question: What is “Evernote”???
Evernote is an application you can use to organize just about anything. The app is free for up to 2 devices. I have it on my computer and my phone so I always have an inventory of my supplies with me if I want it. You can copy and paste images from the internet and “tag” your entries with words or phrases that you can search for later. The tags are a great way to keep track of all those little extra stamps and sentiments that come in sets, like stars for instance.
I would also love to see a weekly/monthly topic into how other crafters organize! With pictures of course! 😉
I read recently a Japanese adage: if you have to organize, you have too much stuff!
There is a lot to be said about that’s!
In the beginning I had the top of my dryer. And a three drawer small iris bin for all my stamping stuff, I now have a 10X10 room; that is in total disarray I have not been doing much for the past two years due to cancer and treatments. I am cancer free and ready to get going again. I have the I want to but the entire house is a disaster. I will get there and be OH so glad to get organized once again. Photos would be lovely.
Wonderful ideas all!! After many years of crafting and a huge dedicated area for my treasures, I find organizing by subject matter is the best for me. All stamps with dies are in Sizzix envelopes and in bins labeled Animals, Butterflies, Kid’s Stuff, Oo-la-La, etc. Stamps with no dies are in separate cloth does arranged with the same labels. I feel I constantly organize, but I don’t get very far!! My room is a mess!!
I really, really enjoyed reading through this post and all the other comments as well. Organizing is an individual thing and it has to work for YOU. You might read one tip and say Yes! then read another and know that it won’t help you at all, but one thing is true there is always something to be learnt on this topic.