September 16, 2009

Creative Week - Organization - Guest Post!

Not sure what is going on, check this out first!

New and want to check out Day One? Day Two (prize drawing)?



Please welcome and give a warm Forever Daisies Hello to Katie, from Crafts By Katie! I'm super excited for her to be guest posting today!!! I always like to hear ideas about organization. Happy Wednesday!

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Hi all! It's Katie, from Crafts By Katie and I am totally delighted to be over here writing a guest post. I happen to love this blog and I check in here all the time. This is my first ever guest spot so that makes it even more special.

Now, what am I going to write about today? Organization. As some of you may know, I'm one of those people who are either obscenely organized or everything is chaos. Right now, I'm working on getting my new home into a lovely state of organization and since I know that a lot of people need organization help and this is Creative Week on Forever Daisies, that's where we're going to focus.

How many of you have craft rooms or spaces that look like a tornado went whipping through and just left things scattered everywhere? I know that more than once, my space has looked just like that. Right now, it looks like a cardboard box factory blew up in there! Well, since chaos means we can't find a darned thing, I want to share with you just a few tips that I've discovered as I've organized a few craft spaces.

1. Find what works for you. - I know, this sounds so common sense, right? But, if you're like me, you've seen the ads and the commercials for this way of organizing or that way of organizing. Well, if they work for you, that's great! But, if they don't, don't feel like a failure. We all have our own ways of thinking and of doing things, so why should organization be any different? Let's take ribbon for example..below are 3 pictures showing sample ways of organizing it. Is one any better than another? Nope! For me, I like to store mine in jars..I like the color and the fact that I'm re-using old jars that otherwise might have been tossed out. For some of you, it might be the ribbon spoolers. If one way doesn't work, try something new! I guarantee that there is a way that will click and you will be a happy organized camper (or crafter)!




2. Keep Things Accessible - What I've discovered is that if it's not within easy reach, I'm not going to use it. So, my second tip for all of you is when you're organizing your space, keep things where you can get to them. I admit that I store some things on top of my bookshelves, but I learned only to put those things that I'm not going to use on a regular basis. Everything that I use is someplace that I can reach out and have within 30 seconds to a minute. I keep quite a few of my things in drawers, but those drawers are clear plastic and clearly labeled so nothing is hard to find. If it's hard to find, it won't be used and then why do you have it?

3. ReUse - Like I said before, we've all seen the ads and the commercials for the different storage/organizational systems. I want to let you all know though that organization doesn't have to be expensive. I've found that it's just as good to reuse items that you already had around the house or even things that are being tossed out by others. Years and years ago, my former mother-in-law, gave us a paper sorter to hold our business forms and printer paper in. Well, I've taken that and now I store all of my 8.5x11 cardstock and papers in it. I also took an old Sauder (think Walmart pressboard) dresser and I've converted it into another storage place! I have all of my stamp sets stored in the bottom 3 drawers of it and use the top drawers for storing other items, such as yarn.

Now, I know a lot of you have probably seen where people have taken old spice racks and used them to hold things like eyelets! I love that idea! My new organization project is going to work inside my dresser. I'm taking my old wooden silverware organizer and after I repair it, I'm going to place it into one of the drawers where it will now organize my scrapbooking tools! So, keep your eyes open and reuse things around your own house, or be like me and watch Freecycle or CraigsList to see what other people are getting rid of. I recently scored 15 photo boxes for under $20 and they're going to hold photos, organize my kids crafting items and all sorts of other goodies!



Well, I certainly hope that these three simple tips will help some of you out and I do hope that you'll leave some comments! They might even get you entered into the grand prize giveaway! Don't forget to participate in all of the great challenges here and keep coming back!

Take care!
Katie

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Thank you Katie!!!!

What do you do for creative organization?

Giveaway details:

If you haven't heard, For the Creative Week Grand Prize, I'm also giving away a Freeze Frame!
You can enter to win the Freeze Frame by:
- Commenting on any of the Creative Week posts, including this one!
- Participating in any (or all) of the Challenges, and filling in the Mister Linky on the appropriate post to let me know!
- Tweeting about Creative week (be sure to let me know you did so by commenting on one of the posts) - one tweet will be counted each day! You can post on any of the creative week posts (on the day of the tweet) to let me know you did!
-Post about Creative Week on your blog
(be sure to let me know you did so by commenting on one of the posts)!
-All comments and Mister Linky participants for all Creative Week Posts will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing... for a Freeze Frame!
- Some posts have additional special prizes attached to that specific challenge!



Creative Week Challenges:
Day One... Day Two (prize drawing)... Day Three (Guest Post)... Day Four (prize drawing) ....

Be sure to check them all out, participate in the challenges, and comment for an extra entry!

Pass the word on! We want to see everyone wonderful creative ideas!

All entries will need to be received by Wednesday, Sept 30 at 11:59. Winners announced on Thursday October 1!
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