Organization Sunday 4

    Whee!  Almost didn't make it.  I've been having too much fun art journaling and making ATC cards (may show them later).  Yes, I did get my quota of  HAVE TO DO stuff done today, including taking the photos for my organizing project, but-- I almost forgot to blog.

     Definitely a candidate, right?  This is the small cupboard in which I keep all of my various and sundry fusibles, freezer paper, and parchment, etc.  I usually put the left-over scraps into a baggie and stick it into the "black hole"  (sometimes never to be seen again).  After hauling everything out, I tried to sort the mess into like piles, but I still had no idea how to keep them straight.

     At Target I found this stacking shelf.  It fit inside the cupboard, but didn't leave any room for stacking!  My bolt of double-sided fusible pellon fit nicely on top, but not much else.  The shelf left a lot of open space underneath, but I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  So I went to Home Depot.

     Presto!   I know I have seen this somewhere before, but I'm impressed with my luck.  I bought a 10 ft. length of 3" PVC pipe, had a poor young guy saw it (by hand) into six 20" lengths, and paid all of $5.99 for my storage solution.  I sanded off the ends and planned to glue the sides together with the special PVC glue, but I couldn't get the $#%& can open.  Oh well, it works anyway. 

     Finished product:  I pasted a label on each tube and added a small plastic tray which sits nicely on top and holds my Misty Fuse.  I am happy.



     This is the offending can of glue:  I tried running it under hot water, tapping with a screw driver, using pliers, and swearing.  NOTHING worked.  I guess I'll just have to wait until a pair of strong hands materialize. . . .  Which reminds me,  I may not be doing any organizing for a few Sundays.  My oldest grandson is coming out from New York this coming Saturday, staying for 10 days, and we plan to hit the road.  When he leaves, I will only have a few days before I have to head back to MI.  So, I have a feeling this blog may be dry for a few weeks.  Never fear; I shall return. 

Organization Sunday 3

    Another visit to IKEA and a few tweaks to my work space:



     I found this wooden lazy Susan in the kitchen section and added an inexpensive rubberized mat to the top.  It holds all of my pens and pencils, a few adhesives, and tucked behind is a box of baby wipes--very necessary to the mixed-media process!

 

     Another one of my IKEA finds--a wire desk-top letter file which perfectly holds my works-in-progress.  I always have several projects waiting to be finished, and this small stacked bin keeps them handy, organized,  and in plain sight.  I can keep all of the various bits and pieces together until inspiration (or a deadline) hits. 

     My favorite part of this wire bin system is that I can remove one section and carry it with me to my evening workspace (comfy chair and TV) where I can do handwork (beading/embroidery) or into my wet studio where I can add paint, etc.  Love it!!!



Organization Sunday 2

Posting two days in a row--Wow.  I really am capable of sticking to a plan (for a short time, anyway).  And I do like the idea of getting more organized in small, underwhelming projects.  One a week--I can handle that . . . .

     As seen above, I already have some semblence of an organized system:  wonderful shelving unit from IKEA, storage boxes, even labels on most of the boxes.  However, if you pull out almost any box and look inside--CHAOS.

    

     This is what would greet me when I pulled out my box labeled Fibers:  plastic baggies filled with wool roving, silk roving, silk hankies,  embroidery flosses,  yarn scraps, hand-dyed threads, and one large bag of

MISCELLANEOUS.  In order to find anything, I'd usually have to haul out the whole mess and sort.  So--

     These two sizes of small plastic boxes were purchased quite inexpensively at my nearby Hobby Lobby and work perfectly.  The larger ones are around 7x5x4, and the smaller ones, 3x5x3.  I separated the wool roving into warm and cool colors, and so on, labeling each box on top.



     Here are my flosses (cool box, warm box), my own hand-dyed threads from a class, yarn scraps (still in semi-sorted baggies) and finally a small open box with cards of special embellishments, etc.  Wowsie, I'm impressed!!!



     And finally, my unbelieveably organized stash of fibers!!!!  The plastic boxes stack easily inside the storage box in three layers.  I do have to unstack to find a specific box, but I try to keep the least-used items at the bottom.  Anyway, so far this works for me.  Hmmmm, what next?

Organization Sunday

     OK.  So I decided that I needed some motivation--both to blog and to get more organized--thus ORGANIZATION SUNDAY!!!  (We'll see how long it lasts).  Ever since constructing my desk using a hollow-core door from Home Depot, I have tried to figure out a way to install some kind of drawer under the space in front of my chair.  I simply couldn't find any undermount drawers for less than several hundred dollars (my whole 8x3 worktable cost less than $80).  Enter IKEA:  I stopped on my way back from Tucson last week and found this--for $10.99:

     You probably can't tell very well from the photo, but it is a metal sliding support for a computer keyboard that fastens to the underside of a flat surface. 

 

     And this for $4.99:

     It's kind of a felty, plastic drawer divider which should hold all of my various and sundry stuff, once attached to the hanging support (I hope).

     I made little marks on the underside of the "door" where I wanted the "drawer" to hang (you can see them if you look closely), then removed everything from my work table and flipped it upside-down.  I got out my trusty electric drill and laid out the template included with the "drawer."  Drilling into a hollow-core door is a bit tricky, and I had some trouble, but at last, the anchors were pounded in, and I was able to screw the whole thing into place!!!!. 



     I fastened the drawer liner onto the keyboard pad with double-stick carpet tape, and Yippee Skippy, it works perfectly!!!!!  Can you tell I'm a bit proud of my handiwork?  I'll have to be careful not to put anything too heavy in the drawer, or lean on it (as I am wont to do), but on the whole, this is exactly what I wanted--a place to store necessary stuff that took up too much room on my work surface.