In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how I use plastic drawer stacks to store some of the floral embellishments I use on the Christmas shadow boxes. Today I thought I would write the first of a couple of posts to show you how I’m storing all the embellishments I’m currently using.
First of all, I’m not in my craft room. The staircase to the second floor has 22 steps (140 year old house, big staircase). That’s a long way on a bad knee. So a few months before Christmas my sweet husband moved some furniture, set up a desk for me in the music room, and brought down craft supplies as needed. Much easier on my knees. I do hope that I can get back upstairs to my wonderful craft room before too long. But for now, I’m working downstairs.
Here’s a picture of the desk right after it was moved into place in September.
The desk is a vintage office desk that we acquired when my nephew and his wife were redecorating their home office. The desk is huge, made of solid wood, with a Formica wood-grain top. It’s in very good condition. The top measures 75″ x 40″ and this beast is a work horse. I love it!
I do have a vintage wooden L-shaped teacher’s desk of my own, but Youngest Daughter has been using it in her room for a few years. We also used it as her school desk when I home-schooled her through seventh and eighth grades. Love, love my old desk. She’ll be going off to college in the fall. When she does, I may put my old desk back in the craft room (where this picture was taken) for more room to craft with friends.
On the left side of the desk I am currently using is my Pampered Chef Tool-go-Round. That thing must be nearly twenty years old. I see it’s now called a Tool Turn-About. Am I misremembering “Tool-go-Round?” I actually have three of them. Two I use for crafting tools and one keeps my favorite decorative scissors in order. The tool-go-round is a wonderful way to keep my most used crafting tools at my fingertips.
On the left side of the desk is also my paper towel holder. It’s a lovely vintage wooden holder that an online friend sent me. I love it! It keeps paper towels right at hand and that’s a must when I’m crafting!
The elf and boot are waiting for me to find some time to spend with them. I plan to decorate a larger, cream-colored bottle brush tree to display in the boot. So cute! My sister Genny found that at a thrift store for me. The pictured bottle brush tree is one of two that my grand-daughter gave me for Christmas. She knows what Ma likes!
The printer is also on this end of the desk. Toward the back. Behind the lamp. The printer is a must-have. The desk is so large that the printer is not in my way, yet so handy. And, by the way, I love that desk lamp. The lighting in this room is not the best. The lamp makes the close work much easier to handle.
To the back of the desk, and a bit to the left, I keep a space for my computer. I can slide it back there when I’m watching Netflix and still have more than enough room to work at the desk.
To the right side of my desk, I have a mug with colored Sharpies which I keep close at hand because they are so pretty! All those bright yummy colors right next to each other. Love it! Next is a holding container for my wire cutter, pliers, etc. And next to that is a storage box for holding small projects I am currently working on.
Next is a desk organizer. It’s big enough to hold 12×12 cardstock on the two shelves below and it has six divided sections on top for standing binders, papers, magazines, etc.
I bought five vinyl file folders and use them to keep some items together. The purple one on the right (above) has my square acrylic rulers and some cardboard. The green one has some magazines I want to peruse. The blue one has copies of letters I haven’t filed away yet. The yellow one has memorabilia in it. The folders are legal size and expandable and enclosed so nothing falls out. Very handy.
The last item on the desk are some stack-able plastic drawers. Not the ones with my embellishments in them. These hold some tools, punches, and beads I need to sort and put away.
First drawer (top drawer): I cut down some boxes to help me corral some of the things in the drawers. This drawer is currently holding extra glue guns and a roll of duct tape. You never know when that will come in handy, so keep some nearby.
Second drawer: little LED lights for my Putz houses. And hand-held punches.
Third drawer: These are the beads I need to put in the organizer trays. They are sorted by color, type, size, etc. The little boxes I use to sort them are made from Christmas cards.
Fourth drawer: Zippered plastic bags with cards that I have set aside for particular future projects. In the back is a small glass bowl with a few small gifts Youngest Daughter gave me when she was little. The handkerchief in the bowl is one I carried when DH and I were married. It has a tatted lace edging that my grandmother made for me. She also tatted lace for the collar and cuffs of my wedding dress. (My brain wanders from one thing to the next…I hope you don’t mind.)
Fifth drawer: Ornaments I made a few days ago that need a touch of solder on the dangle jump ring so the bead and/or charm doesn’t fall off. The drawer also holds my small bit of very fine glitter which I like to use on the ornaments I make. This drawer holds my favorite glue gun, too. It doesn’t leak as it sits. It’s small and easy to handle. It has an on/off switch. And on the back, just under the hole that you feed glue sticks into, is a light. It’s a good reminder that the glue gun is ON. Be aware! Be safe!
Sixth drawer: Clamps. Big ones in the back. Smaller ones up front. And clothespins in their own little Christmas card box. Clothespins make great crafting clamps.
And that concludes the tour of the top of my desk. Who knew this post would be so long. And maybe no one is interested, but my kids may be some day. They can look at my blog after I’m gone and say “remember when??” I would give a lot to have some kind of record of my great-great-great grandparents’ every day lives. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful treasure to have?
I will give you a tour of the desk drawers and other storage options I use for crafting downstairs. But that’s another post. I hope you have a special place to call your own, where you can keep your tools and supplies and work to your heart’s content on your crafts / art / scrapbooking, etc.!
~~Rhonda
One Comment
You are so organized. I try to be but always end up with a mess when I’m working. I have my sewing and beads all in one area and sometimes (most of the time), they overlap. Would love to craft with you sometime. But at present I’m healing from a fractured sternum and a broken ankle.
Happy crafting!!!