I need a hobby. Well, other than writing this blog and reading for Book Club, I need something else to do while the hubs plays or watches golf. I’m not very sporty, so anything athletic is pretty much out. So I’m going to return to my roots and take up sewing and crafting again. When I was little, I loved sewing Barbie clothes and hair scrunchies, and making Christmas ornaments to sell at church fairs. Now I’d like to make pillowcases, purses, and baby gifts for friends. I just need some space to do it in.
I don’t have many supplies yet, which is good since I don’t have much space. For now, my solution is to turn our guestroom closet into a place to organize gift wrapping supplies, craft paint, fabric, and random little things.
Rather than build permanent shelves in the closet before I really need the workspace, I opted to reuse two closet organizers that are no longer needed for their original purposes.
The sweater organizer has gift bags and tissue paper sorted by occasion at the top, paint swatches, printer paper, and extra file folders at the bottom. The shoe organizer holds craft paint (grouped together in the small plastic basket), wine gift bags (since they fit into the narrow space), ribbon, Christmas cards, and other small things that don’t have a home elsewhere. So far this set-up works really well for me – I can actually see all my gift bags and wrap so I don’t buy more unnecessarily, and there is plenty of room to add more items as my hobby-to-be progresses.
At some point, I’d love a craft closet that is as pretty and functional as these:
chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com
marthastewart.com
projectgirl.com
decorpad.com
cbc.ca/stevenandchris
For great tips on how to organize all your crafts (and pretty much anything else), check out this great post from Young House Love – it was the inspiration for starting my own crafty closet.
Ohhhhhhhhhh, if only I had the extra closet space!
Sewing & crafting sounds like fun! I never had any sewing skills but love, love making crafts. It’s good to reuse those closet organizers,brilliant idea!
Ooh I’d love a craft closet like one of these! While I’m totally stoked to get a study all to myself in our new house, it comes without a closet (it’s really just the formal living room — we just had doors put on it!)….since I’m sort of a neat freak, I’m now starting to wonder if I’ll need to invest in some serious storage solutions in order to corral all my giftwrap (I’m an addict!), stationery (also an addict), and general art supplies.