One Tip Wednesday

Far too often, my small craft space quickly looks like this:
Unfortunately I don't have a craft room or large space to craft and the space I do have is in the dead center of our house, very visible. On days when I'm crafting a lot, it doesn't bother me, but eventually it does have to be cleaned up. And what if someone calls and says they are on their way over? My motto is "A place for everything and everything in its place."

Although it sometimes looks a mess, everything on this table has a place where it belongs which helps me quickly be able to take it from the mess to this: 

The key truly is storage. Having a place where you can put things away and yet be able to access them when needed. I can't live without my paper drawer. Many scrapers would ask how I get away with just 1. Two reasons: I have a Paper Keeper where I keep scraps, holiday themed paper and other papers I don't use except for special type pages. And two - I really try to only buy paper that I need. I no longer go to the scrapbook store and go crazy. I have found that far too often, I never end up using that cute paper I just couldn't live without. Same with stickers and embellishments.

Here's another storage container I love. After spending too much time digging mangled messes of thread out of a box, I found these and think they are the best use of storage for anyone who who sews.
And this is an idea I saw a while back on another blog. She took scrapbook paper and cut it to fit the sides of her drawers. So on this cleanup, I made that addition. I think it keeps the area looking even neater since you now can't see the mess on the inside.