Embellishments Squared - Organizing the little stuff

Every crafter is challenged with finding the best way to store their teeny-tiny embellishments or findings. There are soooooo many options out there (and believe me I have tried most of them), but this is by far my favorite.

I came across the idea rather by accident.... I was in a Tuesday Morning store when I spotted Crop in Style plastic containers at a price I couldn't pass up (the same price I paid as a retailer when I owned my store). My mom was going to be re-doing her stamp room and I thought they might came in handy so I bought all that the packages they had on the shelf. I gave some to my mom and stashed one box away for a future organization article and never really thought about them again. That is until I moved and was re-doing my own studio.



IKEA jars



I no longer had the cupboard with slide-out drawers that previously housed the majority of my IKEA jars and I was struggling to find somewhere to put them in the new, much smaller room. I wanted them all in one spot this time (a few had lined the edge of my desktop before), yet still within arms reach. I tried my desk drawers but, unfortunately, the IKEA jars didn't fit into the lower-profile drawers. Suddenly, I remembered having those plastic containers and a light bulb went off! They were more compact, and they were square so they would lie down without rolling around and I would be see the contents easily when they were on their sides! I opened the brand new box, tried them out for size and they fit perfectly! Jackpot!



Available at Michael's    $9.99 a pack



As I began switching the contents from the old to the new containers I realized I didn't have near enough of them. I hoped I would be able to find more at my local Michael's store. When I got to the store, coupon in hand, I discovered a slight difference. They were no longer manufactured by Crop in Style, but rather Michael's themselves (price $9.99). They were exactly the same size so I grabbed one and vowed to buy one more each visit (so I could keep using the 40% off coupons) until my drawer was completely full. Happily, on my third visit I was able to buy the remaining packs for 50% off during their storage supply sale! Mission complete.


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Problem solved! 27 containers in all.

You may have noticed that all the embellishments I've stored in this system are primarily metallic. That is because I use floss boxes to store my colored embellishments by individual color. Check that out here.

enjoy the changes in life that that turn out to be so much better than the original!
-dw.