DIY: Craft Storage

kidspiration-noun/kidspəˈrāSHən/
1. a child, group of children, or actions of a child/group of children that elicits actions or emotions or creativity in adults
2. an event or visual reminder that stimulates youthful creativity
3. a creation or action specifically designed for the purpose of entertaining and inspiring youth

In case you missed my guest post featured on She Wears Flowers, here it is!  Please go visit her site and tell her I sent you!

I want to share with you a "Trash to Treasure" project that I did to help organize all of my craft junk... yes, most of it is junk because I refuse to throw anything away, even the last 2 inches of the roll of ribbon because I may find use for it later!

My family recently moved to Cajun country in South Louisiana and the previous owner of my home left a whole bunch of "treasures," as I call them.  My husband called them "trash," that is, until I got a hold of them!

My favorite finds were two wooden crates that were going to be my storage solution in my art studio!  I have seen crates similar to these at antique and salvage stores, so I was super excited to stumble upon two of them for FREE!  Well, I mean, we paid a lot of money for the house they were in, so not sure they were really "free."

I painted the outsides "Wintergreen Ash" by Valspar because I wanted a punch of color, but I left the insides unfinished because I love the rustic look about them.

My sister had recently gotten married and she used mason jars all throughout her outdoor reception.  That means that everyone in my family has an abundance of mason jars and I finally had a need for them!

I took 4 of these mason jars, unscrewed the lids, and hammered a nail straight through them to attach them to the top of the crate.

I then flipped the crate over (so the lids were now attached to the top) and screwed the mason jars, now filled with lots of little art supplies, in to their lids.  And that's it, folks!!! 

Now, there were several supplies that didn't necessarily fit inside of my mason jars, such as my paintbrushes, pencils, etc.  Most mason jar lids are actually in two parts... the outer rim, and the top.  When screwed onto the jar, the rim holds the top in place.  Well, to hold things that are taller than the jar, simply leave the top off and just screw the rim on.  I then set these mason jars on the bottom of the crate.

Now what about that other crate?  Well, now I needed paint and ribbon storage.

I bought a small tension rod for under $4 at Wal-Mart for the ribbon.

To store the paint, I used a foam board and cut out three 14" strips and three 8" strips, about 3"wide.  For the three longer strips, I cut a 1 1/2 inch slit at 4", 7 1/2", and 11".  For the 8" strips, I cut a 1 1/2 inch slit every 2 inches.  The long strips then become the horizontal strips, and the short strips become the vertical ones.  Match the slits up to make a grid and you get great storage for your 2 oz. bottles of paint.

See that awesome hairdryer from like the 1700s?  $3 at an antique store and it inspired the scheme for my entire art studio!  Plus, I use it to heat up price stickers so that they peel off easily without leaving that sticky residue.

These crates are REALLY heavy and I didn't trust a simple nail or screw to hold them up.  I purchased two 8" ZBar Hangers that hold up to 100 lbs.  That should do it!
 
My crates have given me the perfect storage solution for my paints, brushes, ribbons, pencils, markers, wooden shapes and letters, scrapbook supplies, clothes pins, glue and more!  And what's great is that I made all of it for $5 (tension rod:  <$4, foam board:  <$1).  Now, go out and buy yourself a house that has free crates inside and you're good to go!  Or, just keep your eye out for a special piece of "trash" and think up a clever way to turn it into a treasure!  

My collection of paint samples ;-)