*A Closer Look* #1

Hello! This week's installment of *a closer look* will show you how I store my smaller items such as brads, buttons, eyelets, photo turns, ribbon charms, etc. The first thing that I do when storing my embellishments is to take them out of the packaging. The packaging for smaller items is much larger than it needs to be and ends up taking up a lot of room. Also, the way that I have organized these items makes them easy to view which is essential for me when I am creating. Sometimes I have the *right* thing in mind for my project, but more often than not, the creative process takes over and I like searching for the *perfect* accent or embellishments. This often yields itself to fun color combos, interesting layouts and maybe those items that haven't felt much love lately.

I purchased the cases that store my eyelets, photo turns, snaps, ribbon charms, etc. many years ago at the LSS and I am not sure what brand they are, but I believe Provo Crafts has similar storage. I really like how many varieties of eyelets I can store, but see them easily through the clear top containers. My drawer holds three of these cases nicely and each case holds 20 vials. If I don't have a lot of one variety, I will mix two together if the variety can be seen easily through the top. This drawer also hold my SU! hodgepodge hardware and essential ink pads that don't fit into my color caddy. I can only imagine what kind of mess and how much room that many *packages* would take up. I am sure I would need two or three drawers to cram the product plus packaging and then I would never remember what I had in there. LOL!

The cases that store my brads and buttons are from Darice, the stitchery company, and are designed to hold cards of embroidery floss, but I find that they are a perfect design for items like brads, buttons, eyelets, etc. Again, I can see what I need at a glance. I have grouped like items together for continuity and ease. These two cases, sit nicely on a shelf and maybe take up 4 inches of height. One case holds buttons and one holds brads. I also have some glass jars on top of my storage shelf which can be seen in the magazine photo that holds many buttons. I use these buttons alot for various projects. The jars are glass, so again, I can see exactly what it inside. Not only is is functional, but they look nice, too!

Now....imagine if everything that I have just shown you was still in it's original packaging. What a nightmare!!! Not only would it rarely if ever get used, but once the package was open, everything would spill out and be a huge mess. So...get those pacakges open, store like items together and have fun creating.

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of * A Closer Look* and I hope that some of the tips will help you organize your space.

Next week: Ribbon...I will be showing you storage for all kinds and types of ribbon!

FYI-Today's storage tips are for my non SU! embellishments. My SU! brads, buttons, eyelets, etc are housed in the FANTASTIC stack and store caddy. I love this because I can see what I have got, it rotates and holds A LOT of product. The packaging that the SU! buttons, brads, eyelets, etc. come in, fits perfectly into the slots.