Show and Tell Sunday!

This is the first time I’ve participated on Show and Tell Sunday, which features all sorts of bloggers showing and telling about a specific topic.

For more great sites featuring today’s topic, storage, you can go Little Pink Studio.

For me, storage is a big deal because I have a lot of stuff. In the basement are tons and tons of those big plastic bins everyone has filled with Christmas, Easter and Halloween stuff. Nothing glamorous, but when the sewer backed up, I didn’t lose a lot of stuff.

I thought I’d show how I use some of my other storage strategies…

We’ll start in the kitchen. I love having sets of silverware with bright handles and I only have two drawers, so they go into colorful flowerpots!

My grandma’s old Depression glass jar is great for tea.

In the art space, I use an overabundance of mugs and mason jars for brushes, pens, pencils, scissors, skewers – you name it. Here are a couple of them, along with a painted tin can I like! Behind, you'll tea tins -- I use those for buttons and repurposed jewelry.
(The rest of those pesky pens and brushes are on a lazysusan wedged behind the bulletin board.)

I put small leftover yarn balls in a clear plastic jug from the dollar store. It’s easy to dig in and grab what I want for tag embellishments.

A smaller apothecary jar from the dollar store works for end-of-the-spool ribbons.

The container on the left of the shelf is a metal carrier, which was my favorite purchase at the Artiscape silent auction. It has about eight compartments and I stack ephemera in there, along with other items that don’t really work anywhere else. I love it. (The theme is Casablanca, and the artist did a terrific job!)

And everyone probably has these for embellishments and small supplies.

I put my “currently in use” embellishments in muffin trays.

I have envied Pam Garrison’s closet. Mine isn’t nearly so tidy, and doesn’t merit photographing, but there are a couple of things to see here.

I love the eight-slot hanging sweater dividers for storing smaller papers, booklets, thematic items. The danger is if you overload. I found the Martha Stewart line (K-Mart) to be particularly strong. It’s easy to categorize your items. (Trust me -- this is more organized than it looks, but posting all this reminds me it really is time to revamp it a bit!)

My other favorite storage trick is for paper. I do lots of collage and often buy very oversized sheets, or have odd lengths. I use a pant/skirt hanger and just clip the papers together, then hang them up. They stay pretty fresh that way, and it’s easy to get to them. I’m going in to redo this closet this summer and will probably change to divide the hangers by color.

One of my favorite ways to store tall rolls of paper is in tall wastebaskets and baskets. Some of the tall colorful metal outdoor vases (Target) work, too.

Then there are the ever-popular clear shoe boxes. They're everywhere (some labeled, some not -- but I did buy a labelmaker this week, so by Sunday, who knows?)

Do check out others Show and Tell Sunday ideas! I know I will!

Art Fairs and Art Space!

We survived the art festival. It was windy, but no rain! We managed to tell people about the digital television conversion, help them out with questions, and basically have a station presence at the show, all good thing.

Also had a bit of time to shop about, too! Here are a few of my finds…

These frames were hot – several folks had them. They are sheet metal covered with decorative paper with four coordinating magnets. I’m going to try my hand at them.

An amazing woman with beautiful dichroic glass. I bought a lot from here, much of which I’m not posting because I was shopping for Christmas!

I’m into small bowls lately. I found this lovely one with glass…

And these two by my favorite potter Alice Ham, who uses unbelievably colorful glazes.

These plant stakes were pretty cool, too. I bought a couple; the fish photographs best, as it’s flat.

I took Monday off, and ended up buying some tomatoes, peppers, and flowers. Couldn’t find any good herbs, but will have better luck next weekend. It was good to get those in!

And – Art Space!

Walk in and the computer table is straight ahead with the new book case beside it.

(Above is the bookcase. That's reasonably neat and in control...)

The side wall has my table, and I’m finally able to spend time in the room, actually working (which I did on Monday!)

To the right of the table is my inspiration wall... this includes some of the ATCs, tags, and "smalls" I've received!

To the left of the table is my PBS “Wall of Fame” or “Scenes from Meet-and-Greets.” Included are Mister Rogers, Bill Moyers, Van Cliburn, Shari Lewis, Michael Buble, Ken Burns, Negro Baseball League great Buck O’Neill, Garrison Keillor, the Keno Brothers of “Antiques Roadshow” and others! (Do fleeting greetings put me a degree of separation closer?)

The wall opposite the computer is all shelves and filing cabinets. My other bulletin board is there, partly to cover up the clutter on the shelf.

I was feeling badly about all the clutter. Then when I was going through CPS Studios, I realized LOTS of people have clutter. Collage elements. Paints. Ribbons. Mediums. Brushes, pens and pencils. I still am hoping to harness it better, but at least it’s at hand!

I could use a taller shelf!

Here's the other wall -- the closet. A good spot for hanging scarves -- my inventory is getting low and I feel a serious silk painting spree (and some knitting) coming on soon!

(Should have cleaned off the top of the filing cabinet before I took this!) Inside the closet are vertical sweater bags and drawer units, but there's also a lot that's less organized! That could be my next project!

I found these letters at Joann’s, that I later strung together and made some colorful yarn tassles for the door. I was going to collage them, but they were pretty cute as it was, and figured my time was best spent elsewhere!

So, no great shakes. Definitely lacking in design style, but it’s working for me! And, I’m actually working in there! Happy camper!

I leave you with my idea of the day (actually, I think this MAY have come from "Real Simple," a few years ago...

A toothbrush holder from the dollar section at Target holds lemon balm, sage blooms and chive flowers. Works like a charm!