Reconciling Craft Room with Mobile Crafting

I have several opportunities to craft away from home...which is probably a good thing for this stay-at-home, homeschooling mama of 2 little boys.  Some adult, girl time is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.  But often the idea of packing up my "stuff" just doesn't sound worth it...

As part of my New Year organizing, I decided to try a new system for getting out the door easily for crafting with friends.

See, here is the quandary.  I have this fabulous craft room in my house.  And I love to make it pretty with permanent storage like vintage glass, baskets, and such.  However, these containers are NOT conducive to packing up and leaving the house.  

ALTHOUGH, I do have a lot of containers and organizers that ARE perfect for leaving the house.  When I gave those containers up for pretty ones, I just threw them in closets, used them for other purposes, etc.  When it was time to pack up crafts to leave, I had no idea where the plastic containers were, no desire to empty them of their new contents, and no idea how to pack them up with craft supplies.

So my new thought for 2013 is to have these plastic containers ready to go for crafting away from home, have them in one place, and have a plan for what craft supplies to fill them with.    

I started by putting most of my on-the-go containers on this book shelf in my stamp room.  

The second shelf has my basket of designer papers (that I use at home too), my basket of memorabilia for scrapbooking, and my plastic organizer for punch-out's.  

The fourth, bottom shelf has my photo organizing box, a tin of ribbon scraps, and a plastic tote with blue lid ready to fill.  You can't see this well but also tucked down there are two collapsible totes that I used to think HAD to be used somewhere in my craft room.  

But now, I am ok with containers sitting empty and just being "on call" for hitting the road!  

Here is my basket of memorabilia.  I use this at home, too.  I could probably take it out of the house as is...in the basket.  

Here is my container of punch-out's and accessories....with a lid.  Love it!

Here's the basket of designer papers.  They would get tucked into one of my collapsible bins.

Here are those collapsible bins.  One will make a fine trash can.  The other can hold my pre-cut papers above.

Here is my tin of ribbon scraps.

Here is my box for photo organizing.  I never use this as intended.  Let's see if I do a better job in 2013.  

If nothing else, the containers are great for holding DSP, accessories, ribbon, etc.  :)

The lidded plastic container is perfect for hauling my accessories like ribbon spools, twine, buttons, etc. I will just take them out of their milk glass and wire basket and organize them quickly in the small plastic containers within the big plastic container.  

Also, on the side of my hutch, I have a bag hanging with an empty tin all ready to fill.  

Storing empty containers within empty containers is quite a good idea for finding what you need quickly to get packed.   

Bad sideways picture, but the bag and tin will be good for a few of my favorite punches.  :)

 

I have another large bag, Amy Butler, that fits 12x12" papers.  I usually put my 8.5x11 cardstock and my laptop in there, though.  It sits under my stamp table, ready on stand-by.

My tools are now housed only in my 31 caddy organizer.  I used to have this for "going out" and then another cutesy "tool organizer" for my sit-down table and ANOTHER tool organizer for my stand-up table.  OVERKILL!  I was incapable of maintaining 3 tool organizers...never putting things back into the right one.

So this is now my ONE tool organizer and it's cute enough for the craft room AND is easy to take on-the-go.  

My Stampin' Up! markers are also handy for taking out.  For at home, they are in their dividers and not in the carrying case.  When I take them with, I can just throw them into their carrying case with the handle.  I love that SU packages them this way!

I also love these Iris cases for keeping my 12x12 papers and cardstock happy.  I use them both at home and  out-and-about.  Right now I have two and tend to organize them by "pages done" and "pages to do".  

Maybe this isn't so exciting for you, but for me...this is a major organizing break-through.  Reconciling my desire to have a cute craft room with my need to get out and craft is a huge accomplishment.  I hope you are inspired by something I shared here.  And I can't wait for my next crafting girls' night out!