My newest favorite organizing system is the "Antonius". I saw it in the upstairs showroom at IKEA, and was instantly smitten.

It can be made in several different combinations: you buy the frame, then you can purchase wire drawers, cloth drawers, or two sizes of plastic drawers. There is also a work-top that you can purchase. And I'm not sure, but I think I saw shelves for it at IKEA today. I like it because the drawers are big...so they can hold 12 x 12 scrapbook pages, and a whole lot more. I will take out whatever drawers I need, then just return them when I'm done crafting. These two reside in my half of the closet.

The second one I bought for myself for Mother's Day last year with the proceeds of a garage sale....how's that for poetic justice?

The craft room was really a craft closet, but still tons of fun!! There is no "before" picture just because it looked mostly like this after pic--we just added the tower of drawers on the right.

The issue was more of a time/space continuum issue (small grin). The homeowner had set up the closet when she moved in, but it was not working for her. Although it looked pretty neat & organized, most drawers were empty or held more of an "assortment" than a "collection". And she had never had the time to go through it....

So we went through her things and sorted them, then came up with assigned living quarters for them.

The drawers are one of my favorite organizing tools because when you want to work--you just bring the whole drawer with you & then put it back when you're done.

Some of the drawer assignments:
1. Tools (paper piercer, cutting tools, stapler)
2. Punches
3. Ribbon (she had a new system that is hanging on the side but we left coordinated ribbon on their backing and put it in the drawer)
4. Embossing--wet & dry.
5. Letters (rub ons, stickers, etc)

We also put her "Antonius" system in the adjoining room for her stamps. ..but that particular system (new fave) I'll save for another blog post.

I was in a funky mood this week. I organized my closet & beads, but by the weekend, I was still irritable.

We went over to my friend's house to bring her something, and I smooth-talked her into spending the day organizing her closet.

There's no "before" picture, but here's what it looked like after our 4 hours of work.

I love to craft which puts me in a position to answer this burning question: "What's the best way to store my ribbons?"

This was a tricky one. I do like the dowel idea, but it is hard to put new ribbon on or take an old roll off. Plus the dowel is not very portable for those who love to attend crops or card club etc.

A few weekends ago, at the scrapbook expo, I saw a great idea. I actually went up to a group of strangers who were working on their scrapbooks, and asked if I could check out their ribbon box.

This box is called "Ezy-stack Ribbon Rack". I found it at Walmart for $8. The lady at the expo said the only problem she has encountered is really tall ribbon spools. But as for side-to-side, it has removable compartment sides.

The only problem that I can foresee is that I will definitely need more than one!