diy: upcycled box organizers

I really wanted to WOW you with this one but it being August (wha?) and all, I feel like if I do not get this post up, it will be 2013 already and I will have never shared it.

Space is limited here in the tiny casa, even more so if you account for my many, many collections of stuffity-stuff. It took me almost ten months to get any of my supplies organized mostly because I really wanted to do it right, whatever that means. I thought that if I could organize it perfectly prefect my life would be calm and I could move on to the next crafty endeavor. Truth be told, who am I kidding? Even if I did actually organize it perfectly perfect there is no way I would keep it up as I am not exactly a type A person, ya know? So here you go, a mini diy for organizing your crafty crap. If I had a room to put it all in it may very well be organized quite differently. Since I do not have a room but a plastic shed, this is what you get. Enjoy!

Mister works at a small company that receives and sends a LOT of packages. These boxes were recycling bin bound so he swooped up a bunch and I made them pretty. The first thing I had to do was pick out fabric. And since, like I said, I am NOT an A type personality, I went with whatever fabric I could find in whichever box was open.

 

I then cut out pieces of fabric and ironed them as smooth as I could, making sure to roll them up all pretty for a picture.

 

All of the boxes were flipped so that the ends were facing up. I brushed on a coat of mod podge using a foam brush.

 

 

Next, I smoothed a cut of fabric over the whole sticky surface and continued utnil all my box ends were covered.

After the mod podge dried, I used my handy-dandy fabric scissors (the ones with the green handle) to trim all the way around the edges. It was a little hairy at times but I managed.

 

 

 After these sat in a heap in the living room for a few weeks (see? definitely NOT a type A) I got to adding labels which I made by folding over smallish rectangles of fabric in half and stitching all the way around. A trim with pinking shears or scissors evened them out and those too were tacky-glued atop the fabric covered boxes.

 

 

I used Bic permanent pens to label them up after they were filled with crafty chaos.

 

Finally, I stacked them into my ugly plastic storage shed, shut the doors and then sat down for a jar of iced coffee and a cookie (or two). The best way to fit the most into the shed as it was (mister put shelves in it back in Los Angeles and it housed my fabric) was to store the boxes on their sides. It isn't nearly as pretty as a fancy crafty blogger would have or share but it works and now I can find my twisty bits and whiz-bangs. I can also see some of my favorite fabrics in use (I tend to horde fabric and not use it but I am trying to remedy that quirk of mine). Now I can throw a crafty night and actually find my crafty bits.

a home for my shoes

it seems i have been wearing the same glittery pair of flats all month long and i kinda have. i do have other shoes though and thanks to some perseverance, a plea to the thrift gods, a bit of spray adhesive, and a swath of a vintage sheet i now have a home for all those shoes i am not wearing.

seriously, i have been searching and searching for something, anything really, to house my wide shoe collection and a few weeks ago i lifted my eyes to the skies and said out loud, yes, out loud, upon entering the goodwill outlet...

something for my shoes please!

and there it was. a rinky-dink cheapo shelfy-dealio that was mine for the tune of $5.

i plopped it onto the backseat while the mister was looking elsewhere and it sat in our kitchen dining area for too many days...i lost count (it may have been weeks even...shhhh).

after stubbing my toe on it one too many times, i flipped it onto it's back, removed the shelves and sprayed it with adhesive.

 

i then positioned, repositioned and repositioned again a large swath of vintage sheet i had that was on top of a pile of stuff cluttering up one of the many cluttered surfaces in the casa.

i really should have measured and cut first but then this would have been done the moment i got it home if i were that kind of person. it could be smoother sure and it could be a bit less crooked but i don't care. it adds a bit of happy background to my shoes and well...there you go. a super easy DIY for when you feel the need to change something up.

everything fits so nicely save for the new pair of orangey-coral flats i splurged on at Target. and yes, $20 smackeroos is a splurge in this tiny casa. the photo could be better if the space between the foot of the bed and the wall were you know...spacious. i did entertain the idea of taking the whole thing out into the living room for a better shot but that is hardly keeping it real. the tiny casa is just that...tiny. 


**oh and please ignore my sorry collection of hoofers. i have flintstone feet and this silly notion that shoes should be comfortable so it seems i am attracted to shoes five year olds would wear if they never laid eyes on the television and something a blue-haired lady with rolled stockings might like. my boots and rollerskates are in the closet...i think.