16 Genius Ways to Organize Your Craft Supplies

The trick: Keep them neat by wrapping them around a rectangular piece of cardboard. Group them by color or material, then secure each piece with a ball pin. File the cardboard in a box or bin.

The trick: Tins! For many of us, knitting is relaxing. But when the yarn inevitably becomes tangled, it can feel more like an exercise in frustration. Here's one way to keep things from getting knotty: Gather empty cookie tins left over from the holidays or purchase new ones. Apply a coat of oil-based enamel paint in any hue to outside of tin and lid; let dry overnight. Using a grommet kit (available at hardware stores), attach a grommet to the lid's center. Place ball of yarn inside, and thread an end through the grommet before securing lid.

The trick: Looking for a way to organize sewing supplies so everything is in one place? With a few tweaks, your standard spool rack can become a catchall for all of your sewing supplies, not just thread. Here, we customized the individual spokes to hold and display safety pins, thimbles, and even affixed a tiny wooden flowerpot to contain a pair of handy sewing scissors.

The trick: If you have a shelf, you can pull off this Good Thing: Organize smaller items in 16-ounce glass containers by screwing lids into the underside. Mark the placement of lids on the underside of the shelf, and predrill holes into both. Screw the lids into the shelf with ¾-inch screws, then fill your jars with small supplies and twist each onto its respective lid.

The trick: All you need is a set of tin cans and a piece of plywood. In the drilled cans, your coloring supplies can be categorized by color, type, or both! If you want, attach a drawer handle to the top for easy handling.

The trick: A box works too! Ribbons will stay untangled and ready to use in this container with a few enhancements. Use a utility knife to make slits. Or use grommets; you can find them, and the tool to install them, at hardware stores. 

The trick: Jewelry-making supplies like beads, chains, and charms are too precious to lose. Instead of letting them roll and tumble around in a drawer, stockpile them by category into small cups or pedestal dishes that line a desk drawer or storage box. Ceramic paint palettes work as well!

The trick: Muffin tins and cupcake liners work wonders to organizer a messy drawer, especially one that's prone to accidental speckles and splatters. Keep your extra sparkly supplies in small cups, then arrange them by color gradient. Every time you open the drawer, you'll be greeted with a neatly presented rainbow.

The trick: A flat-file cabinet coupled with an apothecary hutch becomes an all-in-one storage and work station. Glues, decoupage medium, and other adhesives are categorized in cubby holes, while craft paints are arranged by color, bottom sides facing out so that the shades (further categorized by color family) can be seen at a glance.

The trick: Find all of your supplies fast in a 3-ring binder. The plastic pocket envelopes are enough to hold spools of thread, small scissors, patterns, and prints. Dedicate one page of heavy felt to hold a pre-threaded needle or two of your current colors so you can pick up your project on-the-go.

The trick: Wrapping a gift shouldn't begin with a search high and low for supplies. A simple shelf and a magazine rack keep everything neat and accessible. Hang them together, then slide gift bags into the rack's slots, put wrapping-paper rolls through the L brackets, and stack gift boxes on the top.