Take a Virtual Tour Through Mill Lane Studio

Are you like me, always looking for new or better ways to store your craft supplies? Isn't it interesting to peek into the studios of other creatives to see how they organise their supplies? It's fun to see how they decorate their space and see what storage systems work for them - after all, organising is a neverending task. Don't you love it when you glean a little storage or organisation tip that might help in your own crafting area? The BEST Craft Organizer system is excellent for storing beads Today, I invite you into my studio so you can learn some of the little tips that keep all my supplies organised. Cut Out + Keep take you on a virtual tour of my workspace whilst I talk about the trick that makes my studio look clutter free and how I store my supplies to keep them under control. I can tell you it doesn't always look so tidy but it does function well as both a studio and a classroom. I hope you'll find some helpful tips for keeping things in order in......

Read more »

A Ray of Sunshine - My Yellow Bead Drawer

Everyone has a system for organising their bead stash whether it be by colour , shape , type , or material , and it's usually influenced by the way they design and the kind of jewellery they make. For me, I like to keep my go-to beads organised by colour - these are the beads that support the main element or focal point of the design. I also have a separate storage areas devoted to just crystals, one to pearls and gemstones, another to resin/acrylic/plastic, and yet another to large holed beads. There are of course more.... but you get the idea. This system works well for the way I design. But recently, I was looking through my bead collection and noticed a glaring gap in the rainbow of colours that makes up my bead stash: I have practically no yellow beads! I keep my beads organised using the Best Craft Organizer furniture system which I can customise to suit my needs. Yellow is such a cheerful and uplifting colour. It sings with happiness. And whilst it can be a b......

Read more »

New Table Covers for the Studio

It's just over 3 years since I took up residence in my new studio. It seems as if it was only a few months ago.... how quickly time flies! The biggest evidence of how long it's been is the protective plastic cover on the workshop tables. They've been subjected to dozens of resin workshops, hundreds of papercraft and jewellery projects and a fair bit of gift wrapping in that time. They've taken abuse from heat guns, resin spills, attacks by scissors and pliers and just general day-to-day wear and tear. This is just a small section and although it isn't clear in the photo, all those pretty spots of colour are lumpy bumpy spots of resin..... it was becoming difficult to find a level area to work on. So today, it's out with the old and in with the new.  It's lovely to have a nice clean, level surface to work on again. But now it's time to set up for the next resin workshop so we can Christen it! FUN! 'Til next time..... I......

Read more »

Jewellery Wire Organisation

All crafters seem to struggle with storage and organisation, especially as our collection of crafting materials grows. No matter how well you organise, you inevitably have to revisit your storage solutions from time to time. Right now, I'm finding my wire drawer troublesome and it takes too long to find the colour/gauge of wire that I'm looking for underneath all those spools. This drawer needs taming! My wire is stored in a drawer in my BEST Craft Organizer and it's handy so I want to keep it there. I was so pleased when I realised that the insert which fits the deep drawers fits 4 spools of Artistic Wire in each cavity perfectly. This looks so pretty.... and definitely organised. But could organising be this easy? Unfortunately, no! The new larger, flatter shaped spools of Artistic Wire won't fit in the drawers unless they're stacked on top of one other. It's tidy, but you can't see the wire colour. These new spools really need to stand on thei......

Read more »

Discard, Compact, Rearrange - it must be New Year!

Oh, my, what a mess! Today I decided to tackle my studio which is generally pretty tidy because I teach here regularly.  But in an effort to free up all the under utilised bench tops in my studio, I have had to empty out my cupboards and then discard, compact and rearrange everything in them. These bench tops have not seen daylight for over 2 years and are covered with piles and piles of papers and crafting stuff - it's time to clear them away! This is a major clean up and probably not the sort of job I should be tackling just weeks away from CHA, but once I started pulling things out of the cupboards, the cleaning and sorting took on a life of its own. But as for compacting everything to make some cupboard space, well, this photo is a part of the result. There's a standing joke about my cleaning up and sorting out efforts in my household. Everyone knows that things will get way worse before they begin to get better. What you're looking at in the picture above is ......

Read more »

Whilst I'm in the Mood

Do crafters ever stop looking for the perfect storage solution? It seems to be an ongoing process, one that we are constantly fine tuning. I'm finding that what worked for me when I first set up my studio 18 months ago, is in need of a little updating right now. And that's what today's post is about.... I'm in the mood for a little bit of organising! One of the things that irks me most about my studio is my paper/cardstock storage system - in particular, my offcuts. They are encroaching on my floor space and the pile is threatening to topple over - it's not an attractive sight! Here's what I'm talking about - I have 2 of these tubs overflowing with cardstock scraps, as well as various other cartons and containers stacked in the corner taking up way too much space. It's time for an overhaul of this system! This is how I've been storing my offcuts - in ziplock bags, sorted by colour. Not a bad solution but it's become untidy as the collection......

Read more »

A Gift of Organisation

I am such a lucky Mum.... look what my husband and children gave me for Mother's Day! Of course, it didn't come assembled like this..... but it did come with instructions! I love putting together flat pack furniture, especially when it goes together this easily. So this is how I spent my Mother's Day...... Step 1. Unpack all the bits and check that they're all there. Step 2. Insert the screws into the pre drilled holes....... and then tighten with a screw driver. Step 3. Assemble the frame. By this stage, I was having so much fun that I forgot to photograph this step, but it's very easy as there are only five pieces; top, bottom, 2 sides and the back. Tighten the locking nuts that slot into the screws previously inserted. If you've ever assembled Ikea furniture then you'll know the process. Although this piece is from the Mini Stackables range by Best Craft Organizer, it's a very similar construction. Step 4. Screw in the castors and the unit i......

Read more »