Craft Room Clean-Up!

Hey everyone, it's Sizzix Designer Josh here. Let's talk about a craft room clean-up!

I've been crafting for years and have only recently developed a love of organization. I admit that I am a messy crafter and this is something both Pete and Jess will agree with (although Pete is worse ?). I understand the benefits and the joy of keeping my design rooms, both at home and at work, tidy and organized. I have found ways to make my design space work for me, let's take a look at some tips that I like to follow for keeping organized where I can!

Below is an image of my design area at work after finishing up an exciting project. Let's do a craft room clean-up and see how it gets tidier as this blog continues using my top tips...

1. Stick to one die cutting machine at a time...

Here at Sizzix we love all of our die cutting machines equally and they each have their merits! See below a few of my top machine picks, click here to view the whole Sizzix range.

For projects where I either want to cut lots of small elements or use plus-sized dies, I craft with with the Sizzix™ Big Shot™ Switch Plus Machine. This machine looks fantastic in any design space and has the benefit of the larger platform to speed up the process!

If you are looking for something portable or a space saver, I would recommend the Sizzix® Big Shot® Foldaway Machine! This is one of my all-time favorites, its sleek design and compatibility is just great!

If you only need to die cut small elements like Thinlits for a card making project choose the Sizzix Sidekick Machine as this is such a nifty machine - I will never get over how well it works for such a small machine!

2. Save die cut pieces...

Small die cut pieces will inevitably cover your area, making it easy to lose the die cut elements you actually want to use.

I find keeping all excess die cutting pieces together in a box really helps me for projects that I am working on and future ones. I use the Sizzix Craft Box to store all of these pieces, it is perfect for this and it looks really nice too! It even fits in with the Sizzix style and #colorstory so everything is instantly photogenic and social media ready!

Saving all the die cut pieces also comes in handy when you just need that perfect floral or foliage element to embellish an area of your project. Any die cut element will be useable in future projects so why not save time and cardstock by keeping all bits for a later date!

3. Have a station for each process...

My station is starting to look a little more organized now. It's not obvious without marking it out but I find having at least a vague area for different processes creates some harmony and organisation in the making process. Looking for something I was using only minutes ago used to take up a lot of my time so working in different areas keeps everything in its place!

4. Keep all of your Dies together...

Speaking of keeping everything in its place, the new Sizzix Storage Solution is perfect for keeping all your dies together and accessible. Again, it is in keeping with the look and feel of all your other Sizzix products and its the perfect size; not too big, but big enough that you can fit lots of Dies in.

The shape of the folders makes it easy to store upright on a shelf or stacked on top of one-another neatly with a protected label space to let you know the theme of each folder's content e.g. Florals, Summer, Spring, Framelits shapes etc. This is how I organise - I'd love to hear your own suggestions in the comments!

The Sizzix Storage Printed Magnetic Sheets are a great way to keep all your die sets ready, accessible and together.

5. Make use of all integrated storage

The Sizzix Big Shot Switch Plus Machine & Starter Kit and the Sizzix Big Shot Foldaway Machine come with clever integrated storage compartments which really come in handy for storing the tools you aren't using and any dies you want easy access to.

5. Have a scrap card drawer

We at Sizzix recognise the need to not to be wasteful. We use a lot of card but we also recycle as much as possible. On top of this, I have made a separate drawer for off-cuts of card. My general rule is that if there is still room for one small die cut, I save it as I will always use it later on and you never know when you will run out of that one color you need!

6. The end result...

This picture just makes me happy. It's an inviting place to work and I now know where everything is. Since making a conscious effort to put all of these tips into action, I have noticed a positive increase in my motivation, focus, job satisfaction, and even in my anxiety levels.

Tidy desk definitely equals tidy mind :)

Thanks for reading my Craft Room Clean Up Blog, I hope that you got some great tips that you can use in your craft space. Until next time, happy crafting!