It's the little things-storage Tim Holtz style

Hello!  Sometimes it all about the little things that make us happy.  A favorite punch or stamp.  That perfect color of ink.  A sunny day, or a rainy day if that's your thing.  Today a simple rod and some hooks are making me very happy.  I have been re-organizing my craft room and wanted to share what is making me smile.

We crafters love to see how others are organizing their stuff.  I'm a huge Tim Holtz fan and regularly check out his blog.  A few years ago (2007 to be exact) Tim did some blog posts on his studio.  He has these industrial looking wire racks to hold all his tools and supplies.  Cool!  What really caught my attention was how he stores his ribbon.  A draw rod and some S hooks and it gives him easy access to the ribbon and looks festive and colorful.  Check out Tim's studio.

So excited to finally be able to set up this storage for myself.  Metal rack.  Check.  Had some in my old craft room closet but now I have room to display them to get that industrial feel.  S hooks.  Check.    Draw rod.  Huh?  What's a draw rod?  Well I discovered it is the rod that attaches to the fancy curtains to open and close them.  After visiting three stores and not finding a draw rod I put on my thinking cap and visited one of my favorite places in the do it yourself store.  The hardware aisle!  Yes,  you read that right the aisle with all the nuts, bolts, washers, and assorted cool doo-dads.  I love to pull open those drawers and check out all the stuff and imagine what I can build with it.  It just makes me happy.  Oh, ok I'm getting side tracked here, lol.

I found some threaded rods.  I have no idea what they are actually supposed to be used for but thought they would be perfect to hold the ribbon.  Why threaded?  I wanted to put a wing nut and a fender washer at each end so if I ever need to pull off the whole rod from the hooks they would keep the rolls of ribbon from sliding off.  Plus they just look cool and industrial.  Well, check out these photos and see for yourself.

Love how Tim threaded the ribbon through the rack.
Makes it easy to roll off what you need.  I added a yard
stick on another S hook to make it easy to measure.

On the side is a Ribbon Ring for the smaller lengths of ribbon.

Close up of the rod, wing nut, fender washer and S hook.

Still have lots of room for more ribbon!

I'm not quite ready to reveal the whole room but this last photo gives you a sneak peak of my first attempt at organizing the rack.  The black boxes are 12 x 12 photo boxes that I use to hold current projects in progress.  These make it easy to clean up between working sessions while still keeping all the supplies together.  The second shelf has some reference books, my pens, a tray with my punches, and a letter holder with my trimmer, scoreboard, and cutting board I use for embossing.

As I complete more of the room I will give you some peaks.  Please let me know if you have questions about anything you see or want to see more of something.

Oh, wanted to make sure I give credit to the creator of the Ribbon Ring.  Please check out their web site here for more info.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoped you enjoyed the little thing that makes me happy!

Sharon