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Partially inspired by this post on one of the many home/family/parenting-related blogs in my rss reader, and partially motivated by a desire to show off the one area in my house that is organized in a way I am really proud of…I now bring to you the Arts/Crafts Cabinet:

The diagram tells most of the story, though you may have to click on it to see a version large enough to read the labels. The Art Cabinet sits in our dining room. What you can’t see are two clear plastic boxes (the kind desiged for portable file folder storage) that sit on top.  One of those boxes holds Madeline’s “cutting and pasting” supplies (she likes to cut pictures out of magazines and glue them in her special “beautiful pictures” scrapbook), and the other box contains those really random supplies you need every now and then, like cotton balls, pine cones, egg cartons, and pie tins.

We’ve been slowly collecting these art supplies for the past year and a half or so.  Sometime last summer they spilled out of the small cabinet in our built-in-buffet where they had been housed, and we bought this cabinet.  It languished in various stages of disorganization for most of the past year, but I took one whole morning late this summer (without the kids around) to really whip it into shape.  Most of the organizational supplies (baskets, boxes, etc) were purchased on clearance or at least on sale, and Tony was nice enough to add an extra shelf for me.  Madeline uses the supplies in the cabinet almost daily, so it is well worth it to me to have spent the time to organize it in such as way that she can easily find things and put them back with at least moderate success.

Though we have a fair amount of arts and crafts supplies at this point, I’ve tried to make this a fairly frugal endeavor.  Here’s a few ways I did that (keep in mind we started with just a few items, and grew our stock over a year or more):

• We put arts and crafts supplies on Christmas and Birthday lists.  Madeline has gotten a lot of really nice basic supplies this way, as well as some coloring books and so on.
• I Stocked up on basic supplies during back-to-school sales.  Crayons, glue, glue sticks, construction paper, and more are dirt cheap in August.
• I Look around for odds and ends at garage sales and thrift stores.  I was able to purchase a bag of mixed yarn scraps (perfect for kids crafts that need a few pieces of several colors) for a buck at Savers.  During the last 50% off sale at Savers, I scored two sets of kids stencils (new in package) also for a buck each.  These were in the games section.  So, look carefully — you never know what cast off treasures you may find.
• We’ve found coloring books and workbooks on clearance at Target or Walmart.
• We re-use things found around the house when ever possible — small pieces of tissue paper and wrapping paper, old greeting cards, leftover scraps of scrapbook paper, and of course things like egg cartons and paper towel tubes are are fun and free for crafting
• When I do want to purchase Madeline something I haven’t been able to get by other means, I try to make the best use possible of the “40%/50%-off-one-item” coupons for the craft stores as well as taking advantage of their other sales.

Maybe one of these days some other part of my house will be organized in a photo-worthy manner, but for right now I am still enjoying the feeling of satisfaction for having completed this project!