Fabric Lace Memory Books 2. How I Organized my Supplies

I have found a new way to preserve memories with fabric! (Hummm...sounds like a good title for a blog!)  Last week, I talked about it and you can read my introduction to Fabric Lace Memory Books here. I am really excited about this. I haven't just stopped quilting, just put it on hold for awhile... and I still have 5 WIPS... one is for ME, one for my sister and one for ...someone.... and then I have 2 in the closet that I made, but don't really like or am waiting on specific scraps to finish. But I have have been told by my children..."Mom...no more quilts! We have plenty!". Well, I can't just stop the preserving memories so Fabric Lace Books came to me just in time! I was doing a blog hop and came upon Wilma at Shabby Royale  and was immediately captivated.
Then I found  Doni at Faith, Grace and Crafts and her tutorial on making the pages and the rest is history! Happy, memorable, preserved history in a unique, amazing and most elegant style! My plan is to make one for each of my grand daughters....and one for me!

So to get something like this.......

 

 

Or this..........

 

Or this.......

 .... I had to get supplies for these books and since I am a "veteran" scrapbooker, I have alot of things I can use for embellishment that were from my scrapbook days and since I have 4 grand daughters that I day-cared off and on... and always doing a craft of some kind with them so I have things left over from that.  So I dug everything out..and  as in the book set...."If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" ...(my grand daughters favorite series!)

"if you give a crafter some craft supplies, she is going to want storage units to put it in!"

I needed a place to store the supplies where I could have them ALL available to look at and use as I create a page. Now, I love organizing. Over organizer? Sometimes, but appropriately organized for ease of use...all the time!  I had several "storage" bins/buckets/drawer units etc in the closet..some being used others not.   So...this is what I came up with.

In organizing my supplies, I Upcycled these General Foods International plastic containers. I can't drink coffee because of the acid in the coffee oils...it hates my stomach! But this...doesn't have real coffee in it, but kind of tastes like it! But I drink it in the winter and have been saving these containers as they are perfect...sturdy plastic, nice snapping lid. Took me 3 years to collect this many, and finally found a use for them! I put them in the supply drawers....four fits perfectly across the width of the drawer and three the length.

Drawer on the left above has odd embellishments in it and I put four of the containers in the middle as the fit perfectly and snuggly across so they are kind of a divider...appliques and fabric things in the front and pom poms and other things in the back and silver string beads and things in the containers. On the right is buttons of all kinds! On the left-back  is an embroidery thread box...and I have small and tiny buttons from my scrapbooking days in this.  In the front is snaps, card buttons and single buttons in the coffee containers and then long card buttons to the right.

This drawer has what I call "metal" embellishments...buckles, rings, D rings, misc costume jewelery (some from my mother), wires and other things...most left over from my scrapbooking days and my "jean purse" days.




 Put them all together and this is what I got! I have all my embellishments at arms reach because the drawers are removable. This sits on top of a four drawer cabinet thingy that is at the end of my work station/cutting table...which is right behind my sewing machine...just a spin in the chair and it is all at my finger tips! (things on the top..no longer are there!)

Now this cabinet thingy... 

four small drawers just to the right of my working/cutting table.....

Top drawer has ribbons on spools in a clear plastic tubes. Just keeps things neater. Containers in the front holding beads...some just beads, others with alphabet letters on them. And something I intend to work with is fabric paper. That is the read on top there. I have been using it to make the labels for my quilts, but now.. I can print a picture on it or write out something like a letter on it and make a nice fabric envelope for it to put on the page.

Second drawer has the lace yardage and satin (imitation!) folded in it..with room for more! Bottom two drawers have cotton/poly fabric I use for binding on my quilts.

But that's not all!

These are stackable with lockable lids, plastic "boxes". They are about 15" x 12"x 3" and they click/lock together so I can stack them like this and just put it under my cutting table. I have the lace by all white, colors, trims (ric-rac, bias etc) and the bottom one has fancy pockets I cut off jeans. When I need to use the lace, I just..........

Put them on the table...and leave them stacked like this and have only the container I need...open. The little box next to this unit is just a photo box, and i keep all the things I am using on a page in this box. Keeps things orderly and not lost! This sits against the wall...leaving me plenty of working space while being close at hand.


This is what my work station looks like..BEFORE I actually start working. Needless to say, it gets rather messy as I work, but that is just how I work! But everything is right at hand, but still out of the way and not cluttered when not working. Lace in front, page fabric to the left. To the right...."working box", iron (cordless) to the right and on right end of the table, the drawers of supplies. All at hands reach.  I have seen so many amazing pictures of crafter's work stations....I wish I could do that with mine, but..this is best it gets for now. The table has my cutting matte on it and I have covered it with just some odd fabric..to keep the ironing surface clean while I work on top of it.But where the construction of the pages take place...is at the kitchen table! More on that feature next time! Another thing I just noticed in my room....the other side of the room has all my quilting "gear"...all set up and organized so I can go back to quilting at any time...and everything is already set up and organized!

If you don't have supplies like I did...(but will always be looking for more!)  you can  collect them rather "cheaply"...check the thrift stores, second hand stores, yard sales, dollar stores, Walmart type stores, etc. Always check the reduced shelves. I went to Joann's and they had unique trims on sale for 50 cents a yard! I just picked ones that I liked that were 50 cents a yard and bought 2 yards. 

At thrift/second hand stores and yard sales...if they don't have any craft supplies...check the clothes. You can cut off buttons, appliques and other decoration parts. Look for lace in blouses, dresses and  lingerie. Doilies are perfect for the books. Check for jewelery as you can take charms or pendants and earrings apart to use. Bracelets are an amazing embellishment. Check kids clothes as they often have great appliques or other decorative addition on the front of them that you can cut off....even use the fabric of the garment. Some jeans have beautiful and blingy pockets on them.. I have a few! I cut them off the jeans and intend to use them as a pocket on the pages. Get a velvet jacket and cut it apart to use the fabric. Look for yardage of lace...use it to cover the page, cut strips and make lace, gather to make lace flowers, join with fabric to make beautiful pocket on the page. I found some lace.. I think it was a table cloth...and I cut out the flowers to use as appliques!

Look at women's skirts...lot of yardage there so find the print you like and cut strips, squares...use to make the pages or gather and make lace!  So many options, lot of choices and all at a low price! And when all else fails...watch the ads for sales at Joann's and use the 50% off coupons!

So, now I am ready to begin my new adventure in Fabric Lace Memory books! Stay tuned... I have one in the works as we speak...I mean... read... and will post it soon!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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