cheap storage.

Since I started making jewelry, I've been playing around with a lot of different ways to store beads. Because let me tell you, as little as those suckers there, they sure can take up a lot of space!

At first I used bead organizers - those clear plastic boxes subdivided with little compartments. It worked for a while - but now that my collection has grown, its just not practical - its too difficult to keep like items together.

For my birthday, my friends Kristina and Hannibal gave me a great tote filled with old baby food jars (the labels have been removed and the tops spray-painted). These have been working really well, and Kristina has since given me more old jars to use - but I still need a place to put them. I was keeping my eyes open for a low bookself or storage case at thrift stores, until I went into my shed to pick up some things for church (that's about all that's stored in there right now), and saw this:


This is the cleaned-up, primed version. It old, cheap, and rickety, but it was free! A little spray paint, a few cute plant holders I picked up on clearance at Ross (I love these things!), and its a great solution!