Bead & Small Things Storage

Years ago I was lucky and acquired a 10 drawer flat file – 43″ deep x 54″ wide (actually, by now I have 2-10 drawer & 1-5 drawer flat files). The one below holds beads, jewelry in progress, findings, jewelry for repurposing and flat storage for prints and game boards (bottom two drawers).

This 5 drawer cabinet holds watches and parts, paints, drawing & writing materials and dremel bits…

A home improvement store was relocating. In their moving rubble I found long strips of packing material that, when repurposed, was great for bead storage. I made the bead trays out of recycled foam board to fit the cut packaging – 16×8. It’s very convenient for color matching. This is one layer – another, thinner, layer sits on top.

During the holiday season the Dollar Stores have isles of Bath and Body lotions. I find that the plastic holders keeping these items upright on the shelves make great “small things” storage. It isn’t unusual for me to straighten up the shelves on the bath and body isle at a local Dollar Store. I rearrange and fill in all the empty slots in the various trays so I could take the left over empty ones that would otherwise be thrown away. This is one of the clear plastic trays (12×13.5) in my watches drawer.

CD cases are great not only for storing rubber stamps but also for holding small, thin, flat items in place…