Jewelry Organizers Blog

Product of the Week:  Spice Jars to Organize Beads and Jewelry

A friend of mine had a great idea that I wanted to share with you all.  She found these beautiful spice jars.  They are really unique, far from the regular plastic spice bottles that you see in the supermarket.  You can put whatever spice you want in them, and they have a beautiful see through lid.  Her idea was to use these spice canisters for her beads and jewelry making supplies – a great idea, I think!  They are pretty reasonably priced, considering the fact that they will last forever, and are sold in sets of four.  The see through lid just begs for something pretty to be stored inside. 

Here are some ideas: 

• Beads – Just imagine how beautiful your colorful beads will look filled to the top of these stainless steel jars.  You won’t even have to open them to figure out what color you are going for because you can see right through the top!  For an art project in itself, you could fill these jars with colorful beads and then set them on your dresser, mantle or your crafts table – you decide if you will actually use the beads or just admire them! 
• Jewelry Making Supplies – you can put rhinestones in one tin, wire in another tin, and even use the longer tins for small needle nose pliers and other tools.  If you have large pendants for upcoming jewelry making projects, this is a great place to keep them as well. 
• Jewelry Organizer – this is a beautiful way to organize jewelry in the house, or better yet, on the go.  Keep a small selection of inexpensive pieces in your glove box or in your suit case so that you always have some jewelry with you for any occasion! 

If you are interested in making jewelry, here is some information, a great place to start!

A Tool Chest performs well as a Jewelry Organizer – Go Figure!

Who would have thought that your hubby could be filled with envy when he sees your new jewelry organizer?  This 16 Drawer Chest is designed, first and foremost, as a garage tool and hardware organizer; hence, the dull gray appearance, so he may just think that it’s a new garage organizer for him.  Except that it’s not.  It’s actually for you to store all your jewelry and crafts supplies in!  I’ll admit that it’s not cute, but it sure does come in handy for organizing anything jewelry or crafts related. 

The see through drawers are great for holding beads and beading supplies, jewelry or jewelry making supplies or any other crafts that you are interested in.  It is made of high impact polystyrene so it can really get tossed around – this is especially useful if you take your beads or crafts to sell at crafts fairs and farmers markets.  This drawer chest is also stackable, so you can maximize storage in any room for any project, at anytime!  Another thing that I really like about this jewelry organizer is that it can be used on the counter top or dresser, but it can also be wall mounted.  That might sound kind of strange, but since you can remove whatever drawer you need, why not save a little counter space by mounting this to the wall.  A great place would be in the laundry room, behind the bathroom or bedroom door, or in the closet!  That way you don’t have to see it, either, a major plus since it is not designed to be decorative. 

TIP:  To really get the most organizing out of these drawers, print up address labels for each drawer that tell you what is in them.  That way you don’t have to go digging needlessly and your beading process will go much more smoothly!  Here is some great, extra info for Beading fanatics.

A World of Handmade Jewelry at the Click of a Button

Handmade gifts are a fun, beautiful way to show your friends and family love during the holidays.  I have done small beading projects before and given them away to my family, but lately I’m really just too busy to get into lengthy jewelry making projects. 

So, I decided this year to purchase handmade gifts for my family.  At first it sounds like cheating, but when you really think about it, it’s actually not cheating, you are actually doing the whole world a favor.  Here’s why:

Entrepreneurial Spirit:  you are helping out a small business or entrepreneur, which you may think is nicer than helping out huge chain stores.  Who knows, you may even be purchasing something from someone who was laid off and is using their hobby as a way to make money.

Personal, Handmade Benefits:  Some crafters are really nice and will give you the story behind the piece you are buying.  And your family and friends will appreciate that it is handmade, even if not by you!

Quality:  If you find the right store, you can get unbelievable quality.  For example, I really like fused glass jewelry, and the stuff I bought this year was absolutely stunning – Trust me, the photos do not do these pieces justice.

Convenience and Price– With the internet, you don’t even have to go to a crafts fair, you can simply shop online and have it shipped to you.

Where to find handmade jewelry: 

If you don’t have time to go to a crafts fair, I highly suggest this website, www.etsy.com- it is basically like ebay but everything is handmade, from candles to clothes and jewelry and even jewelry organizers.  You can even search by zip code if you want to purchase locally.  It is totally awesome, in my opinion.  The picture above shows some handmade jewelry I bought as gifts this year.

Making jewelry and beading are great hobbies, as you probably have probably already figured out if you are reading this.  I want to share my top pick for organizing beads.  It’s basically just a clear plastic divided box that can be used for pretty much anything, but makes a great jewelry organizer. 

You can find them at hardware stores because they are great for organizing screws, mollies and other hardware.  And you often see them used in bead stores without their lids because bead stores have figured out that they are great for this purpose also!

This is the 12 compartment box that I have had for years.  I like this one because it has different size compartments, so I keep wires and needles in the long compartments and beads in the smaller ones.  It can even hold really small vials of special beads.  But, the thing I like about this one most is that it’s easily portable.  It is small enough to fit in my purse so that I can take some beading with me when I’m waiting at the doctors office, for example.

Here are some things to think about when picking one:
1.  Size:  I’ve seen them as big as 10 x 10 with 24 compartments – great for lots and lots of beads, and also other crafts.
2.  Materials:  I prefer clear plastic, because, obviously, you can see the colors through the lid without opening.  Acrylic plastic is much more clear than typical cloudy plastics that you find which makes it even easier to see.
3.  Lids:  Some have sliding lids, some have hinged lids.  I like the hinged lids better because sometimes the sliding lids get stuck and make your beads “jump” and then they risk getting mixed up.

Another great thing about these boxes is that if you ever stop beading, you can easily find another use for them around your home.  From the nails in the garage to pills in the bathroom, you will never lack a reason to use these divided boxes.