STORAGE

In the studio with Kare

The more I get into my crafting and florals, the more I have a need for better organization in storing my goods. The more you make, the more you grow and the more you grow, the smaller the area for storage is available. The goal for me, however, to get so organized that the boxes they are stored in will also be the boxes they will ultimately ship out in from the gathering of supplies to the making of the kit box, to the making of the project and for shipping and handling.

My finished wreaths go into big flat boxes typically 24x24x4. The reason for this size is that when I ship, the wreaths will go USPS and that size is the most economical size for both the cost of the box, the shipping and handling costs and is typically the size that I make most of my wreaths. This is normally the size of box I ship them in, and I will take a photo of the finished wreath and then glue it to the side of the box like in the picture above or if it is going out right away it will be packed for shipping in a clean box that had no label on it before. On those I will attach a photo of the project on the inside flap that can be put to the outside of the box after the customer receives it so they can use their shipping box for storage and they know what is in it.

Then when storing them I stack the boxes in the same direction so the picture shows and it is so much easier when I have to rifle through a bunch of the projects to find the one I want to display or one that has sold and is shipping out. I am a visual person, meaning I am a quick sight hound and to me a short label or photo is a miracle worker. I do enough reading to garner eye-strain so this is what has become my format when storing my projects and 99% of what I store goes in clean cardboard boxes. I also recycle clean boxes. The items inside the boxes go into a clear pull tie plastic bag and when the project is finished the same bag houses the finished product.

For a look in how I pack a wreath for shipping check out my link at SHIPPING & HANDLING and my plan is to get neater in installing the picture labels, but more than likely, client boxes will not be labeled like these and will go in a clean box with a packing slip with the photo of the project ion the packing envelope. I have thought of putting packing slip envies on the box and putting the photo in those but I have not gone that route yet. It is a strong thought for in the future though because I want my clients boxes to be nice, neat and presentable and will be my order of priority in the future to get those backing slip envelopes and put them like where I have the photos glued on in the future. The boxes with the glued-on labels can be reused for kit boxes. Just place the photo over the old label photo and keep doing that while the box is usable and in circulation..

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Kit boxes

I make kit boxes and I use the same idea for when I am making wreaths and other flower arrangements. The pieces that will be incorporated into a wreath or an arrangement project simply goes into a clear plastic bag that is large enough to house the finished project and once made, the project goes into the plastic bag and into the box. Before it goes in, the finished project is photographed and the photo is glued on to the box in the fashion pictured above.

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Space

Space is something that often gets hard to come by, but I try to organize my boxes in several groups.

They are:

• Kit boxes
• Seasonal projects

Kit boxes get put in an assembly line into the order I hope to build them. I have in a sense worked out the order greatly due to the supply chain and projects that I am working on and clients projects would take priority in the line

Seasonal boxes get broke down into the 4 seasons or groups as follows

• Winter (and Christmas
• Sprnig
• Summer
• Fall
• Holiday boxes, such as Valentines, St. Pats or whatever seems to have a large collection for the specific holiday.

I stack the boxes so I can see their labels or photos.

Even though it seems to sound organized, usually it is but when you need that box at the bottom, chaos is created, but it is not all that hard to get things put back as it is easy to group them

This system works well for me but as I am progressing, I am going to be literally looking for a bigger box. The house as a box is not big enough and sooner or later, other storage will be a necessity and to that end we have already made plans and sooner or later I will be having to part with my pretties. Meanwhile, the biggest goal is to keep them clean for when that time comes.

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In My Studio…

My studio is a bedroom that we converted to my crafting area. It has a desk, a work bench, several storage areas for the stuff I use, but not often. There is a place for my florals and whatever else in the room. I try to put everything back in its place when I am done with it.

My husband and I crafted a workbench that we put on wheels so I could move it for easier cleaning after those messy projects.

You can visit this link to the Studio Work Booth to see how we made my work-table and it is adequate for now. It was made of things we already had so there was no cost for it to us. We also made ribbon racks and things I found I needed while making my creations.

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One Thing I know…

The organization is always evolving and changing to the tune of the seasons and whatever project has priority. Organization is ALWAYS subject to change!

I hope you enjoyed this article and I have helped with your storage issues. Any questions or comments, please feel free to ask in the comment section below.

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