As I make and break my bracelets up, and photograph bits for my blog, I'm constantly storing and accessing my beads on a regular basis, which takes a lot of organising - otherwise I'd be raking through beads, forgetting what I had or taking forever to find the few beads I needed for that day or that photo.
For my friends who make up permanent combos it's more a case of needing to find the best way to store bracelets and some odd beads whilst they're working on their next bracelet. Sometimes I think my bead life would be much easier if I did it this way too!
In the beginning one of the first things I did was to buy a Trollbeads Travel Case to keep my beads in when they weren't on a bracelet, I still use this and in fact I now have two of them from when I outgrew the first and bought a second for the extra storage.
As a bonus I always use the lid of the protective box that goes around the bead box for photos and bead play. But then the inevitable happens and I outgrew this too.
The top tray holds about 10 bracelets quite nicely, 5 in the back, 3 in the middle and you can just about fit 2 on the raised bed. However I don't keep that many bracelets made up, so what I really needed was more bead storage... and I've grown used to having my bead on rods, so what I really needed was more rods... what to do?
I pimped my bead box! Blue Peter Style!
I used wooden Bar-B-Q skewers, cut out some cardboard to protect the leather lining and bought some o-rings for the ends of the skewers...and voila, 10 extra long rods to put my beads on and I keep my made up bracelets in the Travel Cases with the wheel spoke dividers removed!
Only this year, er in fact kinda around now, I'm in serious danger of outgrowing my pimped Bead Box... I haven't decided on the next step. I've sold a few beads in the meantime which has delayed the inevitable, but it is, as it says, inevitable.
My newly started Car Fund hints that I should buy no more beads and sell even more... er, I don't think my Car Fund realises what it's up against yet!
How do you stay organised (or not)? Whether it's physical organisation of big or little "stuff" or just life tips in general. Hit the comments and lend me your wisdom, your tales of epic failures, or you can just say Hi also!
Apologies for not getting to you blog sooner - it takes me awhile to catch up more closely with 'twitter' contacts; I'm still a bit of a dinosaur with a lot of the social media platforms, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it... Anyhow, back to your post:
ReplyDeleteIn some areas of my life, particularly domestic and work related, I'm still very organised, probably a throwback to my army days when not being organised could very easily lead to, shall we say, less than pleasant consequences. But when it comes to social events and just catching up with people and stuff like that I'm pretty hopeless, and even more so with my social media contacts and blog friends - I usually find myself doing marathon catch ups with everyone when I've got a few days off from work, and even then it's all done in a rather haphazard way; one way or another though, I seem to manage.
Oh btw, good luck with the car fund, and cheers for all the retweets, much appreciated!
Regards,
Paul...
Thanks Paul, you're very welcome and thanks for popping by, it's really appreciated!
DeleteI've been trying to be strict with myself on the blog stuff this month in visiting others on the hop and I'm doing okay so far, but generally I'd struggle to read this many whilst writing but I was able to preschedule a lot of my posts as the day job and going away meant I had to or I'd have no hope of keeping up... only now I need to do the same this weekend whilst having guests stay or I will fall behind with my own posts (am okay up to the weekend) but I figure there will be some downtime somewhere!
I think the one big area I really need to focus getting organised is domestic stuff, we are having our boilers at home sorted and I really need to sort out a lot of stuff before they arrive to start this next month. Originally I'd taken this week off to do just that, but instead I've been having fun with family and friends... I forsee a LOT of late nights coming up :) Wouldn't have missed the family and friends bit for the world, life's too short.
Anyhoo, that's me rambling on for long enough, trying to avoid the washing up and laundry ;) Today is my lazy day of my holiday :)
Mars xx
I am so bad at keeping all my jewelry and stuff organized and my closet is a disaster area as a result! I love all of your ideas, your stuff is super organized! :) Head on over to my blog, if you get a chance :)
ReplyDeleteM xx
loislennon.blogspot.com
Thanks for popping by Melissa, love your dog Pepper! So cute <3
DeleteMy beads are super organised, but not so sure about anything else ;)
Mars xx
Well, since one of my resolutions for the first half of the year is to get my bead storage more organized, I guess I'm the type who likes organization but doesn't do so well in the implementation! :D I like the way that you converted the top of your box to hold more rods, I also don't have that many made up bracelets.
ReplyDeleteMy "life" organization generally consists of lists (I'm slowly turning into my mother ... :D) but lists are useful for organizing, and I often have more than one list going at a time. I actually started a private Amazon wishlist of beads that I want, and that was super useful in helping me prioritize my lengthy "want" list and focus on the ones that I *really* want first, rather than just picking away at a longer list. And now when a new "must have" bead pops into my head, I can add it to that list. And if it comes up for sale, I can use the priority to figure out if I really want it over another bead that might be prioritized higher.
I was really struggling with the volume of beads until I did this, have been meaning to blog it for ages but never quite got around to it!
DeleteInitially I used stoppers on the end but found it stretched a couple of my artisan ones so took the plunge and paid out for o-rings, not expensive but for some reason took me ages to get around to buying them!
The list idea sounds good, I really should get a bit more organised outside of my "bead" life!
Mars xx
Oh your beads all look so wonderful on the BBQ skewers. That's just like a slice of heaven to me, all those gorgeous beads! Your super organizing deserves a reward - oh yes more beads *wink*. I understand the monthly car budget going out the window, hard to find beads are basically impossible to resist.
ReplyDeleteI am bad at organization. I have storage boxes with beads arranged according to color and size. I'm not always so good at putting things back where they belong and once in a while I have to spend time just organizing, which is a good thing as I usually find something I didn't remember I had.
Yep it can be a nightmare after a session to get it all back into some semblance of normality... only drawback to long rods is if you want a bead in the middle, but my Blue Peter skills weren't up to making a divider and shorter rods... plus I would have needed double the o-rings for that.
DeleteI have to say I love looking at my beads on rods, easy to see what you have at a glance and just very pretty to look at in their own right!
Mars xx
This is brilliant and I'm stealing it!!
ReplyDeletexxx
Steal away m'dear, I can't think of anyone who needs this more than you do :)
DeleteIt's so much easier to see what you need at a glance, the only further tip I have is keep the beads you use all the time on the ends or on the silver rods for easier access. But it really helps with matching beads up quickly by just waving rods around!
Mars xx
How funny, I'm writing about organizing on my blog today too (just as soon as I'm done lazing about). I love those travel boxed, I should get something like that!
ReplyDeleteJust read your entry on organising, very cool!
DeleteThe travel cases are great, because the old style ones have the elastic around the whole case they are very secure. You can also take out as few or as many dividers as you like so they are very versatile. The new ones don't work like this so you need to find old ones, which are still around.
I have 3 layers but you can add 1 or 2 more if you need them, but I personally wouldn't add more than 1 more layer as I think it will get too stretched.
Mars xx
Loved this post...really nice ideas to organise some stuff at home!
ReplyDeleteWe got here from the #AZChat , hello from www.bayessence.com we'd love to stay connected!
Hello!
DeleteLove your blog, great combination of really cool photos and interesting info on the places :)
Wasn't the #azchat cool yesterday, did so much commenting on other blogs it's taken me ages to get back to my own to reply :D
Mars xx
Hi from Twitter and A-Z land...
ReplyDeleteAs a crafter, I know how hard it can be to find ways of storing things! I have boxes and drawers galore! I LOVE that you came up with your own idea, and the beads look SO pretty too!
Kay
Thanks Kay, I really liked your cards!
DeleteI needed to find a solution as I was playing the accidental version of bead tiddlywinks... not good with these beads.
Mars xx
I don't know what I'm amazed by more -- the bracelets or the organization, or both. Love the bracelets, by the way, though I don't wear much jewelry, but love the colors.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice for letter O. Hope to see more of your posts on this lovely tour.
Silvia @
SilviaWrites
Thanks for stopping by Silvia, I didn't wear that many bracelets until I discovered modular jewellery, I have very small wrists so a lot of bracelets are too big for me, or if inflexible don't stay on as they slip off and look too big.
DeleteModular jewellery over the last couple of years has seen me go from wearing hardly any bracelets (always loved pendants and rings) to having a massive range that I can customise to suit. It's been a fun journey!
Mars xx
I just became your follower number lucky 7.
ReplyDeleteI don't do beads but they are neat to look at. I'm a fan of organization though I could stand to be much better organized.
Visiting from #AZchat. Join in for next Twitter chat tonight at 8 PM Eastern Time #atozchallenge
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
Thanks for popping by Lee, and yay for No.7!
DeleteMy beads are one area that I'm super organised - less so in others, although I can't resist a good Excel spreadsheet at work ;)
Mars xx
Yowza! I could only dream of being as organized as you are! :) I love the beautiful beads you chose!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ava, loved your "A Lid for Every Pot" post when I was over at yours :D
DeleteMars xx
Now that's a great idea, using skewers! Beads are so panicky - trying to organize them.
ReplyDeleteNow, wondering if you are Brit, Canadian, Aussie or Kiwi based on how you spell "organise."
Aloha,
Maui Jungalow
I'm a Brit, we have none of this z business in our organising ;)
DeleteI still had enough skewers left over for the Bar-B-Que so all was well! Especially as it's a Bank Holiday here today.
Mars xx
Just copied this fabulous idea as my Christmas stash final tipped my current storage over the edge! Can I ask, where did you get the tiny o rings?
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara
DeleteGreat timing as I was thinking I needed a few more! I got mine here last time...
http://www.diamonds4ever.dk/isabella_charms_o_ring_6mm-p-95179.html
Good luck with your storage project, sounds fab!
Mars xx