Organizing Art Supplies By Color

Last Friday I found myself knee-deep in all sorts of little boy gadgets, toys, and supplies.  I had begun putting a few of my boys' Christmas things away, and then one thing lead to another and before I knew it I'd emptied every shelf, cupboard, and drawer in their room.  I didn't realize how bad their room looked until my boys walked in and said, "Whoa!  What did you do mom?"

Whoa may have even been an understatement.  I assured them that it always gets worse before it gets better, but I don't think my boys believed their room would ever look the same again.  It took me most of the day Friday, but I was determined to finish before bedtime, and somehow I did. 

I really don't mind a good organizing project, but I actually get excited about organizing art supplies.  That was the first area I tackled.  As I began gathering the crayons, markers, and colored pencils I realized we had multiple boxes (most of them smashed or torn) of each medium and they were here, there, and everywhere.  I don't know about you, but I LOVE getting rid of old, crumpled containers.  And what do I replace them with?  Mason jars.  If I had my way, I'd probably put everything we own in a Mason jar.  I love how classic, uniform, clean, and durable they are.  Plus, when you're storing something like art supplies in them they allow the content to double as decor.  To think I had all these gorgeous colors hidden away in cupboards, boxes, and drawers.

I've recently discovered that I'm a bit obsessed with monochromatic color schemes.  I love seeing varying shades of the same color grouped together.  So, it didn't take me long at all to decide I wanted to try organizing my boys' art supplies by color.  I knew it would not only look beautiful, but I was also hoping it would spark a bit of new creativity in them.  They've always just had a box of crayons, or a pack of markers in front of them.  One or two of each color, that's about it.  I think they'll have a lot of fun experimenting with the variety of hues of each individual color.  I know I can't wait to try them out!

I used pint jars and half pint jars for this project because the markers, crayons, and pencils we had were basically in two different size groups. I wanted it to be easy for my boys to access every size, and not have the tiny little crayons lost below the towering markers or colored pencils.

Once the jars were filled, I typed up my color names in iPiccy.  I used iPiccy because you can get the Sketch Block font for free, and I knew that was the font I wanted.  You could also type your color names in a word processing program.  You can get Sketch Block for free to use in there as well.  After I had my color names printed and cut out, I attached them to the jars with a single piece of clear Scotch tape. (Sorry, I COULD NOT get this paragraph to center.)

Viola!  Instantly better!!  I tell you, there's magic in a Mason jar with a cute label.  

Pardon the overload of pictures.  These colorful jars were just too much fun to photograph!  I hope the pictures give you an idea of just how amazing all of the colors look, and maybe inspire you to do your own art supply organization project.

Now I just need to convince my husband to make me some type of caddy to keep these in.  I put them on a cookie tray to transport them for the photos, and it worked really well.  It just wasn't big enough for all the colors.  I would need something like that, but bigger.  I'm also thinking some type of Lazy Susan would be fantastic.  I'll let you know what I come up with.  And FYI, I am planning to keep one or two packs of crayons in a drawer for quick and easy use or for using on-the-go.  These jars are for more of a permanent set up, like an art station or table.

You might also like these posts.

The Magic of Mason Jars and Labels

Shades of Green 

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