Craft Carts…Why Are We So Obsessed?

A few months ago, I joined a fabulous Facebook group called “Craft Room Organization with JenniferMaker“.  It is a Facebook group with nearly 35,000 members that focuses on tips, tricks, and inspiration for organizing your craft space. It doesn’t matter if the craft space is big or small, cluttered or clean, all kinds of people share their craft organizing opinions and inspiration.  Not only that, but it seems to be a fabulously supportive online community with so much active engagement.  In short, I love it!

I quickly began noticing a trend as I scrolled through pictures of craft rooms from around the world.  Craft carts!  They were in every. single. room!

What is it about these carts that we have all fallen head-over-heels in love with?  What turned a simple, “bathroom” cart from IKEA into a worldwide phenomenon for the craft community.  Seriously, how many of you have ever wanted a craft cart?  How many of you already have one?  I have wanted one forever, and honestly I had no idea why.  Anybody that sees my craft space knows how hyper-organized it is.  Down to every last detail, it is one of the most organized spaces in my whole home, which is really saying something!  But, I couldn’t shake the desire for one of these carts, so when I saw one on sale at my local Aldi grocery chain for only $15, I knew I HAD to get it.

Despite a myriad of other things I had going on that particular day, I rushed home and put the thing together right away.  Turns out it was missing a couple of screws (there’s a reason it was only $15), but after a trip to my garage and a little elbow grease, the cart was together and looked just like I had always dreamed it would.

But then, it sat.  It sat in my craft room for two whole weeks, collecting dust and random supplies because I had no idea how to fill it up.  Plus, any experienced craft room organizer will tell you that once you move one thing in your craft space, it causes a whole avalanche of organizational changes.  Well, I finally had a chance to work with my cart this past weekend, and I think I know why we all LOVE them! (For more on the craft pegboard seen below, check out this post—>The Ultimate Crafty Pegboard)

The truth is that the craft cart is an organizational tool that allows us to SEE our craft supplies.  There is a reason I love crafting…I love pretty things.  Craft supplies are gorgeous, and at least for me, call out to be used.  Seeing them out on display, provides a reminder of why I bought them in the first place.  For instance, my primary goal with the cart was to move my sticker “collection” out of 3 different drawers in my desk.  I bought a metal desktop organizer from IKEA that fits in the top of my cart which provides convenient divided sections to categorize my stickers.  Plus, the space around that organizer gives me even more room to have my stickers sitting up in a vertical manner, instead of laying in horizontal stacks in drawers.  It is so much easier to find a sticker or alpha that I am looking for as well as be reminded of the sheer amount of stickers I have.  When they were stuffed into drawers, even though they were “organized”, I had completely lost track of the overflow of stickers in my possession.  Since organizing them in plain sight, I look to them more frequently and am reminded that I do NOT need any more for quite a while.

On the next level of my cart, I used small bins from the Dollar Tree to organize newly purchased ephemera collections from Hobby Lobby.  Ephemera might be a bigger weakness for me than alpha stickers are!  My whole top drawer is filled with ephemera pieces organized by color and theme, but I wanted a place to put newer collections.  This also serves as a reminder that I need to reach for these pieces before looking to buy any more! (For more info on my desk setup, check out this post—>Creating an Ideal Workspace)

The bottom level of the cart is also divided up using pieces I found at the Dollar Tree.  (For more Dollar Store craft finds, check out this post—>Sunday Secret #2 – The 5 Crafty Things You Should be Buying from Dollar Tree) Two side-by-side napkin holders hold small paper pads that were previously packed away in a zipper pouch.  I rarely even thought about them, let alone used them.  But, they CAN be useful, and at least I will be reminded of their presence now.  If I still find myself not reaching for them, then I will know that it is time to let them go.  Two longer bins from the Dollar Tree hold some ornate trim and other more recent purchases.

Because I moved the stickers to a more visible location, I freed up three different drawers in my desk area.  The things I chose to put into these drawers were tools and supplies that I grab for on a regular basis, but do not need to see for inspiration. Because stickers are so visual, they often spark inspiration by just seeing them, while a container of clear gesso does not.  It may be useful, but I don’t need to see it to remember to use it.

The bottom drawer of my desk now holds mixed media supplies like gesso, texture paste, an air brush, and Mod Podge.  The next drawer up holds two bins with current supplies for the two creative teams that I am on.  The bins allow me to easily pull out the supplies for those projects, but again, I don’t need to have them out all the time to remind me to work on them!  Lastly, I was able to move my mini Distress Inks to a small drawer, along with my growing collections of VersaMagic chalk ink and acrylic blocks.  Again, these are useful tools to have close at hand, but I don’t necessarily need to see them to spark inspiration!

In the end, I am very pleased with my craft cart! (Although, it has inspired me to do some more reorganizing in my craft room…that is another post for another day!)  I believe we are all attracted to these carts because of their visual nature and the freedom they provide.  They are extremely customizable, visually pleasing, and offer organization with the freedom to move.  All things that we as crafters seek out!  Plus, to be honest, at this point it felt like a bit of a right of passage to have my very own craft cart 😉

Do you have a craft cart like mine or something similar?  What supplies do you keep in it?  Let me know in the comments below!

Keep it creative,

-The Scrappy Wife