Here are some tips and tricks for organizing glitter and all these other wonderful color tools:
• Glitter glue (Stickles, Moxy, etc)
• Loose glitter (fine, chunky, etc)
• Liquid Pearls
• Nuvo Drops
• Other liquid coloring tools (smooch, etc)

 
Who doesn’t have an amazing stash of beautiful glittery liquids? But the real question is, do you know exactly what you have and can you find it quickly to use on your layouts?

I struggled for years with keeping these little bottles of glitter, stickles and liquid pearls stored correctly upside down but also within reach so I can easily grab them. I also am the proud owner of several bottles of the same colors because I didn’t have a good system of knowing what I have and where to find it.

What you need to think about before jumping into organizing these amazing little bottles of color?

• How/when do you use the particular supply you are trying to organize?
• How do you scrapbook? How do you look for your supplies?
• Where is your dedicated space for this supply? Does it need to be on your creative desk?

The answers to these three little questions are critical in how you organize and store your scrapbooking supplies. Let me answer each question to show you how I arrived at my storage solution.

Q: How/When do I use glitter glue, loose glitter, Nuvo drops and liquid pearls?
A: I use them to finish off a layout so my process with these will be towards the end of my layout. Given this, I don’t need them to be sitting right in front of me, they will just get in the way as I do the rest of the layout. When I look for one of these, it will be by color. Since I know these are usually only used once in my process, it was best for me to keep them all together and not to separate them out into many different places. This is the same technique that I use for everything that is sorted by color.

Q: How do I scrapbook?
A: When I start to scrapbook, I look for photos first, then I search for the perfect mood & feel papers or kit, then I start to look for embellishments once I get my general layout ready. When I start to look for the right mood & feel, I look by theme first and once I locate the right theme, I can then choose my colors. I determine what my primary colors are and what colors I want to accent the layout with. Given how I scrapbook, I know that my storage has to match my scrapping style. Therefore, I sort all my supplies by theme first and if there is no theme, by color.

Q: Where is my dedicated space?
A: I am lucky enough to have two craft rooms. The first one serves as my bulk storage and is filled with large Kallax units holding at least 10 scrapbook stores full of paper (no joking). It also serves as my machine room where my Sizzix Big Shot, Cricut Maker and Brother Scan n Cut reside with all their supplies. The second room is technically my office but my creative desk is in that room as well and truth be told, takes up 80% of the room. I know that these small items would get a bit lost in my storage room, so they need to be in my office/creative space so they are easy to get to, but not on my desk. In looking around this space, I found that my small drawer units from Michaels that sit on my table tops were about the size and depth to hold my collections of these coloring tools. They are also the right height so that looking into them is easy.

Here is how I organize and store my loose glitter, stickles, liquid pearls, Nuevo drops, etc which will hopefully give you some ideas to help you organize and store yours:

I started out with these drawer units from Michaels (sorry they are now discontinued) but there are similar units in their new line. I knew that I had quite a lot of these little bottles of joy so I decided to dedicate one entire three drawer unit that sits on my desktop to ensure I had adequate room for growth and new colors.

 
Once I had my space all figured out, I needed to figure out how to store them in the drawer and since it is recommended that they be stored upside down (pointed top down), that presented a bit of an issue in a wide open drawer. I tried a multitude of ways to get them to stay upright including small baskets, PVC pipe ends, drawer dividers and NOTHING worked well. I spent more time picking them up than I did using them.

I finally found these wonderful little holders , called The Color Case from Scrapbook.com, that are designed specifically for these small (and large) bottles. The best part about these is that they come with lids which fit my loose glitters fantastically. I also love these as I can easily remove the right color group from the drawer and take them over to my desk to help get the correct color match. Instead of having bottles strewn all over my desk, they sit nice & neat in these little holders and easily slip back into their drawers.

 
Now that I had my storage location and my storage trays, it was time to organize my bottles so that I could easily find them. Since there isn’t really a theme to colored glitter and dots, I knew that I had to do this by color. I use a modified rainbow approach to all my colors in my entire craft room. I set about sorting all of these bottles into the correct color class: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Purple, Pink, Brown, Gray, Black & White.

 
The next step that is just as important as organizing them is cataloging them so I don’t buy duplicates. Since my day job is as a CPA, I’m a little prone to use excel because I can easily filter and move things around in my data sheet. I have a very simple data log that keeps track of all my supplies that I have purchased (also things I want) and also tells me where it is stored.

 
Here is a quick summary of my overall organizing process:
1. Find your storage location depending on how you use the product – Michaels drawer units
2. Gather all the product to make sure there is enough room allocated – Purge if necessary or return to step 1
3. Determine any storage specialty items needed – Color Cases from Scrapbook.com
4. Determine organization method – By color for me
5. Place all items in storage trays
6. Create a log to know where items are stored & what you have purchased

Supplies Used & Other Ideas:
1. Michaels drawer units – any similar drawer unit such as the small Alex drawers from IKEA would work. These also fit in various carts like the Raskog cart from IKEA.
2. Scrapbook.com Color case (bases and lids are included in one unit)
3. Computer & Excel

Overall, this is one of many, many coloring supplies organization methods and if you are a theme and color crafter like me, it may work very well for you. Even if you don’t necessarily organize all your supplies by theme/color, think about how you use this supply and if you reach for a color, then this method may work great for you. I hope this has given you some ideas on how to tackle these beautiful little bottles of color.

Happy Scrappin’
Angela