I think of myself as fairly organized, even possibly a little O.C.D., but, wow, I’ve learned a lot from social media about how to make the most out of the space you have.  Marie Kondo also had some great advice and help me learn to ‘let go’ and destash.

Over the years I’ve had to be organized as I’ve been confined to a very small workroom space.  Up until my recent move to Saint Petersburg, Florida my studio was barely 10 x 12 feet.

Although at first the small space was a struggle, I discovered that once I embraced a organizing the space one of the unexpected benefits was that I was much more creative.  I realize not everyone agrees with this principle, but even my friends who practice “flung shui” admit that they are happier in a tidy work space.

My old studio space rarely looked like this pristine photo.  This was staged for the NBC local news camera crew, (see the video of my 3 minutes of fame).  This is where I made jewelry and housed all of my supplies – and boy do I have a LOT of stuff.  You can’t see the large ceiling to floor cabinet that is packed with pearls, beads, kits, and everything I use to make my braids.  Also hard to see is my bench with my torch, grinder, tumbler and all things needed for metal fabrication.

So, recently while working through one of my creative blocks, I decided to take some time to do a total reorganization of my new studio.  After weeks of boxing, cleaning, and getting rid of things I’ll never use again, this morning I walked into a calm and creative work space.  By noon I had designs for five new necklaces, creative block gone!

I think that labeling is essential to organization. There are many different ways to create labels, so choose what is best for you. I like to keep it simple – print out my own paper labels. I also really like to use photos as well as sometimes visual recognition is faster.