Organizing supplies on a dime

I thought I'd show a few more shots from the studio, on how I've organized some of my art supplies!  The shelves themselves were all FREE as well: scrap wood from the curb and from leftover projects from friends, and the black bookcases were originally brown and green, and were given to me by a friend who moved out and couldn't take them with her.

Paintbrushes above the sink are in re-purposed cans; I've spray painted all the cans one of 2 colors:
-White= NO sharp edges of any kind, safe for kids hands or to be left out.
-Red= NOT safe for kiddos, these have either one bit of tin that isn't smooth, or are the 'pop-top' soup type cans, where they aren't perfectly smooth.  It's kind of an icky way to remember, but they are red, cause they are sharp....and a cut makes blood.  Gross, but easy to remember!

Glass jars!  Love!  Makes it so easy to see everything.  They are kept high though, so little hands don't reach them/

The top shelf has loads of decorative boxes and tins, to hold other lovely things that arent' necessarily pretty.  Office supplies, Hot glue guns, etc..  They will eventually get a tag on them so I can see what they hold without having to open each one. :)  For now, most of them are actually empty.

the little turquoise and minty blue baskets are from $1 stores, and are great for transferring to the tables.  I love having a basket for sharpeners, erasers, different types of markers, etc. etc.

The black trays on top of the shelves serve 2 purposes: first, they keep things contained, like water spills from the cups or paint from the palettes, and to bridge the gap on top of the shelves between the wall.  The baseboards in this quirky home are really funky and fat, so there are about 4" between the wall and the top that we don't want to lose supplies in!  The trays were originally $1 at Target, and I got them at the thrift store on 1/2 price day, so I only paid 25cents each for them.  They are stackable (necessary when you have bulk supplies!) and hold lots of spillage; great for the kid's tables for paint and water cups.

The pop-up red fabric bins on the lower shelves are from Wal-Mart, they were 3 in a pack for $4.50 but recently went on clearance, so they may be cheaper!  They hold rubber stamps, painting rags, collage papers, inks, glues, and all sorts of other wonders!


Yesterday in day one of the preschool classes, we had a quick lesson on color mixing, and introducing the primary and secondary colors.  I used 6 jars, starting with just red, yellow and blue water, and we poured them together into the other 3 jars to make our secondary colors.  At the end of class, as a time-filler, we reviewed our colors, and I let the kids 'make music' with them with a spoon, tapping each jar to count the colors or say the color name.  At the end, the pretty-rainbow-waters were so lovely I couldn't bear to pour them down the drain, so now they are eye-candy in the kitchen window, at least until they evaporate!  I used Crayola Color Dotz (bathtub dye!).

Thanks for taking another little glimpse into the studio with me!