Mason Jar Storage

Organize Those Bits and Pieces, Nails and Screws - Craft Storage Ideas

As a crafter, I know that it's impossible to keep track of all the jars, cans, mixed plastic bags full of all your precious little odd bits, especially when you can't see into the container. My craft storage is a bit hit and miss.

Here's how I get organized in my new craft area, the Breezeway Studio.  Start how you mean to go on, I always say. 

Up until now, that's been chaos.

So I ordered a shelf when the studio was built, right below the window.  The shelf is sturdy enough to screw something into the bottom of it without the screws poking out the top, which would be an issue.

I found some old Mason jars, including a Gem, which had narrow mouths, so I'll never use them for actual canning.  So why am I storing them?  I knew that one day they would come in handy, and that day has come.

The lids though, they needed work.  So into the bonfire they go.  The pitchfork is perfect to do a batch, and the lids can be rolled on the tines to get all the way around.

A bit of steel wool (fine) and they're good - or better than - new.  I like the darker finish, not the cheap imitation brass.  It's much more my style. See my other way of using these types of lids, in the Rustic Fish Scale Shingles project.

Then the lids are matched up with their jars (there was only one that was different, and the top of the jar was obviously unique, so that was a no-brainer).  There are two different sizes of jar; two that are a lot smaller, so they went in the middle.

The lids are put together, lid and ring, and the lid is then screwed into the shelf.  The jars, holding all the goodies can be unscrewed off their 'port' as needed.

Now there's no excuse for not putting things away, and I can see at a glance what I've got, and what to replace when I run out.

Give the lids a little spray of WD40 to keep the threads from sticking.

This is not an original idea; I'll bet your grandpa had something just like this to hold all the nuts, bolts, nails and screws in his workshop.