Of course I prefer having ALL my craft materials within arm’s reach, as I’m sure most of you do. That was actually possible at first because I started out with very few supplies. However, as my collection of supplies grows, more and more things inevitably have to be kept in a drawer or box or cabinet, out of sight. But there are two things that stay on my table because I use them for nearly every project.

The first is simply a jar of water. Now, in the South we use mason jars for everything from preserves and pickles to drinking iced tea to arranging flowers to packing a salad for work to — well, you get the idea! So of course that’s what I keep my “art water” in.

Things I use water for include:

• watercolors
• coloring an image with paint or ink
• re-wetting a baby wipe that has dried out while I’m working
• flicking droplets on a background for a distress effect
• re-filling a mini mister
• diluting white or black acrylic paint for splattering on a background
• rinsing glue off my fingers

Unless the water is really dirty with glue or an excess of paint/ink, I can leave the jar on my table for two or three weeks at a time, and it’s always handy. If the water is dirty, I just change it at the end of my crafting session.

The other thing I must have on my surface is this cutie patootie strawberry mini trash can that is the perfect size for disposing of project scraps and baby wipes. I know some of you may not want to take up valuable crafting space this way, but I’m blessed with a large work surface, and it’s tiny. I didn’t have a spare wastepaper basket to put by my table, so I was going to have to buy something anyway, and I just couldn’t resist this little guy. It helps me keep my work area tidy as I go, and it’s easy to retrieve any little bits and pieces I decide to pull back out and use in a project! (Anyone else do that?)

What are the must-haves in your crafting area? Please share in the comments!

Blessings,
~Happy Heart Art Girl

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