Container love

I have a weakness for pretty packaging and containers and I know that I'm not alone. Here's what started me thinking ...

... the rearranged shelving in the work area of my garage. Remember, I told you about this the other day but had no photo to show you. Now I have the photo. Behind that shelving unit you see right in front of you is another section of the garage where my gardening and diy tools are stored.

You'll see immediately that some of my items are neatly organised into labelled plastic boxes - especially on that shelving unit on the left. OK, the boxes don't all match but these things are easy to find. There are boxes here for card and foam board, beads, flower making, hat making, fabric (sorted into silks and cottons), lace, ribbons, paints, adhesives ... and so it goes on.

Then there are those mismatched cardboard containers, which also hold precious mini-making materials but I just never did get around to buying more plastic boxes for these things. So - you see how the thought process progressed. I got to thinking about how I store my stitching materials in much more attractive containers.

I picked up this beautiful oddment of brocade in a remnants bin years ago. I was so taken by the design of Chinese dragons and stylised leaves and loved the colours. I covered this box and now use this to hold my lacemaking bits and pieces - designs waiting to be stitched, oddments of mat film, etc.

This tin has an oriental feel to the design too though this time in blue and white and here's where I keep the miniature embroidery projects I'm working on - currently two patchwork quilts almost finished and six embroidered cushions. 

This lovely pink tin with the delicate lacelike design in gold was filled with beautiful soaps and was a gift from my daughter - bought more because of the tin than the soap - she knows me so well! This now holds my threads for my lacemaking.

This is my latest purchase of threads which need to go in that tin. What can I say? Stef Francis had a sale so I just had to buy. These are all quite a bit finer than I've used before - extra fine and superfine silks and mercerised cottons - so I'll have to see how I get on with them.

These two oval tins were a Christmas gift from my daughter's boyfriend a couple of years ago - bought from Libertys in London. The butterfly tin now holds my pins and the one with the swans and flowers sits on my desk filled with paperclips.

And speaking of containers ... I made these little 12th scale boxes which will be going in my Etsy shop any day soon.