How do you organize all of your brads & eyelets?

I had a small caddy for them all but it bugged me to open all the drawers to look through my stash. So then I decided to organize them into small jars by color & that quickly became a nightmare for me because I have so many sets that come with varying colors & I didnt want to separate them. ANYONE have any tips for making a streamlined storage method for these little embellies?

I use a set of top-opening plastic caddies.

Tackle boxes!

I got a great one at Home Depot that has a bunch of them stacked in a case with a handle on top...organized and portable!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pill boxes for them!!!! Just bought 6 more today. I found a REALLY large "tank" one and also a smaller "tank" one that is a 4 week set. One color for each week but see through to see what is in there. $3 for the larger one week and $8 for the 4 week.

I love that I can just open one compartment at a time.

The Large ones are good for larger brads and embellishments too.


I love them because they are flat and easily stored. I was using the round screw together ones for beads but love this so much better.

This really depends a lot on how you scrap.

I usually travel to crop, so portable boxes work best for me.
I LOVE the flip top containers. They hold a TON, travel well, and do NOT come open.

I have divided containers (similar to the one I linked) that hold my large brads that do not fit in the flip top containers.

Many people have storage ideas in the gallery too.

I use the round, screw together bead organizers for my brads, eyelets, buttons, and other embellies that fit.

This is my 3rd way of organinizing them. 1st way doesn't count because I didn't have many to orgainze. 2nd way was the rectangle tackleboxes. Those drove me crazy because I would have to dig, then things would spill over into the next compartment, etc.

I think the round ones are awesome - they come in 3 or 4 different sizes, can connect as many as you want, they don't take up a lot of room in my scrap space, very portable, and I can easily see everything. Plus when I want the one white brad on the bottom, instead of trying to find my tweezers, I can easily dump that one compartment and get it.

This is such a personal choice.

I tried the pill boxes and round screw together containers. Didn't really like either.


And.... I HATED those containers the MM eyelets used to come in. They stacked, and then swiveled open. I was constantly spilling eyelets, or the containers would come apart.

I use a tackle type box that I got at Michaels or Joanns-similar to the one linked below, I think it is for embroidery floss originally, the boxes slide out completely are are divided. So I have my colors all sorted out, a tray each for neutrals, warms and cools.

It was a pain to sort them out when I first switched to this system but once I got through the initial collection I just stayed on top of it whenever I bought a new pack and it works very well. Portable for crops if I want all of them, or I can just grab one tray and bring it to my desk.

Strangely (for me) I don't organize these. All plain round eyelets are in one box (about 3"x4"x1" or so), all plain brads are in one box, all decorative/shaped eyelets and brads are in one box. ALL colors lumped together. Really not sure at all why this doesn't annoy me.

• KimScraps Said:

same here...clear $1 tackle boxes from the dollar store

• Bxr-Linda Said:

Those containers drove me crazy. I always had them upside down and out come the brads all over the place!!

• prittb Said:

They must have drove most people crazy, because I don't think MM uses them any more.




when I first got them, I thought they were pretty cool; until I used them.

This is how I store mine. I love that the side compartments pop off so you don't have to take the whole container around if you don't need to. I have used this system since I first started scrapping and I love it.

Small embellie storage By Afilatreau

• prittb Said:

i would open a drawer and eyelets would be sliding around all over the place! hated those.

i use the floss organizers also. i do tend to scrap by color more than manufacturer so i have all my brads sorted by color. most colors take up several compartments so then they are further divided into material (fabric, glitter, plain, shaped, etc). i get about two colors per floss box. for the brads that have multiple colors i just pick one and stick it there. i currently have four of these containers but since i only scrap at home portability is not an issue.

I have these "contain it's" boxes that I had bought several years ago at a lss and I love them. Then I have them in a little drawer thing.

wish I had bought more of them cause I still have some in those mm containers and every time my son gets in them to look at them they get spilled. lol

I have stainless steel spice containers that I bought at Canadian Tire {hardware/home store}...they are magnetic on the back and came with a wall mount strip. The lids snap on {tight} and are clear on the top of the lid so you can see what is inside of them. This is how I organize all of my 'odds and ends'/ 'trinkets'.

I have a revolving spice organiser. Each jar is glass with a lid and can fit heaps of brads or eyelets or buttons in. I usually sort by colour.

I have mine in a shallow drawer-- some in 2" x 3" baggies by color (for the basics) and others in their original packaging if I wanted to keep the set together, or by special type/shape also in the small baggies. This way, I can sift through the baggies to find what I'm looking for - it's really easy to see them all at once, and it's easy to throw a few baggies into my bag if I'm travelling to scrap. Plus, it's super expandable - I never worry about having to buy more cases because I have one more type of brad I want to store! Just break out more baggies

Another floss organizer user here. I have most of my bitsy metal charms, eyelets, and things like that sorted in floss organizers, and stacked on a shelf. It works pretty well for me. I do have a few glass jars of eyelets and brads that I have boatloads of (like plain silver).

I don't have many brads and have even fewer eyelets, but I have started to keep brads in spice jars. I used to keep both the eyelets and brads in a multi-compartment box set (found in the bead section of just about all the craft stores, but I hated stabbing myself when trying to get a brad. I have the brads and eyelets sorted by shape since most of them are not plain shapes (round, square, etc.).

These are some great organization ideas! I have lots of brads and eyelets...I love Starbucks mugs (They have such cool, pretty ones!) so I have a few of these mugs and I just dump the brads and eyelets in. When I am working on a layout I love looking through them to pick out the ones I need for that layout. If I am going to a crop, I usually power scrap my layouts ahead of time so I put the brads, eyelets I need into little plastic packages I got at a scrap store. So far this has worked for me.

• Bxr-Linda Said:

I open them upside down every bleeping time no matter how careful I am,,,

Generally, I can't stand either eyelets or brads, so I have very very few,,,,,and I toss them all in a zip loc bag.

I don't have a ton, I use a couple locking Craft Mates containers, they lock tight and you can open one spot at a time. I put them in a square drawer in a jetmax cube.

I used to use the screw together containers, but they drove me crazy. I have since changed to the Creative Options Grab & Go Organizer. I love it.

My problem is, I'm about due for a 2nd one.

I have some in magnetic containers and the rest are in old spice jars

Brad Eyelet Storage By Henri Jean

This is only one layer of containers, which is all I have now but will hold up to 3 layers. I now have my Crop-o-Dile in this case too.

This is the way I store mine. I like it because I can see everything.

http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/image/scrapro om/315078...

I use the tic tac type containers for the little ones, and a floss container for the bigger ones.

I organize them by color (as well as the rest of my small embellishments, buttons, etc...) They are stored in wall mounted containers that are used to store nails, bolts, etc...(the name is slipping my mind right now)...they were like $20 at Home Depot, and one of the best things I ever bought!

This

Embellishment Boxes

Works great for ribbon too because I can leave the start of the ribbon sticking out of the box and pull it like you do a tape dispenser.

I have small round containers with screw tops - clear plastic - and I organize my brads and eyelets by color and size. I glued magnets on the back, and store them on a magnet board that is on the wall in my scraproom. I will post a picture eventually!

I have tiny clear containers that I bought in a dollar store. Then I put them in tackle boxes. Got tired of them getting all jumble up when I tilted the box.

I love these because I can see all of my options!

I have just started with eyelets and brads. I don't have that many, and I think I will use empty prescription pill bottles. However, I love the things on this thread!

I use those big 24 compartment boxes above to store my other metal embellishments; stick pins, paper clips, mini-binder clips, etc.

I just remembered what I used 1st - a sliding drawer organizer that is usually used for nuts and bolts. Didn't work for going to crops, things fell out too easily.

Then I borrowed some of DH's tackle organizers (new, not full of fishy stuff) and he got the nuts and bolts drawer thingy. Now I use the twist together round jewelry organizers and he has his tackle boxes back.

I have one of those nuts-and-bolts organizers, found at a garage sale for like $1, but I use it for tiny punches (the ones from the Michael's dollar bin), leftover embroidery floss, some ribbon, bread tags, etc.

• Carolyn Lontin Said:

Mine is exactly like this.... It works great for me.

Tackle boxes. Actually, you can get the same box a HL or Ms. I have them sorted by color and then put them in little jewelry baggies. That way if I spill the box I don't have to redo everything. I have one box for each color. The boxes also contain the same colored jewels, brads, buttons, and small flowers. I scrap by color and love that I can pull out the blue box and see several different options at once.

I used to use prescription bottles but then I saw a very nice spinning spice rack. I moved all the brads into the jars - they look good and are very easy to access.

This is how I have mine, I like it unless what I want is on the bottom of the container. I have them sorted by color with brads, buttons and eyelets sharing the container.

my embelies By Scrappin Kitty

• Carolyn Lontin Said:

Mine is like this too ... organized by color or theme. I have one for brads and one for eyelets

I use craft mates (12 large and several small ones in 3 travel cases ) because they can be opened one at a time and I use a 6 tier tower that revolves by Eclipse or also known as Tidy Tray. The container are plastic and they also come in dividers so that I can store more in one containers. I love it. I bought it on line at Their site and then I added 2 tiers from M's when they had it in the store. Each tier hold 12 containers, so this tower holds a ton of eyelet and brads.
[image]http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/148681/view /3507569/-1/1.html[/image]

stoarge for brads and eyelets.

Travel Craftmate Storage containers.

travel Cratmate containers.

I guess my question would be - no matter which of the above you decide on, don't you still have to separate them by color? And that seems to be what you don't like to do. Maybe you could have your kids do it for you - pay them each a quarter! Anyway, here's what I do - yes, it's the jars, but they're on a "cupcake rack" from World Market, and I set it on a 9" lazy Susan so it would rotate.
Behind the desk By Dwelch

That's a great idea Darla.

I separate mine into the little jars becasue I've had them in jewelry or tackle style boxes and got one in the wrong section and its a pain. And I dropped it once and spilled hundreds and hudreds of eyelets everywhere to be gathered and re-sorted.

I don't mind sorting them once, but not again. In the jars, once they are separated, they are separated.

I started with the cases made to put beads into and forever got them out of the correct section and into the wrong one. Then when I dropped it when it was open (actually knocked it off my scrap table)- that was the end of the bead cases for me! I'm too clumsy!

• dwelch Said:

This is, again, a "whatever-works-for-you" thing...


I don't have all of mine sorted by color.

My eyelets are, because a MM pack of eyelets just about fills the flip-top container I use.

However, some of my brads I have by design. For example, small flower shape brads. There are only a few of each color in the pack, so I keep those all together.

I think for most people, it may take trial and error to come up with the best personal solution.

It does take trial and error to find the best organization system.

What I hate is sorting the bronze, brass, gold, copper andother metal shades. They looks so much alike to me. I just have to spread them out in bright light to see which is which.

Had some green ones once and it was touch to separate them, they were so close. But if I had put all one shade on a layout but one - I would have noticed it in a second.