CRAFTS ARE FOR COOL KIDS, or, How I Spend My Evenings Off Now That I'm Not In College Anymore

So even though I work crazy weird hours at this job, I still have two days off each week. My weekend takes place on Friday and Saturday, and while I sometimes put on my social butterfly wings and hang out with coworkers (read: friends), other times I am content to spend my nights being a hermit in my apartment, watching Gossip Girl on Netflix, eating Cheez-Its, and wearing sweatpants that are two sizes too large for me. Sometimes the trashy TV and snacks change, but I am almost always doing one of the following things in front of the TV: knitting, painting my nails, or crafting. I'm sure I will touch on the first two in future posts, but here I will narrow in on my somewhat sad crafting addiction.

Almost every decoration in my apartment is handmade. I love to throw things together into collages, and while I don't really like the word "crafty" because it conjures up images of a sexually frustrated housewife sitting in her basement surrounded by scrapbooks and rubber stamps, I guess that's what I am. I'm not "artsy" (trust me, I was raised by a mother who is an actual artist and I work at an arts school where the kids produce things much more artistic than anything I've ever done) so "crafty" will have to do. Mixed media is my thing -- I save all my old magazines, and when I'm bored I like to combine cut-out pictures with glitter, puff paint, sequins, and any other textures/patterns I find interesting. My walls are pretty much full, so that means I just end up making killer homemade stationary for the letters I write to my friends across the country.

This past Saturday, I was itching to make something handmade. I needed a new project, and nothing my drawers (yes, plural) of craft supplies seemed to be calling my name. So I made a trip to the dollar store and picked up a few supplies to create my own makeup organization system. It needed to be done -- I have far too much makeup which was all haphazardly strewn about my desk and shelves. I am always lusting after the makeup displays in department stores, so that was my inspiration: something chic and functional to display all my makeup and make it easily accessible. I came home with two glass vases, some white sand, clear marbles, two stackable desk shelves, and two small metal tins. Here's what I came up with...

My brushes are now displayed in the glass vases, which I filled with sand and marbles and tied with some ribbon that I already had. I am in love with the way this looks. Clean and simple, and my brushes are right at my fingertips.

I decorated the metal tins with some floral printed paper from my stash. Mod Podge is my favorite craft adhesive, and it came in quite handy for affixing the paper strips to the tins. Then I tied some ribbon around each tin. One tin has an opening in the lid, perfect for dispensing cotton swabs. I placed the lid of the other one on the bottom so that I could store my eyeliner in it. It is the perfect size.

I turned the plastic desk shelves into storage for my lipstick and eyeshadow. I used Mod Podge to add some decorative paper to these as well, then stacked them. I think the paper really added something to the whole display and tied it together.

The rest of my makeup items -- my lip glosses and stains, for example -- I placed in a simple box with a cute design that I had found in the Target dollar section. I keep my foundation and blushes on my shelving unit that is built into the wall so they are easily accessible, but I may end up fashioning another shelf for these items.

My next organizational DIY project will be finding an inexpensive way to display all of my nail polish, because I have a ridiculous amount of it and my collection just keeps growing every time I set foot in Target or Sally Beauty Supply. How do YOU organize all your beauty essentials?