At a standstill... or maybe a crossroads

Ok, I'll admit it. I have some writer's/artist's/creator's block. And it all stems from a lack of organization. Having never been one of my strengths, getting organized with all my crafty things is a daunting task, at best. Trying to do it economically... well, it leaves me paralyzed.

I know there are all sorts of tips out there about how to store beads in things like leftover baby food containers. In fact, if you search a certain auction site for bead storage, you'll find people selling their cleaned-out (I would hope) Gerber plastic containers. Not even the jars, folks! USED disposable plastic! For sale! But, assuming this is desirable to one, once one acquires all those little odd-shaped plastic containers, how does one store THOSE? My experiences in purchasing baby food tells me that they don't always stack so nicely. One little bump of the wrist and there would be containers all over the craft room.

For a long while, I was considering nuts and bolts cabinets from the hardware store. They were economical for the amount of stuff they could stash, and not wholly unattractive when taken out of their garage context. But then I attended a craft show where I wanted to work during down-time, and I had no planned projects, so.... well... I took everything. Every last bead I own. It was a mess. So if my beads are in those drawers, what agony will I have to choose what to take on the road? This is yet another conundrum that is quite easy to overcome for some, but for me... I don't know, it just makes the whole system seem undesirable. Not that I ever want to tote my entire stash again, but when I have to take with each bead its price and vendor from which I obtained it so as to know how to price my work... well, taking stuff out of those drawers becomes cumbersome.

So on and on I've gone, searching for the perfect storage, but to no avail. Currently my beads are stashed in plastic baggies and then into Ziploc containers by color, type, or what have you. Those containers, in turn, are stored in a dilapidated and leaning rolling scrapbooking tote, which, with the influence of the slightest breeze, dumps all of my treasures onto the kitchen floor. And since the beads now occupy my paper storage, all of the scrapbooking paraphernalia of which I used to be so fond is now in a heap on my sewing table. Thus, my sewing table is useless for sewing and my poor daughter's room is screaming for real girly curtains for which I have the fabric but not the room to sew!

Gaaaah! Do you see my plight? What messes I get myself into. Well, in any case, when I find a solution, y'all shall be the first to know ;)