Artful Organization: Quick, Easy & Fun to Make a Place for Everything Find Everything in Its Place

I am forever seeking more organization and a more artful home, filled with pretty things. With this creation, I managed both.

It is a pleasant goal to have and achieve: a more organized AND a more artful life. I think I hit some serious paydirt with this pinterest inspired project.

I have seen this assemblage - the art term for it - made as a dollar store craft.

I evolved it to become an upcycled, repurposed, family heirloom, story telling prompt work of art all in one piece.

Would you believe it took less than ten minutes to assemble?

Naturally, I am not including the time collecting the bits and pieces when I visit thrift stores, yard sales and estate sales. I have chosen different colors and textures of plates and cups and vases knowing I wanted to build an assemblage or perhaps many assemblages if the first one turned out well.

My concept was this: my daughter tends to not be organized and after the big hit I made from simply repurposing a vase into a sunglass holder for her, I wanted to take the next DIY Rockstar step.

This marvel was made this for my daughter to put on her dresser to keep all her hair accessories, rings and earrings organized but the same idea is used to serve desserts at parties or as place to store an artist/crafters tools in order to use space wisely.

All it took was some E6000 glue, two thrift score plates, one thrift score vase, one thrift score watering pitcher and an heirloom plate from family china.

Taking the time to shuffle & reshuffle dishes makes a better final outcome. I actually set several different arrangements and left the room in-between before making my final choice.

I took my time in stacking and re-stacking, trying different combinations of dishes. I ended up with what I did because I took my time and made several wrong choices before finding exactly what worked the best for me in this project.

The Glue Begins: My final decision was made because I thought my teen would like having a "secret compartment" in which to put small things (perhaps money, too) her younger siblings will leave alone.

What took the most time was waiting for the glue to set. I linked to some E6ooo instructions above in case you want to replicate this assemblage project.

The middle plate was originally an egg plate, I think. The indentations make it perfect for rings and earrings to nestle where deviled eggs once waited to be eaten.
My daughter was thrilled with the final result and immediately put some of her hairbows on top. Once again, she won't have to ask me in the morning where her bows and elastic bands may be found because they will be right here, where they are meant to be.

Finally, a place for everything and everything in its place... well, I'm getting there.

Watch for a blog post about how to use such functional art pieces to keep your family stories alive for future generations. This aspect of this brand of DIY delights me endlessly.

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Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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