Visual Indulgence; Arranging Items by Color

Hello Crafters! I'd like to introduce myself! My name is Jesyka D'Itri Marés and I run my blog Visual Vocabulary and my small (but growing!) Etsy shop, in Flore. I'm also a freelance graphic designer and full time mom to one little (a girl version). Beth A and I are besties from High School, and she asked me to be a regular guest blogger here at Get Crafty! Beth mentioned me back in October when she made a post about her trip to So Cal. I'm so excited to be a small part of the awesomeness that is the wondercraft and all that I get to hear about it from way out in Los Angeles! I hope to be sharing part of the scene here in LA with you, hitting up some of our famous flea markets and some great shops that specialize in handmade, as well as sharing some of my own artistic endeavors or aesthetic musings. Today I'll be taking from a topic I have covered previously on my blog, arranging books by color.

When I was a child, I would spend hours arranging my things on a shelf. I would play until my ceramic figurines were just right, place my books in order from tallest to shortest, and in numerical order if in a series. This grew into a general love of the book as decorating device--I still think books are hands down the best things to decorate with.

I started organizing my closet by color when I was a teenager (and by what hanger they were on--luckily, I have only the black huggable hangers now, and I don't have to worry about the color of my hangers anymore. That was just too much!). After staring at a bookshelf that was thrown together pell-mell from a recent room re-arranging, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and thought to rearrange them by color. I also did this to my DVDs. Hell, I even arrange our cereal boxes by color, since they sit on an exposed shelf in the kitchen. Most people think I'm a bit crazy when they notice... usually I get "Who did that?!", and then "Well, that's silly... you have to remember the color of a book, instead of the title...". But I figure I'm looking at these books more than I'm looking for them, so having them beautifully arranged makes much more sense. Apparently, that's what the staff at Dwell think as well. Senior Editor Aaron Brit says "We organize our books by color here (not terribly efficient, I fear, though lovely to behold)". And isn't that the truth!

Bookshelf at Dwell Magazine's office

Bookshelf at Dwell Magazine's office

In the Dwell article about this little phenomenon, he goes on to describe how, while he can't find the book he's looking for (although he remembers it is yellow), he finds an essay in a back catalog of Design Observer by Rob Giampietro pondering arranging books by color. He confirms my idea; if you have to look at it, it should be pretty.

"Our bookshelves often take up a good deal of space in the places we live and work, and organizing them by color transforms them from a banal backdrop into a poppy, rainbow-colored focal point. Books organized by color are cool to look at."

The inspiration for this post came from my recent finding of the photoblog bookshelf porn. Imagine my delight to discover I am not alone (37k and counting) in my love of the visual splendor books and bookshelves. Even though arranging books by color doesn't make sense to most people who see it at my house, I am not alone!

... And while arranging books by color might be more about aesthetic than ease of finding, arranging other things by color can serve a very practical purpose. Often you don't see how materials could work together until you see them near other materials of a similar shade. Arranging by hue is something (that should be) important to all who make! Let's see how people organize a variety of stashes:

Anna Maria's fabric cupboard

rose hip's yarn stash

So, in-depth intellectual analysis and musings beside, how do you all organize your bookshelves? Beyond that, how do you organize your yarn stashes, your embroidery threads, your beads, and your fabric? Does it help you find new ways of using materials you already had? Share some pics with us if you have them!

Green Crafts to Honor Earth Day's 40th Anniversary

Happy Earth Day, everyone! What are you doing to celebrate? I've rounded up some awesome green crafting ideas from the blogosphere to share with you. I hope you find them inspiring!

First up, my absolute favorite idea: Jessica Wilson's Garden to Go tutorial, which she shared on the Craft blog. She made pretty little gift jars full of seeds from her garden, complete with costume jewelry-topped lids, to give to friends.

What a wonderful way to share plants & spread the gardening love! As an avid gardener myself, I'd love to receive a gift like this. I'm now thinking of which of my plants I can collect seeds from to make my own jars to give...

Another awesome garden-sharing idea is making your own seed tape. Amber of Giver's Log has put together a fab DIY seed tape tutorial (thanks to Rachel for sharing it on Craft!). Amber's how-to explains how to make the seed tape as well as how to turn it into a super-cute gift.

Seed tape helps a lot when planting those extremely tiny little seeds. It allows you to create nice rows with the seeds evenly spaced. And what a great way to share the bounty of your garden & inspire others to grow their own!

Along with tending the earth in the form of gardening, being a good steward of our planet includes the three R's of course! This next idea helps you reduce the amount of plastic you send to the landfill: reusable food storage bags. Bells and Unicorns, a great Etsy shop with an even better name, stocks their shop with a plethora of reusable bags in lots of sizes & pretty fabrics. They have Velcro closures & a water-resistant nylon lining for easy cleanup. How cute is this "Give a Hoot" bag?!

There are also lots of opportunities to reduce & reuse in the ways we clean our homes. One of my favorite tools is my Swiffer, but I don't like the throw-away nature of the cloths. So I was super-excited to find The Quilting Mama, an Etsy shop that offers reusable cloth Swiffer covers (among lots of other great earth-friendly products).

I bought a set of these covers & I looooove them - I highly recommend them! You just throw 'em in your washer & they're good to go for tons more uses. Here's a tip, though: give them a quick rinse under the tap to remove major dust bunnies before throwing in the laundry; they'll come out of your washing machine a lot cleaner.

Etsy has tons of awesome, earth-friendly products, of course; way too many to list here. A search for "eco friendly" comes up with over 51,000 results!

And now for the grand finale, a masterpiece of recycling (or upcycling may be the more accurate term for these): reclaimed plastic horse sculptures by Sayaka Ganz (via Craft again).

Wowee-wow-wow! I can't get over these. So beautiful, and made from discarded spatulas & the like!

I hope these craftacular ideas inspire you to come up with your own ways of honoring Mother Nature today. Please leave any awesome green crafting ideas or links of your own in the comments - thanks for reading!