Assembling a crafty Autumn basket........

Hi, I'm back today to share something very fun. Many of you that have followed my blog have found my Inspiration Station posts to be some of your favorites. In these posts I've shown you my own baskets brimming with my crafty favorites for that particular holiday or season. Today I'd like to share with you exactly how I go about shopping my own stash and assembling an Autumn crafty basket for this Fall and Halloween season. I recently offered many Autumn Basket goodies to my shop so I'll be using many of those items + some other stuff from my personal stash.

There are 3 basics steps I take when organizing an Inspiration Station of sorts:

1. Collect and gather...Use new collections and always shop your own stash. No need to get out every item you own. Keep it rather simple.

2. Organize.....Group like items together so they are easy to find. Digging through a cardboard box with piles of stuff layered in is not the idea here.

3. Display.....Find a basket or tray to display your items so they are within easy reach but also pleasing to the eye when sitting out for an extended period of time. Think of it like creating a fun display for a small boutique.

So first up I gathered Fall and Halloween items from my stash. Most of the items you see below are shop items that I offered up in the shop this last week. I like to select products that can be used for cards, gifts and scrapbooking.

I've got a variety of sacks in different colors and sizes. Perfect for holding cards and small gifts. The ribbon is from the Seam Binding Trio along with the Vintage Sequin Confetti Sacks and some black paperclips from the Striped Treat Sacks Kit.
Below I have Dripping Doilies some leaves and old book paper that are all found in the Autumn Kraft Packaging Kit. The items from this collection will be suitable for all Fall and even Thanksgiving projects.
I have twine in all colors so I just selected the ones suitable for my Fall projects. I could easily add in some yellow and brown to the mix too.
More little items from the Striped Treat Sacks Kit plus a nice pile of the Vintage Halloween Button Assortment.

Here I have some Vintage Rust Lace, a few of the Washi tapes from my Autumn Basket shop goodies plus a few more from my stash.

Okay, so next up I need to organize my stash of items. You'll notice that almost everything I have is out of it's packaging. I like to see product without all the wrapping as I think I'm more likely to use it and not be a Halloween hoarder. Here I have all my flat sacks and envelopes staked together.
Next I took the smaller flat items like the book pages, small sacks, doilies and leaves and clipped them together with small clothespins. This is extremely helpful in keeping items nice and tidy.
For ribbons, laces and twines I like to wrap them around cardboard or old fashioned clothespins and secure with long stick pins. Having a bunch of loose ends just makes a mess.
For small items, you know I love my old jello molds. They're perfect for dumping stuff in and it makes all the tiny items very visible. Again, if you see it you will be more likely to use it.
Washi tapes. Wonderful Washi tapes. You might have a bazillion in your collection but each project doesn't need to show it. Just grab a few that fit the theme and call it good. The bottom left were from my Autumn Basket shop update and the two top ones on the right are new from the October Afternoon Witch Hazel collection.
Next up it's time to create a fun display of my Autumn items. I like to use woven baskets or woven/metal trays that have low sides for my displays. A deep basket will prevent you from seeing all the goodies inside. Today I'm using a sturdy woven tray with handles that I got from Nell Hill in Atchison, Kansas. It's a great home goods shop that promotes these types of baskets for all kinds of uses. Having a few good staple baskets/trays like this can be so helpful in your household organizing. I have several and use them for crafty storage, displaying holiday items, holding silverware & napkins for a party, carrying snacks to the Lounge for a tv night. All kinds of uses. Get you some good baskets.
And then I just neatly tucked all my Autumn goodies inside. I start with the tallest items in the back and then just add items in ending with my small items in the front. It's very organized, I've got a nice sized but not overwhelming collection of items and they're displayed in a fun way. If this doesn't tempt me to create something fun for Fall, nothing will.
Okay maybe these new October Afternoon goodies will. :) So many companies are now offering a wide array of crafty goodies for one particular line. October Afternoon always, always does a fantastic job of this. Even before I became a Design Team member I always purchased lots of the pieces and parts of a line. It's just that good. You can see the line of Witch Hazel products over at 2peas right here.

And if you're not into buying too much "themed" product or items that are too matchy/matchy, don't worry. Every collection from October Afternoon and most other companies too has a fantastic mix of specific themed items + items that can be used for everyday type projects. So for example with the OA Witch Hazel line, you will definitely notice the Halloween themed papers and doodads. But if you look closely at the back of many of the patterned papers, labels and embellishments you'll see that the designs are very generic in nature. Perfect if you like the mixy/matchy look like me.
When I get a new collection of goodies, I do tend to keep them in the packaging for a while. I said before that I like to take everything out of the packaging....but while it's all still new and shiny, I like to keep items together. Then after a while I rip it all apart and store it all together. But for now I'll keep the Witch Hazel packages in something like this old sewing machine drawer.
And I couldn't forget about the patterned papers. Usually I will mix and match papers from my stash and will not purchase special themed papers. Those specific papers tend to never get used because the patterns might be too big or I just buy too much. But again, that's what I love about OA papers. There's a little something for everyone and I know that some of these papers will be used for many projects that aren't Fall or Halloween themed.
And that concludes my post for today. I hope you are excited to get to your crafty space and whip up a little Autumn Basket of your own. Have fun!