July Book Review - Organizing Your Craft Space by Jo Packham

I just went to the library today to return a book (sad face!) and peruse the shelves of the crafting and art section.  Imagine my pleasant surprise when I find this book!

If you're the creative type there is a reasonable chance that you struggle with organization.  If you're like me you get into "creation mode" and all semblance of order dissipates immediately!  Jo's title is clear, concise and immediately catches your eye for it's usefulness.  In the foreword you get a personal peak at her reasoning and feel you can really relate, urging you to read on.  And if you can relate to the quote below (from the Foreword), then this book is definitely for you!

"And it occurred to me that here are probably thousands of women, just like myself, that need to take the time to get organized in order to become inspired to actually create wonderful new pieces."

Jo continues on in her Introduction saying:

"It doesn't seem to matter - as artists, crafters, or otherwise - whether we think of ourselves as organized or not.  Event he most disorganized of us has a system."

The quote brings a sly grin to my face personally as I have known many a crafter or artist to claim they cannot be organized due to their creative abilities.  As one myself I appreciate order, and love it in fact in every other aspect of my life, but I can empathize with the interference of creation to compartmentalization.

Jo's book is conveniently divided into a beginning chapter that gets you started.  In her beginning chapter she literally covers the basics of reorganizing, and not just your space, but your time.  The subsequent chapters are dedicated to individual types of crafting and organization that works well for them.  Each chapter concerning a craft space is full of colorful pictures of different ideas, "Tips", and "Things To Consider" written out clearly throughout.  The regular text within each chapter also provides practical information for organizing the spaces.  She ends with an appendix of "Metric Equivalency".

Perhaps one of the things I love most about this book is that Jo does not impose a "stock" organization method upon you.  Many people balk when given only one, or limited, choice(s) and it goes to show how well thought out this book was to take that into consideration.

We give Organizing Your Craft Space 5 out of 5 for it's practicality and clear cut methods, not to mention the great visual ideas set forth by myriad pictures!