Mommy Monday: organizing art supplies

Welcome back to Mommy Monday! Today we're talking art supplies. This has been one of those constantly-evolving projects. Mostly because we seem to keep adding new art supplies. Hmm. Anyway, here is the little creation area we have in the corner of the living room:

I have a few hanging lanterns to add some light (I have no overhead light in the living room... go figure that one out), and a small table and chairs. We colored together on some large packaging paper one time and the girls insisted on hanging it up so that's what's on the wall. The art supplies are all underneath the table:

I had a plastic tub that I had gotten to use for something else before, so I keep everything in there. Inside I have paper, colored pencils, markers, and crayons, each in their own container. Paint brushes and some other random little things like stickers hang out in the bottom, wherever they feel like:

The little file-size container I have for the paper is something I got in East Asia, the motherland of cool stationary and accompanying accessories. It's nice because it keeps all the paper contained but it's easy for my girls to open and close on their own.

I try to keep some different sizes of white paper, plus a few of each color of construction paper, stashed in there. I keep the extra paper stored away so nobody gets too carried away with one project ;)

I have three containers from the kitchen section at Walmart that I use for everything else. One container has colored pencils, one has markers, and the other has crayons.

These are nice because they're made of a light plastic so they're not too heavy for the girls, and they stay closed but the girls are able to open and close them on their own.

I like this system for now because it keeps everything out of the way and contained, but allows the girls quick and easy access to whatever they are in the mood for when creativity strikes. It's a fairly simple clean-up process when we're done, too- once I convince them that they have to stop, that is! (Anyone got any ideas for that?!?) :)

How do you store your children's art supplies? Leave a comment!