This is a great time of year to let your creative organizing juices flow as you browse through the outdoor summer-ware / party-ware isle at your favorite local retailer. (Like Target for example.) You might just stumble upon a serving tray like this one:

serving tray

and decide it’s perfect for corralling scrapbooking and other craft gear for an evening of crafting (or button sorting) in front of the T.V., like this:

Serving tray

Or you might come across a silverware caddy (that closely resembles a bucket making it almost irresistible) like this one from Kohl’s:

silverware caddy

and decide it’d be perfect for corralling markers, colored pencils, scissors, paint brushes, a bottle of decoupage, sanding blocks, and other crafting essentials. (Or you might, like me, get an email from Missy with the above photo attached giving you a head’s up about this darling caddy from Kohl’s. Thank you, Missy, and the rest of you who think of me when you’re out and about and happen upon buckets.)

So what if you don’t scrapbook or craft? Are these finds useless for you? No siree. These organizing gems are terrific, even when used for their originally intended purpose.

We love to eat on the deck this time of year (in the rare event it isn’t raining!) and a serving tray and silverware caddy makes it a much simpler and orderly undertaking. Load up the caddy with silverware, napkins, salt, pepper, or ketchup and mustard…and you’ll save yourself many-a-step on the way to your outdoor eating adventure.

So keep your eyes open for some fun and colorful seasonal finds that will help you organize creatively (or enjoy a meal outside.) Either way, how can you go wrong?

OK…it’s your turn. Have you found any creative organizing gems lately? You know I’d love to hear…