Quite a while back, I checked out Playful Learning: Develop Your Child's Sense of Joy and Wonder from the library. I have to admit that the main thing that stuck with me from the book was the cover photograph of a wonderfully organized art basket.
My kids were never able to keep their pens and pencils quite so organized. If only I had a basket like that to organize their art supplies.
So I kept that in the back of my mind... always looking wherever I went from a substitute. I wasn't able to find what I was looking for - even online.
And a short while ago, I stumbled across what I thought was a perfect substitute basket at a local consignment store. Think of my astonishment when I came home and looked at the cover to the book - only to discover it was the exact same basket as in the picture!
My girls have been using this basket for a few weeks now and I have to say, this is the most organized my girls have kept their art supplies. They always know where they are. It is very easy to keep picked up and to tote around the house to find that perfect spot for drawing or coloring. Rather than putting paper/stickers and such in the large section, I took three plastic containers I had from some store-bought pesto. They fit perfectly into the large section, and allow us to divide our colored pencil collection into warm colors, cool colors, and white/black/brown colors.
Now that I've seen it up close, I know this is a utensil caddy, normally used for silverware and napkins... and have since found various alternatives online. What a difference the correct keywords make when you're doing online searches!