Cleaning Up Your Craft Supplies: 5 Easy Hacks to Get You Organized

As crafters, we've all been there - surrounded by a sea of messy supplies, sticky fingers, and inefficient cleaning methods. But fear not, dear crafty friends! The Crafty Lumberjacks are here to help you get your craft supplies in order with 5 easy hacks to clean up your mess.

First Up: Cleaning Your Glue Gun

Our glue gun has seen better days, and so have we. It's a treasure trove of velcro free cookie bits and who-knows-what-else. But don't worry, it can be cleaned up easily with the right tools. Our hack is to use aluminum foil to clean your glue gun. All you need is a decent-sized sheet of foil, crumple it up into a ball, and warm up your glue gun (but not too hot, or you'll burn those fingers!). Once it's warmed up, you can start scraping off all the old goo with the tin foil. It takes a bit of work, but trust us, it looks pretty good afterwards.

Next Up: Sharpening Your Scissors

Scissors are an essential tool for any crafter, and they need to be sharp to do their job effectively. But who has time to sharpen them? Not us! Our hack is to use aluminum foil (yes, same stuff we used on the glue gun!) to sharpen your scissors. Simply cut little strips of foil into the shape you want your scissors to be. It's a simple trick that works like a charm. You can also use sandpaper if you prefer. Just give it a nice, smooth cut and voila! Your scissors are sharp and ready to go.

Now, Let's Get Down to Business - Sharpening Your Handy Punchers

Our handy punchers need sharpening too, and we've got a special hack for that as well. This time, we're using aluminum (our trusty friend!) to get the job done. Simply fold the aluminum into a thick piece, take your punches and punch out a few hearts (or whatever shape you like!), and use them as lubricant and sealant all at once! It's a bit messy, but that's okay - we can just rip out the mess and start again.

Cleaning Your Brushes

Your brushes are probably one of the most used art supplies in your arsenal. They get dirty, they get clogged, and they need cleaning! Our hack for this is to boil some vinegar (yes, plain old household vinegar works like a charm!) and stick our brushes into it for a good soak. The acid in the vinegar will break down any paint or other substances that are stuck to the bristles, making them look brand new again. Just rinse them under warm water, maybe add a bit of soap if needed, and voila! Your brushes are sparkling clean.

Last but Not Least: Cleaning Your Craft Glue

Finally, let's talk about our trusty craft glue. It's probably been sitting there for weeks or months, clogged up with dried-on goo, making it impossible to open. Our hack for this is simple: just run the cap under some warm water and voila! The glue should come out easily. If that doesn't work, you can try soaking the rim in hot soapy water (just like we did with our brushes!). With a bit of TLC and some elbow grease, your craft glue will be good as new.

And That's It!

There you have it - 5 easy hacks to clean up your craft supplies. From cleaning your glue gun to sharpening your scissors and handy punchers, and from cleaning your brushes to fixing your craft glue, we've got you covered. Remember, the key is to use what you have around the house and be a little creative. Happy crafting, and don't forget to subscribe for more crafting tips and tricks!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eneveryone welcome back to HGTV handmade with us the crafty Lumberjacks as you know we craft a lot and all our craft supplies have been through the wringer they get messy sticky dirty inefficient so we're gonna show you 5 easy hacks to clean up your craft supplies let's get started first up is the glue gun our glue gun has seen better days oh yeah what is all this I don't know velcro free cookie stuff so our hack is to use aluminum foil to clean your glue gun yeah all you're gonna need is a decent sized sheet and then crumple it up into a ball warm up your glue gun you don't want it too hot because you don't want to burn your fingers but once it's pretty warm you can use the tin foil to start scraping off all that young it takes a little bit of work but as you see it really starts to come off looks pretty good all right now we're gonna unplug it let it cool a little bit and then we're going to be using a paper clip to clean out the tip just so in case it's a little clogged we get rid of all that now we're just gonna clean it up with a little bit of rubbing alcohol just to get rid of all the little sticky parts I feel like I'm always crafting and like oh my gosh this is a mess but I just leave it yeah I never take the time to actually yeah yeah so this is really satisfying so there's a few different ways that you can sharpen your scissors but we wanted it to be easy for you guys to use what you have around your house so the first trick is to use that same aluminum foil and you just cut cut little strips into the tinfoil there we like this method it works pretty well yeah you see a little bit of a difference I do actually great you can also use sandpaper same deal here just a piece of sandpaper and give it a cut nice and that was sharpen your scissors right up I can hear it happening and the last method is our favorite method is the steel wool go for it it does make a bit of a mess but really really works like but like and then also on if you want you can add a little bit of lubricant to your Center here we're just gonna use our shaving trimmer lubricant you just spray it right in the center there we're gonna be using just a little bit of vinegar to clean our scissors look at it just kind of all right next up we're gonna be sharpening our handy punchers and we're gonna be using our best friend aluminum this time we want to fold it just so that it's a nice thick piece and we're just gonna take our punches and punch it out a few of hearts and then just to act as a lubricant and seal the deal we're gonna use a little bit of wax paper and this might get a little stuff but that's okay because you can just rip it out all right now onto one of the art supplies you use the most and you have to clean the most your brushes now how many times you kind of quickly rinse but then later on you realize your brush is a little hard or you can still see paint in the in the bristles well this isn't gonna exactly clean them brand new but it's gonna help a lot now all we did was boil some vinegar and we're gonna stick our brushes into this hot vinegar let it soak vinegar is an acid so it's gonna start to break up that paint after this has set we're just going to rinse it under some warm water maybe add a little bit of soap and you are gonna see a difference all right now on to our craft glue I'm sure this happens to everybody you struggle getting the caps off they're clogged they're barely working at this point well if you're having trouble getting your cap off all you have to do is run it under some warm water and that will help do the trick and if your rim is really dirty like this one you can also just take a paper towel wet it and clean it off we're gonna soak this in some hot soapy water for about yeah let's do all of them for about 15-20 minutes now we'll get all the glue off you shouldn't have any problems if you still have an issue you can use a paper clip just like how we cleaned the tip of the glue gun we can do with our plastic glue tips well we hope you found these helpful if you have any cleaning hacks of your own we would love to try them ourselves leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe and we will see you next timeeveryone welcome back to HGTV handmade with us the crafty Lumberjacks as you know we craft a lot and all our craft supplies have been through the wringer they get messy sticky dirty inefficient so we're gonna show you 5 easy hacks to clean up your craft supplies let's get started first up is the glue gun our glue gun has seen better days oh yeah what is all this I don't know velcro free cookie stuff so our hack is to use aluminum foil to clean your glue gun yeah all you're gonna need is a decent sized sheet and then crumple it up into a ball warm up your glue gun you don't want it too hot because you don't want to burn your fingers but once it's pretty warm you can use the tin foil to start scraping off all that young it takes a little bit of work but as you see it really starts to come off looks pretty good all right now we're gonna unplug it let it cool a little bit and then we're going to be using a paper clip to clean out the tip just so in case it's a little clogged we get rid of all that now we're just gonna clean it up with a little bit of rubbing alcohol just to get rid of all the little sticky parts I feel like I'm always crafting and like oh my gosh this is a mess but I just leave it yeah I never take the time to actually yeah yeah so this is really satisfying so there's a few different ways that you can sharpen your scissors but we wanted it to be easy for you guys to use what you have around your house so the first trick is to use that same aluminum foil and you just cut cut little strips into the tinfoil there we like this method it works pretty well yeah you see a little bit of a difference I do actually great you can also use sandpaper same deal here just a piece of sandpaper and give it a cut nice and that was sharpen your scissors right up I can hear it happening and the last method is our favorite method is the steel wool go for it it does make a bit of a mess but really really works like but like and then also on if you want you can add a little bit of lubricant to your Center here we're just gonna use our shaving trimmer lubricant you just spray it right in the center there we're gonna be using just a little bit of vinegar to clean our scissors look at it just kind of all right next up we're gonna be sharpening our handy punchers and we're gonna be using our best friend aluminum this time we want to fold it just so that it's a nice thick piece and we're just gonna take our punches and punch it out a few of hearts and then just to act as a lubricant and seal the deal we're gonna use a little bit of wax paper and this might get a little stuff but that's okay because you can just rip it out all right now onto one of the art supplies you use the most and you have to clean the most your brushes now how many times you kind of quickly rinse but then later on you realize your brush is a little hard or you can still see paint in the in the bristles well this isn't gonna exactly clean them brand new but it's gonna help a lot now all we did was boil some vinegar and we're gonna stick our brushes into this hot vinegar let it soak vinegar is an acid so it's gonna start to break up that paint after this has set we're just going to rinse it under some warm water maybe add a little bit of soap and you are gonna see a difference all right now on to our craft glue I'm sure this happens to everybody you struggle getting the caps off they're clogged they're barely working at this point well if you're having trouble getting your cap off all you have to do is run it under some warm water and that will help do the trick and if your rim is really dirty like this one you can also just take a paper towel wet it and clean it off we're gonna soak this in some hot soapy water for about yeah let's do all of them for about 15-20 minutes now we'll get all the glue off you shouldn't have any problems if you still have an issue you can use a paper clip just like how we cleaned the tip of the glue gun we can do with our plastic glue tips well we hope you found these helpful if you have any cleaning hacks of your own we would love to try them ourselves leave a comment below and don't forget to subscribe and we will see you next time\n"