Repurpose Some Wood for Ruler Storage!

When I am overwhelmed with so many things going on and a seemingly endless stream of ideas going on in my head I like to make a quickie list of things to do.

I’ve learned over the years that it is better to keep a ‘To Do’ list short, with no more than 5 items on the list at a time.  In this way, my normally easily distracted nature gets focused, and down to business.

So in the photo above of my ‘To Do’ list, the first item is ‘Ruler Storage’.  I have amassed a little bit of a collection over the years and I need a new storage solution.  My collection is not that large but big enough that currently they are just out on the cutting table and I’m having to move them around all the time.  I used to keep them in a dresser drawer but that dresser is now in another room so now my only idea is to hang them on the wall.

You know.  If you think long and hard enough an idea will come.  I really believe that. 

What popped into the head was to re-purpose some old wood.  We’ve got tons of it around here.  Did I mention our basement is a woodshop?  OK, so now you do.  Well, have you seen those fancy ruler storage systems at the quilt and sewing shows?  I do, and oh
I wish I could just buy as many as I need!  But they are expensive, so what is a girl to do?

Enter my dear Jim.  I know he can just run some wood through the table saw.  Give me some grooves baby!

So next I picked out these pieces from a pile that was the leftovers from a clock project I did in 2003 when I was a Jaycee.  I made all of the rooster Jaycees (members who have aged out) these cute little clocks with a rooster on it.  I had brass plates made up that said “Time’s Up!” and added their names and the years for which they served.  Gosh, I think I made about 12 of them.  The ones you see here were just some of the prototypes (in sewing terms, that would be called muslin) or rejects.  Cute though huh?

I marked off some lines and Jim cut the grooves on the table saw.  Kids.  Don’t do this unless you are a skilled and experienced woodworker!  Geesh!  Thes machines just scare me…think of the opening to Walk The Line…you know?

Fortunately for me all I have to do is tempt him with a creative idea and he is all over it.  And voila!  Here we now have grooves.

I spent about 10 minutes with sand paper to open up the grooves just slightly (some of those rulers were a little thick) and placed them into their slots!

I’ll look through Jim’s stain cabinet next and get this all prettied up.  I might not need to slaughter the rooster’s after all but I’m still organizing…stay tuned!  Baaaaawk!

~Cathy