Craft room redo

I can never let furniture sit in the same place for too long. My craft room was making me crazy. It was not usable and I found I was always doing my crafts in the living room, making my husband crazy! So we have undertaking a massive redo. I love the grey walls, but really want some color (pink??) to make it pop!

We will be removing the closet door. (I keep smashing my fingers between the hall & closet door)
Adding some pretty curtain rods.
Moving the hutch off my desk (makes a great bookcase)
Moving the TV
Hanging shelves
Painting my desk
and generally just cleaning it up

This is what it looks like now...

Can you spot my husband?

We had actually moved a few things into the spare bedroom..it was a mess!

And this is what I want it to look like. I envy these ladies!

gorgeous boxes..already have the photo boxes...

Lttle tags and paper to hide the uglies

This wall is beautiful

Love the scallops on the shelves

I need to incorporate this fabric somewhere..maybe a cricut cover?

Stay tuned for the reveal....should be done this week!

Sewing disaster...or a blessing

It's been awhile since I broke out the sewing machine for anything other than scrapbooking so I was a bit rusty. We have been cleaning and reorganizing the craft room and I found a box of patterns & fabric that a friend had given me. I had never even opened it.

There was the cutest Amy Butler pattern & fabric inside. The pattern is the frenchy bag

I love her fabric line, but had never sewed one of the patterns before. They are ridiculously simple to follow. Everything is spelled out and defined. There are plenty of detailed pictures as well. They are a bit expensive, around $13, but so worth it for a beginner or casual sewer.

But I digress...on to my disaster.

In the middle of sewing the bag my sewing machine totally locked up. All the lights came on, the needle froze and it started clanging. I turned it off, but the damage had been done. The bobbin case cracked and it stripped the gears. Pretty crazy! No pics of the damage..but here is my old machine.

I was determined to finish it so I pulled out the ancient sewing machine from the table I found at goodwill for $20! I had bought it because I liked the table and never intended to keep the machine. I'm glad I did though. The stitches are straighter and more even then they had been in a long time with my newer machine...and better yet...I can sew anything with this machine! It's a beast. I even fixed a leather shoe! Sewing through 3 layers of leather...check! The only bad thing is there is no zipper foot or buttonhole setting. I am still on the hunt for a new machine, but I will be keeping this one.

Any thoughts on the best machine under $300??

Here are a few pics of the new machine. It's a singer fashion mate 237. I looked it up and it seems to be made around 1967. I love the look of it! So vintage.

And here is my new purse!

It's almost here......

I love Valentine's Day! I love all the happy hearts and lace; and best of all it's an excuse to drape your house in PINK! If it were up to me my whole house would be pink, but sometimes you have to include the hubby in the decor plans. Boo on his anti-pink attitude!

Just thought I would share some of my decor. It has been an evolving effort to find the perfect mantle decorations, but I love it now.

The bunting was so easy to make. I cut out the hearts with my cricut. The paper is from a pack I bought at Michaels. It has about 10 sheets for each month. I used the October paper to make gifts for my boo friends. After the hearts were cut out, I inked the edges and just ran then threw my sewing machine. If you do this, make sure you have it set on the longest stitch length. It keeps the paper from ripping.

Valentine's Day has also migrated into my kitchen...

and into my dining room area...

I got my little chicken at the thrift store...he's an AnnaLee...for $1.00. The volunteer said that an old lady donated 1,000 of them. Some of the characters are very creepy looking (especially the 3 foot tall ones), but I fell in love with this guy. He was supposed to be for Easter but I have a feeling I may find a place for him every holiday. He is soooooo cute!

Oh how I love Michael's

I have been drooling over the gorgeous ornate vintage frames like this these:

and this one from ikea:

but after many unsuccessful thrift store trips and the high price tags at antique stores I had given up hope. Even the $30 Ikea frame was out of our non-existent budget to redecorate and reorganize our craft/office room. (pics to come soon!)

Today I found these beauties at Michael's craft stores

They are laser cut wood frames. I bought the biggest, the opening measures 11x14 for a whopping $4.24 ($6.99) after my coupon. There are many sizes available, starting as low as 99 cents. So excited!!!! It will look perfect on the wall above my desk. I plan on using cup hooks to hang some of my most used tools in the opening and painting it HOT pink.

Thinking of an arrangement something like this:

So excited to share this awesome find...may have to go pick up some more.

The Wedding is over the Honeymoon begins

The wedding is over, we are back from our honeymoon and sorta settled in the new house. We had to move quickly after discovering mold in our previous rental. (Moving sucks...but it was a blessing in disguise). Our new house is bigger, has a fantastic fireplace, and best of all AIR CONDITIONING.

I am looking forward to sharing all my new DIY's with you and my fabulous mantle decorations!

Here was my Christmas mantle...

and there are many more to come!

DIY wall art

I needed something for the wall beside my couch. It is a big open space and the first thing you see when you enter the house.

I tried a mirror, but it was way too skinny and just looked wrong. Last summer, while at an art fair, I saw art created using pictures of letters and have always wanted to make some. I had the original intention of taking my own pictures but never got around to it. The other day I found leo reynolds on flikr. He has already done the work with tons of letters, numbers, and punctuation to choose from.

I downloaded the highest resolution and created my art with photoshop elements 9. Lucky that walgreens was running a 20% off sale on posters. I had it printed 20"x30". I was worried it might be pix-elated because it wasn't exactly the size walgreen's wanted, but it's perfect. The frame is a poster frame from Michaels $14.99 with a 40% off coupon. The whole thing cost was $30 for a custom art piece. I LOVE IT!

What do you think?

How to make your own vintage tablecloth

I looked and looked for a vintage tablecloth to match my kitchen and nothing seemed to work just right. So I decided to make one myself.

I found the  Meadow sweet fabric from Michael Miller and I knew it was PERFECT.

I was originally going to make a quilt tablecloth but decided simple was better, I like to change my decor too much to spend a lot of time on things.

I used the dot material for my curtains, and found some matching yellow for the tablecloth.

I used 3 yards of the meadowsweet splashy rose fabric, 2 yards of yellow cotton, 3 packages of red medium rick rack, and 3 packages of red wide bias tape.

I cut the yellow into strips about 8 inches wide and sewed it to the floral fabric (i figured a 5 inch drop on all sides of the table) 

I sewed them on all 4 sides, overlapping at the corners.

I then layed out my ric rac and bias tape, realized I was about a foot short on both, went to the fabric store, came back, and pinned it on. I sewed right on the seams.

Having bias tape on the edges saved me the step of putting in a hem. The bias tape wrapped around the unfinished hem and left a clean edge.

And here it is on my kitchen table. I think it fits perfectly. :D