Craft Room

We have a Casita (as they are called in St. George... means "little  house" in Spanish) attached to our house.  It's like a mother-in-law appt.  It is a bedroom with it's own bathroom and closet.  It shares a wall with the rest of the house, but has it's own outside entrance.  When we moved into this house, we couldn't quite decide what to do with it.  At first, we thought it could be a play room for the boys... they would have all of their toys, video games, etc. out there.  Then, we just decided to make it an office/craft room.  My husband is a full time student and he also works from home occasionally, so we figured he needed a somewhat quite place to work.

About 90% of the space is mine.... and 10% his... but he spends 9x as much time in there as I do.  My hobbies just take up way too much space.

This is the view when you walk in the room.  

The large printer belongs to my husband, but I use it a lot for posters for primary and other craft projects.  I love maps and found this fun colorful map at a garage sale to hang above it.

 This desk was a desk that we bought at Target years ago... at least 10 years ago.  I custom made the crates to go on the desk.  They all hold fabric.  This is the table that I use to cut out fabric and do my ironing and such.

 These bookshelves were purchased from Robert's crafts... back when they existed.

 Over the desk hangs a vintage umbrella that was my grandma's.  The original trim was white but very dirty, so I took it off and replaced it with a colored ruffly ribbon.  It just hangs there because I life it... no other reason.  It has a couple of tissue paper pompom clouds in it just because I have no where else to store them.

 I bought these lovely canisters at a yard sale... they are super cute!  I didn't want to ruin them by putting labels on them.  They hold things like zippers...

 I believe this small dresser is from Ikea but I bought it at a yard sale.  I painted it and modpodged paper on to it.  It holds staples, punches, etc.

 I love these tins that my dad salved from his work years ago.  My mom gave them to me several years ago to store craft stuff in.

 I love my cute tool box that I picked up at a yard sale.  The sewing box and thread holder were from Joann.

 And the vintage jars were from a yard sale.  Cute place to store extra thread and buttons.

 These cute bins are from pottery barn... but I bought them at a yard sale.  They old all of my felt.

 And these boxes I covered with fabric.

 This is the view of the other side of the room.  It is mostly my sewing table and my scrapbooking table.

 This cabinet holds my new Silhouette Cameo that I absolutely love.  Inside are just random craft supplies... love that I don't have to take up all the space in the cupboard to store cartridges.

 The desk was made with cubes that I bought from Robert's Crafts years ago.  We just painted a piece of wood and sat it on top.  The middle part as a shelf from a yard sale...

 ...and a cute vintage hamper from a yard sale that I use to store my wrapping paper.

 I love this shelf that I found at a yard sale.  The bins of buttons and such are spice jars from ikea.  The tin buckets are from Target's dollar spot as well as the cardboard boxes on the bottom shelf.

 I found these files at a yard sale and I love them for storing letters and die cut stickers.

 I love this lamp.  It provides a lot of light since I took the fabric off the shade!

 I made this ribbon/twine holder from an old drawer.  My husband drilled holes through the sides and I just put wooden dowels in to hold the ribbon.

 Here's the side view... I even left the handles on the drawer.

 On the desk are my pin cushions and dishes of buttons.

 On top of the ribbon holder is my most recent purchase from a yard sale.  I believe it was supposed to be a plate rack.  I had my hubby take it apart and put the two strips of wood closer together and I varied the length of the dowels to fit the color I needed.

 Last, but not least, is the hubby's side of the office.  It's black, more manly, and more messy...maybe I should clean it up and decorate it for him?

I hope this gave you some crafty inspiration.  I was just glad to finally get it cleaned up enough that I can now start scrapbooking!!!

Rustic Jewelry Organizer {repurposed vintage garden rake}

I've started wearing jewelry lately... shocking for me, I know.  I don't do it often, but I do like to try to get dressed up occasionally.  School teachers are supposed to dress up to go to work, right?  But I like jeans... so, I figure if I wear a nice necklace, it will look like I tried.

Several months ago, I was asked by my ward Relief Society to teach a class on DIY organization projects.  I had a few ideas of my own, but I wanted to find more ideas on Pinterest.   I came across this gem ... not sure the original source.  

I Loved the idea... but wasn't sure if I had room to hang it in my kitchen any where near where my stove was.... it seemed silly to hang it way across the kitchen and have to go fetch a spatula to cook. 

Then it dawned on me... it could hold my necklaces in the bathroom!  So, I went to my dad and asked for an old rake.  He brought me home the perfect rake from the ranch that my mom had used to tidy up the dirt:)

Normally, I would probably spray paint it turquoise.  However, in my bathroom, I am going for a more rustic look... I have an old window with peeling paint, so this rusty rake goes with it perfect!

Oh, and notice, the necklaces are hanging in rainbow order... need orange:)

Art Supply Caddy

In the spring, I was asked to teach a class on DIY projects for organizing your home for my church's women's organization (Relief Society).   To tell you the truth, I'm not super organized... I'd like to be.  So, when I was asked to teach this class, I thought... "well, this will be my chance to make all of the things I've pinned on Pinterest."

I'm sure you've seen this art bin idea floating around Pinterest using toilet paper rolls.  I had seen it and loved the idea.  However, I wanted my kids to be able to take out just one of the containers if that is all they needed at the time.  And since I save all of my garbage, I had been saving up Crystal Lite containers.    I simple covered a shoe box with fabric.  I decorated it with washi tape, twine and a tag I had laying around.  Then, I also decorated my Crystal Lite containers with washi tape. (I have to tell you that the washi tape didn't stick perfectly.  I had to glue the ends on with E6000 glue to make then stay on.)  Most of my washi tapes have been purchased from either Pick Your Plum or Downtown Tape.

I love that the containers are clear so my kids can easily see what's inside.  I love that they can take out and use just the paint brushes or colored pencils or whatever medium they are using at the time.  And I love how cute it turned out!

A few sewing projects for my Boys

I just thought I'd share a few sewing projects I did this summer for my boys.
I thought it would be a good idea to make a Car Organizer. We travel a lot and I thought it would be a great idea to have a place for my boys to keep things to keep them busy. The two older boys loved them. They could put their DS's in there, colored pencils, coloring books, toys and even their trash. My two year old just took everything out of his and threw it on the floor.
My boys love going to the library and we go once a week. I got tired of holding all of their books, so I took them fabric shopping and let them pick out their own fabric. My 7 year old picked the flames. My 5 year old picked Green Lantern. And my 3 year old is obsessed with Batman right now. I didn't follow a tutorial, but I just made a simple lined bag with handles. I punched a hole in their library card and clipped it to a handle with a carabiner. They love their bags and it makes it so we can keep their library books all in once place.

Happy Sewing!

Anisa

Yard Sale Treasure

Do you want to see what I did with that shelf I bought at a yard sale a few weeks ago???
I am so giddy with excitement!!! In my old craft room, I had a system of curtain rods where I organized my embellishments.... but I didn't want to do the exact same thing this time. I had kept my cute buckets and jars from Ikea and they fit perfectly on this shelf!
I already had the green spray paint and the shelf only cost me $3. I love how it turned out!!!
-Anisa

Button, button, who's got the button?

I spent about 45 minutes this morning doing a little more button organizing.... I stole all of my mom's buttons so I had several more to add to my stash.
The top dish is my large flat buttons. The bottom dish is the buttons that are not flat... ya know the kind that have the thing on the back that you sew on... what is that called? These are the buttons that I use to make my fabric flowers.

A whole pint jar of white buttons (I actually sent quite a few of these to the local thrift shop... how many white buttons do you need?)
More jars of buttons...
And my traveling case of buttons that I take when I go to a crop. Wow, that's a lot of buttons?

-Anisa

Yard Sale Treasure

Check out this awesome shelf I found at a yard sale yesterday? Any ideas why I'm so excited? What do you think I'm going to do with it?
-Anisa

My first craft in the new house

So, many of you know that I moved... that's why I have been posting or crafting for awhile... too busy packing and unpacking. But sometimes crafting becomes a necessity.

So, here is our computer desk that is built into our kitchen... love having the computer in the kitchen. And you'll notice the nice stack of papers on the desk. I have no where to put my kids homework, calendars, etc. I forgot to send something to preschool with my son because the calendar was buried in the bottom of the stack of papers. Stainless steel fridges are not so good for magnets. And our fridge in encased by wood so I can't even hang stuff on the side.

So in the space below the window, I made a board to hang calendars and homework and reminders on. I simply took a piece of wood (mine was an old piece I had lying around). And I glued clothes pins to the wood. Then I mod podged a piece of scrapbook paper on the front of the clothes pins to decorate them up a little.
So now I have a place to hang my calendars and hopefully I won't forget to send anything to preschool again.
(Now what can I do to keep from forgetting to pick him up from preschool?)

-Anisa

Button/Embellishment Storage

I have been trying to make my scrapbooking supplies more mobile... so that I can scrapbook someplace other than in my craft room. I have always used these divided containers for my button and embellishment storage.

But they drive me crazy!!! I stick them in my craft bag and all the buttons slide around and get mixed up. So, I put my thinking cap on and came up with a solution!!!
I cut a piece of chipboard the size of the lid. Then I cut a piece of batting the same size. Then I cut a piece of fabric about 1" larger around all sides. I then simply hot glued it together and glued it inside the lid of the box.
Ta da!!! It totally works!!! No more sliding around and mixing up of buttons. It is a tight squeeze to close it, but that's okay!!!

To hide the back side of the chipboard, I cut a piece of fabric and modpodged it on the front. Then I modpodged a border of scrapbook paper around the edge and stamped acrylic paint to label what was inside. I'm sure I could have decorated and embellished the outside a little better, but oh well!!! The important thing is that it is totally functional and solves the problem of everything getting mixed up inside!!!

-Anisa

Product Challenge: Buckets

Our product challenge this month was buckets! (I can't lie to you, I was super excited because I already had a project done with buckets that I hadn't posted yet). So all I had to do was take a picture. Do you love the dollar section at Target as much as I do? Well, they often have buckets. So, awhile back I bought several buckets at Target to keep my ribbon in. I made a template out of paper for the bucket, then used my scraps of scrapbook paper and covered the buckets with every color of the rainbow... and then some! I then tied little scraps of ribbon on the handle of each bucket. This helped organize my obsession with ribbon (well, at least the smaller pieces. I have the full rolls of ribbon just in a cupboard... I really like ribbon). Hey, let me know if you want to see pics of my whole craft room sometime and I'll try to clean it up to make a post!!! Just leave me a comment.

So, the ribbon ones are totally cute, but you can't forget my favorite bucket of all..... my thread bucket. I love this thing. I keep it next to my sewing machine so when I clip off the thread I have a quick place to throw it!!! -Anisa:)

My bucket project ended up not being a craft but an organizational project. I had been reading Pretty Organized Palace's blog and one post in particular caught my attention. She was sharing some fun ways to cozy up the home for fall and winter. With my inspiration starting there, I headed to my local Hobby Lobby and purchased this large bucket/basket. At home I filled it with all my yummy yarn for crocheting (and one day hopefully knitting) and placed it by the fireplace. I love how it makes my family room just that much more comfy cozy with the bonus I have yarn storage in plain sight.

-Ang

Check out these darling buckets that one of our readers... Shellie... sent into us. Super cute storage. Here's what she says about them,

"Here is what I have been doing with buckets. I only have 3 done. I still want a ribbon one and thread etc… I just bought some for a couple of dollars and spray painted them, cut out vinyl on my Cricut for the letter."

Way to go Shellie!

Fabric Baskets

I have been wanting to make a fabric basket (or 2 or 3) for storage in my craft room.  I just love all of the fun different fabrics that are out there.

Here are some sites with great tutorials on fabric baskets.  (I haven't tried any of them yet, so if you do, let me know how hard they are)  Just click on the link below the picture and it will take you to a tutorial on how to make each of these darling baskets.

Crazy Mom Quilts

J. Caroline Creative

Pink Penguin

-Anisa

P.S.  Our giveaway is still open until Sunday...

P.P.S.  Which baskets do you think I should make?  Leave a comment and let me know.