My Craftroom!

There are so many things I should be doing right now!  None of them include posting on my blog, but oh well!  =)

A few weeks back my craftroom was clean so I took some pictures!  I always think its fun to see how everyone organizes their space, so I thought I would share mine!

 

Here's the view from my husband's "half" of the room.  Yeah, I'm slowly pushing him out.  He seems somewhat okay with it.... hehehe.  I absolutely love my HUGE cutting table.  It's 72 inches long!!!  I LOVE my skylights.  They are so awesome on the rare occasion that I get to sew during the day.  Yes, those are sticker gerber daisies!!  I bought the decals at target.

 

This is my sewing corner.  Pictures can be hard to take because I'm not a good photographer and the skylights make the light in the room funny!  There's a serger in front of the window and my sewing table to the right.  My sewing machine is from the 70s.  It's a White that my Grandma gave me and I Love it!!!  Pegboard above the sewing machines makes for great storage of my rulers, etc.  

 

A closer view

 

 

Fabric storage!!  The bottom is an old TV stand.  The top, covered with a sheet, is a bookshelf that I got at goodwill for $3 see post here.

Unveiling the fabric!!  It is all sorted.  I just like the cover for dust.  The TV stand has glass doors so that fabric is fine.  

On top of the TV stand I store my knitting needles and crochet hooks!  My sister decorated the glass in puffy paint for my wedding.  It's so cute I just had to display it.  

A couple of old sewing machine drawers hold some little things that I have in canning jars.  I really need to make the tops pretty, I just haven't gotten around to it yet!

The other side of the room is all kinds of fun storage!!!  I love my bookshelves!

The bottom containers are unfinished projects.  The colored baskets are yarn, and the rest is all labeled crafty stuff!  I love knowing where everything is!!!! There are some opera scores tucked in there for good luck.

This is a fabulous piece that my mom got for me!  It was originally used to store music folders in a school.  I painted it and then my sister helped me glue the pink ribbon on the edges.  It was a bit beat up from use, so the ribbon really covered that and made it look pretty!  We also decoupaged polka dot paper on the top and bottom.  I LOVE IT!!!!  I store my scrapbooking stuff, quilt patterns, interfacing, you name it.  Everything is there!

Lastly I'll leave you with my lovely futon and Orlando Bloom!  Design wall up above with my fun colorwash quilt in progress!

Peacock Themed Wedding Fun

A good friend of mine got married recently and I was lucky to help with some of the preparation!!!!  Two of us and the bride got together to finish off crochet clutches, decorate a unity candle, and make peacock head pieces for all the bridesmaids!  Oh, and we might have had some chocolate wine as well.....

mmmmm.. chocolate wine with our creative mess in the background!

 

  

 

Decorated Unity Candle!

Peacock feathers were glued onto a hair clip or a headband.  Bling was added because bling is awesome.

 Beautiful Headband!

There were a few headbands and a few clips.  They all look so great that its hard to tell which is which!

 

Lots of feathers!

 

Bling always helps!

 

The bride crocheted a bunch of bags as gifts for her bridesmaids.  She did them all without a pattern!  The peacock feathers were put on pins and then pinned to each clutch!  She also hand sewed in pretty lining!  Super cute!  I even got to have one!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything turned out great and the hair pieces looked great in the wedding photos!!!!

Floral Colorwash

Hello!  

I've been away from my computer because it has been a very busy summer!  I have been crafting and sewing though!  Look for more posts this week.

First, I want to share with you my newest project.  A Floral Colorwash Wall Hanging.  I very much enjoy Wanda's creativity over at Exuberant Color.  She was selling some colorwash kits so I bought a couple!

After our AC broke and a few other household catastrophes I thought the best way to cope was to try and make something with my new fun squares!

First I tried light in the center and dark around the edges.  Each of the four corners were becoming different colors and becoming darker.  I did blue/green, purple, pink/red, and yellow/orange.  It was cool, however I wasn't liking it that much.

Then I tried to make one similar to this one.  I love it!  It's definitely not done or perfect, but I put it up on the wall and I'm going to change some things around.  Eventually I'll sew it together... maybe... someday.....  will I ever let myself stop moving squares?  Only time will tell!

I started with it on my table.  Then later I moved it to the wall.  I needed a better view.

 

Even as I'm looking at these pictures I can see some of the squares aren't where they should be.  I think I went 'light' too soon.  A few squares are definitely sticking out to me.  It needs to be darker/colorful for a few more diagonal rows.

I couldn't find my white flannel "design wall" so I used yellow.  Of course, after I got all the squares up on the wall I found my white one.... oh well!

 

I guess it's not too bad for a first try and no 'color training'.  What is your favorite way to figure out value?  I tried squinting and also placing some squares with my glasses off!  =)

Outdoor Chair Cushions

We've had a bit of time to work on our backyard.  It's really starting to look better... it used to be a jungle of sorts.  Anyway, my husband has had this patio set for quite a while.  Over the years the cushions seemed to stay out in the weather here and there... resulting in dingy and moldy cushions.  The chairs and table are really great though!

ewwwww. yucky cushions.

So about a month ago I went in search of cushions.  I was disturbed by how costly they were!  I needed 8 total and the cheapest I could find were $18 and they were UGLY.  There were some that were better quality that were $30-$50 a piece.  I really didn't like any of the patterns though.  So, naturally, I decided I was going to make them.  I figured that if I was going to end up spending $25 per cushion I want to make sure I actually like them!  I just couldn't spend $200 on chair cushions that were ugly!

Lucky me, I got the foam 50% off and then I had a 10% off entire purchase from JoAnn's!!!  That was great!!  They told me that its best to cut the foam with an electric knife so I got the cheapest one I could find at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  After coupon it was $17.  =)  The fabric was 40% off and I bought extra to make some pillows.  All in all I think I made out pretty well.

After bringing in our old cushions I noticed that they are actually trapezoids.  I wouldn't have been able to buy that shape.  Also, I got 3 inch foam for the seat part of the chair and 2 inch foam for the back part of the chair.  Yay for custom making things!!!

All of the bottoms cut out.  The electric knife was perfect.  Never cut foam without it!!!

My little helper!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used a non-scientific approach... I traced and then cut.  Since I'm not an "electric knife foam cutting artist"... they weren't all exactly the same.

I put a few darts in the front because of the curve.

Somehow he always finds the foam.  Notice the bigger, fuzzier, dog bed behind him... made with the same type of foam....  He just wants to be part of what I'm doing!

The cushions went very quickly after I got my system down.  I did make some ties with velcro to attach them to the chairs.  A small bit of hand stitching to close up the opening was the last step.

Wondering when it will be done.

I was very happy with the result!!!

The green matches our umbrella perfectly.  That was completely on accident.  I got it on sale a couple days ago, and really it was the only one that wasn't hideous in the store.

tada!!!

DIY Pottery Barn Planters (on accident)

SOOOO, I remember being in Pottery Barn a couple months ago and seeing these planters.  They were all made like they had chipped white paint on them.

Pottery Barn Planters

Here's the picture from their site.  The link above takes you there.

Now, I am SUCH a trendsetter that I thought of this idea last fall.  To achieve this look I just left all my planters out all winter.  They turned out perfect, exactly what I imagined.  Then to my surprise I saw something similar in Pottery Barn (as I said, a few months ago.)

 What really happened:  Last summer I found some terra cotta pots in our basement.  We spray painted them white.  Total cost was $6 for the spray paint because the pots were actually my mother in law's.  Then, because I'm apparently very lazy, I left them out all winter.  I was annoyed when I realized what was happening.  In April I was toying with the idea of repainting them and was still annoyed.  Then I stepped into Pottery Barn and decided I was actually a trendsetter.  I'm leaving them!  Thanks Pottery Barn!  You made my laziness into a masterpiece.

Tada!  They are holding my precious Lantana!