Craft Room Reveal - Sewing Area

I've been showing off parts of my Craft Room over the past few weeks and today I want to show you the part that is near and dear to my heart.  It's the sewing area.

It's really one entire side of the room, across from the scrapbook area.  I love JoAnn's generally, but really regret two (expensive) purchases I have in my craft room.  First, this sewing table - almost $200.  It's small, and the drawers don't open well.  The other thing that is more frustrating (especially tonight) is the ribbon storage unit I bought.  It wasn't well made and I struggled with it until I finally gave up tonight.  (See my solution below).  I am happy with the painted pails that hold needles, bobbins, pins and buttons.

This is the corner next to the main sewing table.  It has my serger and some items I bought at a garage sale. I'm using the lanterns for supplies for headband making and elastic.

As of tonight it is also storing my ribbon after the epic fail of the ribbon holder.  I have some styrofoam balls recycled from Christmas ornaments that I used in another craft.  I took the dowel rods from the ribbon holder and sunk them vertically into the balls.  I put the ribbon on and lined them up on the table shelf.  (BTW, that little table was made by my dad in high school back in the 1940s.)

This is my cutting table.  I bought it at a Blockbuster that was closing for $30.  It's 6 feet long with a durable plastic top.  I covered it with two curtains I bought on sale at Target.  I covered it so I could use the area underneath for bin storage for scrap fabric and yarn.  It works really well with a plastic cutting mat on top of the fabric cover.

Last but not least is my fabric storage.  I described the shelf fabric storage in another post, but I've combined it with the shelves in my closet.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I have too much fabric and need to start using it before I buy anymore.

So, that's it!  It is my new favorite place - where my family knows I'm at when they can't find me.  Yep, I have everything but a bed in here.  Let the creativity begin in earnest!

cindy

Scrapbook Station

I've been so busy trying to finish a few projects before opening the Etsy store (Pretty Pretty Cindy), I haven't had time to post, but I'm excited about showing one of the best parts of the new craft room - the scrapbook station.

 I started with this armoire/computer station which I didn't want to move out of the room.  The first challenge was getting the corkboard to stick to the back of the cabinet. After a lot of fits and starts, I came up with VELCRO!

Next was finding a place for all my stamps.  This cabinet has a double pull out tray, one for the computer keyboard and the other a work area.  I used the computer keyboard tray, put on some non-stick/non-slip shelf liner and arranged the stamps in a small antique drawer in a way I can see them all.

Next, I had this old two-sided hanging thing for jewely. I turned it into a sticker/embellishment holder. Again, I can see everything and it's double sided!

I moved on to these plastic baskets I found at Goodwill and attached them to the corkboard with push pins -perfect for little items.

I used an old letter holder to keep bigger items.

I found these 4 glass candle holders at a garage sale and turned them into cute storage for ribbon and adhesives.

I bought a scrapbook/photo album and used it to keep all my letter stickers. You guessed it, I can see them all.  If you have a lot of letters, buy two books -mine is a little too full.

This was the one item I splurged on - a turning caddy. I bought it at Michaels, but I used a 50% off coupon to make the sticker shock go away.

I bought some pretty baskets at Michaels (on sale) and stored assorted items I want to keep out of sight.  An extra bonus is that the shelves are just a little deeper than the baskets, so when I pull out the basket, I can tilt it on the drawer so it stays accessible while I look through it.

Here's another item I am proud of.  I converted a shoe keeper we never used, took out a divider and it became instant paper storage!  I've heard that the best way to store paper is upright, but I'm not sure how to to that.  I did spend a tremendous amount of time sorting the paper by color.  You're looking at about 30 pounds (or more) of paper.  I need to give some away because I couldn't possibly use it all.


Well, that's it.  Here's the funny thing - although I have a good amount of scrapbooking stuff, I don't really get a chance to scrapbook much.  I've always worked out of travel containers on the dining room table.  My kids are 9 and 11, but in their scrapbooks they are 1 and 3.  I have more scrapbooking on my project list for June.  Now that I have an awesome place to work, maybe I'll get inspired.

cindy

Craft Fail and Red Room Reveal

This one has been a long time coming.  It all started several years ago when I found these cute long curtains that fit my son's room perfectly at a garage sale.  At only $3.00, they were something I could cut up without fear.

Next I found this amazing DIY for Roman shades, something I've always wanted.  Using the existing wooden blinds, I cut them up, retaining just a few for the shade. I cut the fabric, glued it to the blinds and I was ready to hang. That process took me months, because on some level I was nervous about the whole project.  In addition, my son wanted his room RED, which I agreed to do for one wall only.
After cursing my way through the painting (the reveal coming soon), I hung my fabulous shade

Ugggh!  Where to begin? The width was too wide and the "shades" didn't work.  This is about as good as I could get it positioned.  I worked so hard, but just didn't have the heart to take it down.  So I didn't.  For months.  Meanwhile, the other window had nothing on it for the same amount of time.  (Don't worry, the room opens to the backyard, so there was no problems with anyone seeing inside.)

Finally, about a month ago I decided I needed to correct finish the job.  I took the other matching curtain and tried to make it "look" like the other by sewing in pockets.  Once again, lots of work, horrible results.  This time I didn't even have the heart to take a picture of it.  I ripped them down and the nightmare experiment crashed and burned ended.

As an alternative, I thought I wanted to have straight long curtains.  Again, I was so proud, because I found some solid navy blue and solid red sailcloth curtains at Target for about $3.50 each (big sale).  My plan was to cut them up and sew the blue and red together in bands of color on the panels.  Good plan.  I bought them and got home to find I didn't have enough length for two panels on each window.  I ended up making a long panel for each window and swag it on one side.

I hung the Diamondback canvas art I bought at Target and a garage sale (all for great prices) and FINALLY the red wall is done!  It's not perfect, but I am so relieved to have it done!

cindy

Awesome Garage Sale Day!

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in ages.  I headed out searching for a wooden desk chair for the new craft room and some decorate items for the high shelves (you know, stuff that's going to gather dust).It started slow, and then I found some copper items:

Next I found a sweet little gilded desk clock (that works!).  (You can see it in the upcoming picture.)  Then, just as I was on my way home with just those few treasures, I hit the motherlode!  It was these multiple family/cul-de-sac garage sales.  I found the wooden chair I was looking for at the first one, as well as the first rooster metal vases and a double valance.

Yeah, success at what I was looking for.  Then, I crossed the street and found French provincial heaven:

The clock and the rooster vases are behind the animals.  I also found the coolest rack and lanterns:

And, as a bonus, we found this pretty pine armoire for my son's room:

All for less than $150!  Nice haul, huh?

I'm that much closer to the completed craft room!

cindy