Craft Room ARRANGE-A-ROOM

I found an awesome site  yesterday when planning my craft room.

It's called Arrange-A-Room at Better Homes & Gardens.

Yes, yes, I know I should be working on it (which I am) but I thought I'd share it really quick!

It lets you plan out the arrangement in the room, using measurements that you give the computer. It's accurate, fun & free. Yay! FREE!

All you need is a measuring tape. Above is the image I created. 

Try it... it's fun even if you weren't planning on rearranging.

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/arrange-a-room/

Craft Room OVERHAUL! Before pics...

Well here is the before pic of my craft corner/room. 

And today is the day I start on it's big "re-do". I plan on having it done by Tuesday evening when my husband gets back from Nebraska.

I have a basic idea on what I'd like to do, but honestly there isn't a set plan and I will just go with the flow on this. For instance, if my original plan to put up a ribbon bar (bar that holds all my ribbons... hee hee) doesn't fit the way I orignally thought then I'll restructure my plan. 

Simple as that!

I bought another shelf from Lowe's (to go with another I already have) and I am gonna use some of my current storage but in a new way... at least new in the sense that I re-organize where stuff currently resides.

Nonetheless, it is a mess! And I can't find a damn thing. Well I have a basic idea where it all is, but it's not handy by any means!

So... here we go. So exciting! Look for some after pics on Wednesday!

The Dangerous Store & Cooking Oilcloth

I just got home a little while ago from gas hunting (we're outta gas here in Western North Carolina) and while I was out (and done finding gas) I went to the Foam & Fabrics Outlet. 

Bad, bad idea.

That place is dangerous! It is filled to the brim with fabric, tools, foam, stuffing, fabric scraps & outlet linens. Some stuff is cheap. Others are too damn good to pass up. I can spend a lot of money in there. 

I can spend a lot of time in there too! I was there for an hour and walked out with some denim, oilcloth & whole new bedding set (didn't need that last one... oops!). Plus I got some thread and other notions. If I hadn't splurged on the bedding set (about $30 total for a king size set) I probably could have gotten some more craft stuff, but I was terribly tempted by the awesome selection. 

I actually miss it and want to go back. Now! Ah, another day I guess.

On the other hand, I did get the oilcloth I had been looking for. I have found some great stuff online, but I just needed a little to get started on a prototype for my website. So I found two yards worth for about two dollars a yard. The patterns are pretty good too.

I've never used oilcloth before, so this is new territory. I read online to leave it out in the sun to get the wrinkles out of it (which there is a lot of because it was stuffed at the bottom of a wooden bin in the store). Hopefully, the neighbors don't think I'm too crazy when they see the oilcloth cooking on my porch.

Of course, when I get this oilcloth thing figured out I will post my journey with the oilcloth.

Updated Site & New Stuff

I've been working hard lately trying to fill my website with stuff to sell & impress. 

This picture is of me & trusty "Singer" sewing up one of my Patchwork notecards. They're very fun & colorful. I've got many more to work on, but at least one set is up on the site now.

I've got so, so many things in the queue. I'm gonna get my hands on some oilcloth to make baby bibs & lunchbags (woo hoo) and there is a great tote I'm working on.

Slowly & surely I'll get a good stock of stuff to sell at Smilies. 

Oooh! I also got my Wearables tags in the mail today and they're awesome. I'm so excited.

So check out the site and see what I've been doing with my time!

Craft Room!

I have a vacation coming up and I'm not gonna be spending it the way I thought I was. 

Bummer.

Instead of spending it with my husband, I'll be spending it alone so he can go back to Nebraska to spend time with his mother.

I was really trying to think of what to do by myself for four days and I decided to re-do my craft room. Right now it's a mess! So I think I'll take some "before" pics, redecorate & reorganize it and then take some "after" pics. 

I'm kinda excited about it and I've put some thought into what I want. I'm even considering painting it. Who knows!

Nonetheless, that's the plan. I can't wait to post pics!

Even I didn't know this much about buttonholes!

buttonholes

Wearable Tags

See my newly created tags below.

These are for my wearable items... aprons, totes, etc. Basically their used to identify the item & tell buyers how to care for them.

I love them!

Something fun!

I ran across these earrings this morning. I just thought it'd be something fun to look at.
Check them out!

SPERM EARRINGS

Yay! The blog design is done!

I just put the finishing touches on the blog.

Doesn't it look great!

I created these in Photoshop and used some free graphics (I swear I didn't steal them!) and some purchased fonts. 

I love fonts! You can do so much with them, whether it's in graphics (like the blog) or whether its in cards, scrapbooking, etc.

Free graphics are great too! I recently used a bird silhouette on an apron design I did. Try out this website for some free graphics.

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/

Well, I'm gonna do some more graphic stuff. 

I need to design some tags for my wearable designs. I'll post some pics later.

The Beginning

I'd like to tell you my hopes & dreams for this blog.

I hope I can talk out my ideas for crafts & how the ideas come about AND eventually get some feedback on things.

I'm not a professional. I do this in my home, in my free time.

But I love it and wish is was my occupation (sorry to current occupation).

I dream that I can sell my crafts and get some sort of cult following!

I don't want to be rich. I just want to share and at the same time keep all my creations from piling up in my craft room (with no one to love them like I do).

My posts will consist of a before or after account of the things I do, as I do them.

So, enough wasting time here. 

Let's get creative... (that was cheesy I know).