Taming the chaos

I’ve reorganized, cleaned, purged and rethunk my craft room, yet again :)

There is no one else to blame except me; I am a messy crafter and I’m not very well organized. I find it difficult to put like items together and put stuff away after I use it. So here I am trying once again to get it under control. It gets so messy that I dread going to this room, and that’s not a good thing :(

My friend gave me a Rubbermaid closet system when she replaced it with Pax wardrobes (I know, lucky me). I only used about half of the system and came up with some organized storage.

Bins were purchased at the dollar store to contain like items together. Small pieces of fabric were folded and put on the shelf, larger pieces hung on hangers. Cushions and forms are in and on an old ottoman (yeah, it’s stuffed to the gills).

I saw this method of storing wrapping paper on Pinterest; genius!  Right now mine are hung with cord, but it will be replaced and I’ll create even more storage with bungee cords.

Next up, a high island tabletop for cutting fabric on. I’m getting too old to be on my hands and knees on the floor.

Once I get it functional, I will work on the aesthetics.

 

Oh Christmas tree

Once a month I get a Friday off of work, giving me a chance to catch up on things that seem to go by the wayside. This Friday, I spent a leisurely day putting up my tree.

Um, I didn’t have enough of the mini lights to cover the entire tree, so I had to use the led lights at the bottom. There is a noticeable difference in the amount of light they cast, as you can see in the photo. The good thing is that in real life, you don’t notice the difference.

Other than hanging our stockings, I have completed my Christmas decorating. Tomorrow is the first of my entertainment biz bookings.

I have a couple of non-Christmas projects in the works though, and hope to find some time to do them.

My Christmas Fantle

 

Since I don’t have a fireplace in my living room, I use my cubby shelves as a fantle.

 

When I added the crown moulding it gave it some substance, but any item that I placed on top was dwarfed by it. To solve this I cut a piece of drywall, wrapped it in white fabric and placed it on top of books, giving it a platform so items didn’t seem to sink to the bottom.

I took the pine stems from the tree next to my house, but I’m going to replace them with a different type of evergreen, they look a little too sparse. 

We will be putting the tree up this weekend. I’ll be working on making a new tree skirt, so wish me luck :)

Happy Thanks Giving to my friends south of the border.

They’re watching – tweens have good taste too

My daughters girlfriend came to visit after school one day and was completely smitten with my Union Jack cushion.

My daughter volunteered me, to make one for her friend. It has taken me some time to get to it, but I’ve finally done it. I really didn’t think that tweens took notice of home decor, but apparently they do :)

Smaller version in black and grey

Thrifty fabric find

A couple of weeks ago I was at my local Value Village and found metres and metres of fabric.  White, cotton twill, heavy fabric. Total score. Each bolt is at least 30 metres!

And the price?  $9.99 each bolt!

Yeppers, I’ll have white fabric For-Everrrr!

I also ordered a batch of premium scraps from Tonic Living. There are several pretty pieces of fabric, but there are also some duds. I knew when I bought them that I was taking a risk on not getting anything I wanted. Overall I’m happy with what I got, especially this remnant of their Bodega, Navy

Just enough to make two envelope back cushions.  I think I am in love :)

I needed some pattern in this space and these fit the bill. 

Today I am guest blogging over at White Lacquer. Patience has an eye for beautiful things. She is running a series about “things I want/can’t live without” and I contributed 5 things that I can’t live without. Pay her a visit, you will be glad you did.

It was short and sweet

First, I’d like to share with you the three most visited links of Beautiful Junk Saturday

A gorgeous settee from Patience at White Lacquer

Melissa found some fabulous vintage pieces at an Estate Sale/Antique store at Vintage Mellie

Kat at Maple Leaves and Sycamore Trees also found some fabulous vintage goodies, I’m particularly smitten with this wool carpet

Thank you to all of you that linked up.

Anyone that has hosted a party before knows that it does take some work and I am afraid that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I simply don’t have the time and devotion it takes to honour those that participate.

So sadly, it was a short lived series that may or may not be resurrected some day. Thank you for coming and participating and viewing the links.

Score 24! A quick and thrifty Christmas craft

I actually went to my craft room to sew some cushions, and well, one thing led to another…
I don’t know about you, but I have to be in the mood to sew, which I wasn’t, so a craft it was
I used a dollar store frame, some scrabble tiles and a a few coats of paint. Done in 20 minutes.

This years Christmas wreath

No sense in throwing out last years ornaments, I just used them and added purple for this year.



I purchased this pretty wreath at HD, it’s from Martha Stewart. Then I went to the dollar store and bought three picks with purple poinsettias. Added a few bulbs (that’s what we have always called them) and it’s now shiny and glamorous :)
 

I haven’t decided yet where I will hang it, indoors or out.


This is the wreath I made last year, for those of you that are new around here.

Beautiful Junk Saturday is in full swing.

Sharing at

The easy and oh so pretty scarf

My girlfriend stopped by a knitting shop the other day and within a few minutes, learned how to knit a gorgeous scarf. I went to visit her and she showed me just how easy it is. I stopped by the store after work tonight to get my own yarn and while watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad, I created a beautiful scarf.

Pssst, don’t tell my model (my daughter) that she is in the photo, she didn’t want her photo taken :)

It takes on 6 stitches cast on and away you go. If I can do it, anyone can. I haven’t picked up a pair of knitting needles in over 30 years. And, it only takes on ball  of this special yarn (it’s like ribbon)

I started making another one in black, white and grey. It can also by crocheted together.

The secret to it’s fullness and ruffles is the yarn spreads apart to look like it’s crocheted and you only pick up a stitch every 2nd stitch.

Here is another colour that I will work on this weekend.

The instructions are online too.

Knit with Sashay yarn

Beautiful Junk Saturday #3 is in full swing, so sashay on over and share your thrifty decor and finds.

 

Beautiful Junk Saturday #3 - Link Party

Thank you for sharing again last week. There were less entries than the first week, so I hope you will join in this week. I know you must have some beautiful junk ready to show us all :)

The top three visited links last week

Vintage craft room at Shabby Love

Drexel Heritage desk makeover at Because I like to decorate, swoon!

A sweet frame makeover at Avery & Anderson

Pinterest inspired

I’ve seen the swirly painted glass ornaments around and since I’m having a hard time finding purple bulbs, I made one. Um, it took 2 minutes! Love that.

Pour in a little craft paint, swirl, add more if needed. Done :)



Participating at

Christmas Advent Calendar

Instead of doing what I was supposed to do today, I decided to take a break from the chores.


When my kids were little, I used to get them one of those cardboard advent calendars with the horrible little chocolates inside. They loved counting down to Christmas and it was always the first thing they did when they came downstairs for breakfast.

Now that they are older, I thought that this one would be a little more mature for them :)
I started with this golf shadow box frame that I picked up last year. I’m glad I finally found something to do with it.
 
I removed several of the pegs, leaving 24. Then it got a few coats of spray paint. I thought that it wouldn’t be blingy enough, so I glued some ribbon to the back. WRONG!  Eww, I hated it.


So I ripped the ribbon out. Whew, so glad I did. Now it looks much better.  I used my cricut and white vinyl for the numbers. This year I’m incorporating purples into my Christmas decorating, but next year this will be easy to change out the bulbs. The lighting is horrible; I was surprised when I came up from my craft room, and it was dark out, therefore the photos are not so great.  I’ll post a daylight photo another time.



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