Changing table to craft station

Sorry about my rant earlier in the week, and thanks for being so understanding! Now onto happier things :) After my post on how I organize my fabric, I thought it'd be fun to share a little bit more of my craft room and how I organize all my ever-growing craft supplies. I'm certainly no expert on organization, but I like to keep things simple and use what works, and this baby in the picture above has helped keep all my stuff nice and clutter-free for the past several years. Yep, my craft station is actually a children's changing table and hutch combo that I scored off of Craig's List a few years ago. And it's perfect.

Prior to my current storage solution, I had been using small canvas storage bins to hold fabric and supplies and I was quickly outgrowing them. My husband, Patrick, and I searched the internet to find something affordable that could store all my stuff, but everything that we liked was pretty pricey. While browsing Craig's List one day, Pat found a changing table/dresser for dirt cheap and just knew it was exactly what I needed to store all my crafty stuff.  That same day, we made the 2-hour trip to pick it up, and I'm SO glad we got it before someone else did! I really couldn't ask for anything better, it's surprisingly perfect for storing craft supplies.

The small shelf above the changing area serves as storage for my paints, glue, and other miscellaneous supplies. The bar itself, which is supposed to keep everything from falling onto the changing area below, is used for ribbon storage. This is my favorite part about the craft hutch itself because all of my ribbon is displayed for quick selection and cutting, and the bar can be easily removed to add more.

I use the top of the hutch as storage for my books, iron, and a box of jewelry supplies.

The three drawers serve as a great way to separate my bias tape, ribbon, patterns, and clothing waiting for refashioning into separate compartments (which I know needs even more organizing eventually :). I keep my main supplies in the top drawer so they can be accessed easily.

I have a lot of fabric, so the drawers are perfect to store these. If you remember my post from last week, I used cereal boxes to create mini fabric bolts to organize and store my fabric (I keep more in the cabinet door below and in another small bookshelf  on the floor). The small shelves on the right side of the hutch are perfect for storing the mini bolts and felt squares.

So that's my little craft hutch! I have big plans in the future to repaint the whole thing, remove the backing and replace it with pegboard, and replace the knobs. But that's a project for another day. for now, the hutch is perfect for keeping all of my clutter hidden and organized.

Do you have any organization tips that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them!

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Fabric bolts from cereal boxes

My name is Jen and I have a problem. This is my fabric stash.

Ok, well it's part of my fabric stash. It's a giant mess. Pieces of fabric are everywhere, and I hope you're not expecting me to have everything in alphabetical order by designer, color, and pattern because that's pretty much never happening.

I feel like a crafting failure sometimes when I see pictures of peoples' gorgeous sewing rooms. Everything is in its proper, labeled place, and heaven forbid there be anything in the room that doesn't match the color scheme. There's no mess, no half-finished projects laying on the ground. And definitely no toys scattered on the floor.

I'm convinced these people don't have children. They borrow neighbor kids for photo shoots.

There's a reason I didn't show you the rest of my sewing space. I share it with a bin of toys that belong to my kids, and the bin stays organized for about 5.4 seconds before it looks like a hurricane hit the room. I love having the toys in the room because I can still craft and play with the kids simultaneously, but my pieces of fabric everywhere doesn't help the mess.

But I wanted to do what I can to organize the room because, let's admit it, I can't pin the blame for that messy fabric pile above on my kids. I saw this tip on The Little Green Bean for using foam board to make mini fabric bolts. It's a great idea, but I wanted to use something I had on hand.  Then it came to me - cereal boxes! Cereal is something I eat a LOT of, so why not re-purpose the boxes rather than throwing them away?

First, cut your cereal boxes so you have a pile of just the front and backs of your boxes.

Next, use hot glue around the perimeter of one of the front sides of your panels.

Place the other panel on top of it and voila, instant mini bolt! It may not look like anything special, but just wrap your fabric around that baby, and your stash will stay organized!

Ahhh, much better.

So much better than the messy pile right? Too bad I have 4 times more fabric in the drawers below. I have a lot of cereal to eat.

Note: Since cereal boxes are small, you may need to fold your fabric in half length-wise (possibly more than once) to be able to fit them around your cereal box bolt. 

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No-sew framed fabric honeycomb

In my continuous (and extremely slow) effort to re-do my craft room, I wanted to make another picture to keep my Bee Inspired print company :) This is a really quick, no-sew project that is perfect for getting rid of those pesky scraps you may have sitting around. It's also really great for showcasing some of your favorite fabrics that you can't bring yourself to make into a piece of clothing that your child will grow out of in 2 days.

If you're not into the whole honeycomb thing, try different shapes! Triangles? Circles? Heck, go crazy with some octagons. Whatever floats your boat.

Supplies:

• A bunch of scrap fabric
• Interfacing, like Heat N Bond
• Burlap
• Picture frame
• Iron

Step 1: Iron on your interfacing.

First, decide how big you want your hexagons to be. This will determine how much of your fabric you'll need. My picture frame size was 11x13 1/2, so I decided on 4 rows of hexagons for a total of 16 hexagons that were 2 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches wide. I cut 6 each from 2 different colors and 4 from another. The white fabric was used to accent, and I cut 6 smaller hexagons that were 1 3/4"x2" each.

Follow the instructions on the back of your interfacing to iron some interfacing to the back of your fabrics.

Step 2: Cut your hexagons out.

You should now have several strips of fabric with interfacing on the back of them.

To get your hexagon shape, Google or find some clipart of a hexagon and use Word to size it to whatever size you need. Cut out and trace the hexagon to the paper backing of your interfacing. Cut out your shapes, and remove the paper backing.

Step 3: Attach your shapes on the burlap.

Cut out a piece of burlap big enough for your frame. Be sure to cut it a tiny bit larger than needed, I cut mine a little too small so you can see the frame a little on the bottom.

Arrange your hexagons on the burlap until you're happy with the placement.

With a hot iron, carefully iron on your large hexagons first by lifting and placing the iron on a couple hexagons at a time (no dragging the iron across). After your large hexagons have been ironed on, layer your smaller accent hexagons on top and iron those on in the same way.

Now, just insert your finished piece in your frame and hang!

Enjoy your art!

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Balloon wreath

Of all the things I made for my daughter's Up!-themed birthday party, the balloon wreath is the very first thing I did. Since a major part of the movie Up! is centered around balloons, I knew I had to make a balloon wreath for the front door to set the theme. I got the inspiration for the wreath from this one on How Does She? I put my own spin on it, and this is what I came up with!

Supplies:

• Styrofoam wreath form
• Crepe paper
• Balloons
• Greening pins (u-shaped pins found in the flower arranging section)
• Embroidery floss
• Hot glue

First, wrap your wreath form in crepe paper, gluing at the ends with hot glue. If you want to use something sturdier, wrap your wreath form in fabric. I went the easy route, but crepe paper is fragile so you have to watch out for tears as you wrap.

Next, take your greening pins and a balloon and stick them to your wreath form. You want to push the greening pin in around the middle of the balloon to secure. Make sure your balloons are close together so they hide the greening pins.

Repeat this process to make a cluster of balloons. To finish, wrap some embroidery floss around the wreath and glue at the ends.

And now you have a cute balloon wreath, perfect for an Up! birthday...or any birthday party really.

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Printable nativity

See the details for my Christmas mantel HERE

In the 3 1/2 years we've been married, my husband and I have yet to gather a large quantity of Christmas decorations. What we do have is a small box full of donated ornaments from our family members and a few small things I managed to find at after Christmas sales.

Lame, I know.

This year since we're going to be out of town for Christmas, I wanted to get a little more festive and that included wanting to put up a nativity. Problem: we have no nativity in our small box of ornaments. Solution: make a printable one!

Want to make the easiest nativity you've ever made?

I simply went to Fontspace.com and did a search for "nativity fonts." I found the SL Christmas Silhouettes font that I absolutely loved, then downloaded and opened Photoshop (you can also use Word if you don't have Photoshop.) Typing in the letter C gave me my nativity scene, then the letter U gave me the star. From there, all I had to do was print it up and frame it.

Easy!

There are other pictures you could use instead. The other great part about using a font like this one is if you have a Silhouette, you could download and cut this font to make cute pictures on canvases, cards, etc!

I included printable nativities below in silver, blue or red. Just right click on the image and save to your computer, then print out the size you want. (All printables are for personal use only!)

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DIY hurricane vase

You can see details for my entire Christmas mantel HERE

Isn't the Dollar Store a wonderful place? It's full of tons of cheap goodies just waiting to be improved on.

Plus, I can walk in there and buy a whole basket of stuff without making a dent in my budget. You just have to get a little creative sometimes.

Take these vases and martini glasses for example. Pretty blah. But with a little glue and spray paint, they make a great addition to my holiday mantel!


Supplies:

• Vase (found at the Dollar Store)
• Martini glass (found at the Dollar Store)
• Krylon metallic spray paint
• E600 adhesive
• Filler

Step 1: Spray paint your martini glasses.

In a well-ventilated area (outdoors preferably) apply several coats of metallic paint to your martini glasses.

Make sure you actually pay attention to directions and don't spray too close or turn your glass over before the paint is drying or you'll end up with some drippage like I did...oops.

Step 2: Apply your adhesive.

After you've been a good girl and followed the drying rules for the spray paint, apply some of your adhesive to the bottom of your vase and glue to the bottom of your martini glass, making the part of the martini glass where you would drink from the base of your hurricane vase. Hopefully I didn't confuse you too much there.

Let your glue dry, and how you have some adorable hurricane vases!

Fill with any filler you like (I chose a pack of assorted small Christmas ornaments) and decorate away! I also decided to tie some ribbon on mine to make them even more festive.

These make great decorations year-round.

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"Let it Snow" framed wall art

You can see details for my entire Christmas mantel HERE

I got a couple of pictures from a friend for free, but it wasn't the pictures I was interested in, it was the frames. (Though I'm sure you'll agree the pictures are just lovely ;) I had a vision for some cute framed wall art for Christmas, so I got to work dismantling them.

Supplies:

• Frame
• Spray paint
• Contact paper
• Foam snowflake
• Ribbon
• Tape or hot glue

First I removed the glass and backing and laid the frame out in the yard for several of coats of white spray paint. On a side note, if it's windy outside, just say no to spray painting. Just don't. Step away.

After the frame was painted, I used my Silhouette to cut out "let it snw" from white contact paper (and yes, I know I'm missing the 'o', you'll see where that went next!) If you don't have a craft cutter, just use Word to create your wording and then trace it onto the back of some contact paper (make sure you flip your letters!) and cut out. After cutting, I just peeled the backing off and stuck the letters to the wall.

For the O, I wanted to substitute a snowflake and hang it from ribbon, so I used a foam snowflake that I bought in a pack Wal-Mart and some red sparkly ribbon. I just cut the ribbon long enough to hang from the top of the frame down to the wording and used tape to attach it.
  

Then I put it all together!

It really makes a great focal point for my Christmas mantel. I can't wait to come up with some ideas to reuse my frame after Christmas is over!

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