Crafterjann!!

I should rename my blog--I am in a very crafty mood these days! Ever since I discovered Pinterest, my creative juices have been flowing like crazy.  I can look on that site for hours, and it helps me decide what's my style and what's not. Yesterday, I spent a few hours scouring the antique stores downtown, looking for a lazy Susan.  Well, I started at Walmart, no luck.  Then I went exploring.  I found two of them; they're not exactly what I was looking for, but with a little spraypaint and creativity, I can make them into something I like.  I'll post pictures when that project is finished.
Meanwhile, I worked on this cute little decoration for the sewing room. The chipboard "J" was $1.99 at Hobby Lobby, my favorite craft store ever.  I just started hot-gluing buttons until they covered the whole thing.  I love it. It's about nine inches tall, I think. It will look cute on the wall in the sewing room.

I am still in the middle of a curtain project for the sewing and laundry rooms.  I got the idea for these valences from an old scrapbooking magazine that I was going through, and I went through my fabric stash to use up some bits. I am so in love with the valence!!

You can click on the picture to see the whole room and lots of great storage ideas.  That's Erikia Ghumm's stuff. Here's the inspiration:

from bhg

Here's my version--the before and after.  I am going to paint the room a light grey color and paint the trim white, so it's not totally complete yet, but I already love, love, love it.

The before--denim tab-top curtains.

The after--how darling is that?

That was a fun project.  My sister helped me go through my stash and line up the fabrics, and then I cut out the pieces and used the serger to put them together. I've never used that kind of trim before, and I hemmed the curtains with it--I love the white trim against the denim curtains--it will look great once the room is painted, too, with white trim (instead of that god-awful contractor off-white everything).

OK, the last project from yesterday was this cute little footstool for the scrapbooking table.  I like to prop my feet up when I'm working, and I've been using my scrapping tote since I moved the room downstairs.  I realized that I was ruining the tote, so I set off to find a footstool.  I made this awesome find at Hobby Lobby.  It was listed at $27.99, and it was stained.  When I took it to the cashier, I pointed out the problems and asked if the manager could maybe make me a deal.  A deal she made!! She asked me if I'd buy it for $2.79.  DEAL!!!!!!!!  90% OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So it was hideous to start with:

Picture this in black and white vinyl.  Ugh.

Here's the after--now it matches my fabulous bulletin board I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.  I added a layer of batting under the fabric because I could still see the cowprint coming through under the new fabric. 

Frida Kahlo fabric footstool

I made sure to center the Frida image at the top of the footstool, and it looks great! I love the way this turned out.

I have a few more Pinterest-inspired projects to get to this week--laundry room painted a sunny yellow, finish up the valences, print out a couple of cool pictures for the laundry room, work on the lazy Susans for the scrapbooking space (sanding, painting, embellishing), and create an ironing board from a TV tray table.  Lots to do!!

Pinterest

Oh, my.  I have spent an inordinate amount of time these past few days on pinterest.com.  It is so much fun.  I love looking at all the pictures--fabulous products, ideas, and design.  The DIY section has given me so many ideas. I'm going to try to imbed a link to pinterest here on my blog.  Check it out!

I just can't wait to give my home some style.  I'm working in the sewing room today, creating some valences that I saw in a picture in one of the scrapbooking magazines I was going through last week.  Of course, I will post photos to pinterest when I'm done!!

Crop Tonight!!

     So excited to be going to our CM consultant's house tonight for a crop! My sister is going with me, and that always makes it more fun.  Can't wait!! I did some power layouts this week, so I don't have to drag all my stuff with me, and that makes me REALLY happy!!

My New Space

Here it is! Almost finished, but already being used.  The scrapbooking space has moved to the newly-finished basement, and I totally love it.  I have lots of storage and all my favorite things all around for inspiration. 

The fathead is my favorite baseball player, Mariano Rivera.  That storage cabinet is full of pictures and paper, Cricut cartridges and embellishments.  The bulletin board is really my "favorites" board--pictures and inspiration of all kinds.  The new bulletin board on my chair was made by a new friend, Amy, and I'm trying to decide where to put it.  Here's a great close-up of it:

I bought the fabric for it, and Amy put it together--she has a great sense of color.  I love the ribbon and the buttons, which complement the fabric perfectly.  I'm actually thinking that when we paint the walls, that ribbon fabric would be a great color.  It's a light taupe.

I just picked up this bookshelf at Hobby Lobby, and I think it's perfect for the space.  The shelves are spaced far enough apart to hold the 12 X 12 albums, and I still have three more to bring downstairs.  It's so nice to have everything together!

The best part of this space is that it is just next to the living space, not separate from it.  Before, I'd be in an upstairs bedroom, completely isolated from the rest of the house, but now it's part of the room with the great new sectional and TV.

Woah. Where did the time go?

     Really?!?!? Has it been almost 3 years since my last post?  That is ridiculous. I took a break from scrapbooking for almost a year while I worked on some professional development stuff at work. And then we got the basement finished and I moved all the scrapping stuff to the basement.  My new area is great--I love it and the fact that it's not tucked away in an upstairs bedroom space.  Here's a picture:

I've added a bulletin board on that wall to the right.  It has more of my favorite things on it, and just today I bought a bookshelf that will go on the wall next to the window (on the left side--out of the picture).  That will hold the albums I've completed and a few decorative items. 
I've been busy with scrapbooking events, but I haven't gotten very far in my own scrapbooking.  The PTA at my school sponsored a crop at the beginning of May, and that was a blast.  Since I was in charge of it, I didn't get much done at all, but it definitely got me in the mood!  My CM consultant had a crop at her house in the middle of June, and I did get a few pages done there, oh, and I went to National Scrapbook Day back in April.  But I was working on the nametags for my school's crop, so I didn't actually do any of my own scrapbooking.
I am currently scrapping Christmas of 2009, which isn't too far back, really.  I'm excited about the page I'm working on and will post a photo of it when it's finished. 

Digitize Them

A friend sent me a link to an article in the NY Times about a company that will digitize pictures for a reasonable price. Here's the link.
ScanMyPhotos.com is the company in the article, and I like what I see. I am sure that I have over 1,000 photos, so I'll probably go for the "fill the box" option. I was so worried about what to do with the pictures, but this is a reasonable option.

W.O.W.

Delta! Delta! Delta!

What an amazing crop it was!! The Tridelts really know how to do it right!! I got there a little before 9 am and stayed until about 12:30 am. AND I was SO DARN ORGANIZED!!! I had all the layouts planned and in order, which is definitely my new favorite way to scrap. Never again will I drag around that huge tote and all my paper holders. I will spend a few hours getting organized before heading out and just take what I need. So worth it.

Here's a picture of my favorite layout from Saturday. OK, it's above my post. Why can I never get the pictures where I want them? Some of my table mates helped with the colors and the ribbon. They were all so nice, and we will hopefully scrap together sometime soon.

I won prizes, too! I won a table prize, which was a bag chock-full of embellishments and tools. Stuff I have no idea how to even use! I got some Heidi Swapp stuff--I just LOVE her! I love reading her blog, especially her Olympic updates. I also won a door prize, which was a page kit from MM. Very cool. And we got a goodie tote and even a t-shirt. It was really great.