Found

So we found it, the perfect little apartment. Three bedrooms, a sun porch, a huge back yard, a decent common living space.. and a corner.. a little corner like hallway- that I'm going to claim as my own. it has a closet- and enough room for a desk.. and I want it. I want to make it craft heaven. More as it happens.

The perfect crafting area

I've moved a lot in the last few years, and one thing every apartment has had in common is a lack of organization when it comes to my crafting.

Since my stockpile of crafting supplies is only multiplying, this is something I've started researching. Our current apartment is spacious, but seems confined because of our excess of stuff. I usually end up at one end of  the couch working on the coffee table or ottoman  while my roomie works on his chain-mail jewelry on the other end. Sometimes his girlfriend works in the middle. We need to work something better out.

Since we're moving this summer, the requirements not only include the two bedrooms, pet friendly, parking - kind of stuff. They also include space for a nice size desk. I need a work space, and I plan on getting one!

I recently cleared out an old plastic storage unit- the kind with two deep drawers and a few shallower drawers towards the top- and put as much of my crafting supplies as would fit in it. My cricut and all the various accessories and paper for it don't fit in this- but they would easily fit in or on a desk.

So- fingers crossed that we find an apartment we both like that has enough space for a desk. Some of my inspiration is below. All found through http://pinterest.com/createhappiness/small-craft-space/

Little Girl Jewelry Boxes

Little Girl Jewelry Boxes

For my Boyfriend's daughter and his niece's birthday's I made them jewelry boxes. I got basic wooden jewelry boxes from Michael's took all the hinges off of them, and painted them inside and out. Twice. Then I sealed them with my glossy modge podge, let them dry overnight, and reattached all the hinge hardware. For Emily I spelled out her name with tiny jewels, for Allyiah, I used sticky letters. Both were available at Michael's and Walmart. I used scrapbooking appliques of flowers and butterflies from Jolene's Boutique to decorate the outsides. I attached them with modge podge ( I LOVE this stuff), let them dry, and then put an extra coat on top to keep them nice. It's been over a year and both boxes look like new. :)

Baby Blanket, Crochet

Crochet Baby Blanket

The Finished Product

Can you tell all my friends and relatives are pregnant? This is a V stitch crochet baby blanket in pink with a multicolor border. The pattern is really easy. http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L10652.html?noImages=0

It's a V-stitch, which is basically two double crochets out of one stitch with a few chain stitches in between. I used 2 rounds of single crochet for the border. I LOVED making this, and it gave me something to do during the long wait for my delayed plane on the way to go see said friend.

Close up of the folded blanket so the V-stitch is visible along with the bright border.

Nursery crafts: Madeline Picture Frames

Nursery Crafts: Madeline Picture Frames

Basic Frames from Michael's

Inspiration: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

The illustrations from his books are so vivid that when my friend told me she was naming her daughter Madeline, and that her nursery colors were yellow and grey, that the first thing out of my mouth was how yellow the Madeline book illustrations were. And that we had to do this. Correction: I had to do this.

What I started with: 

Picture frames from Michael's. I got basic frames from the wood section with glass, and then saw the ivy decorative frames and thought YES. Then I loaded my arms with yellow, black, and metallic silver paint. Grey is boring, silver will make these pop. A hot glue gun, glossy modge podge, and a my trusty paint brush. Also, a used copy of Madeline in good condition from alibris.com  which actually ended up shipping from thriftbooks.com and my trusty Xacto knife and a ruler to measure out just the pictures I wanted.

Ivy frames from Michael's,
and a cat trying to join in.

So I got out my trusty plastic storage box (the lid is perfect for crafting on while watching television, and got going. I refuse to buy paint trays, and use the glossy paper that comes in the frames as my palate.

I double layered 3 sets with acrylic paint. One set silver, one set black, one set yellow. I have two extra sets for when I decide which combinations pop the best. After I paint all the frames, and they dry, I'll seal them with the modge podge and then hot glue them together. The best part about Michael's frames are that you generally don't have to sand anything down, or strip anything off the frame prior to painting. For some colors I'll prime, but I didn't bother for these.

Yellow on Black, Black on Silver,
 Silver on Yellow.

Silver on Black, Yellow on Silver
Black on Yellow

These are shots of the painted frames, and how they can mix to form great combinations. As you can see, the ivy frames will lay on top of the other frames, but can be centered or diagonal for a different look.



After the frames dried I coated them with the glossy modge podge to give them a shine and seal. While they dried I started deconstructing the Madeline book I got online at alibris.com  (as much as I hate destroying a book!!) and measuring the pictures with the glass from the picture frames. I cut out 7 pictures, which means that there are 14 pictures to go in the 5 frames, and the nursery will have different pictures whenever she gets sick of the ones I chose.

Shown: Destroyed book, xacto knife (and the cork I keep it in to prevent injury)
also, some of the illustrations that will be framed.

Glue on the outside seam

 When the frames were done drying the the illustrations were all cut out I started gluing the frame parts together. I used my handy dandy hot glue gun and learned a valuable lesson. Hot glue doesn't like to do what I want it to. I ended up doing four dabs of glue in the corners right outside the glass, and pressing the top piece down on to them. Then I placed glue in the inner and outer seams to fully connect the wood pieces. They've stuck together over the weekend, so I think they're OK.

Clockwise from top
"or shine"
 "to the tiger at the zoo, Madeline just said 'poo poo'"
 "She was not afraid of mice"

And here is our final product. Picture frames fit for a princess.  Unfortunately the flash messed these up a bit, so there will be better pictures up soon.

"The smiled at the good" Top Right
"Madeline" Bottom Right

Baby Shower Picture Frames-Buttons

Baby shower things: Continued! Started this post back in Fall, just posting, oops!

I started with a trip to OrientalTrading.com for supplies, I needed Wooden Picture frames, and more buttons!

First I painted the frames white, just a single coat.

I'm only painting the front's for now. I'm not too worried about the backs.

As you can see, the white isn't that dark. I'm covering it anyway!

Then I just started gluing the buttons on! I'm using the Jewel Glue that mod podge makes.








I started with just one layer of buttons, 

But as you can see, I've started adding a second coat of buttons to add dimension and some fun!

here are the frames all lined up with Baby Rae's ultrasound at the shower:

we also decorated the tables with buttons and even put some in the vases of flowers on the tables. It was pretty darn cute!

Good News! Baby Rae was born February 8th, 2013 at 8:40pm. Healthy and Beautiful!