Craft Room Clean Up!

Hi there!  Today, I’m posting some of the things I’ve gotten done this week.  Cheri over at I am Momma Hear me Roar has been having Git ‘er done week.  She is hosting a linky party today, and I am joining in.

I began the week thinking I would fix the curtains for the baby’s room, finish hanging wall art in the kitchen, weed the garden, and crazy stuff, but it just didn’t happen.  Let’s blame it on being 36 weeks pregnant, okay?  :)  I did wipe down the inside of my husband and my car, and wiped down some cabinets in the bathroom. 

(Before the clean up…but this picture was taken a few months ago, so imagine more things on the floor…like way more!)

So I spent an hour or two going through my craft room and tidying it up- while sitting most of the time. :)  Since I got my Cameo for Christmas, I have purchased more paper and supplies including vinyl and really had no where to put them.  My husband and I are in the process of building me a new craft desk, but I decided I might as well get things organized the best I can, and then I can just slip things into the cabinets under the desk once it’s done (which will probably be right before or right after the baby makes his grand entrance).

(During the clean up, but definitely WAY better than when I started)

Cleaned off my desk,

Organized paper and vinyl into totes, and folded up extra fabric and put it in my cabinet.  I also hung my rotary cutting board and ruler on the wall.  They were always falling over, and driving me crazy.  I love that they have their own home now!
I didn’t take a before picture of the cabinet, but the bottom 4 shelves were a mess.  Things were balled up and shoved into place, and I took it all out, refolded the fabrics, and put like things together the best I could.  I could have done more, but I know it will change a bit once my desk is complete.

And you know how your mom always said that you’d find things that were lost when you cleaned your room?  I found a scraper to help apply vinyl that I’ve been missing for two months!  I thought it had gotten thrown away accidentally.  I was soooo excited, I had to share a picture with you too.  I can’t wait to use this handy tool again!
Whew!  I think I can actually think straight in here to create, but I think I’ll take a nap instead!  That was a lot of work.
Thanks for reading!
~Lynette~

Three Things Thursday #2!

*Last week I decided to share three things on Thursdays.  So here we go!

1.  I’ve been working hard this week trying to get lots done.  I am exhausted, but it’s been wonderful to wipe out our cars, hang up pictures and artwork I’ve finished, mop my kitchen floor (THAT was a workout!), and get started actually working on baby projects (it’s about time!) :)

 

2. My flowers in my yard are gorgeous! Thanks to the previous owners, lots and lots of bulbs were planted and coming up. Every day or two I have a new surprise waiting for me in my yard. And my apple tree is blooming, and it is beautiful!  My husband kind of chuckles when I tell him how amazing our yard is. I didn’t grow up with fruit trees or lots of flowers like he did, so it’s magical to me.

 

(These are a really vibrant purple in real life, and of course they are my favorite!)

3.  I  have been having the hardest time finding fabric that I like at Joann’s lately.  And that’s really the only affordable fabric store in my area.  And some days, I feel like I have to break the bank at Joann’s.  I guess I’m just really cheap—but my husband appreciates it, so that’s good I guess!  I’ve been rethinking my fabric stash and becoming more creative to make things work.  I’ve got a project cooking that I CANNOT wait to show you! :)

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Three Things Thursday

Hi everybody!  Have you noticed the trend lately with people sharing Ten Things on Tuesday, or Five on Friday?  I decided to jump on board and share three things on Thursday.  I can rant and rave about anything I want, from pictures, to what I'm currently working on.  Here we go!

1.  Yesterday I approached a Coscto customer to ask him a question about where to find a Costco product.  It was after I started talking to him that the lanyard he was wearing was from the local school district... (which I have worked for---my husband later said that it would have been worse if it had been my old boss or something) not Costco.  He was really nice but I was so embarrassed and wanted to dig a hole and stay there for the rest of the day!  If you're going into a store, take off your lanyards people!  You confuse me too much.  (And by the way, it's funny now, but it wasn't then. :)

2.  I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed about the amount I still need to do to get ready for this baby to come.  We haven't even painted his room yet!  I have quite a bit of baby stuff thanks to a baby shower, but I'm feeling a bit stressed seeing as I will be 35 weeks tomorrow!  I think I will just really decide what's important, and let the rest go by the wayside.  For instance, because I can't find boy fabric that's affordable, some things will just not get made.  I do need to recover the purple lampshade I have from my teenage years though.  Purple in a boy's room just won't do! :)

3.  I am working on getting projects finished this week that I've started.  I'm working on artwork for my kitchen and family room.  I think once those are done, I can start on other things.  Whew!

Thanks for reading!
~Lynette~

Ruffles and Trim Shoe Refashion

Hi everybody.  I hope you had a great weekend.  I did.  On Saturday, my husband went to work to use the shop to work on one of our vehicles.  I was left home, and my husband said that I didn’t have to clean if I didn’t want to.  (I had literally exhausted myself every day last week from trying to get so much done.  I needed a break, and was glad to take it!)  I finished and knocked out 3 different projects.  This shoe refashion was one of them.  It’s not super original, but I really like how it turned out.

Here’s the before.  I bought these shoes 6 years ago, and they were definitely showing signs of wear.  I have glued down the silver linings a couple times.  It needed it again, so this time I used E6000.  Love that stuff, but can’t stand the smell of it right now. Yuck.

The bows have even been repaired at least once, and were just looking really sad. I was ready for a change.

The bows came off…

I made a tube of satin-y fabric, and flattened it so the seam was in the middle.  Then I gathered it using my easy way to make ruffles, and glued it to the shoe.  Once that was done, I decided I needed some trim.  I got a few inches of trim from Joann’s, treated the ends with Fray Check, and glued the trim on top of the ruffles. 

So for just a few dollars, I ended up with a new look to some very old shoes.  I’ve looked for over a year for new ones, and just haven’t found any I liked.  So I’ll make do for awhile more with the refashioned version! :)
Thanks for reading,
Lynette

Spring Skirt with Bias Cut Strips

Yesterday I woke up and decided that I needed to sew something for ME.  I had many plans for skirts that I can use now and after the baby’s born, but I had only gotten 1 skirt done.  So from 7:30am on, I sewed like a mad woman.  It was super fun, especially since I just purchased a new pedal for my machine.  It’s been acting wonky since Thanksgiving, so to have a new pedal was a dream! 

My maternity wardrobe is seriously lacking some color, but I do have a white shirt, so I decided that I’d go with a pink skirt and add the multi colored fabric strips across the bottom. Sorry I’m not modeling the skirt, my 33 week pregnant self doesn’t feel like it today! :)

(I used 5 1 inch strips cut on the bias of the printed fabric.  To finish off the look, I sewed the top stitch with a simple running stitch with stitch width set at 5 and stitch length at 1 on my Bernina 1008.)

This skirt was very easy to make.  I purchased the pattern from the Make it and Love it shop here.   It only cost $5.00, and I’ve made 4 skirts from the pattern so far.  Sadly, this is the first one I’ve blogged about.  I’ll need to have the husband take some pictures before church and I will show them to you!  I also got the idea to add the bias cut strips on the bottom from Ashley @ Make it and Love it here.  You can add this detail to any skirt.

I made the skirt according to my pre-pregnancy size so I can wear it after baby comes.  When putting in the elastic, I kept the casing hole halfway open so I can cinch in the elastic once I need to.  I also have worn the skirts I made pre-pregnancy with no problems, I just wear them lower than I normally would.

Well I think that’s all for today!  I hope you are having wonderful spring weather like we are.

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~

Hand Made Birthday Card

Good morning!  I just wanted to show a quick and easy card I whipped up for my brother’s Birthday last week.  I made a template for the card in my silhouette software (you could easily just cut it out, but this was easier for me) and then cut out the letters.  I had the decals in my stash that coordinated with the paper, and stuck those babies on.  Easy peasy, and turned out cute too!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!

~Lynette~

Making It Ours: Laundry Room Sign

*Making it ours is my simple series where I feature some of my projects to make our new home feel more like ours.  Some projects will be simple décor, while others will be major remodel type projects.*

Hi everybody!  I needed a breath of fresh air from maternity/baby stuff today, so here’s a simple project I did with some firewood (literally-but it’s for decent stuff because we get it from a business who throws their crates out for grabs), some paint, and some vinyl from my silhouette.

I had fun coming up with my other laundry room sign, but for this one, I struggled.  I didn’t have a big enough board for the saying I really wanted to use, so I went with an unoriginal “Laundry Room,” sign.  Boring, yes, but I still love how it turned out.  I got the hanger image from Microsoft Word, and imported it into the silhouette software.

Well, that’s all I’ve got today!  Hope you’re having a great day.  It’s raining today.  I busted out my purple paint and added a 2nd coat to one of the sides of my craft room door.  I was in the first trimester yucky stage when I first painted, so I finished it up now that smells don’t bother me. :)  I also painted something else purple, and will show you in the upcoming days/weeks!

Thanks so much for reading!

~Lynette~