Button/Embellishment Storage

I have been trying to make my scrapbooking supplies more mobile... so that I can scrapbook someplace other than in my craft room. I have always used these divided containers for my button and embellishment storage.

But they drive me crazy!!! I stick them in my craft bag and all the buttons slide around and get mixed up. So, I put my thinking cap on and came up with a solution!!! I cut a piece of chipboard the size of the lid. Then I cut a piece of batting the same size. Then I cut a piece of fabric about 1" larger around all sides. I then simply hot glued it together and glued it inside the lid of the box. Ta da!!! It totally works!!! No more sliding around and mixing up of buttons. It is a tight squeeze to close it, but that's okay!!!

To hide the back side of the chipboard, I cut a piece of fabric and modpodged it on the front. Then I modpodged a border of scrapbook paper around the edge and stamped acrylic paint to label what was inside. I'm sure I could have decorated and embellished the outside a little better, but oh well!!! The important thing is that it is totally functional and solves the problem of everything getting mixed up inside!!!

-Anisa

July Wood Craft Classes

I have one craft class this month... Wed. July 28th from 6-9 p.m. The last trio in the series is...

Sunflower/Crow Trio: $10

It is also CRAFT MAKE-UP month!!! If there are any trios (or other crafts that you missed), let me know and we can make them up!!! Click on this link to see all of the other crafts we have done this year.

-Anisa

The Dark Divine

A friend of mine... Bree Despain (she used to live 2 houses down the street from me) has published an awesome book... The Dark Divine. She has a fun Teaser Trailer of her book that you can check out!!! I know this has nothing to do with crafting... but sometimes its nice to just sit back and read a book:)

Anisa's Craft Room

I have been waiting until I get my craft room perfectly organized exactly how I want it to post pictures of it. Well, folks, it's never going to be exactly how I want it, so I think I'll just post it any way!!! I at least cleaned it up a little:)

This side of the room is my scrapbooking side. I don't like to sit down when I scrapbook so I wanted something counter-top height. So I purchased 4 storage cubes from my local Robert's Crafts. (I'm sorry but I can't remember the brand of the storage cubes). You can buy them in several combinations. I wanted drawers on the bottom and the top to have cupboard doors... but I haven't ever gotten around to buying the doors. I bought a piece of wood for the top at Lowe's and painted it white. The paper stacker underneath was a yard sale purchase. I bought a bar stool without a back at a thrift store and painted it. That way I can push it out of the way most of the time. I have curtain rods hanging above the desk that I can use to display fun crafts or albums. My buttons are organized with a spice rack from Ikea. I got buckets from the dollar section of Target to hold my ribbon scraps. This side of the room is mostly my sewing station. My pink cabinet holds my Cricut and supplies. This side of the room I like to have mostly open. That way I have a place to work when I'm cutting out fabric or when I have a friend over to scrapbook. On the left you will notice a shoe hanger on the wall. You can purchase these for about $5 at Target or Walmart. I have these things all over my house... usually on the back of the door. In my pantry, it holds ziplocs bags, kool aid pouches, popcorn bags, etc.... great way to store stuff. This side of the room is just mostly storage. I love this fun cabinet I bought at a yard sale. I got my small ironing board at Ikea so I can iron fabric projects or bent ribbon. And the shelves on the wall are a great place to display some of my craft projects.

I love my adorable craft room.... it's my place to decorate something girly:) Do you have a craft room... or crafting space? We'd love to see it! Email us pictures at twiddlethumbs@rocketmail.com

-Anisa

Chipboard Album

As mentioned, I am in a crafting rut right now. So, I've kind of halted all projects until something comes up. However, with the school year coming to an end, I thought I would put together a mini album for my 4 year old's first year of preschool. I had purchased this chipboard album at a garage sale for $1 and I had an 8x8 paper pad of some fun paper that I wanted to use up. My little boy was out of town for a week staying with his cousin so I thought I'd get it done for him while he was gone.

I used the biggest Zig glue pen that they make to adhere the paper, photos and all embellishments to the album. I used Maya Mists, paint, rub-ons, etc. It turned out cute! He loves it and I'm glad he's home from his cousins. -Anisa

Bathroom Make-over Part 1

I have long been a huge fan of Becky Higgins and all of the scrapbooking glory that comes with her.  (Especially since she is the one who introduced me to the idea of sketching first!)  She has also shared lots of inspiration for other projects with me and hundreds upon hundreds of other fans, including spray painting ordinary, neutral-colored decor bright friendly colors. 

I have these cute frames that I love.  (Purchased at Tai Pan Trading a few years ago for about $3 each)

They were so pretty against the green wall in my last house, but against the very light tan wall in our current house, they just get lost.  I've been dying to try the spray paint thing.  This seemed like the perfect project for this, but just couldn't justify the $5 per can price for the colors I wanted.  Since, they're just small frames, I hit my local Robert's Arts and Crafts and picked up a few bottles of acrylic paint (on sale!) in the perfect colors. Once home, I gathered a few other supplies and got to work.

After a little sanding, my frames were ready to paint.  My original thought was to do 2-3 coats of paint and then sand.  One coat in, I was smitten with the washed looked it had.  I thought it would be perfect in my Hawaiian-inspired bathroom.  When my one coat was dry, I did do a little sanding.  The blue frame really needed it and just made the frames stand out a bit more overall.  Here's the finished project:

(Sorry for the glare!)

I'm excited for the next one on the bathroom to-do list and will share when it's completed.

~Ang~

My Best Idea for a Long Time

With a little of this...

a wooden dowel and drawer pulls some disassembled flowers

Then I layered them together

on this rather large shelf.The shelf began its life on my little sister's wall. It was painted a midnight blue. Next I painted it a lavender color for my daughter. After that it was painted an almost periwinkle blue for my new baby boy (now three).

I have now repainted it again for my daughter. It used to have those little pegs meant to have connected-wick candles (remember those for home decor?) and other such items, but I did NOT look forward to finding hanging objects for this round of decorating.

My simple solution was to buy a dowel to fill all those tiny holes with. I cut it into small pieces. I found the drawer pulls and when I knew I wanted them to be a different color, the idea of their being the center of a flower turned out to be perfect.

I hammered the dowels in, fitted the flowers over those and capped each off with the drawer pulls. Very inexpensive and my daughter loves it.

-C

A Craft Room Challenge

Hey all!  It's been a long while since I've been here, but all with good reason!  My DH and I are 17 weeks along with baby #4.  Between kids 1-3, being sick and exhaustion, I was doing good to get some semblance of dinner on the table each night.  Thankfully, the sun is sunnier and the skies are bluer (figuratively and literally).  I also think I've hit a bit of a nesting period.  Thus today's challenge:

Go to your craft room, closet or where ever you keep your "stuff."  Pick a box of who-knows-what's-in-here (I know we all have them) or another box of randomness.  Set a timer for whatever time you have available-an hour, 30 minutes, 15...Whatever works for your schedule. Go through that box and see how much you can put away, give away, throw away or gulp...actually finish (the project that is) in that time! 

On your mark....Get seeeeet.....GO!  (I'll wait)

Done?  Great job!  What'd you get done?  A bunch I bet!  I did this yesterday and managed to send off some now undesirable projects/patterns off to the thrift store.  I found some fabric for a table cloth I intended to make for Thanksgiving nearly 2 years ago.  Maybe this bandana dress for my 3 year old girlie and mended a sweater for my 8 year old diva.  Not to mention cleared out some prime real estate in my crafting space. 

So tell me.  What did you find/accomplish?