Thursday, May 26, 2011

A peek inside my craft room...

Even though it has been a couple of years since we started the remodeling/addition on our house, I am still trying to get my craft room just right. It is a continuous work in progress, but I like how it is coming along. My main criteria in designing my room was good lighting, and I wanted "stations" to accomodate the variety of crafts that I do. I wanted a large table in the center of the room for scrapbooking. I needed a sewing area and a place designated for my yarn and crochet supplies. I also wanted to have space for a computer so that I could hook up my Gazelle, my die cutting machine. I have a large light in the center of the room and track lights on three of the four walls so that I can work in there at all hours of the day and night.
All of my scrapbooking supplies are stored in the white cubes stacked on the wall to the right as you walk in the door.
Most often reached for tools and tiny embellishments are stored in baskets on shelves under my scrap table.
My sewing area. Love, love, love that sewing machine! It is a Brother SE-400 sewing and embroidery machine. You can even download embroidery patterns from a computer onto it. I still have a lot of learning to do with this machine to be able to use it to its fullest capacity.
All of my thread is visible and easily accessible hanging on the wall above my sewing table. The canvas prints and "The Simple Things" sign were all local flea market finds. All purpose thread is on the right, and embroidery thread is on the left.
Sewing supplies, patterns, and fabric are stored on shelves under the sewing table.
Sewing tools that I reach for most often are kept in this silver tray that a friend bought for me in Mexico.
My sweet husband bought me a dress form for my birthday! I love it!! Here she is naked. ;)
And here she is with an apron that I made. It still needs a little bit of work, but not too shabby for my first sewing project, no? Notice that I keep my large rotary cutting mat hanging on the wall when I'm not using it to prevent it from warping.
Some of my favorite yarns are stored in cubbies for easy access and visibility.
A view of the computer area. This is where my kids can usually be found. ;)
I keep jars of flowers on a decorative shelf above the computer. The canvas prints were another local flea market find.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my creative space! It is always changing as I add things here and there and rearrange and reorganize, but that is part of the fun of having my own space!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Birds of a Feather June Kit

I am honored to be featured as one of the guest designers at Birds of a Feather for the month of June! This kit is absolutely gorgeous and just chock full of beautiful embellishments! It features papers and embellishments from Prima's Reflections collection as well as My Mind's Eye, Stella & Rose. Here are some projects I created with this kit.
{Family} - For this page, I used a block pattern with distressed and inked edges as part of the background. I cut out the canvas flower and sprayed it with glimmer mist. Once that dried, I inked the edges and layered a Prima flower on top of it. I love the look of sepia and black and white photos with this kit!
Dad's Girl - I loved the background paper on this page! (It is one of the add ons that can be purchased seperately from the kit.) I used smaller paper strips so that wouldn't take away from the busier background. I cut the canvas leaves and stitched down the center of them. I also machine stitched the circles on the background paper and lightly misted the background with the perfect pearls included in the kit.
Almost 4 - I took these pictures of my daughter the day before her 4th birthday, hence the title. I machine stitched the circles and cut the canvas flowers and flourish and used glimmer mist on them. These canvas shapes in the kit are so much fun to play with!
Hairbow hanger - I had an old KaiserCraft wooden wall hanging that had been sitting in a drawer for years. I pulled it out and used this kit to alter it, and made my daughter a hairbow hanger for her room.
Here is a picture of what is included in this kit. If you are looking for a kit company that features the latest and greatest in the scrapping industry and never skimps on embellishments, the Birds of a Feather is the one for you!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Playing Catch Up

Finding the time to blog has been difficult to do lately! Between running one kid to dance class and both kids to T-ball, getting the garden planted, and working in the yard now that the weather is getting nice, I just haven't had time to get on the computer much.
I had a great time at the Back Porch Memories crop last weekend. I didn't get to blog about the crop then because blogger was not working. Seems to be a trend lately as I have had so many problems with blogger. If I am going to continue blogging, I may have to look into some different options.
Speaking of Back Porch Memories, I have some layouts and a card to share with you from the May Medley kit.
I would type more, but I don't know if blogger will even post this right. If I can get it to work, I will post a couple more entries tonight or tomorrow, including pictures of my craft room and projects with the June kit from Birds of a Feather!